Because You're Mine

Review of Because You're Mine by Lisa Kleypas:

This novel was a waste of a perfectly good hero. Almost every word was a pain to read. Usually I devour romance novels in one night, even if they're bad. This book took me 2 weeks. It was so bad I could only read it a few words at a time.

With THAT rousing intro, what's it about? Logan Scott is a world-famous London actor, and devotes his every breath to his theatre company. But one day Madeline something-or-other crosses his path, and everything changes. Maddy is the young daughter of a blue-blooded family, betrothed to a neighboring lord about 50 years older than she is. Maddy can't bring herself to marry him, so she runs away to ruin herself by sleeping with the notorious rake, Logan Scott. Logan rejects her immediately, but she soon falls in love with him and continues to pursue him.

Logan Scott is wonderful; he's your typical cold, successful alpha hero. I loved him for being an ornery bastard, but he's also a compassionate employer and a good friend. Logan is about the only aspect of this novel that reminds one of Kleypas' talent as a writer.

Maddym on the other hand, is TSTL--Too Stupid To Live. She is a wretched, ridiculous, totally shallow character. At no point could Logan manifest any believable attraction for Maddy. She is a MORON. She has no character quirks, no emotional depth, nothing.

By the end, once Logan's love for Maddy became a given, and the plausibility of his love became irrelevant, it got a little tolerable. She and Logan, when married, were an alright pair.

But most of the book is pure rubbish. There is not one interesting page among the first 200. And the major conflict of the novel is OUTRAGEOUS. At one point, Maddy soliloquizes, "Nothing about the scene seemed real." I couldn't agree more.

Ugh. The only reason I trudged through to the end was so that I could write a review about it. I give this novel an F+.