And Then He Kissed Her by Laura Lee Guhrke

Emmaline Dove and Harry, Viscount Marlowe




And Then He Kissed Her (Girl Bachelors book 1)

By Laura Lee Guhrke

Book Blurb:
Supremely sensible Emmaline Dove wishes to share her etiquette expertise with London's readers, and as secretary to Viscount Marlowe, Emma knows she's in the perfect position to make her dream come true. Marlowe might be a rake with a preference for can-can dancers and an aversion to matrimony, but he is also the city's leading publisher, and Emma is convinced he's her best chance to see her work in print...until she discovers the lying scoundrel has been rejecting her manuscripts without ever reading a single page!

As a publisher, Harry finds reading etiquette books akin to slow, painful torture. Besides, he can't believe his proper secretary has the passion to write anything worth reading. Then she has the nerve to call him a liar, and even resigns without notice, leaving his business in an uproar and his honor in question. Harry decides it's time to teach Miss Dove a few things that aren't proper. But when he kisses her, he discovers that his former secretary has more passion and fire than he'd ever imagined, for one luscious taste of her lips only leaves him hungry for more.

I haven't read too many books around the 1890 time period. It was a nice change to have some "modern" historical conveniences mentioned. It was a really nice change. I liked it so much, I think I will look for other books from around the same time period. 

I was really on the fence about how much I liked the story itself. I found the female protagonist all over the place. Emma was a modern sort of woman being man's secretary and doing a darn good job of it. She was exotic enough to have her own flat and she decorated with her tastes of adventure from the middle east. Yet, she was a spinster of 30 (which her age is constantly mentioned) and she was over the top prim and proper with etiquette. I understood that she really didn't know her own self and she was channeling her deceased Aunt's etiquette virtues but she was such a contradiction. 

I just wanted to be swept away in the romance of Emma unwinding from her spinster status and I wanted Harry to step up a bit sooner. I found Harry's view on marriage a really far reach. With such a long time passing from his first marriage, I would have thought he would not have been so scarred the way he went on. It seemed like every time he decided to discuss his first marriage, the story kept getting more elaborate and made up. I just wanted to tell him to put his big boy pant and move on. I guess I wasn't buying it. 

I did like when Emma and Harry decided to move on to a secret relationship. I found their secret weekends away incredibly romantic and I thought the author did a great job of writing how their little adventurous weekends started to effect Emma. I think that was very true to life and totally believable. 

So for me the beginning of the book was great and the ending was wonderful but the middle dragged a bit for me and I wanted to skip but forced myself to read through. It ended up being worth it but I don't think I am in any hurry to seek out any other books in the series. 

Teasers: peacock fan, sisters, etiquette columns, weekends for lovers