I, too, am a late comer. I liked the subplots, but was disappointed that those subplots were not brought to conclusion. Whom did Charlotte choose? Did Jemma and Beaumont reconcile and have children? Did she ever get her chess set? If so many pages are to be devoted to the subplots, I’d like to know their endings as well.

I am a late comer but I wanted to tell you that I really liked this story. At times it felt too crowded and other characters overshadowed the lead. That annoyed me at times but all the stories were interesting that I did not mind it that much. I have to disagree with your assessment of Fletch. I think he was young man with a frigid wife. That was very challenging, young men are easily disappointed and insecure about their sexual prowess. It was very realistic for him to obsess over her coldness towards him. I actually liked how they grew up together. When he found out that his wife needed permission to go to her lectures, he blamed himself.

Having said that I find certain things annoying, such as referring to Poppy as a Lady when she was a miss (her mother's biggest beef against her father was that he was not titled, so how can she be a lady). I hate it when authors do not pay attention to small details.

I didn't feel that Poppy's ‘bookishness' was at odds with her naivete. I interpreted it as her being more fascinated with curiosities and strange things than puzzling through animal behaviors in nature. So it worked for me.

I didn’t have a problem with her naivete, Jill; in fact, I kind of liked that both she and Fletch were immature. I get a little tired of young characters acting like elders and innocent women acting like brothel graduates. It was the fact that Poppy was so damn curious that caused problems for me. I mean, she was willing to crawl through the snow to find a rabbit den, and she brooded over the opposable thumbs and species classification of possums. Why wouldn’t she be equally curious about the customs and habits of the species homo sapiens, even in the artificial environment of society? Anyway, I’m glad it worked for you.

Dev: I hope you like it. I haven’t seen a lot of reviews for it, but I’m interested in knowing what other readers think.

SarahT: I am not opposed to books with secondary romances, but in this case, I think it was a mixed blessing. OTOH, because I felt that the characterizations of Poppy and Fletch were problematic, the secondary characters kind of kept me engaged in the book. OTOH, though, it may have been partly the attention paid to those other characters that took away from James’s ability to further develop Fletch and Poppy. Since I haven’t read any of her other books, it’s a tough call for me.

Jane: I noticed that the first book in this series got a very low grade at AAR — apparently it signaled a bumpy start to this series.

Sarah: I like the feel of ensemble books, but I definitely think it’s a difficult balance to devote enough attention to the main characters and not make the secondary stories sequel bait. I think Kresley Cole does a good job of that. I also like some of the overlap in the Susan Elizabeth Phillips books. And I enjoyed the way Loretta Chase handled the Carsingtons in that series. Other times it’s really irritated me, and perhaps if I had read more James, it would have bugged me here, too. It’s true that there is A LOT of coverage of secondary characters in this book.

My biggest problem with the first book in the series is that it was so lacking in focus on the primary couple that it was a struggle to read those sections. I don’t know how successful an author is when readers skip large portions of the book.

IMO, definitely not! When I pick up a romance novel, I expect to engage with the main characters and follow their story through to a satisfactory conclusion. Sympathetic secondary characters should remain just that. I don't want to have the book focus so much on peripheral characters that they detract from the main couple.

Well said! I frankly end up skimming most secondary romances. Maybe that’s just me, but I truly want to follow the main characters’ romance. If I wanted several love stories in one book, I’d read an anthology. I think the author shortchanges not only the characters but the readers when they put too much focus on a secondary romance. Readers (well, ok, maybe just me) really like to give their all to a romance, to fully invest themselves in the main romance. That is hard to do when there seems to be a surplus of romance storylines floating around in the story.

Lately it seems like a secondary romance is required though, or at least, has to be heavily hinted at in order to prepare for the next book in a series. That is frankly annoying.

I wonder, though, at the making of secondary characters interesting at the expense of the primary characters. Is that something we should laud an author for?

IMO, definitely not! When I pick up a romance novel, I expect to engage with the main characters and follow their story through to a satisfactory conclusion. Sympathetic secondary characters should remain just that. I don’t want to have the book focus so much on peripheral characters that they detract from the main couple.

I wonder, though, at the making of secondary characters interesting at the expense of the primary characters. Is that something we should laud an author for?

I find that a little intimidating as well. And a little gleeful because I’ll probably still pick up all six books.

To be honest, I skim the POV switches that I’m not interested in, and keep the book on my nightstand. When the next one comes out, I’ll pull out both copies and read the pieces together.

I’m sorry but I simply can’t emotionally connect with that many potential H/hs, especially as I know they’ll all be short-changed when it finally comes to *their* book.

I could kind of cope with juggling two or three potential future couples. Now that the series has been extended to six books, it’s just a farce.

I liked this book a lot more than Desperate Duchesses. Unfortunately I just wish they were less ‘ensemble’ and more about the two main characters. That, I think, would make a near-perfect book for me.