There were so many levels on which this book didn’t work for me. As always, Long’s writing was great; no problems with that. But there just was no life to these characters. Chase paled in comparison to Long’s last two heroes, Colin Eversea (lively; sexy; has burning hot sex in stable lofts) and Miles Redmond (stuffy; sexy; has burning hot sex in chairs). To be quite honest, my face has STILL not returned to its normal color after reading Long’s last two books.

And then there was Rosalind. Yes, Rosalind. What to say about this … nice … person? She was so … nice. I liked her. We should have tea. We could work a charity event together. Maybe something involving hats and gardens.

But other than that, blah. These were not the characters I am accustomed to in a Long romance. Of course, maybe if they didn’t have such a soggy, boggy plot to contend with (it’s a mysterious painting! no, it’s puppets! no, it’s a prostitution ring! no, it’s actually OK, because there’s a certain moral ambiguity about it all!) they would have had more to work with.

Also, can I just say — SPOILERS AHEAD — the big mystery at the end was female sex slavery. And at the end, everyone’s just like, well, you know, female sex slavery happens. I mean, ostensibly, the villain got a kind of punishment, but I still felt like I got shit-disguised-as-chocolate in my peanut butter. Not what I expect from Long, who usually gives me a pretty light, satisfying read. I respect a writer’s right to stretch herself, but I feel taken out of the story when you decide to introduce sex slavery into a plot that has previously included puppets, animal husbandry and a man who may or may not be the ghost of Henry VIII.

Well, whatever. I’m going to get an ice pack for my cheeks and read Like No Other Lover again.

I’d probably give it a B- or so. I enjoy Long’s style a lot, but it really pales in comparison to THE PERILS OF PLEASURE and LIKE NO OTHER LOVER, the previous two books in the series. Both of them were much better than this one. I liked Chase and Rosalind okay, but I agree with Jane that the sex scenes were so odd (they’re doing it now?) that it took me out of the story.

Chase’s fear of puppets was pretty funny though.

Yes, I couldn’t believe when and where they chose to have sex as well.

I like JAL and have read the other books in the series. Like No Other Lover was one of my all-time favorites from last year. I think she is a very good writer and will continue to read the series. Can’t hit a home run every time.