Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue by Stephanie Laurens (Cynster #16, Cynster Sisters Trilogy #1)
August 30, 2011
Historical Romance
Paperback
Avon
Reviewed by Mandi
Heather Cynster is 25 and almost on the shelf. Tired of the same crowd, she decides to sneak out to a more risqué party, to see if she can find the man of her dreams in a new social circle. Instead she finds her nemesis, Viscount Breckenridge. These two have known each other for many years, and have never gotten along. He firmly steers her towards the door, before she can witness anything improper for a lady of good standing.
Before she makes it to her carriage though, she is kidnapped by unknown people. Whisked away in a carriage, she soon has her blindfold off and can see who these assailants are. She soon realizes her kidnappers are not going to harm her. Actually, it’s the opposite. They refuse to tell her where they are taking her, but they have a maid for her, and treat her with respect. But not to be fooled, because they are extremely cautious about getting her to the secret destination, as quickly as possible.
Breckenridge quickly learns that Heather has been kidnapped. Off he goes to her rescue. But it is not going to be a simple as he thinks. He catches up with her at the first inn they stop at, but Heather has learned valuable information. The man she is being whisked away to see, although she doesn’t know who it is, she has learned he wants any Cynster – it didn’t have to be Heather. Which means, if she is rescued, the kidnappers will go after one of her brothers or sisters. So Heather makes a bold decision to stay kidnapped, and try to learn more information from her captors. Breckenridge really doesn’t like this plan, but Heather is so stubborn, he is kind of forced into it. As they make their way north, Breckenridge is always close behind.
Viscount Breckenridge to the Rescue is the first book by Stephanie Laurens I’ve read. I know, I know, I am soooo behind the times. Overall, I like this one. There are a few slow parts, especially when Heather is first kidnapped. We stop at so many inns, it became a little redundant.
My favorite part of this book is Breckenridge. He is a very cranky hero (which I love) but he also falls in love first. A cranky hero in love? Such a fun scenario. He is the rake of the ton, and Heather is the “bane of his existence” – but not really. It’s kind of like they pick on each other, because deep down they like each other. They’ve known each other for a long time, but now that they are in very close contact, some of that sexual tension starts to leak out. I was surprised by the amount of romance in this book. Heather turns into quite the naughty minx. I did get a little tired of her jumping into bed with Breckenridge (once she discovers the fun in the bed) but still refusing his proposals when really it is the only way she is going to make it out of this scrap with any sort of social standing left.
But otherwise, I like this book. Very romantic with a fun storyline. And yes, I will have to go back and pick up some earlier Stephanie Laurens books!
Rating: B-
Recent Reviews:
The Brazen Bookworm
The Book Reading gals – A-
Heroes and Heartbreakers
Goodreads
Author’s Website l Series Listing
The Bar Cynsters which are the first 6 books in the series 2 of whom are Heather’s brothers are my favorites in this series..well and Amanda and Amelia her cousins.
Oh cool…some people on Goodreads gave me some earlier titles to try as well…I’ll look into them!
I love Lauren’s Bar Cynster series. They are all very good. I almost had this and an older lady did a snatch and grab on me. lol T said it was karma. I want to read though.
Great review Mandi.
How dare you let someone get a book before you do! ;)
I know right? But it would have been bad for me to smack her down and take it.
The earlier books are great – especially Devil’s Bride (book 1). Laurens writes awesome heroes. I feel a re-read of the Bar Cynsters is in my future.
Ok – so I def need to read Devil’s Bride!
You liked this one a lot better than I did Mandi! I loved Devil’s Bride, The Ideal Bride, On A Wicked Dawn and A Gentelemen’s Honour (and many others) but this one didn’t work for me. I listened to it on audio and the “describing everything three times” thing Laurens does is much more obvious and harder to escape on audio.
Ah yes – audio might not have worked for me. Like I said, my biggest complaint was that things started to become redundant. Listening might have made it worse ;)
I am looking forward to reading this book. I have loved her for years and own almost all of her books. But lately, I just think they are all the same. Hero falls in love, seduces her, lots of sex but the heroine holds of on marriage, and some adventure on the road.
But I am very loyal to the authors I collect, so I will keep buying and reading for now.
Thanks for the review.
LOL – well, that sums up this book in about 1 sentence :) Maybe I wouldn’t have liked it if I had read a lot of her previous ones.
I still want to go back and try book one!
I’ve read all a lot of her earlier work and the one sentence sum up is accurate. After about 6 of ’em I stopped reading.