REVIEW: To Pleasure a Lady

Nicole Jordan
To Pleasure a Lady (Courtship Wars #1)
Ballantine Books
ISBN-10: 0345494598
ISBN-13: 9780345494597
Historical Romance, Regency
January 29, 2008

Arabella Loring, as eldest, must protect her sisters against the unwanted machinations of a new guardian, one that would see them married off as quickly as possible. Two things bring the situation into the realm if ridiculous, one being the sisters are well on their way into spinsterhood and two, they all wish to remain free and independent women – and quite vocally too. With the success of their deportment school, why would they need the smothering, controlling guidance of a husband? And why would they want to repeat the painful past mistakes of two selfish and indulgent parents?

Marcus Pierce, an earl of rather rakish reputation, has no intentions of dallying in ridding himself of his wards. However, when the eldest challenges him at sword point to give up the duty, he becomes intrigued by her singular actions and bold moves. And of course, he must have her…and honorably at that. Why not? He needs heirs, and Arabella could prove quite passionate abed if nothing else…Seduction is the name of the game, but hearts will be claimed, whether they want to be or not.

This first in Jordan’s Courtship Wars series is unfortunately not one of her most memorable. It was frustrating in the extreme throughout most of it and did not begin to remotely interest till almost the end, when a tad bit of character development finally comes into play and actually works. I’ll preface the critique too by saying I am indeed a big fan of her work (and why do we reviewers feel the need to defend ourselves in the face of a low-rated review?). In fact, this is the first of her books that I’ve come away with a dent on my wall because of.

Doth the Lady Protest…To Little?

Arabella Loring shows all the promise of a strong willed, iron spine sort of woman in the book’s description, as well as in her predetermined resolve to resist attempts at arranged marriages for her and her sisters. As soon as Marcus takes the figurative reigns though, that resolve evaporates. He spends a great deal of time assuring Arabella that she is too enjoying his company and attention:

“You aren’t sorry in the least,”Arabella replied lightly. “But as soon as our fortnight is up, I will be rid of you”

“You don’t want to be rid of me. You are enjoying our wager too much.”

“Am I indeed?”

“Most definitely. You relish the exhilaration of challenging me and matching wits with a worthy opponent.”

Arabella arched an eloquent brow. “How can you presume to know what I feel?”

His reply was more serious than she expected. “Because I feel the same exhilaration. One I haven’t known in years.”

“It must by dyspepsia.”

Exsqueeze me? Did she just tell him, basically, that his exhilaration was merely…gas? Well, no matter the distasteful and rather immature response on her part because he just laughs it off and continues his quest for domination. Okay, so he’s no terminator or anything, but he is constantly telling (well, actually most of the supporting characters are telling her how she feels or what she should do all throughout) her how she feels and disregarding the fact that she wishes to remain an independent woman (which I know is his duty to change as hero, but c’mon on already and use something other than charm disguised as arrogance.). That grated on my nerves till the last was exposed and sparking – and we’re only at Chapter Five.

And then, there’s Marcus with his “code” on proper behavior with wards and what is/is not permissible…and what he can sneakily get away with. I had immediate flashbacks of Elizabeth Swan in her dining room closet, discussing pirate code with two erstwhile and dingy kidnappers. Maybe Marcus really is a rake and possibly one of the most earnest in his diabolical plans to de-hymen-ize Arabella, but the ridiculous way he goes about and gets away with detouring Arabella’s resolve to resist is positively infuriating. The woman never stood a chance and that was most, most disappointing, to see no true resistance on her part. No, I will not sit next to him. Okay, I will. No I do not enjoy your company. I do? Well, okay. Grrrrrr…

His words above are many throughout the first half of the book and paint him as arrogant when I’m almost sure he’s meant to come off as charming. It’s not charming though when a few grating phrases like in the quote’s easily dissolves the speck of resolve Arabella claims to have. There is a definite lack of conflict in this story, one of the main elements for creating interest and believability in two characters’ journey towards love. Attempts are made with Arabella’s parents’ horrendous marriage and another personal element, but they seem more like a backdrop and got quite old to hear them repeated constantly with no real development till the end.

On the Matter of Schooling Young Misses and Last Stand Alliances

I honestly feel that if I come across one more series based upon a group of women teaching young ladies deportment and the like, I shall voluntarily combust (oh yessss, I shallz find a way). By now, in wild and loony theory and because I was actually feeling loony after reading this far, the entire country of England during the Regency ought to have been the most well educated group of ladies ever seen (if this was indeed a common enough trade for women of quality). And while education is a must for women, of that there is no doubt, as part of a centralized plot, it is in dire need of going away unless it can be given new life.

But wait! The school, and one of its young pupils, does indeed bring a bit of spark to the thin plot when she elopes with a milksop fortune hunter. And actually, it turned out to be my favorite scene when the two are caught. Sad that such a minor scene turned out to be one of the best.

Similarly, for the Regency rakes, gentleman and whatnot, with their last stand memberships against marriage (oh, uh yeah, there’s one of those in here too) – enough is enough. Yes, yes, so the Marriage Mart is cutthroat and mercenary (which does sound interesting, but…)…kind of like the men wanting to escape it (they do have that devious, de-virgify-ing code after all…I think they can handle the marauding matchmaking mama’s just fine. No sympathy on that one.). After mountains of historical romances, it’s really no longer an interesting enough background to meld it all together unless some kind of unique twist is folded in. And there wasn’t one here.

Matters of the Heart and The Boudoir

Arrrrrr!!! By the end of Chapter Seven, they’re already going at it à la Clinton/Lewinsky! With a prep course of heavy petting previously at the end of Chapter Five. She just can’t help herself! She’s fascinated. She knows she shouldn’t. She has no spine! He has a perpetual hard on. And the weeener is….!

Reasons for the Arrrrrrs!

I have no problem with characters that take the pre-connubial plunge so readily, enthusiastically, whatever…but those were usually well-developed characters by that point. Their joining and short getting-to-know-you period made sense (or else it was so scorching hawt, it made no difference). Arabella and Marcus did not, not one bit. We know he’s a rake and that reads to me as it’s supposed to be good enough for his instant-a-boner. We know she wants to remain unwed – forever – yet she makes not one solid attempt to resist the man. Not. A. One.

By Chapter Ten, things amazingly enough begin to pick up a bit, and for the good. Finally, Arabella and Marcus are starting to engage me on an emotional level, showing some smidge of character development that would make all the surface turmoil (the stuff that only scratches the surface, not true, gritty story) believable.

And they go home after a tiff at the theater, where they engage soon after in hot monkey SEX. Bases are passed multiple times, no trips to the bank to collect the two hundred.

What’s wrong with that? Normally, nada, as I lurv me some hot, sexed up scenes. But we were finally getting to some actual depth with these people (minds outta da gutter pweese). I’d already put on my romance reading dive gear and was preparing for deep emotional character exploration when suddenly it’s disintegrated again into Arabella being all, No! I don’t want you! to Yes, I actually do and I have all along but I’ve just been playing hard to get and now I am so grateful to be falling into your bed with you all up in me…”.

At this point, I really wanted to toss this book to a voraciously hungry predator. Once again, it struck me that they were engaging in way too much intimacy without the personal interaction and character development to justify it. What little we got prior to the de-virginification, at the theater, was very good though, and at that point, some of the best writing in the book. It was just too little when they’d actually begun to work through and communicate their hang-ups. Sex does not solve the problem/lend credence to their characters, not in this case.

The thing with this book is that we know Marcus and Arabella will end up blissfully wedded, bedded and bedded again…but again, that main, wondrous element is grossly missing and that’s the conflict between Marcus and Arabella that would carry us on an interesting journey to that satisfying end.

Jordan’s site at one point cites the fact that she is using a new style with this book, something lighter than earlier works. I do think this is true, there really is a big difference with To Pleasure a Lady from anything else I’ve read by her. It just wasn’t a good difference for me. It’s much lighter on plot, character development and conflict than usual. I think, after calming myself many a time when it began to grate on my nerves, that this is a good base for a book, one that needed a bit more oomph. Well, a lot more actually. And Jordan is the type of author that can give that. Because I’ve never been restless or unhappy with a book of hers before, I do intend to check out the sequels to see if the character development improves (and I’m most curious what the conflicts will be for Roselyn and Lily since their parents are presumably the reason for all of them in this first book), but they may be a library read this time.

I would highly recommend a few past titles of Jordan’s:

The Paradise series: Master of Temptation, Lord of Seduction, Wicked Fantasy, Fever Dreams

The Notorious series: The Seduction, The Passion, Desire, Ecstasy, The Prince of Pleasure

Single titles: The Warrior, The Lover

You can find out more about Jordan’s books and read excerpts by visiting her site.

Rating: Two Scoops