Midnight Pleasures with a Scoundrel

Lorraine Heath does it again with her scoundrels of the street, Jim Swindler was a member of the best crews of child thieves in London who worked as a conman after losing his father to the gallows. Since then he's become an inspector for Scotland Yard, on assignment he meets up with Eleanor Watkins. Eleanor after losing her sister to suicide came into London to avenge her twin sister, but becomes enamored with the tortured, handsome, and enigmatic man. Jim is enticed with the fierce, beautiful, and loyal woman. This leads them on a quest to clean out the ones responsible for her sister, but also leads them to the other finding everything they could ever wish for in the others arms.

I absolutely could not put this book down. I would have read it straight through if it hadn't gotten so late. In my mind this is Heath's best book in a while. The whole series has been good, but this one stands out for me. Yes, I agree there could have been a bit more character or relationship development before James and Eleanor fell in love, but that was eclipsed by all I thought was great about the book. The story kept me on edge. Eleanor was a strong, but sweet heroine and it was touching to read about James finally putting his unrequited love for Frannie behind him and finding his true love. What really sold me on the book was the surprise twist midway through. It caught me completely off guard and I loved it. It added a complexity and depth to the characters and the emotions. Then what James revealed added even more complex emotions. The twists and turns from there on out kept me buried in the story. And it ended sweetly. What more could I want in a romance from one of my favorite authors? Now, if Ms. Heath would write some westerns again I'd be a happy camper! :)

good book but the characters were lacking.loved all her other books so a bit disappointed

Plot is good. You kind of think you have solved the mystery way ahead of time, but then there's a bit of a twist at the end to make it more enjoyable. Likeable hero and heroine. And there's the whole it's a part of this Feagan's ex-street-urchins series that makes you have to read it because you have read all the other ones (but you don't have to have read the others to enjoy this one). So I like it, but... The hero James Swindler has been in love with his fellow ex-urchin Fanny for forever. She marries someone else in the previous book of the series, but his loves endures. Until he catches sight of the heroine of this book and now it's a whole other ballgame. Quite an about-face which wouldn't seem so abrupt if it had been developed more. I guess that's my whole problem with the book. It needed more words. And not just any words. For example, not more love scenes. It needed more plot and character development and then it would have been a way better book, because it has a lot of promise.

Lorraine Heath continually provides the most heartwarming, romantic stories one can read. She is able to evoke such tenderness from her characters and just when you think the plot borders on "saccharine" the dialogue and/or love scenes pull it together. She laced our favorite characters from Fegan's gang into James romance bringing the story up a notch, add another great epilogue into the mix and you will be well rewarded for your time. 4.5