The Bargain

I admit it. Although I ordinarily review scifi, I also read alot of mystery and romance, particularly romantic mysteries. Jane Ashford is not Jane Austen but this regency romance is a charmer that I have reread a number of times! I loved all the characters, particularly the hero's brothers, who are desperately in need of romantic assistance. The youthful urges and emotions of the principals underminine their best resolves to keep their relationship on a professional level and they are only fooling themselves. The heroine's backstory and the real basis for the mystery are tragic but this provides a weight to the novel that is needed: "The Bargain" might float away without it. All in all, one of my favorite romances...Ashford's other novels don't compare although "Charmed and Dangerous" comes close.

I've read this book twice and it is a definate keeper. Ashoford has a way with humor, with her observations of the "ton" and men's attitudes towards women's abilities. I thought the sexual tension between the main characters was great...and the story was different from the usual