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Review: Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas
Filed in Lisa Kleypas , Review , The HEA Lover Posted on July 3, 2010 @ 6:00 am
15 comments
Format Read: Print
Number of Pages: 332 pages
Release Date: June 29th 2010
Publisher: St. Martin’s
Formats Available: Paperback, Ebook
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, BookDepository.com, BookDepository.co.uk, Amazon
Book Blurb:
As a lover of animals and nature, Beatrix Hathaway has always been more comfortable outdoors than in the ballroom. Even though she participated in the London season in the past, the classic beauty and free-spirited Beatrix has never been swept away or seriously courted…and she has resigned herself to the fate of never finding love. Has the time come for the most unconventional of the Hathaway sisters to settle for an ordinary man—just to avoid spinsterhood?
Captain Christopher Phelan is a handsome, daring soldier who plans to marry Beatrix’s friend, the vivacious flirt Prudence Mercer, when he returns from fighting abroad. But, as he explains in his letters to Pru, life on the battlefield has darkened his soul—and it’s becoming clear that Christopher won’t come back as the same man. When Beatrix learns of Pru’s disappointment, she decides to help by concocting Pru’s letters to Christopher for her. Soon the correspondence between Beatrix and Christopher develops into something fulfilling and deep…and when Christopher comes home, he’s determined to claim the woman he loves. What began as Beatrix’s innocent deception has resulted in the agony of unfulfilled love—and a passion that can’t be denied…
My Thoughts:
Warning: This review is completely biased, I adore Lisa Kleypas’ work and this series in particular, don’t expect any reasonable arguments from me. No pigs were killed during this review. All *squee* emanated from this slightly deranged reviewer (AKA me).
*Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeee* <=====Me getting the book last Saturday (you were warned)
Love In the Afternoon is the 5th and last *sob* book in the Hathaway series. My heart is breaking knowing that this was the last book. I adore (<==see? I adding new words to my vocabulary) this series. You were warned, I’m a huge Lisa Kleypas fan, and to think that I read my fist book by her only 6 months ago…now I am truly and completely addicted! *squee* Every Historical romance I read is now compared to my new Lisa-Kleypas-standards. Every time I finish reading one of her books I have a hard time reading anything else afterward. (not fair for the poor book that has to follow lol). And I keep rambling about how great her books are to everyone (sorry Susi, she’s my Megan Hart lol).
Let’s go back to the gem that is Love In the Afternoon. I loved Beatrix ever since we met her in the first book. She’s peculiar and can’t help rescuing every wounded animal she finds. Beatrix is funny, adventurous, a bit wild (she wears trousers!!!) and does not care about social etiquette . She is surrounded by rescued pets, such as the hedgehog Medusa, Lucky the 3 legged cat or Dodger the ferret etc… But Beatrix is also very witty and intelligent! She can tell what ‘animal’ people are by observing them, FYI she sees herself as a ferret. Animals play a very important part in this book, for instance it all started with the mention of a dog in a letter…
At first I had a hard time realizing that Beatrix was no longer a 15 years old like in the first book. I was a bit worried I wouldn’t enjoy the romance. Of course now I’m all reassured, she might be innocent but she is a 23 years old woman! (*squee* Hot Christopher helped a lot with that realization LOL). I just love this character, she took pity of the poor Christopher, alone and desperate, far away at war. Since her friend Prudence didn’t want to answer him she decided to write him herself, signing with Prudence’s name. I loved the letters between Beatrix and Christopher, you could see love creeping up on them a bit more with each letter, until the lie became to heavy to bear for Beatrix. Christopher didn’t know she was the one writing to him, he wants Prudence.
When Christopher comes back from the war, he’s broken and tortured. These years of violence destroyed him, he saw too many deaths and often the only thing that made him go on was his correspondence with ‘Prudence’. He is a war hero and he’s miserable, he doesn’t want all the attention everyone keeps giving him. Of course as a war hero and heir to a title he’s very sought after by the ladies (A Hot-Rich-heir-to-the-title-war-hero will do that to any unmarried lady). Before the war Christopher was not the same man, he was a bit haughty and ‘insulted’ Beatrix, saying she was made to be in the stables. Now that he meets her again he’s different but he still find her peculiar.
The story is a bit darker than the usual Lisa Kleypas. Don’t get me wrong I loved it, but it’s harder to review without revealing to much of the plot. Christopher is scarred inside. I still laughed a lot while reading it though. Beatrix is very funny and most of all we get to see Leo a few times and he’s HI-LA-RIOUS. The Hathaway family is very entertaining and it’s never boring around them, that’s for sure. The romance felt less rushed, no eloping to marry secretly, no kidnapping, no hurried wedding….this was the ending we needed for this series. I loved all the characters to pieces. The Smex scenes were fewer than usual but they were very HOT. Christopher doesn’t trust himself around Beatrix, the question is will she be able to save him from himself? (To Be Continued… lol)
Here are 2 of my favorite quotes about the family dynamics:
Leo looked at Cam expectantly. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Now is the time when you dredge up one of your blasted Romany sayings. Something about roosters laying eggs, or pigs dancing in the orchard. It’s what you always do. Let’s have it.”
Cam gave him a sardonic glance. “I can’t think of one right now.”
“By God, I’ve had to listen to hundreds of them. And Phelan doesn’t have to hear even ONE?”
and
“I beg your pardon?” Catherine interrupted. “Are you implying that women have poor judgment?”
“In these matters, yes.” Leo gestured to Christopher. “Just look at the fellow, standing there like a Bloody Greek god. Do you think she chose him because of his intellect?”
“I graduated from Cambridge,” Christopher said acidly. “Should I have brought my diploma?”
“In this family,” Cam interrupted, “there is no requirement of a university degree to prove one’s intelligence. Lord Ramsay is a perfect example of how one has nothing to do with the other?”
So in short, Love in the Afternoon is a delight. It’s like the Cherry on top of the cake. It deals with darker matters than the previous books but still makes you laugh every so often. You will love to love the characters! Beatrix and Christopher, her menagerie and family…all of these are enough reasons for you to read it! I know it won’t please every reader, but it pleased me immensely and that’s the most important for me *wink* I LOVED it, Loved it, Loved it *mini squee* So…am I the only one who’s sad the series’s over? *sob*
I give Love In the Afternoon 5 Bookies!
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review. FYI I bought this book myself
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I still haven't read one single Kleypas book! Shame on me
Me neither. But I'm afraid to start cuz I'm easily addicted. ;)But they sound sooooo good.
Yeah ladies I can't blame you cause until last December I had never read one either.
But I started the Wallflowers series and ever since I couldn't stop! It's the most addictive author I've ever seen lol. The Wallflowers and the Hathaway series are linked…9 books of pure bliss! I'm sadly very addicted
I'm soooooooo sad this series is over *need my Kleypas fix* NEED IT!!!
I just finished Married By Morning yesterday! I have Love In The Afternoon coming my way, hopefully this week. I am not surprised by your very 'happily ever after' review. I will miss these Hathaways, too! Cam is still my favorite, maybe Christopher can change my mind. 🙂
I wonder what Kleypas has in store next.
@Scorpio Did you enjoy Married By Morning? I loved Leo's humor!
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Love in the Afternoon. I love Christopher but he's not my favorite! Cam and Leo are still winning. But this book is VERY romantic and I LOVED Beatrix and her pets.
At the end of the book there is an excerpt of her next contemporary released in December. It sounds really interesting, and I'm not even a fan of contemps. But I can't wait to hear news of a new Historical!!! I need MORE! *sigh*
Today I just discovered there was a FREE short of Merripen and Win's wedding o_O How could I miss that???
While I enjoyed MBM & Leo's quips, I liked the Leo & Marks we met in Tempt Me At Twilight a bit more. There was more witty sparring and the attraction was more palpable in TMAT..but that's just me 🙂
Yes! I forgot about that but I did read about Win & Merripen's wedding. You will love it, it's VERY sweet!
@Scorpio Yeah I know what you mean…I still loved MBM but I have to admit it was not the same Leo and Cat from before. I loved when they couldn't stand each other…like when they first met! lol
You will LOVE Leo in Love in the Afternoon! It's the old Leo we got to love *g*
I will read Win's wedding soon now that I have it =P
Great blog today I enjoyed reading it. I am looking forward to reading her new book I love the series.
Thanks
Penney
@Penney =) I hope you'll love it as much as I did! Lisa Kleypas is my Book Goddess 😉 lol
I have to agree I am so sorry to see this series ending. At least we can always reread them, and wait with baited breath for the next book to fall in love with!
I love Lisa Kleypas
@Grumpybybirth (<===that could describe me LOL) Welcome to the Club of Lisa Kleypas Addict Anonymous! Yes I'm very happy that I love every book in this series. I was afraid I'd be disappointed in one and that it would ruin the series for me…but no it's perfect!!! *happy sigh*
I think I have to try her contemporary books now…or the wait will kill me for sure! lol
Lisa Kleypas is one of the few romance authors that I read regularly and so far I have read all of her books though I don't find her recent ones to be as good as the earlier ones. I do still want to read this book book but the problem is that it's been so long since I read the previous books in the series that I can no longer remember who any of the characters are, so I think I need to reread them all. Which really isn't so much of a trial, just finding the time to read them will be hard.
@Simcha Ohhhh you find her older books better? I haven't read many of her older books. I've read the Wallflowers, Hathaways, and Suddenly you so far. (and I have Then came you and Dreaming of you on my TBR).
I don't think I'll like the Bow Street series, it's not for me.
Which is your favorite? Any book by her I should try? You tried her Contemps?
Ohh this is such a good reason to reread!!! I hope you find the time to do so. I am really happy with how this series turned out! I will miss them all!
I actually really remember liking The Bow Street series. I'm not sure if it's just that after a while the stories begin to seem repetitive or if the earlier books in the series really are better, but the last book of Kleypas's that I read, Mine Till Midnight, just didn't engage me as much as the earlier books did. I really liked all her contemporary novels though.
@Simcha I think it's the Detective part of the Bow Street series that doesn't appeal to me. I'm never been a fan of detective/PI/cops books.
Ohhhh you didn't like Cam? *purr* I love CAM! lol But yeah I get how it could start to look repetitive.
I will try her contemporaries! I'm looking forward to the new one coming out in December!! It's a 'family' romance, i like that =)