Guest Review: Captain Durant’s Countess – Maggie Robinson

Tucked amid the pages of The London List, a newspaper that touts the city’s scandals, is a vaguely-worded ad for an intriguing job—one that requires a most wickedly uncommon candidate…

Maris has always been grateful that her marriage to the aging Earl of Kelby saved her from spinsterhood. Though their union has been more peaceful than passionate, she and the earl have spent ten happy years together. But his health is quickly failing, and unless Maris produces an heir, Kelby’s conniving nephew will inherit his estate. And if the earl can’t get the job done himself, he’ll find another man who can…

Captain Reynold Durant is known for both his loyalty to the Crown and an infamous record of ribaldry. Yet despite a financial worry of his own, even he is reluctant to accept Kelby’s lascivious assignment—until he meets the beautiful, beguiling Maris. Incited by duty and desire, the captain may be just the man they are looking for. But while he skillfully takes Maris to the heights of ecstasy she has longed for, she teaches him something even more valuable and unexpected…

Series:  The London List #2
Release Date:  February 21, 2013
Publisher:  Kensington Publishing
Source:  NetGalley
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

Robinson’s historical romance book Captain Durant’s Countess was initially painful to read, but the author does a great job of changing the pacing and reducing the redundant dialogue towards the middle and by the end you are wishing for more.

The premise of the story **spoiler alert***is that the Countess is married to an old man that is unable to impregnate her and produce an heir.  Her husband hires a man through an advertisement to come to their home and impregnate her so that there will be an heir.  It’s a great plot.  However, the dialogue was stilted and repetitive.  How many times could the author describe the countess as naive and innocent and the captain as worldly and a rake or the artifacts as Etruscan.  The countess finds the reluctant captain in a BDSM room with a woman.  The next one hundred or so pages describes him vacillating between deciding to impregnate her or stay in London and gamble/carouse with the ladies.  The dialogue was very formal and often repetitive because almost as soon as he came to a decision he was back to talking himself out of it.

He arrives at the countess’ home and the affair begins awkwardly and with too much dialogue and forced interaction.  I was literally yelling out loud “”just grab her and make love to her already””.  They had to make sure the surroundings were right, no one was listening, then it was on the floor, no on the desk, then to the chaise…I actually had to put the book down because this went on for several pages.  It was overkill, and I was really frustrated that the writer was wasting my time with such small things.  Finally they make love and of course she falls for him and his lovemaking is better than any she has ever had. She never had intercourse with her husband (he was impotent) but she did have intercourse with his nephew as did her stepdaughter.  That was an interesting little twist.

If you can get through the first 100 or so pages(I’m estimating because I had the Kindle edition.) you will love the captain and the countess.  I found myself unable to put the book down and read through my lunch hour to finish it.  I was rooting for the characters to make a go of their relationship and defeat the villian (David, the nephew).  I was pleasantly surprised at how the author turned the characters from boring and aloof to  charming and lovable.

There were other unexpected twists and additional characters in the story that added more depth to the plot.   I trudged through the first part very slowly and it was agonizing, but it was worth the wait to get to the end.