A SENSE OF SIN by Elizabeth Essex

PUBLISHER: Brava, 4/2011
GENRE: Fiction/Historical Romance
SETTING: England, 1794
SERIES: Darthmouth Brides, #2
MY GRADE: B

SYNOPSIS: He Could Be Her Ruin - After a shocking letter and then a mysterious warning about the dangers of unworthy men, Celia Burke is on edge. With her precarious position in society, the merest look could tear her reputation to tatters. And the roguish viscount pursuing her seems interested in far more than just a look... She Could Be His Salvation - Rupert 'Del' Delacorte, Viscount Darling, believes the ravishing Miss Celia Burke played some part in his beloved sister's death. Looking for revenge, he swears he'll seduce and ruin her - without actually touching her. Yet to win Celia's trust and ignite her passions, Delacorte must open his hardened heart to her - and in the process, risk falling for the very woman he hoped to destroy...

MY THOUGHTS: The hero is Del, twenty-six. He's got blond hair and blue eyes. The heroine is twenty year old Celia, who has dark hair and brown eyes. She's studying botany secretly but her father knows about it. She went to school with Del's younger sister, Emily, until Emily's suicide a year and a before.

I liked the plot of the hero, Del, wanting to get revenge on the heroine, Celia for something he thinks she's done. What I don't like about it is him believing Celia has played a part in his sister's suicide when there's really no reason to believe that. Without giving too much away, there was a rumor going around that involved Celia and Emily. Celia and Del are both being blackmailed by the same person, they find out later.

I doesn't make sense to have Del wanting to get revenge on someone he claims to hate by seducing her. If you hate someone why would you, how could you, want to have sex with them?

When it's revealed who the blackmailer(s) is, I was real disappointed. I thought the author could have been a bit more creative with that. I had trouble understanding why Celia was considering paying off the blackmailer(s) when she hadn't done anything wrong.

I could feel Del's attraction for Celia but I couldn't detect any attraction from her for Del. There love wasn't believable to me at all. Their rushed marriage wasn't either. Their characters were underdeveloped, as were everyone's. We got a tiny bit of backstory for Del but nothing for Celia.

The ending was very, and I mean very abrupt. It came so quick I was left a bit stunned. I actually had to go back and read the previous page to see if I'd missed something. I thought I'd accidentally skipped a few pages.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in this novel. I liked the revenge plot but it seemed to turn into a non revenge plot as soon as the lead couple met. It was like the author changed her mind and decided to drop the revenge plot. Comment about the cover. I really like her blue dress. I'm pretty sure though that the hero on the cover has dark hair when Del had blond.

I received this from the publisher in 2011 exchange for an honest review.