Avon Presents: A Gentleman Never Tells

29634944 Title:  A Gentleman Never Tells
Series:  (Essex Sisters #4.5)
Author:  Eloisa James
Length:  112 pages
Publisher:  Avon Impulse
Rating:  4.5 Stars

Eighteen months ago, Lizzie Troutt’s husband died in his mistress’s bed, leaving her determined to never marry again….and unfortunately virginal.

Eighteen years ago (give or take a few) the Honorable Oliver Berwick blackened his own soul, leaving him hardened and resolutely single.

When the chance for redemption in the form of a country house party invitation comes his way, Oliver is determined to prove himself a gentleman.

Until he breaks all the codes of gentlemanly behavior…once again.  -Goodreads



My Thoughts
Oliver Berwick is a man with a conscience.  A conscience which will not rest until a wrong left unrighted for some 18 years, has been addressed.  Little does he know that his repentant heart, coupled with the urging of his most vocal niece, and a little old fashioned manipulation will all work to bring his once darkened soul the lasting reprieve that is true love.

Lizzie Troutt is a woman who has made herself at home on the shelf of widowhood.  Denied the chance to be a wife, by her now dead philandering husband.  Lizzie believes herself to be content to lose herself in books.  Sure in the knowledge that she will never again dare to lose her heart to any man.
Until fate, a house party, and her sister Cat's good karma, step in to shift the winds of change Lizzie's way for the better...and this time, forever.

The story told in this enchanting novella is brimming with the same detailed and seamless story craft that Ms. James employs when writing her full-length novels.  Because A Gentleman Never Tells has been streamlined to a mere 112 pages.  The story presented offers a very detailed glimpse of the how's when's and why's of Oliver and Lizzie, and makes for a much more whimsical tale.

Though Lizzie's sister, Cat, is a worthy catalyst for this rather impromptu romance, readers are able to quickly transition from Oliver's past transgression against the now happy Cat, and his present attraction to her very wary sibling.

To say that things between our leading man and his lady happen suddenly, is a huge understatement.
These two are practically ripping each others clothes off within hours of their meeting.  Who knew that a game of Croquet could be so...arousing?

In this case however, Oliver and Lizzie's passions are a double-edged sword for the plot.  While their steamy and lightening fast romance does hold reader interest.  It also tends to overshadow all other nuances of the story until the epilogue. 

A Gentleman Never Tells is a charming testament to the belief that there really is a "home for every heart."  Even if you have to play Croquet in the house to find it.



     
About Eloisa
New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James writes historical romances for HarperCollins Publishers. Her novels have been published to great acclaim. A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa's very first book that she "found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar"; later People Magazine raved that "romance writing does not get much better than this." Her novels have repeatedly received starred reviews from Publishers' Weekly and Library Journal and regularly appear on the best-seller lists.

After graduating from Harvard University, Eloisa got an M.Phil. from Oxford University, a Ph.D. from Yale and eventually became a Shakespeare professor, publishing an academic book with Oxford University Press. Currently she is an associate professor and head of the Creative Writing program at Fordham University in New York City. Her "double life" is a source of fascination to the media and her readers. In her professorial guise, she's written a New York Times op-ed defending romance, as well as articles published everywhere from women's magazines such as More to writers' journals such as the Romance Writers' Report.

Eloisa...on her double life:

When I'm not writing novels, I'm a Shakespeare professor. It's rather like having two lives. The other day I bought a delicious pink suit to tape a television segment on romance; I'll never wear that suit to teach in, nor even to give a paper at the Shakespeare Association of America conference. It's like being Superman, with power suits for both lives. Yet the literature professor in me certainly plays into my romances. The Taming of the Duke (April 2006) has obvious Shakespearean resonances, as do many of my novels. I often weave early modern poetry into my work; the same novel might contain bits of Catullus, Shakespeare and anonymous bawdy ballads from the 16th century.

When I rip off my power suit, whether it's academic or romantic, underneath is the rather tired, chocolate-stained sweatshirt of a mom. Just as I use Shakespeare in my romances, I almost always employ my experiences as a mother. When I wrote about a miscarriage in Midnight Pleasures, I used my own fears of premature birth; when the little girl in Fool For Love threw up and threw up, I described my own daughter, who had that unsavory habit for well over her first year of life.

So I'm a writer, a professor, a mother - and a wife. My husband Alessandro is Italian, born in Florence. We spend the lazy summer months with his mother and sister in Italy. It always strikes me as a huge irony that as a romance writer I find myself married to a knight, a cavaliere, as you say in Italian.

One more thing...I'm a friend. I have girlfriends who are writers and girlfriends who are Shakespeare professors. And I have girlfriends who are romance readers. In fact, we have something of a community going on my website. Please stop by and join the conversation on my readers' pages.

  
Find: Her
 Website - http://www.eloisajames.com/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/eloisajames
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/eloisajames

Purchase The Book Here:   https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062573063/a-gentleman-never-tells







 

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