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Nabaza.net-The MarketPlace - After the Kiss: The Notorious Gentlemen
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List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $6.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Avon
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060843090
ISBN: 0060843098
Label: Avon
Manufacturer: Avon
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: 2008-07-01
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: 2008-06-24
Studio: Avon
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Editorial Reviews:
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A Notorious Gentleman . . . Sullivan Waring wants only two things: his rightful inheritance, and revenge against the man who stole it from him. By day, Sullivan is the most respected horse breeder in England; by night, he plunders the ton's most opulent homes to reclaim his late mother's beautiful paintings. His quest is going swimmingly . . . until the night he's discovered by Lady Isabel Chalsey. Clad only in a revealing nightdress, she's an entrancingly different kind of plunder, and how can a thief resist stealing a kiss? A Curious Lady . . . Surprised by a masked man in her own home, Isabel should be quaking with fear. Instead the sight of the sinfully handsome Sullivan makes her tremble with excitement. Who is this man, and why is he so set on this reckless pursuit? Lady Isabel loves a challenge, and she'll dare anything to uncover Sullivan's secret—but she may instead convince him that she is the greatest prize of all.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: the book girl reviews After The Kiss
Comment: This is the beginning of a new series by Suzanne Enoch. I really love how the title fits into the book. After the kiss is exactly when the book takes place. Lady Isabel encounters Sullivan as he is robbing her home and the only way he thinks of to distract her is by kissing her. Lady Isabel comes across a little spoiled and bratty in the beginning of the book, but changes throughout the book as she falls in love and comes to realize what is important. Sullivan is living his life for revenge, but he too comes to realize what is important. This is a story of overcoming your past and learning who you really are. I really liked this book, and can't wait to read the next in the series.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Main Character
Comment: Lady Isabel Chalsey is by far one of the more interesting characters in recent romance novels. She has a belief in love and is one of those women that find easy to believe. She falls in love and stays in love in her youth. I find her extremely realistic in the portrayal of her youthful love with the dark man, or bad boy in our modern society. This is the captured time of young love. The only problem with the tale was that I did not find Sullivan Waring very appreciative of the great love he had and then damaged.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An Exercise in Character Development!
Comment: Like another reviewer, I too had been disappointed with Ms. Enoch's recent historicals (see my reviews on Sins of a Duke and Something Sinful). However, being an equestrienne with a love of Regency romances, the basic premise certainly piqued my interest.
I thought Isabel's (or Tibby's, as she's frequently called) character was well developed and the majority of her actions made sense from that perspective. So often, romance heroines are inconsistent and leave readers scratching their heads. Isabel's motivations for her actions were always in tune with her character, which can be especially difficult when writing a character who undergoes such a drastic shift in personality and beliefs during the course of a novel. Isabel shifts from a sheltered, spoiled princess to a more mature, worldly woman in the course of 384 pages. Throughout it all, she remains likable, as Enoch gives us plenty of indication as to why Isabel acts and thinks as she does. By allowing us to understand her, we are able to like her better.
Sullivan too is a character who develops over the course of the novel, going from a scorned, bitter son bent on revenge to a man who is capable of loving the very sort of girl he was determined to hate. What might have started out as a desire to see one of Society's princess fall from grace morphed into something else as he saw that she too had vulnerabilities and she too was at the mercy of Society's mercurial temperaments.
The secret, forbidden courtship of Isabel and Sullivan also made things enjoyable. Both knew what they were doing would be seen as wrong (which of course made it all the more delicious) but the attraction between them was simply too strong. This is a common device, I'll grant you, but in After the Kiss, you really believe that their attraction cannot be denied. What's more, both characters understand that what their doing is wrong and that there will be consequences, causing a realistic amount of hesitation and thought on the part of each. So often, characters leap into romance without a thought as to what their friends and family might think, which, I'm sorry to say, just isn't how real life works.
Finally, as with most of Ms. Enoch's novels, the secondary characters are not just a distraction but truly enhance the novel. Tibby's family, her friends/enemies, even the requisite 'villain' all helped to both move the plot forward as well as present obstacles which forced Isabel and Sullivan to make choices that furthered their growth. This novel is truly an exercise in character development. Sullivan and Isabel are dynamic characters whose actions ring true with whatever the current state of their personalities is, a rare thing in the modern romance novel. I highly recommend this novel, both for those who have never read Suzanne Enoch and need an introduction and for those who have been longtime fans recently disappointed by her latest historical fare.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A review from a fairly cynical historical romance reader...
Comment: After disappointment in some of Ms. Enoch's more recent historicals, I'm so glad to have read this book. This book is definitely a keeper for me and worth every penny!
This book is about a bastard son, Sullivan Waring, who is a famous horsebreeder and also secretly a thief of paintings, or rather someone who is reclaiming paintings which originally belonged to his late mother and sold without his permission. Sullivan meets Lady Isabel Chalsey during one of his nightly painting retrievals and in order to silence her, he kisses her. That kiss begins everything...
Initially reading this synopsis, I was a bit skeptical about the believability of this story. I mean, seriously, who kisses a thief in the middle of the night in their house? There are a lot of elements in this story that another author might have made less believable and made me roll my eyes at, but Ms. Enoch unravels the story so wonderfully and realistically that the jaded historical romance reader part of myself just disappeared while I was reading this book. Not only is the story engaging, but I loved everything in-between! I absolutely loved the subtleties. The subtle humorous comments within the dialogue and narration were a delight! Nothing was over the top. I loved that the author didn't accommodate for the lowest common denominator when writing this book. Although this isn't the most complicated of books, not everything was simple, like some historicals I've read.
This book has depth and realism. I love that when Isabel is slightly shunned by the ton, the author portrays the issue a little bit more realistically than other authors have. Isabel doesn't quickly wave away the consequences and reaction of the ton. Although there have been heroines in other books which have and have been made to seem stronger for it, I like that Isabel doesn't. She's human and not infallible. She's real and multi-dimensional. She stops and considers everything. She knows she has something to lose that is significant to her because she's been raised a certain way. Which one should she sacrifice?
I also enjoyed reading about the development of Isabel and Sullivan's relationship. Of course, there was the initial attraction, but there needed to be something more between them to build and Ms. Enoch does that incredibly well...and at a good pace. And it isn't just lust! There's flirtation, trust, suspicion, and everything in between! And...in their thoughts, they admit to the attraction and there is nothing coy about it! I cannot begin to tell you how much I hate it when characters feign ignorance or avoid their feelings for each other when it is clearly there. These two know they are attracted to each other and maybe it takes one of them a little longer to figure it out, but once they do, it's openly admitted and no one is trying to pretend something's not there. It's refreshing!
I even loved the secondary characters, the villians...everyone. They all played their parts wonderfully. Also, the heroine has a very supportive, loving, and complete family! I don't know how many historicals I've read where there's always someone who's the "evil" family member or where there's only part of a family.
I cannot begin to describe how wonderful this book is. You really have to read it for yourself and see. I am very glad to know that there are still these type of historical romances around. :) With that said, I'm off to pre-order Ms. Enoch's next book to this series, Before the Scandal: The Notorious Gentlemen!
Customer Rating:
Summary: I could not put it down - Excellent !
Comment: Lady Isabel comes downstairs to catch Sullivan Waring the stealing from her family. To stop her from calling for help - he kisses her and she takes his mask. Later Lady Isabel finds out the the notorious thief is Sullivan Waring and she blackmails him... I wish I could tell you more - but there is lots of sexual tension with the character and since they are in a different 'class' there is frustration. Enjoy!
Off to find her next novel Before the Scandal - Lieutenant Colonel Phineas Bromley story.
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