Historical Romance Review: Luck Be a Lady by Meredith Duran

Luck Be a Lady by Meredith Duran (Rules for The Reckless #4)


bought

Synopsis from Goodreads
Romance sizzles between a famous heiress and an infamous crime lord in this fourth sexy novel in the Rules for the Reckless series from the USA Today bestselling author of Fool Me Twice.

The Wallflower

They call her the “Ice Queen.” Catherine Everleigh is London’s loveliest heiress, but a bitter lesson in heartbreak has taught her to keep to herself. All she wants is her birthright—the auction house that was stolen from her. To win this war, she’ll need a powerful ally. Who better than infamous and merciless crime lord Nicholas O’Shea? A marriage of convenience will no doubt serve them both.

The Crime Lord

Having conquered the city’s underworld, Nick seeks a new challenge. Marrying Catherine will give him the appearance of legitimacy—and access to her world of the law-abiding elite. No one needs to know he’s coveted Catherine for a year now—their arrangement is strictly business, free from the troubling weaknesses of love. Seduction, however, is a different matter—an enticing game he means to ensure she enjoys, whether she wishes to or not...


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8/10

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While I powered through Lady Be Good, I lost some of my steam with Luck Be A Lady.

The reason? I didn't think the characters lived up to their potential.

Catherine and Nick had so much more bite as secondary characters that I've been really looking forward to their story.

However, once they became a hero and a heroine of their own love story, they reverted to more conventional interactions you would expect from a romance novel, and that deflated me a bit.

Saying all that, it's an extremely enjoyable read in its own right, and I guarantee you will love it.

I'm just... I'm freaking spoiled, ok? I expect the guy who started as an antihero to stay one, and the heroine who is extremely socially-awkward to have really unorthodox views on life until the very end.

Nick and Catherine followed a pretty typical route, and what's more disappointing, their characters, which were larger than life on their own, somehow felt stifled by interactions with each other.

Nick was much more decisive as a secondary character, for example. I couldn't understand why he was such a wet fish about Catherine's brother or the situation with the investors. *shrugs*

However, pay me no mind. In the end of the day, it's a pretty sweet read and it can absolutely be read as a standalone. Recommended.


* * *
 По сравнению с предыдущей книгой серии, которую я прочла на одном дыхании, захлебываясь от восторга, роман этот меня разочаровал.

Причина? Не думаю, что автор дала полностью развиться потенциалу главных героев.

В качестве второстепенных персонажей и Кэтрин и Ник были острыми, яркими характерами, и я с нетерпением предвкушала развития их отношений.

Однако, как только они заполучили собственную книгу, их поведение вернулось в более традиционные рамки, что выбило меня из колеи.

Имейте в виду, что даже с моими заморочками, книга эта очень хорошая и читается с удовольствием.

Я просто... испорчена, понятно? Я ожидаю, что если герой вел себя как антигерой, то таким он и должен остаться. А если героиня чрезвычайно странна в своих выходах в общество и вообще большой нелюдим, то подстраивать ее ожидания под социальные нормы только оскорбит ее интеллект и интеллект читателя.

У меня было такое впечатление, что любовь друг к другу совершенно подавила индивидуальность и оригинальность главных героев.

Проблемы, с которыми они столкнулись как пара, почему-то с их ресурсами и статусом были решены совершенно неэффективно и растянуты для продвижения сюжета.

Однако, не обращайте внимание на мое ворчание. Книга сама по себе неплохая, и даже может читаться вне серии. Просто по сравнению с предыдущим шедевром смотрится слабенько. А так, рекомендую.

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