Desperately Seeking Suzanna

by Elizabeth Michels

[kimbacaffeinate]

Desperately Seeking Suzanna is the second book in the Tricks of the Ton by Elizabeth Michels. If you will remember I adored Must Love Dukes her debut novel and the first in this series. Guess What? I have a new favorite author to add to the historical romance genre. Michels not only delivered a romantic tale that held me spellbound she did something quite clever. Mini review: Fun, romantic, hot, and sweet. Humor made this tale delightful.

For one night at a masquerade party, Sue Green feels pretty and bold as she takes on the persona of Suzanne. A mishap and some champagne have her sharing a kiss with Lord Holden Ellis before getting caught and sent home. Lord Holden is determined to find the little masked vixen who invades his waking thoughts and dreams. The only one who seems to have answers is Sue Green and the tale that unfolds was delightful entertaining.

Michels uses a few tropes with her character Sue Green. She is both the Ugly Duckling and Cinderella. I adored Sue from the beginning. She is entering her fifth season and is constantly reminded by her mother of her short comings. Yet, Sue remains sweet, kind and generous. She is an artist, a dreamer and her thoughts, comments and actions were pure, humorous and made me laugh. We see her transform throughout the novel from shy and unsure to strong and confident. Lord Holden Ellis is dealing with a slew of issues, but he is completely swoon-worthy and despite some blunders I fell for him. As Michels peeled back his layers, we saw the damage inflicted on him, and I wanted to hold him. The interaction between Holden and Suzanna was heated and at times hilarious. The dialogue between Holden and Sue was equally funny, and I laughed aloud at their banter. Sue’s mother is dreadful and how she bore someone as sweet as Sue is beyond me. Many times I wanted to climb in a carriage and run the woman over, and then navigate the horses around and do it again! A woman from Holden’s childhood returns and eek gads this was interesting storyline froth with danger.

Desperately Seeking Suzanna was such a fun romp from the tropes at play to the mischief and mayhem. It was such a delight to watch Holden stumble and see Sue grow. I was desperate for my happily ever after, and the twists and turns to get there were suspenseful and entertaining. Michels delivered just enough tension to make it exciting without overdoing it. Sue’s mannerism and directness with Holden were charming and humorous, and it was such fun seeing Holden taken aback by it all. Now the clever part. Do you remember in my review of Must Love Dukes when I mentioned Sue and Holden. I said something curious was going on with them? It was..THEIR story, THIS story is/was simultaneously happening. So we see a few of the same scenes where they interacted and it was so cool. The pacing was well done as it built towards the climax and ending. Once again, Michels left me spent and satisfied.

Copy received from publisher in exchange for unbiased review that originally published @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer