Miles Redmond, the second son of the wealthy Redmond family of Pennyroyal Green, has his family's dark good looks, the cool, studious demeanor of the scientist he is - and formidable sensual talents, which he discreetly and enthusiastically shares with the ton's aristocratic widows. But the very notion of 'love' and its side effects - poetry, idiocy, obsession - amuses him. When it doesn't bore him. Which is why he's blindsided when Cynthia Brightly- the dazzling, slightly scandalous, ambitious and all-but-penniless belle of the season - manages to steal his heart at a ball only to break it minutes later with words he wasn't meant to hear: 'Miles Redmond? Why should I settle for a dour second son when I can have an earl?'.The tables turn two years later when Miles becomes the Redmond heir and Cynthia arrives in Pennyroyal Green trailing a whiff of scandal and a hint of desperation only Miles senses. His mocking offer to help her husband hunt from the lords on hand - as Redmond heir, Miles couldn't possibly marry her - evolves into an incendiary passion that upends their notions of love, duty and ambition.
Julie Anne Long's books do things to me against my will. By all accounts, Like No Other Lover has qualities I normally dislike in a book and yet -- AND YET -- I found myself feverishly reading to the end because I had to know how it ended even though I already knew because I've read other the other books.
You guys. YOU GUYS. WHY?
I started off Like No Other Lover not liking Cynthia very much. She's everything Miles Redmond makes her out to be at first (and well, we can't help liking him), but then Miles -- the intrepid explorer -- begins to see her differently and we start to see her differently, too.
Still. I don't like seeing my hero and heroine pursuing other people. It's annoying -- SO ANNOYING -- because it's generally obvious the hero and heroine need to be together. You know, as romance, and all that. Even so, I was just... drawn to this book.
The funny thing is, I'm not sure I would have gotten deep into this series if I had read it in order. Somehow, reading it out of order got me interested. And I'm okay with that, because Julie Anne Long brings the angst, and sometimes, I like a book that brings the emotion, which Like No Other Lover totally does.
We also see the beginnings of Violet's and Jonathan's stories with the Gypsy fortune teller. I've read both those books already -- Violet's being the infamous I Kissed an Earl, and Jonathan's It Happened One Midnight -- but it was still amusing to see how it all began.
The Pennyroyal Green is quickly earning a spot on my favorites, and I can't wait to dig into other books.
