Desde que la apodaron "la salchicha escocesa", la vida social de Josie Essex ha sido una constante humillación. Josie siente que jamás encontrará el amor, así que cuando Garret Langham, conde de Mayne, le ofrece su ayuda, ella está tan desesperada que acepta. Nadie podría ser mejor profesor en el arte de la seducción que el canalla más famoso. Josie empieza a atraer a su propio círculo de admiradores y descubre que puede ser mejor en el juego del amor de lo que ella misma pensaba, ya que Garret parece estar un poco celoso de su éxito...

Another chubby, insecure heroine. I liked this book, but mostly because of that theme, so I'm not terribly inclined to read the rest of the stories in the series. I think the novelty of historicals has worn off for now, with the exception of the ones that cater to my preferred heroine (fat, abused, scarred, insecure, tomboyish, plain, etc etc). (3.5 stars)

First read in July 2011, re-read December 2016. I almost bumped this up to four stars, and probably should to be fair, but while I ADORE this heroine's insecurity about her figure, her overall confidence kind of flew in the face of it, tempering the angst that I love in these kinds of tales (notably, how she concocted the scheme at the end because she was so confident that Mayne loved her and not Sylvie, and that he just needed to figure that out). I also enjoyed the secondary romance as well.
( )

What I love about this series is that there is so much going on with all the characters we have come to love that there's actually a level of uncertainty about who Josie will ultimately end up with. Very satisfying. ( )

I had liked Josie as a side character, but I liked her less as this book went on. Perhaps this one was trying to be more of a comedy? It just missed the mark for me. I'm glad it's over. ( )

Just like the book before this one it again took until chapter seven for me to get into this story. So anyway I really wish it would stop being mentioned how much older Garrett is than Josie because it makes me feel icky with how much older he is than Josie.
 
This story begins for me when Garrett and Josie get tipsy in the Starlight room in his house and he gets her to shed her corset. This scene just made me smile because I could totally tell it was a precursor for things to come.
 
I became so incredibly annoyed with how the author gave dual top billing with what is suppose to be our main couple and a secondary couple, Garrett's sister who appears in previous books and the guy who starts a nasty nickname for Josie, The Scottish Sausage. The author dedicates whole chapters to the secondary couple and alternates the two stories. I would be just fully immersing myself into Josie and Garrett's story and then would be rudely jerked out of their story into the other couple. It got so bad for me I actually skipped the chapters that didn't pertain to Josie and Garrett. They are who I wanted to read about darn it!
 
There were times I was reading this story I kept asking myself why I was trying so hard to get into it instead of treating it as blase reading and then there would be a Mayne scene. The author writes this character so strikingly, it's a shame to me she couldn't write him a supporting story.
 
There are definitely some scenes and dialogue between Josie and Garrett which cause a pang in your chest but few and far between. I will say I'm not someone who feels a need to get married but there is something about the way some men say "their wife" and when Mayne said wife in regards to Josie I seriously got shivers.
 
Too much attention alternating between the first and secondary couples and I totally feel like the author flaked out on a character I loved; maybe my expectations were to high. This book received a B solely on the back of Mayne. Josie was a really likable character but sorry she just didn't meet up to Mayne standards.I would like to say though, this has been one of the strongest series I have ever read. Each book was above average and kept me involved with the series, which is extremely hard to do. The author just needs to curb her ADHD and focus on the main couple. ( )