crownoflaurel's review
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicide, Body shaming, and Rape
laurenjodi's review
4.0
Bow Street Runners
4 Stars
Hired by a jilted suitor to locate his runaway bride, Nick Gentry is surprised to discover that Charlotte Howard has good reason to escape her obsessive husband-to-be. He is just as surprised by his own attraction to the courageous Lottie and makes the impulsive decision to provide her with protection by marrying her himself.
Nick and Charlotte are an engaging couple. She is spirited and intelligent with an iron will as demonstrated by the fact that she not only decides to escape her arranged marriage at a time when such things were widely accepted, but also succeeds in eluding Lord Radnor for so long.
Nick is similar to other Kleypas heroes - sexy and powerful with a touch of the bad boy thrown in for good measure. His traumatic past and coping mechanisms only make him all the more endearing. He and Charlotte have intense chemistry and their romance is deeply sensual. Kleypas certainly knows how to write an steamy sex scene.
Unfortunately, the plot is where Worth Any Price encounters some difficulties. Aside from its predictability, the stalking suitor storyline is underdeveloped, the final confrontation is anti-climactic and the resolution is completely illogical. Moreover, despite the build up of Lottie’s relationship with her parents, they are never forced to atone for their actions and the plot point is left dangling.
All in all, this is an entertaining conclusion to the Bow Street Runners series and the short appearance by my favorite Kleypas hero, Marcus Marsden, Earl of Westcliff, earns it an extra half star.
4 Stars
Hired by a jilted suitor to locate his runaway bride, Nick Gentry is surprised to discover that Charlotte Howard has good reason to escape her obsessive husband-to-be. He is just as surprised by his own attraction to the courageous Lottie and makes the impulsive decision to provide her with protection by marrying her himself.
Nick and Charlotte are an engaging couple. She is spirited and intelligent with an iron will as demonstrated by the fact that she not only decides to escape her arranged marriage at a time when such things were widely accepted, but also succeeds in eluding Lord Radnor for so long.
Nick is similar to other Kleypas heroes - sexy and powerful with a touch of the bad boy thrown in for good measure. His traumatic past and coping mechanisms only make him all the more endearing. He and Charlotte have intense chemistry and their romance is deeply sensual. Kleypas certainly knows how to write an steamy sex scene.
Unfortunately, the plot is where Worth Any Price encounters some difficulties. Aside from its predictability, the stalking suitor storyline is underdeveloped, the final confrontation is anti-climactic and the resolution is completely illogical
Spoiler
since when does a psychotic and obsessive stalker kill himself rather than the object of his “affection”All in all, this is an entertaining conclusion to the Bow Street Runners series and the short appearance by my favorite Kleypas hero, Marcus Marsden, Earl of Westcliff, earns it an extra half star.
lanie14's review
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
midnightslover's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
excel_spreadsheet_book_nerd's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
karenmsecrest's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A tough as nails Bow Street runner marries a young woman to save her from the nasty a-hole she’s been betrothed to. They grow to love each through many spicy bedroom scenes. Her parents are absolute selfish pricks. There are a few scrapes with villains. All ends happily.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Suicide
lassarina's review
5.0
I really enjoyed the first two books in the Bow Street Runners series, and I was hoping to find something that tied up the threads and gave Nick the happy ending that maybe he didn't deserve, but that he could earn, and this delivers perfectly. I loved Nick's transition from the spoiled brat (it must be said) that we see in Lady Sophia's Lover to the man he is in this book. I adored Lottie for her resilience and determination to find herself a way out. I liked seeing Grant and Sir Ross show up with indicators that they remain happy.
One thing I didn't really like is Lottie's family; they're cardboard villains, and okay, so people can be terrible and selfish and awful when it comes to their children, but their sheer callousness astonished me at the same time I found it unbelievable. Their interactions with Lottie (and her sister) were distant and wooden and I had trouble perceiving them as any kind of real threat, even though I pegged the outcome of Lottie's rebellion perfectly as soon as they showed up on screen. Some of that is the genre--of course there is a happy ending--but I never felt like there was a real threat to the characters, and that dampened the impact of the "danger" they were in. (Knowing "everyone turns out OK" doesn't usually stop me from being very invested and worried in other novels, so it's worth mentioning here.)
That being said, it was a fantastic read and of course fabulously hot, though readers might want to be aware that there are multiple references to past (threatened and actual) sexual assault as well as violence and suicide.
One thing I didn't really like is Lottie's family; they're cardboard villains, and okay, so people can be terrible and selfish and awful when it comes to their children, but their sheer callousness astonished me at the same time I found it unbelievable. Their interactions with Lottie (and her sister) were distant and wooden and I had trouble perceiving them as any kind of real threat, even though I pegged the outcome of Lottie's rebellion perfectly as soon as they showed up on screen. Some of that is the genre--of course there is a happy ending--but I never felt like there was a real threat to the characters, and that dampened the impact of the "danger" they were in. (Knowing "everyone turns out OK" doesn't usually stop me from being very invested and worried in other novels, so it's worth mentioning here.)
That being said, it was a fantastic read and of course fabulously hot, though readers might want to be aware that there are multiple references to past (threatened and actual) sexual assault as well as violence and suicide.