Reviews

By Love Undone by Suzanne Enoch

theaimfiles's review

adventurous emotional lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

smiley7245's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• 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

4.0

So Maddie, the oldest daughter of a 2nd generation viscount gets molested by a gross older man and her reputation is ruined. Nobody believes her that she did not want or initiate the kiss and groping but it doesn't matter. Her fiance breaks up with her, her father locks her in her room and tells her she had disgraced the family, so she runs away. She finds a job as a governess, but the figure out who she is and the father propositions her so she leaves. Then she gets a job as a companion and caretaker for Mr. Bancroft, the brother to a Duke. He falls ill and the Duke sends his oldest son, Quinlan, out to oversee the care of the property. When he gets there he assumes that Maddie is his Uncle's mistress, and he wants her to be his mistress. He is also surprised to find that she has been taking care of the property and that everyone likes and respects her. He makes a move on her and his uncle catches him and he yells at him and tells him who she really is. Together Quin and Malcolm hatch a plan to reintroduce Maddie to society; the Bancroft family will sponsor her, with the help of his mother the Duchess. Quin takes her home and his father hates the idea; he wants Quin to keep his mistress far away since he's already betrothed. His mother slowly warms to Maddie and together they introduce her to society. Quin gets the bright idea to enlist the help of his fiancee to help her reintroduction, but Eloise is jealous, with good reason. Maddie and Quin have amazing chemistry. Enter Quins younger brother Rafe. Just as handsome, but he and Eloise hate each other, and he has a crush on Maddie. Eloise is pretending to help while actively trying to sabotage Maddie. Quin can't keep his hands off of her. Her ex-fiance shows up, encourage by Eloise. He goes and gets her parents; her mother is so excited to have her back and her father just cares about her not embarrassing them anymore. Her ex asks her to marry him and she says no. Quin says he going to call off his engagement, but the Duke announces it early and tries to bribe her to get her to leave. Instead, she does what she always does, she runs. But, conveniently her ex is right there and offers to take her wherever she wants to go, but he heads in the opposite direction; towards Gretna Green to force a marriage. Rafe sees Eloise and forces her to tell him what she did, and we find out why they hate each other so much; Eloise is the actual ruined woman and she slept with Rafe so he wouldn't tell that he caught her with someone, actively cheating on his brother. He threatens to ruin her and she tells him that she sent a letter to Charles, Maddie's ex, and that he's taking her away. Rafe runs after her. Quin has already broken up with Eloise, goes to Maddie's and finds out that she got in a carriage and that Rafe followed her, and he assumes that Rafe is taking her to get married. Rafe catches up with her and he gets kidnapped, but leaves his horse for Quin to find. Quin finds the horse and catches up to them at an inn. The duke is not far behind and sees the brawl that is happening. Quin tells him that he doesn't care if he disowns him and he and Maddie get marries. Eloise abandons London in shame of her broken engagement. Maddie and the duke make peace when she tells him that she wants her children to know their grandfather. Maddie was so great; she was strong and independent and made the best out of a bad situation. She never gave up and was still realistic about things. Quin grew a lot because of his relationship with Maddie, and because of renewing his relationship with his uncle. Quin and Maddie helped each other be better. I loved this. But also, I cannot wait for Rafe's book. He is such a great character and he deserves just as good of a story as his brother.

loverofromance's review

4.0

Madeleine Willits after being caught up in a scandal by no fault of her own, becomes shunned, and leaves her family and becomes a companion to a elderly man who runs a estate. After living there for four years, she trust no one that is in Society. So when Malcom's nephew Quinlan, Marquis of Warefield comes to help with the estate, Maddie has much distrust for this marquis whom she finds easy to dislike yet she starts to warm up to him, but when she is caught in a passionate kiss once more, she is caught up in a plan to re introduce her into society. After Quinlan is caught kissing the lovely Maddie, he vows to make amends despite all of her protests, even if its for her own good. They journey to London despite Maddies distaste for this plan, but only agrees out of promise she makes to Malcolm who is like her family, one who has loved her like a daughter. So despite her distaste for being introduced into society that rejected her in the past, she discovers a future one where she finds herself aching for a certain Marquis to love and keep her, but is far from trusting him because she doesn't want Quinlan to break her heart as she fears, but will she find the courage to fight for the one that she loves?

Its been awhile since I have read anything from this author, but I do so love her books, they are filled with such passion and a engaging plot that will delight you. As with every one of Enoch's books, I found myself finding it hard to put By Love Undone down, for it was so uniquely written, yet this book is similar to her other books, whereas its a mixture of passion, enticing plot, and engaging characters that will only leave you breathless for more of her well written romances that takes your breath away. I truly had few complaints about By Love Undone, except for the fact that in the beginning both Maddie and Quinlan seem to act more like children than adults in their interaction with one another but as the story progressed the characters seemed to progress in maturity. But other than that it was a lovely read!!!

audreyc543's review

adventurous emotional funny medium-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

4.0

chels_ebooks's review

2.0

I love this cover so much. I want a print of this cover. I want it on a t-shirt, but then if I wore that t-shirt anywhere someone would ask me if By Love Undone was a favorite book of mine and then I'd have to talk to them at length about my issues with it, and we'd both expire from black melancholy.

Quinlan is the Marquess of Sticks Up His Ass, and Maddie is lower nobility that flew London after her ruination, now working for Quin's uncle as a paid companion. Maddie hates Quin right off the bat, but he's immediately attracted to her and enlists her in....er... stick removal. Gathering firewood (out the bum)?

I was initially rooting for these two jokers to make it, but Quin already has a fiancée (he says it's "an understanding" but they are absolutely engaged), who he treats kind of terribly, and then the book needs to turn her into a supervillain in order to make Quin look like less of a bounder. The fiancée, Eloise, gets served multiple set downs from both Quin and his brother, and her downfall was so gleeful that it made me rather uncomfortable. She is the popular girl in an 80s teen movie with shimmering blonde hair, so incredibly vacuous that the audience can't wait to take her down a peg. It's a tablespoon of misogyny that we're supposed to swallow because she was just such a bitch she deserved it.

samd's review against another edition

2.0

DNF. As with most romances I don't enjoy, Our Heroine is a nice and sensible young woman and Our Hero ain't shit, despite the author waving flags at us to tell us He Is The Good Guy, We Are Rooting For Him! But the worst sin a romance novel can commit is making me not care whether or not Our Hero and Our Heroine end up together, and hoo boy did I not give even one shit about this one. There was some interesting thematic material (*real* heavy power imbalance, which I usually enjoy seeing explored) that ended up being a bit of a dry hump in the execution; but this was written in 1998, so I'm inclined to cut it some slack.