Heidi Hart

I had heard great things about this book, and mostly it lived up to the hype (and isn't that rare?). The heroine, Jessica Trent, is going down on my list of all-time favorites: she's smart and snarky and able to take care of herself. The hero, Lord Dain, is a conscience-less rake who reforms over the course of this book. His reasons for being such as ass in the beginning are believable and sympathetic, and his reform doesn't happen overnight, so that's believable, too. 

I loved the witty, sarcastic dialogue between the hero and heroine. I loved that Jessica was so honest, confronting misunderstandings and issues in the relationship with frank conversation. (So often romances let misunderstandings fester for the sake of dramatic conflict, when an honest conversation could clear everything up.) I love that she didn't let Dain walk all over her, but gave as good as she got (maybe even better). 

Actually, I was loving just about everything about this book until about 80% of the way through it, when the plot moppet showed up:

I like kids, but I don't generally like the 'plot moppet' trope -- where a long-lost child resurfaces suddenly, or the lovers take in a street urchin or other foundling. I just don't find these plots believable, because, no matter their tortured pasts or personal issues, these kids invariably clean up well and settle into their newly-priviledged lifestyles with remarkably little turmoil. Here, as is typical, the plot moppet arrives and is swiftly incorporated into the happily ever after, and I'd have liked the book better--found it pretty much flawless, actually--if that plot line had just been left out.