Publication date: April 1 1992
Published by: Island Books
Genre: Adult, Romance, Historical, Chick Lit
Rating:
The gaslight's glow lit Alana Van Alen's golden hair. Born to luxury, she belonged with the Astors and the Vanderbilts at cotillions and soirees. But she shivered with fear and something more as she faced the handsome, ruthless Trevor Sheridan. He had bankrupted her fortune and would expose her family's scandalous secret unless she accepted his outrageous offer, his emotional blackmail ... his heart-stopping kiss.
HE BROKE THEM ALL
Born Irish, brought up in the streets, Trevor "the Predator" Sheridan learned early how to get the wealth and the women he wanted. An expert at games of power, he played one that would destroy every famous family who had snubbed him. Tricking the beautiful Alana was his trump card. But he never intended to want her ... until her beauty and her resolve stole his breath away.
NOW THEIR DESIRES SWEPT THEM TOWARD RAPTURE ... OR RUIN
I don't think anyone has been more disappointed in this book than me 😢
I wanted so much to love it, but it didn't let me.
I am going to focus more on the two main characters of L&L, because the story, no matter how far fetched, was quintessential historical romance and I quite liked it.
It takes place in New York around the late 1800s (I don't think a specific date was given) where blue blood all-American high society shunned the nouveau riche, despising their vulgarity and their tasteless display of wealth. That included the Dutch, like the Vanderbilts, and the Irish, like Trevor Sheridan. He holds such a grudge against the Manhattan upper class, that he will do everything in his power to bring them down by making them accept him and all his family as one of their own. So, the premise is pretty interesting eh? Now you see why I am so frustrated at this book with its great plot and its awful characters?!
Alana: She was a weak, malleable sheep. It may not look like that at first, with her trying to be a rebel by defying her peerage, but she is. There is not an instant where she is not crying. I don't know how many times I read the word "tears" (I do. It was 82.) or a sentence with "unshed" or "frozen" in it.
She was very indecisive - she hates him, maybe she loves him, yes, she does love him, but no, she hates him - just to create excessive, unnecessary drama. Of course, it didn't help that the whole book was told from her POV😒 so there was no reprieve from her idiotic thoughts. At one point, Trevor bought her a diamond necklace, which she rejected as a very ill conceived gift, claiming that she cannot be bought. Good on her, right? After a couple of chapters, she sees his sister wearing a new bracelet Trevor bought for her and she was pitiful asking herself why Trevor didn't get her anything...See what I mean?
Also, I hated how she made excuses for and defended all the terrible, awful men in her life like her uncle and that slimy boyfriend Anson, yet she could not make herself justify Trevor's actions even a little.
However, if I am being completely honest, I felt sorry for her after the first time she and Trevor had sex. It was one of the most unpleasant sexual experiences I have read in a HR, especially for a virginal, chaste girl like Alana. I found it awful and cringe worthy.
I did not see how Alana could come to love Trevor in the end. God knows he was awful to her throughout the book. Probably because he was so handsome. And let's not forget rich, because, sure, she values her dignity most of all, but she also values mansions, balls, gowns and diamonds.
It's a hard balance.
...
Trevor: He was a strong and tough as nails male, who refused to just sit down and take it, so he decided to stick it to the snobbish elite instead. I understood and accepted all that, and I really admired his loyalty to his family.
At first.
As his anger raged on uncontrollably, he was not that likable anymore. He remained insufferably bitter until the very end, even after finding out the truth about Alana. He was really nasty to her and the way he spoke to her, not only would I never love him if I was in her shoes, but I would take all his money and beat the shit out of him with that miserable cane of his. He never displayed any genuine emotion towards Alana, only vindictiveness and possessiveness. I am all for a moody and grumpy MC, but Trevor took it to a whole other level! Maybe he loved her in his own way, I just didn't like that way at all.
Overall, Lions&Lace was about two deeply flawed people who begrudgingly ended up being with each other because they simply didn't have any other choice.
Sorry, that's not how I like my historical romances 😞
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