Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught

Rating: A+

Setting: Historical

Hero: Clayton Westmoreland

Heroine: Whitney Stone

After terribly embarrassing her father when she makes a cake of herself by throwing herself all over a local boy, Paul, Whitney Stone is sent to Paris with her uncle and aunt. There, she blossoms under the loving care of her uncle and aunt and turns into a beautiful, confident and witty young woman. She becomes the new rage in Paris when she is presented to the Parisian Society, capturing the heart of sophisticated and suave Nicolas DuVille. But Whitney remains loyal to her childhood love and returns to England all ready to win Paul's heart with her charms. But she doesn't know that her swimming-in-debts father has traded her off with the Duke of Claymore.

Nicolas DuVille wasn't the only one infatuated with Whitney. Clayton Westmoreland, 9th Duke of Claymore was also fascinated by her when she spurred with him at a masquerade, unknowing who he was, and making fun of noble titles. And that was the time Clayton knew he had to have her but he was also aware that Whitney's stubbornness and willfulness won't let him approach her in a typical courtship. So he devises a plan of paying off her father's debts and signing a betrothal with her father without her knowledge. After Whitney gets to know the truth, there begins a roller coaster ride of emotions and relationship intricacies by the end of which we have a wonderful story of two people who learned to learn from their mistakes, a willful hoyden who ended up a lot more grown-up and mature and an arrogant man who learnt not to jump to conclusions every time. 

Over the years as I read more discussions online about this book and its characters, I came to acknowledge their flaws as well but Whitney, My Love was also my book by Judith McNaught, so it must have had something that made me go on a JM spree and devour all her novels! 

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Dark Lover by JR Ward

Rating: A-

Setting: Paranormal

Hero: Wrath

Heroine: Beth

Dark Lover by JR Ward (who also writes under the name of Jessica Bird) is the first book of her Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Based in present day Caldwell, New York, the Brothers of an ancient order of vampire warriors are the last thing standing between their race and the soul-less vampire slayers, Lessers, who are recruited by Omega (a supernatural evil power) to drive the vampire race to extinction. 

In BDB novels, vampires are a separate specie from humans, to be a vampire you have to be carrying vampire blood, no getting-bitten-and-waking-up-a-vampire stuff. At the start of their lives, they seem to be like humans with no special powers and they can go out in daylight as well. But in their mid-twenties, they go through their 'transition' and turn into full-fledged vampires. They need to drink blood from opposite gender to survive. Vampires are few in numbers because of armies of slayers hunting them down, high infant mortality rate and because not all of vampires survive the demands of the rigours transition phase.

Dark Lover's hero Wrath is the last pure-blood vampire left in the world, which makes him the king of the race. But he's a soldier by choice and wants nothing to do with the kingship. His closest friend Darius asks Wrath to help his daughter through her transition. The problem is the daughter is half-human, who doesn't know that she's going to be turned into a vampire soon and on the other hand, Wrath hates humans and doesn't want to be saddled with the responsibility. 

Beth has been noticing changes in her body but has been largely ignoring them as she works as a writer for a local newspaper. But one night she thinks that she dreamt of a large dark man with fangs but when realizes that its not a dream but reality, she's close to freaking out but she can't over her attraction to the dangerous man. 

I am totally not into paranormal romance but JR Ward's Dark Lover was my first fling with this genre and I am totally hooked! These Black Dagger Brothers like rap music, fast cars, black leather, play pool and have the whole alpha male machoism going on, but they have their own flaws as well as strengths. The romance between Beth and Wrath is gut-twisting, although sometimes reader can get confused how the total alpha male (or vampire in this case) can turn into a sappy puppy whenever Beth's around. But the story line is fast and exhilarating which makes it a page-turner, although one feels stuck in the pages when the Lessers go on and on about their Mr. D's and Mr. X's. I would have been a lot happier if there were lesser pages of those lessers!

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