A Lady Of His Own by Stephanie Laurens



This is the third book in Stephanie Laurens Bastion Club series. Charles St. Austell has returned to his ancestral home to flee the matchmaking attempts of his family and to investigate some suspicious activities for his former commander which may be espionage. Charles is surprised to discover that Lady Penelope Selborne, the girl he had loved as a young man and who had spurned him after their one and only intimate encounter, is still unwed and a resident of the area. Seeing her again awakens the spark between them and Charles decides that since he is in the market for a wife, he might as well marry a woman he loves. Convincing Penny of this will be even more challenging than the mystery he came home to solve.

There is more going on in the story than what I was able to describe. That is frequently the case with this author's stories. They can be very complicated. As with the first two books in the series, the stories were interesting, but too long. I've also noticed that the characteristics of the main couples in these books don't vary much. The men are typical romantic heroes, nothing out of line there. It's the type of female that repeats throughout this series that is really starting to grate. These women are introduced as headstrong independent types who don't need a man in their lives... until they do. They lose their wits (to use the author's favorite word) everytime the man touches them and they make careless mistakes that frequently put them in a situation where they have to be rescued by the man. I like a little more common sense in my female characters.

BEST FEATURE: The plot. You really have to pay attention when reading this series because the villian is never obvious and there are a lot of things going on. It's exercise for the mind.

WORST FEATURE: The characters. They are starting to feel recycled. I need more variety.

PARENTAL WARNING: violence and sexual content explicit enough to be considered adult only 

RATING: 2, which ryhmes with deju vu.