Desired by Nicola Cornick

Title/Author: Desired (The Scandalous Women of the Ton #5) by Nicola Cornick
Publisher/Date published: HQNBooks, November 29th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "Her wicked ways were the talk of the ton
Teresa, Dowager Marchioness of Darent, is rumored to have exhausted her four deceased husbands with her insatiable needs. So it's no surprise that every rake in the ton wants to bed her. If they only knew... Through clever marriages to men who would ask nothing of her physical self, Tessa has remained rather innocent in the ways of the bedroom. But now she's on the verge of losing everything and wants to take care of the stepson she's grown to adore.
Enter Captain Owen Purchase. The handsome American adventurer has come into the title of Viscount Rothbury. And the rumors surrounding his injuries at sea suggest that he could fit Tessa's requirements. But little does Tessa realize that the gossipmongers are wrong. She just might lose her heart, and her desires, to the most unlikely of men..."

I really enjoyed Mistress at Midnight and Notorious by the same author, so I was hoping to enjoy this one just as much! That didn't quite work out for me, but it was still a nice read.

Mistress by Midnight got me wondering about Tessa, cause she's the sister of the heroine of that particular historical romance and she sounded absolutely intriguing. And she is! She is such a strong character and has been through a lot and basically didn't talk about it with anyone cause she felt she couldn't. Which is really sad, cause her sisters both care for her so much, especially the one she's living with.

I also really liked Owen, he's a great guy. The thing about his history with Tess's sister was a bit weird and I thought he'd made some peculiar choices, but still: he's one of the good guys. You want to trust this guy and make him trust you.

The thing that bothered me in this novel: Tess has been through a seriously traumatising sexual experience and it's left her scarred and she freezes at the mere thought of kissing anyone (this is not what bothered me, I'm getting to the point). BUT then all of a sudden she goes from being comfortable with kissing Owen to having sex with him in one day? I mean, really? It doesn't make sense AT. ALL. Seriously.

At one point I thought both Owen and Tess needed a good whack on the back of their head to get the sense back in the right place, but I did think they had great chemistry.

My rating: 3 stars