Friday

The Husband Hunt by Lynsay Sands

March 23, 2012

Thesaurus word substitutes for Sophomoric: Inexperienced, foolish, naive, birdbrained, blockheaded, harebrained, imbecilic, half-baked...shall I go on?
http://www.lynsaysands.net/

The Husband Hunt didn't have that many pages, however, it took me forever to read.  I kept laying it aside then picking it up.  It just did not hold my interest.  And, for me, Ms. Sands' trademark humor was just not there.  Oh sure, there were places in the book that had "insert laugh track here" moments, but they all seemed to be so, I don't know, juvenile.  In fact there was one "OMG, how immature" scene involving all the sisters and their husbands, as they plan to trap the hero into a forced marriage. 
 
We have Lisa, a typical TSTL heroine - and that should come as no surprise to anyone who has read the other two Madison sister books.  She is from a family in which the TSTL gene seems to run rampant.  She does all those things one would expect: run off into the night, go places she doesn't belong, visit people she doesn't know - at least she doesn't dress up as prostitutes - oh wait, that was her sisters who did that.  That was another eye-rolling "insert laugh track here" moment.  I also had problems with Lisa's vacillation with her love for our hero Robert.  Oh sure, she loved him, always did, however because he doesn't trust her, she must move on.  No, wait!  She will try to make him jealous, then he'll love her.  No, no, maybe it's better if she tries for some other guy - there are some hanging around.  In fact, one of them just may be a killer/kidnapper/rapist, but that doesn't matter because she wants to get married.  Besides, they all have nice smiles.  Maybe if she has sex with our hero, he will love her.  Nah, it's on to the guys waiting in the wing.
 
Then we have the hero, Robert.  Ah, yes Robert, he of little faith.  You see, there is a family curse.  The women in his family are unfaithful, so, he can never ever find true love because all women will be unfaithful.  It's the infamous cheating curse - the curse that strikes supposedly intelligent heroes and turns them into nincompoops. 
 
Now, don't get me wrong...this book wasn't one that I wanted to throw against the wall.  It just didn't have any spark and I thought some of the antics in the book were just plain old groan worthy.  This book was responsible for a number of eye-brow raising moments.
 
As far as the Madison sister series, I thought the first one was the best. The remaining two didn't live up to the standards that I have come to expect of Lynsay Sands.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality Rating: Meaningless
 

3 comments:

Melanie said...

Hello Kay!

I usually don't read rev's for the books I'm about to rev myself, but in this case I was tempted and succumbed. I was all ready to 'rant' just in case you liked it ;D

WTH?! This is my last LS book :(

BTW: As usual you're right on the money! Thanks for the great rev!

Mel

SidneyKay said...

Melanie: good to hear from you. Like you I have decided this is my last historical by LS, I am going to pick up the next Argeneau book, however, I have been disappointed in the last few of those. So, even though I hate to end a series, that may be the last one. We will have to see. It's always sad for me to cut loose an auto-buy author. Been reading LS since 1997.

Melissa said...

This book was hilarious. I mean Lisa is the definition of a TSTL heroine. Then the b-i-ls devise this insane scheme so the hero can sleep under the same roof and be forced to save said heroine. Then the sisters get involved and they all plan for Lisa to seduce the hero. This was beyond ridiculous.