There was SO MUCH GOING ON in this romance novel! Holy crap. Prison ships, debauched dead fathers, illegitimate children, medical miracles, chess, gowns! Not to mention the steamiest chess playing scene I think I have ever read. The bright moments shone, but I think 1/3 of the material could have been left out. I'm still not sure why I needed to give a fuck about the secondary character Villiers bastard children. I was all sexy chess please. However, I had fun.

I was inspired to pick up an [a:Eloisa James|86778|Eloisa James|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1375996000p2/86778.jpg] novel after listening to her interview on my local NPR station, WUWM Milwaukee.
http://wuwm.com/post/shakespearean-scholar-pens-romances-you-it
She is a fascinating lady, and I liked her opinions on the romance genre. Shoot, she's a Shakespearean professor. And she can write. Despite the craziness of this novel, I'll try one of her more recent ones. This was the only one available for immediate checkout on OverDrive.