Author: Julia QuinnPublished: May 25, 2010 (Avon)
Category: Historical Romance
Series: Bevelstokes #3
Rating: 5/10
Quote of Choice: He never argued with females unless it was absolutely necessary
In Ten Things I Love About You, the story of Sebastian Grey, friend and cousin to Sir Harry (hero from the previous Bevelstoke book, What Happens in London), is revealed. Basically, his uncle, the Earl of Newbury, hates him because he's the heir presumptive. Apparently, the earl thinks Sebastian is an ass (seriously, that's what he said), and will do anything to prevent Sebastian from ever inheriting the title. So he lays eyes on Annabel Winslow and her lush body that is so made for baby-boy-birthing and is so fertile birds sing when she's near. Never mind that she's not even half his age, but he must have her, no matter how disgusted Annabel finds him.
I was really looking forward to reading Sebastian's story, because he's so fun and witty. In What Happens in London, he gave a spirited reading of some idiotic book, perhaps it was called something like Miss Buttercup and the Mad Baron? Turns out he's the author of these ridiculous books, which are so made fun of by the couple from What Happens. So the idea of reading Sebastian's story when he has this huge secret of being a popular female author of absurd mystery novels seemed so promising.
My first problem was with Annabel keeping her true identity secret from Sebastian. She really liked him, but knew that her suitor hated him. She didn't bother to inform him of her connection to his uncle, and of course, that led to confusion. There is also a lot less conversation between Sebastian and Annabel than I would have liked because they were constantly being kept apart because Annabel couldn't anger the earl.
The book wound up being dragged out, and I feel like the story could have been handled better in a novella. Too much of the text was filler and I was bored a lot of the time. There were only so many times I could read about how much the earl hates Sebastian and how Sebastian has this awesome secret that would shut up everyone saying that he's poor (he's well off from his best-selling novels). I was expecting the truth to come out about the author's true identity, but that was also shoved aside. I think the only book worth reading out of the Bevelstoke series is What Happens in London. Books 1 and 3 are kinda blah.
