is a rare occasion that I would write such a negative review on a book, I am actually surprised at myself for finishing it, It is really a pity, for the author has the ability to pen her words in a flourish, but what is truly lacking in this book, is an actual plot.
This book is a tremendous failure in its characters, as instead of describing the female protagonist as someone who is innocent but with wit and character, she comes off as a selfish and inconsiderate.
Both her and the male protagonist, as well as the entire cast of supporting characters feels fake and downright ridiculous, the way they would go off on a tangent about completely inappropriate topics in what should have been serious scenes.
It is outrageous that not only the main protagonist couple, but also another pair of supporting characters would suddenly go about discussing their relationship woes while supposedly trying to investigate what may or may not be a case of misconstrued justice at a prison cell, with an entire cast of supporting characters watching/listening to the exchange.
Not wasting any more time on this review, as it is truly a disappointment, “Thats the second time youve saved my life, ”
“Im a princess,” she said loftily, as if he needed reminding, “Saving handsome men from certain death is what we do best,
That and waving gracefully to crowds,
Have you ever seen me wave My mother taught me, . . "
Oh, dear author, I've missed you,
I attribute Katie MacAlister to jump starring my reading heart when I picked up Love in the Time of Dragons whilst perusing paperbacks at my local Target one Sunday afternoon in.
Real life had put my love of reading romance novels on a back burner for decades and with children then off to college, me finally done with college, work life and personal life in perfect chaotic order, I was looking to reacquant myself with my first true addiction: romance novels.
Baltic, Tully, and Brom were just what I didn't even know I needed, Then I read everything on KM's backlist, . . so I am well versed in her writing career and remain a stalwart fangirlever, With that said, I also understand much of the reviewer's comments about her most current writing style, that of a Marx brother's slapstick comedy routine.
And I am in agreement, In part. Her stories can be farcical and silly, with some of the banter verging on tedious, but who doesn't need a little silly served with a poignant romance
Poopoo to those reviewers that feel they need to pick apart her stories to leave them "less," yet miss the main parts for what they are worth.
. . a happygolucky, witty, madcap love affair that ends with a HEA for two fictional characters that are made exactly for each other.
You know you'll always get a few chuckles, wideeyed smexy times, and a HEA with a Katie MacAlister story.
. . you just have to have the time to take that trip down the rabbit hole for that sip of Mad Hatter tea!
What can I say other than I've had this one on my dusty TBR listy for far too long.
The Noble series is on the lighter side of historicals romps, where the imperfect heroines are quirky and their lonely alphaish heroes are, well, noble.
Oh, and I still am in love with Harry!!
Anywho, Leo and Dagmar are adorable together.
The mystery is not that mysterious, albeit needed to have something to bring all my faves of the series sadly, no Dare or Charlotte together.
. . literally all in one prison cell together!
And it looks like there won't be a separate story for our young lovers Nick Noble's son and Thom Plum's niece , just in case you were wondering.
So if this is the end, all I can say is this final book was a good read and the series overall is a delight.
Solid.for The Truth about Leo and a solidfor the four book series, notroublewithHarry A lighthearted, sweet, and fun read, The Truth About Leo was a wonderful historical romance, I really liked this book, It was entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable,
Dagmar was a good heroine, She refused to let anyone, even the king of Denmark, tell her what to do with her life and she was clever or perhaps impulsive enough to figure a way out.
She was a likable heroine and I thought she was great,
Leo was a total sweetie, He was the definition of a gentleman, totally adorable, and utterly endearing, I really liked him. I thought he was perfect,
The romance was lovely, Dagmar and Leo were great together and I liked how they both didn't bother to hide their feelings for each other.
And, the chemistry between them was hot, considering how they both could keep their hands off each other or, at least, couldn't stop thinking about it.
I thought they were great together,
The plot was well paced and I was hooked the entire way through, though the story did start to drag near the end.
The story was delightfully funny and entertaining and, though it did cross the line to silly at a few points, it kept a smile on my face.
There was a surprise in store that I never saw coming, about one of the characters, I really enjoyed the story and the ending was lovely,
The Truth About Leo was a wonderful, light, and fun romance, I really liked this thoroughly entertaining read, From the sweet romance, to the surprising secret, and the endless fun, this book was lovely, Romance lovers, this is a book worth checking out,
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Puré fun! I chuckled a lot during reading this book.
I needed something fun to take my mind off things and this nailed it! Dagmar was delightful, I never realized that Leo was this fun and the whole gang got back together.
It was just a fun romp! Initial Thoughts: I enjoyed this new addition to Katie MacAlister's Noble series.
This book focuses on Princess Dagmar and her love interest Leo, If you are not sure that you'd like historical romance, this series may be a good start as it combines historical romance with a great some comedy.
It's guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, As an added bonus, characters from the earlier books make a lengthy appearance in this book, It's so nice to see Gillian and Noble, Harry and Plum and a grown up Nick with lady problems of his own.
The :
I fell in love with Katie MacAlisters Noble series when I first read Noble Intentions.
I am convinced that nobody writes historical romance like Ms, MacAlister. Her books are full of the usual romance, however they can also be classified as romantic comedies, full of hilarious situations and tongue in cheek humor.
The Noble series is a perfect place for the uninitiated to get a taste of historical romance and all of its rather strange vocabulary.
Can you tell that HR is not my usual genre
The Truth About Leo is the fourth book in the Noble series and while it can be read as a stand alone book, youll want to go back to Noble Intentions, just to meet Gillian and Noble and her two smelly dogs.
What I love about this book is that the women are certainly a force to be reckoned with.
These women are not the demure, shrinking violet of the time period they are opinionated and resourceful and they do keep their men on their toes.
In The Truth About Leo, Her Serene Highness Princess Dagmar sort of weasels her way into Leos life, In fact, she weds him when he was injured and unconscious, She does have some regrets and offers him an annulment, however Leo seems to like the irreverent Dagmar, It was amusing watching Leo and Dagmar get to know each other, I loved how their romance built slowly over the course of the book,
Each chapter begins with some sage motherly advice from Dagmars mother, brought about by Dagmars mischievous behavior.
The topics are hilarious and underscore exactly what type of personality Dagmar had as a young girl,
I enjoyed seeing characters from the previous books make an appearance in this book, It was nice to visit with Gillian and Noble along with a grown up Nick Noble Intentions and Harry and Plum and Thom The Trouble With Harry.
Of course there are references to Plums scandalous book about connubial calisthenics, too,
The Truth About Leo was a lot of fun to read, Its a perfect book for a summer read at the beach, Im looking forward to reading more of Ms, MacAlisters books in the future,
Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for a review copy of this book,
posted on sitelinkBadass Book s, Check it out! This is a fun read, I really liked Dagmar and how she uses finding Leo to her advantage and the way the plot unfolds.
I'm so frustrated by this series, I didn't really like bookand, but then I LOVED book! However, I've been disappointed by, I understand what the author was trying to achieve in the jail section, but it was not only confusing, but began to look really messy.
It's hard to get characters to talk at the same time on paper and make it understandable,
That being said, I really liked the beginning even if the novel was once again very predictable, as I thought the setup of the story line was not only interesting, but also fun and different.
But when they all cram into that jail cell, I feel that not only have the characters lost the plot and a couple marbles, but that I have as well.
Absolutely adorable
I haven't laughed aloud over a historical romance in a while, but this one had me chuckling throughout.
Run to get the book! This one just scraped a C at AAR, so I'm leaving it atstars
The Truth About Leo is the fourth book in Ms MacAllisters Noble series, the first of which, sitelinkNoble Intentions was released over a decade ago.
Two more books followed, but Ms MacAllister turned her attention elsewhere after the third, and has only now returned to the Regency era with this new addition to the series.
I had a good idea of what Id be getting when I requested this book, I reviewed the audiobook version of sitelinkNoble Intentions a while back, and said that it was “a welldone piece of romantic fluff” in the vein of a slapstick comedy, so I was looking forward to more of the same.
I dont know whether the humour I found in that audiobook came more from the performance than the material, or whether its just a better book, but whatever the reason, The Truth About Leo doesnt measure up it falls flat, and, because the author is trying too hard to be funny just isnt.
Leo Mortimer, Earl of March, works for the British government and is making his way to Berlin from Russia via Denmark.
Stopping to rescue a kitten from a tree proves to be a very bad idea, because after heroic efforts on behalf of the imperilled feline, he is beaten, stabbed and left for dead in the back garden of the Yellow House, the residence of Her Serene Highness, the Princess Dagmar Marie Sophie of SonderburgBeck and her English companion, Julia.
Dagmar is in dire straits, Her cousin, the Crown Prince, who for some, unexplained reason detests her, is planning to evict her within a matter of days, and Dagmar has nowhere else to go.
She has no other relatives she can turn to, she certainly doesnt fancy the idea of living out the rest of her days in a convent, as her cousin has threatened, and even though shes halfEnglish, she cannot obtain passage to England due to the unforeseen lack of available transport because of the recent decimation of the Danish fleet.
It seems there is only one way she can possibly get out of Denmark, and that would be if she were the wife of an English officer.
But where on earth is she going to find one of those at short notice And even were she to find one, how can she convince him to marry her
Yep.
Youre way ahead of me,
And actually, the problem I had at this point is exactly the same as the one I had with the earlier book the author tries to draw out the supposed humour in a situation by dragging out a misunderstanding until the reader is tempted to throw the book at the wall.
Although I was reading on my new Paperwhite, so no way was that going to happen! But when Dagmar returns, exhausted, from a day traipsing around Copenhagen trying to either bring her cousin around or find a way out of Denmark, the fact that Julia tells her that the drunkard theyd found in their back garden earlier isnt actually drunk, but hurt, and that hes English just doesnt register with her her doubletake comes about five minutes too late.
So Dagmar and Julia drag Leo inside, and in spite of the doctors pronouncement that he wont live to see the morning, they care for him, Dagmar marries him, they take ship for England and he doesnt die.
When he eventually recovers, Leo is by turns furious at Dagmars actions and unable to keep from ogling her overlarge boobs.
Which are mentioned in passing, Often.
Once returned to London, Leo has to find somewhere suitable to house his new wife, but his search for suitable accommodation is interrupted when Julia is arrested for murder.
The mystery plot doesnt really get off the ground the author lays a few clues early on in the book, and the identity of the wrongdoer is pretty obvious, but the actual dénouement is silly and the events which lead to Leos deduction of whodunnit happen off screen, so theres no real involvement for the reader.
Dagmar is clearly supposed to be kooky and ditzy but while there are moments where she can be quite endearing, shes just too ingenuous and wideeyed to be anything but cartoonish.
Shes incredibly curious about sex and seems to have
spent much of her girlhood ogling the grooms and the footmen! and her enthusiasm of course delights her new husband.
But her utterances about her “lady secret” are so twee as to be vomitinducing, And then there are the really crass moments, such as Leos monologue about shaving a hairy ass, Yeah. Not going back there. Note to Ms MacAllister: On this side of the pond, an ass is a donkey, your arse is the thing you sit on.
Leo isum, Im not sure what he is, because I didnt get a sense of him as a character at all.
Hes not bad looking, he has a terrific arse and nice hands, but other than that hes barely two dimensional.
Its a quick read, and while it wasnt difficult to get through, I did find myself skimming occasionally, as there were chunks of it that just dont move the story forward.
The funniest scene is one in which Dagmar together with three of the other female characters from earlier books gets tipsy while attempting to work out the whys and wherefores of the murder accusation levelled at Julia.
But otherwise, if youre looking for a story to make you giggle fairly frequently, Id look elsewhere.
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