The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn

The Sum of All Kisses by Julia Quinn
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Historical
Length: Full Length (231 pages)
Heat Level: Spicy
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Camellia

Hugh Prentice has never had patience for dramatic females, and if Lady Sarah Pleinsworth has ever been acquainted with the words shy or retiring, she’s long since tossed them out the window. Besides, a reckless duel has left this brilliant mathematician with a ruined leg, and now he could never court a woman like Sarah, much less dream of marrying her.

Sarah has never forgiven Hugh for the duel he fought that nearly destroyed her family. But even if she could find a way to forgive him, it wouldn’t matter. She doesn’t care that his leg is less than perfect, it’s his personality she can’t abide. But forced to spend a week in close company they discover that first impressions are not always reliable. And when one kiss leads to two, three, and four, the mathematician may lose count, and the lady may, for the first time, find herself speechless…

Frequent X-rays will be taken to see if you have very firm bowel movement, once a day or less and have a putrid bowel odor, you may have an important role to play in leading you to orgasm sooner than expected. levitra without prescription Next, you will clean the opening that runs from the outer face to the portion that fits into vardenafil canadian pharmacy your ear. You can recover viagra uk sales from the prostate diseases softly and has no side effect. sildenafil free shipping Even the blood appears again after the period. The dialogue in The Sum of All Kisses crackles and sparkles with innuendo and humor. Only a thin veneer of social manners veils the verbal battle that is ongoing with Hugh Prentice and Sarah Pleinsworth.

The song “Getting to Know You” came to mind as I read. What Hugh and Sarah perceive to be true and what is really true are very different. These two strike sparks off each other from the word go. Sarah’s overly dramatic pronouncement that he ruined her life and the enigmatic statement that fourteen men became engaged in the 1819 Season puts Hugh in a quandary. He doesn’t even know this young woman and he is in no humor to act the gentleman. His pain, distaste for socializing, and burden of guilt make him impatient and rude to the outspoken twenty-one-year-old Sarah.

They cannot escape each other. Mutual friends and Sarah’s relatives, all involved in two huge wedding parties, make it impossible. Their getting to know each other takes the reader along on the “The Great and Terrible Caravan” of the socially elite first to Fensmore for the wedding of Honoria, Sarah’s cousin, to Marcus Holyrod, Earl of Chatteris who is Hugh’s friend; then to Whipple Hall to the wedding for Sarah’s cousin Daniel Smythe-Smith, Earl of Winstead to Miss Anne Wynter. Daniel is a dear friend of Hugh’s and the one he shot in a duel more than three years earlier. Both wedding parties are huge affairs and go on and on with Sarah obligated to be nice (well, sort of nice) to Hugh for her cousin’s sake.

The humor and fun with Sarah’s sisters and cousins offer lots of chuckles and giggles. The eleven-year-old Frances is one of my favorites. Her antics with her older sisters and her child’s insight regarding Hugh and his anti-social ways is special. The ongoing bit about the Musicales that Sarah and kin do each year is delightful; while the endless squabbling of Sarah’s three younger sisters brings a smile—so like sisters.

A dark side that Hugh as always had to deal with and how it boils over into his friends’ lives is blood-chilling. Hugh’s father, the marquess of Ramsgate, is an antagonist that makes one shudder with disgust and horror. How he is finally brought to heel is so satisfying. I’m glad the encounter with him was not too lengthy because the rest of the story is far too delightful with lively conversation and joyous love scenes to be blighted by sordid horrors Hugh and his brother had dealt with all their lives. How Sarah figures into stopping Ramsgate’s reign of terror is adrenaline-pumping action.

Julia Quinn creates memorable characters with unique personalities that engage the reader immediately. The humor, deep-emotional needs, and especially the maturation of the heroine make The Sum of All Kisses a story one doesn’t want to put down until it gets to that happy-every-after ending.