THE CLUB

Author: Sharon Page ISBN: 9780440244905 3/2009 HISTORICAL Publisher: DELL
Time Period: Regency 1818

It is London’s most secretive gentlemen’s club—a place where no well-bred lady would dare to be seen. But Lady Jane Beaumont has no choice. Her friend Del has vanished, and Jane must enter into a dangerous charade to find her. Now, within the gilded walls of this erotic lair, Jane awaits the lover she has procured for the evening. But the man who enters her bedchamber is no stranger. He is Del’s brother and London’s most notorious rake—a man on a rescue mission of his own. Christian is intrigued by the innocent beauty who clearly does not belong in the notorious brothel. And as the two seek out the damning secrets of the club . . . as Christian initiates Jane into the ways of true sensual pleasure, she knows she has entered the most dangerous place of all—where the price of temptation could be her heart. . . .

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I have to admit that after reading the back blurb of THE CLUB by Sharon Page, I had a lot of high hopes for this romance. The plot sounded intriguing, the characters and settings sounded good, and from what I was reading there was bound to be some hot, erotic, romance action scorching a few of its pages. But alas, sadly, it was not to be.

In all fairness to the author, there are a couple of thrilling action scenes, such as when Jane and Christian are searching for his missing sister Del in a hidden sanatorium, that are extremely well written and kept me glued to the pages. However, moments like those are too few and far between. Plus, the ending wasn't that suspenseful and discovering who the villain was... well, it was pretty much a no brainer.

I also had a disconnect problem between the two lead characters. I couldn't really picture Jane and Christian as a team, either in the romantic sense or as equal partners in the hunt for Del. I had hoped that as the storyline in the novel progressed, so too would their relationship. But the pair never seemed to spark any kind of an emotional connection between them, and without that bond I didn't have much interest in them as a couple.

Bottom line, THE CLUB is a worthwhile read, but one that doesn't quite live up to its potential. Nevertheless, I'm impressed enough from the parts of this book that I really did like, to keep my eye on this author to see how she develops.

Nancy Davis