Lisa Kleypas - Because You're Mine

Lady Madeline Matthews would rather shame herself than sacrifice her freedom—which is why, to avoid a marriage to an aging, lecherous lord, she seeks out the company of Logan Scott. A torrid affair with the notorious womanizer would surely condemn her in the eyes of good society.
Though a legend in the bedchamber, Logan is, in truth, an intensely private man tormented by past betrayals. Now a forward little minx is disrupting his life with her vibrant charm and unspoiled beauty, a high-spirited enchantress completely at sea in London’s sophisticated whirl. But when what begins with a kiss threatens to blossom into something more rapturous and real, will Logan and Madeline have the courage to drop the masks they hide behind in the name of love?

Comment: After having read the first book in this small series back in March, I decided to finish this and immediately bought the second book to read later on and this month I picked it like I wanted to.

This is the story of Logan Scott, Julia's friend and business partner from the first book, one of those mysterious and apparently indifferent heroes we know will cave in at the end.
Logan Scott is successful despite his origins and he is well respected for his work. He believes himself immune to love until the new assistant shows up.
Madeline wants to run from an arranged marriage to a man she despises and who's older than her so she comes up with this idea of disgracing herself to society and she thinks seducing Logan Scott will do it. But she didn't count with loving to work at the theater and even falling for Scott too...but what will he think when he realizes she has deceived him?

I liked this novel. It has all the classic elements in an historical romance and some situations can be seen as a bit repetitive because we've get in in so many books, but in the end I have to say it worked for me. 

Only one thing I should mention that bothered me a bit. I'm not picky about age difference in romance. Unless it's something meant to shock or a gap too wide to be believable, usually I don't mind romances with it. In this case it wasn't the age difference that seemed off, it was more the way Madeline seemed to be, especially in the beginning. That she was only 18 wasn't the problem because many young ladies married young in the 19th century..but Madeline seemed rather innocent at times and not only for being a virgin. She didn't mature yet in my opinion. I think if her knowledge of the world was different the romance could be more believable even with the idea she got about seducing the older man for her purposes, no matter how childish her attempts.

The romance developed at a solid pace I think. The beginning was sweet and with little steps here and there to make it more cute and to make it seem it wasn't too fast. The author used good strategies to make the impression time was passing by.
After the main conflict happened, the story seemed to turn darker but nothing exaggerated. Just what the story asked for at the time. Many of the elements I was thinking when I mentioned them before happened as this stage. I don't want to give spoilers, but Logan's past isn't what he always believed to be and sometimes what we think others are doing isn't exactly the truth.

Both Madeline and Logan are studied characters, that I'm sure the author outlined well before writing about them..or this had a lot of editing instead because their path seemed very obvious and straight, with nothing too unexpected happening to them.
I think Logan is the type of character we want to see find happiness but it's almost like because it's a requested aspect of the book, that is a given and there's a bit of a lack of determination in any effort to make him larger than life. I don't know, I think I wanted him to be more surprising.
Madeline is rather naive and I don't think she really grew up much during the novel, but I assume she would in any stage of life that might happen after the story ended. Imagination rules.

In the end, this story had great elements, even these we expect to see, some good things, others not that interesting but in the end it made possible the entertainment during a few hours and sometimes that's what matters.
Grade: 7/10