Review: Sweet Enemy by Heather Snow

Liliana Claremont is an unusual woman for her day and age.  Her mother died when she was young so she was raised by her father.  Her father taught her to follow scholarly pursuits instead of the normal things most women would do.  So instead of wanting to be married and have children she is a chemist and a healer.  She is quite successful at what she does however she finds herself increasingly frustrated with her lack of headway into the male dominated world of science.  One night while working she comes across some old papers that belonged to her father.  She soon realizes they are code and her father might have been murdered.  She connects the papers to the Earl of Stratford’s family and estate.

Geoffrey Wentworth, the current Earl of Stratford, has been out maneuvered by his mother and uncle.  They have thrown a party in his honor in order to find him a wife and because they invited many of his current political allies he has no choice but to stay and host the party.  Liliana is one of the women at the party however she is not there to marry.  She is there to find the truth about how and why her father died and what the connection to the Earl’s family might be.

Starting out, one of the things I liked about this book was Liliana’s relationship with her aunt and cousin.  In many historical romances this would be an opportunity for the aunt to be portrayed as the evil aunt that would promote her own children at the expense of her niece.  That was not the case here.  Both her aunt and cousin are very much on board with her marrying and settling down.  Her cousin, Penelope, even knows the true reason Liliana is at the party and goes to great lengths to help her sneak into private places and look for anything that might shed light on the issue.

The first part of the book is almost like a reverse bachelor show.  Instead of the women showing off for the men the men are the ones performing.  They have several contests that include shooting, sword play and other manly activities.  Each man chooses a woman to sponsor them by wearing their ribbons and much to her dismay Geoffrey picks Liliana.  Liliana does her best to discourage him and belittle his contest results but of course that is like waving the red flag in front of the bull.  Geoffrey vows that Liliana will acknowledge her attraction to him and pushes her every chance he gets.  In turn, Liliana vows to resist Geoffrey at every chance she gets.  This leads to several chapters of back and forth between the two.

As with most novels the back and forth between the two eventually grows into something more solid.  Liliana continues to hold her vow not to marry but that doesn’t stop her from suggesting they become close friends….if you get what I mean.  Geoffrey is willing to go along with the plan because in his mind he will do anything to convince her to marry him.  The issue of someone connected to his family murdering Liliana’s father still stands between them however Liliana has not told Geoffrey about it.  Eventually Liliana realizes she has true feelings for Geoffrey and she tells him why she is there.  Of course, Geoffrey feels betrayed and used but they are both determined to get to the bottom of the plot.  The person who turned out to be the bad guy was a little predictable but since there were not too many characters in the story I kind of figured it would end up that way.

I have left out most of the major details when it comes to the intrigue in the story.  The book was almost 50/50 between the plot and the romance.  Overall the book had good, clear writing, a tight plot, good flow and some sexy scenes between the main characters.  However, it never reached out and grabbed me.  I cannot place my finger on why I was never captured.  I didn’t have any strong feelings for the characters either way, there was no plot device that I would normally not like….I just never really got into it.  For a debut novel it was very well written but it lacked something for me.  I wish I could tell you what that was but I am at a loss.  I can tell you there was nothing that jumped out and grabbed my attention and made the book original or different from many only mainstream historical romances I have read.  Final grade- C-

Favorite Quote:

For her part, she stood politely but without enthusiasm, a lavender ribbon in her hand.  She looked bored.  No wonder he’d never seen her out in society.  The woman had the manners of a horse.  She probably bit, too.

Rating: C-
Sweet Enemy by Heather Snow
February 7th 2012 by Signet
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