When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James

When Beauty Tamed the Beast
by Eloisa James

Genre: Historic Romance

Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. He's a Beast.

Miss Linnet Thynne is one of the most exquisite young ladies ever to grace London's ballrooms. She's a Beauty.

But wait—there's more! Piers is a doctor: brilliant, lame, and impossible to get along with. There's a version of him on Fox TV, named after a habitation. Linnet has been involved in a scandalous flirtation with a prince, and everyone in the ton thinks she's carrying a royal child: she needs a husband.

Linnet estimates it will take two weeks—at the outside—to bring the earl to his knees. Piers knows that he will never fall in love, and definitely never marry.

Being seen with a prince is enjoyable, but that happens to be Linnet's downfall as well - that, and a poorly chosen dress that adds fuel to the "royal baby" rumors circulating around London. Now she is a ruined women, whether she was truly naughty or not, and is practically banished to Wales to marry a horrid doctor that she's never even meet. Sure, her family has given up on her and sure, her father & aunt lied about some things (ie. baby matters) to obtain this 'marriage' to the Earl, but Linnet believes her charms & beauty could actually win out against this brute of a man. What she's not expecting is for the doctor to spot her lie on their first visit and how much heat & chemistry to two actually share. Can Linnet actually carry out her original plan for a proper marriage or will she willingly become a ruined women as so many people believe of her already?

I liked this book. I liked it a lot actually. I enjoyed Linnet's innocent manners toward her 'maternity styled' clothing, her silly household servants, the vulgar memories of her mother, and her oddly non-existent father figure. They all added some comical humor to Linnet's life, which was hilariously spiraling out of control. When she finds herself in Wales, in a castle (mock hospital) surrounded by even more chaos, she bravely decides to take control of her "new" way of life and actually live a little - thus she takes up swimming at dawn, freely argues with Piers and so many other things she would never have done back in London. Since she's now a "ruined" women about to be married, she feels rejuvenated and adds some much needed care to Pier's drab hospital and his patients. Also, it was nice to see Pier's hard "tough" shell begin to melt throughout the tale. Overall, the two characters blend so well together that the book was hard to put down!

Likes: The bet between Linnet's & Pier's servants was fun!

Dislikes: Pier's is for sure a beast, lots of rude manners and extreme name-calling -- almost hard to see how Linnet kept her cool much of the time.

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