I finished The Vicar's Daughter last night, and it was good, though it didn't really live up to all the hype. It would be a B for me.

Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but I didn't love it, and I didn't even think it was Simmons' best book. And I had quite a few problems with it, one of which I've already mentioned, which was having a 17-year-old as a heroine, paired with a hero over 10 years older. Very icky for me. Also, though Max was quite well-drawn, Charlotte's characterization wasn't so good. For a long time, the logic of her thought processes simply eluded me. She kept going back and forth: "I'll try to win Max" - "no, it's no use" - "He might feel something for me, I have some hope" - "He just feels sorry for me". Aghhhhh!!

Oh, and the ending was terrible. First, those last 50 pages, with a tacked on abduction to add conflict (these seems to be a regular problem in Simmons' regency-set books. I had the exact same problem with The Devil Earl and, to some extent, The Last Rogue.) Then, the horrendous epilogue. Poor Charlotte not only has had to wait like 10 years to finally visit Greece, but she finally goes with her 7 brats! Yes, count them, 7!!! I bet she really enjoys that trip. Sorry, too much for me.

Reading what I've written so far, it sounds as if I hated the book. Not so. The protagonists had a lot of chemistry, and I kinda liked them, and there were quite a few funny moments. And the book was quite hot, with lots of internal lusting, which I love. It's just I was expecting more, and got a book that was just nice.