TEST
The fourth title in Renee Ann Miller’s Infamous Lords series, Never Conspire with a Sinful Baron, begins with a premise that will be familiar to anyone that has read a fair number of historical romances. Lord Eliot Haverford, Baron Ralston, is in desperate need of an heiress and just happens to know one – Lady Nina Trent. Lady Nina is a woman determined to marry someone boring after previously falling for a scoundrel. Eliot convinces Nina he can help her make another man jealous by flirting with her and, in the meantime, he plans to woo her himself. This trope is nothing new but can still be delightful depending on the execution. Sadly, the execution here, while not terrible, wasn’t great either.
Eliot has inherited a barony from his spendthrift uncle and desperately needs money in order to repair his multiple neglected homes. As is almost always the case in historical romances, the easiest way for him to get said funds is to marry an heiress. Luckily, he knows several, and even likes one of them enough to see himself giving up his bachelor life for her.
Eliot convinces Nina that the best way for her to attract the man she thinks she wants is to let him pretend to woo her. After some thought, Nina agrees to his scheme and is soon pleased to see results. It’s not long before she begins to have feelings for Eliot, however, but she ignores them because Eliot is just like the scoundrel that broke her heart. She continues to ignore those feelings for much of the book for that reason AND because her obnoxious grandmother is demanding Nina marry for respectability. Literally everyone else in Nina’s family tells her they want her to marry for love, but she chooses to ignore them and only listen to her grandmother.
While attending a house party, someone shoots at Eliot and his rival for Nina’s affections, but this is written off by them as an accident. An urn later falling and nearly hitting Eliot is also written off as an accident. Only when he is attacked outside of his own home does Eliot realize these are not accidents at all but that someone is trying to kill him. I was completely surprised by the identity of the attacker, but only because the scene setting that up was written about at the beginning of the book and then seemingly forgotten. In fact, several little storylines come up throughout the novel and are then quickly settled, or just disappear so that I had to wonder if there was really a need for them at all.
I was intrigued at the very beginning of the story, despite having read this trope multiple times, but ultimately it just didn’t work here. A lot of that was due to the fact that I just couldn’t figure out what drew Eliot and Nina together. Maybe I missed something, but they don’t seem to spend that much time together before realizing they have feelings for each other.
There was just so much going on in Never Conspire with a Sinful Baron that it was hard to enjoy the better parts of the story. One of those good things is Eliot himself. I simply cannot resist a man who finds himself slowly loving a dog he inherited despite not wanting to do so at first. I also really liked that even though Eliot starts out needing and looking for an heiress, he chooses to try to find a different way to solve his financial problems, and I enjoyed the fact that he falls first, even if I was surprised by how quickly it happens. Nina, however, drove me crazy with her refusal to listen to anyone other than her grandmother regarding whom she should marry. It felt as though she was determined to marry someone she didn’t love simply to make up for the scandal she’d caused in the previous book. (Which I haven’t read, although I did wonder if maybe I’d missed something about Nina’s backstory by not having done so.) Aside from that, I can’t really tell you anything about Nina other than that she likes to draw. She’s poorly characterised and doesn’t have much of a personality.
As far as the romance goes, it moves along at a decent pace, although the characters admit their love for each other rather quickly. The sex scenes are pretty average, and a few lines were so cheesy they actually made me laugh and pulled me right out of the scene.
In the end, the sweet hero and his dog weren’t enough to save Never Conspire with a Sinful Baron from too many subplots, an annoying heroine, and a flat romance.
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Grade: D
Book Type: Historical Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 30/05/20
Publication Date: 05/2020
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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Just want to point out that the title is incorrect in the first paragraph of the review: it’s a sinful baron, not a sinful duke.
Also, the review says Eliot inherited a baronetcy; if he’s a baron, shouldn’t that be a barony?
Yikes! Thank you for pointing that out. I have fixed it!
Yep, that’s around where I ranked the book I read in this series. Miller’s pretty consistently meh as judged by three of us so far!
I rarely am distracted by covers but that yellow print is… garish. Not the look I’d have gone for.
*sigh* I reviewed this author’s first book and gave it a D (or D+) One would expect an author’s work to improve with experience, but clearly that’s not the case here. But then, if you can get a rubbish book published, there’s not much of an incentive to do better, is there?
What surprised me a little bit is that this… gem is actually published by somebody somewhat reputable: Zebra Books (a division of Kensington). It’s the sort of thing that gives one hope…
Oh, no – I set no store these days by who the publisher is. Most of the good stuff I’m reading at the moment is self-published or from smaller independent publishers. When it comes to historicals especially, I have little faith in the larger houses.
“When it comes to historicals especially, I have little faith in the larger houses.”
It’s sad though, isn’t it? You think the big publishers would say, “Hmm… These self-published books are producing things people like. Why don’t we step up our game a bit?” As it is, I think most of the big names are sadly circling the drain. Poorly researched and executed “historicals” aren’t helping them any.
And I suspect the authors who are going it alone want to stay that way because they look at the big houses cocking it up and prefer to stay well out of it! Someone I know who used to be traditionally published told me that one of the reasons she took a break and then started self-publishing was that she kept getting fobbed off onto editors who clearly didn’t have a clue about what they were doing when it came to historicals.
“And I suspect the authors who are going it alone want to stay that way because they look at the big houses cocking it up and prefer to stay well out of it!” ABSOLUTELY!
Really, there are few- if any- benefits to traditional publishing anymore as far as I’m concerned. It really comes down to editing (which a lot of publishers can’t even seem to manage properly anymore) and cover design (which, if this book is any indication, they’re not doing so hot either). I’m told advances these days are a pittance, and may not be given at all at digital first publishers. And you can forget about receiving any advertising unless you’re already a big name author. Plus, royalties for a traditionally published author are pitiful.
Maybe it’s just me, but the title Never Conspire with a Baron makes me think of the kid’s song “Never Smile at a Crocodile.” (It must be the “never conspire” and “never smile” comparison. No? My brain’s just weird like that…)
@Nan: When I first saw the book, I wondered why Miller didn’t title it NEVER CONSPIRE WITH A SINFUL SQUIRE. I mean, at least it rhymes and, based on the review, it doesn’t seem as if Miller would bothered by trifling matters such as historical accuracy.
Oh, thank goodness I wasn’t the only one to see something… odd about the title. Love your alternative!
I feel like it’s been made with a generator. Like, add your birth month (Never), your birthday (Conspire With), your first initial (a Sinful) and your last initial (Baron). Someone else might get Always Yield To a Deviant Duke, and someone else might get Desperate to Marry a Renegade Lawman.
Okay, now I seriously want to read Desperate to Marry a Renegade Lawman. That right there is a definite title-borrow.
Sounds like more wallpaper. Maybe suitable for the garden shed? How sad. Thanks for the great review, Jessica, and saving me looking any further at this one.
Three of the books in this series have earned a grade in the D range. Almost makes me want to pick up the ones left out to see if they fit the pattern too.