BOUND BY YOUR TOUCH by Meredith Duran is the follow-up to last year’s impressive debut, THE DUKE OF SHADOWS which was a story partly set in India and featured a hero who was caught between two worlds. The first half of that book captivated me.
While THE DUKE OF SHADOWS was somewhat darker in tone with a bit more angst, BOUND BY YOUR TOUCH read like a much lighter novel to me. As first appearances or introductions go, the hero in here, James Durham, is a bit of a scoundrel who enjoys throwing parties and hanging out with his titled friends. He would be the poster child for the “over-privileged and [the] under-occupied.“
Twenty-six year old Lydia Boyce is an educated woman still on the shelf. She’s been jilted and humiliated once with the experience burned into her heart to never want to try again. That is until she meets James.
The two would be lovers meet when James rudely interrupts Lydia’s all important lecture at the Institute, to confront his father, the Earl of Moreland, who is in attendance. Word around the ton is that the two men don’t get along and that James seeks out every opportunity to publicly disgrace his father.
Meanwhile, Lydia’s father is a antiquities dealer, stationed in Egypt and looking to make enough money to fund a dig for a major archaeological find. So Lydia gives lectures to drum up support for the funding of his pet projects. However, her father’s reputation is undermined when it is discovered that he is linked to some forged artifacts and a set of smuggled goods.
My thoughts on the story are as follows: I really liked James but was lukewarm towards Lydia. I couldn’t stand Lydia’s brother-in-law, George, the duplicitous bastard that he was and well, her sister Sophie didn’t engender any good feelings from me either.
As for our lovers, Lydia and James did spar often and I love good banter. Most would say that’s foreplay but I digress. Often Lydia came across as a bit of stuffed shirt. So full of righteous indignation and fury tempered every so often by her moments of social awkwardness.
While their romance didn’t stir my soul, there were a few nice lines shared between them in love and in anger. I would describe this story as light fun with a hint of danger. There wasn’t a lot of substance to the story, unfortunately (for me). The story was plagued with a boring middle and a lot of filler. Most romances have these shortcomings. I remember always having to get through the middle parts because the ending either left you rewarded or disappointed.
The major weakness of this story was the lack of a strong plot for me and the characters sounded a bit too modern for the time period. I really wanted to love this story but a C would adequately describe my response after closing the last page. Now, I am really looking forward to reading WRITTEN ON YOUR SKIN.
Note: The publisher has not made an ebook available at this time of writing. It is alleged that an ebook version is coming soon. I bought a paper copy of this book despite my annoyance of the lack of a digital copy made available to readers in a timely fashion.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
If the library ever purchases it, I’ll read it and give my opinion, such as it is. Otherwise, especially after reading your review, Keishon, I’ll skip it for sure.
Hey Tee. As much as I really wanted to love this story, I just came away underwhelmed. Much different reaction from the first book which blew me away especially the first part of the story.
I look forward to reading WRITTEN ON YOUR SKIN, which I’m told is a much better story than this one. I hope so. Everyplace else you look, however, everybody seems to have loved this book. ETA: Would love to know what you think of it, Tee. I feel so left out. No I don’t. *g*
Thanks for the review, Keishon. I’ve not yet read it, but continue looking for it in the library index, which as of yet has not been purchased. I pulled out the above quote from your article, because that is just the very thing that began turning me off to romances as a whole. Certainly, not all of them; but far too many answer to that very description.