A Rogue's Proposal (Cynster Novels, Book 4)

I suppose it's a bit like Christmas morning.... you run downstairs, and, after months of waiting, instantly attack the biggest box with your name on it. You open it up, anticipation drumming inside you, and then.... you find that instead of the Pokemon item you wanted, you received last year's garble-talking Furby.
That parallels my reaction to A Rogue's Proposal. After falling in love with the Bar Cynster and sighing over the three preceding books, I breathlessly, eagerly awaited for the fourth one. I guess I could tell I had a problem with A Rogue's Proposal when I didn't feel compelled to finish it in one setting; I read it over two days, always faithfully returning to it but never really felt driven (as I had with the others) to find out what happened to Demon and Flick. The storyline was so slow I skipped pages, because all that was happening was Flick attending London balls and fretting over Demon's love for her. There weren't any major faults with the characters, except for Flick's almost-bordering-on-stupidity escapades, but even that wasn't a major crime since it was an "almost." However, I still couldn't bring myself to care for the hero and the heroine. The love scenes, while still pretty R/NC-17 rated, were even kind of dull and trite. I would recommend this book to a devoted Cynster fan, but if you're new, start with Devil's Bride or even A Rake's Vow.

Book 4 in the Cynster series - or Book 5 if, like me, you count The Promise in a Kiss as Book 1 - features Vane's younger brother Harry, known as Demon. After seeing three of his fellow Bar Cynster members happily chained in marriage, Harry knows that he'll be next if the women in his family have anything to do with it. So he decamps to his stud at Newmarket, a place where he's very sure he won't encounter any marriageable women.
A new jockey at his stables catches his attention - the jockey's bottom, in particular. It's not a man's rear. And he's right: the jockey is actually Felicity Parteger, the ward of his nearest neighbour. She's investigating a race-fixing scandal - the obligatory Laurens A-plot and this time, thankfully, one which doesn't take over the story. The last time Harry - Demon (I really think these nicknames are silly!) - saw Felicity, she was in pigtails and still obviously a teenager. Now, she's 20 to his 31, and she's beautiful. Not only is she beautiful, but he's attracted to her.
To my relief, this story proceeds a little differently to the four earlier books. Harry actually *fights* his attraction to Felicity - Flick, as he calls her - and he doesn't propose until almost half-way through the book. Very sensibly, Flick turns him down. She's been in love with Harry all her life, but she knows that he doesn't love her. He proposes for reasons to do with propriety and also, as she knows, because he finds her attractive. But she will only marry for love.
How their courtship develops, against the backdrop of the A-plot and, eventually, the London season and the rest of Harry's family, is generally well-told. This time, Laurens develops the romance steadily and well, instead of marrying her characters off in the first half of the book and thus taking away any romantic suspense. This is *definitely* an improvement on the earlier books, and I really felt as if I was reading a love story.
I also liked Flick a lot. She's an independent young woman with a mind of her own, and she's determined not to be pushed around by Demon. She has a sense of humour and intelligence coupled with innocence, but she won't let Demon use his greater experience and age to get the better of her. One of Laurens' better heroines so far.
But there's still the unanswered question of how Laurens' heroines manage to escape pregnancy while they're blithely and happily having sex with their men before marriage.
Laurens' choice of nickname for her hero here led to a lot of distracting repetitions, too: "Demon leashed his demons..." and similar phrases occur throughout. And she *really* needs to look up `disinterest' in a dictionary. It does *not* mean `lack of interest'; it refers to a state of non-involvement or objectivity.

This is the fourth book in Stephanie Laurens' wildly popular Bar Cynster series. The Bar Cynster is the informal name given in the family to the six, extremely handsome cousins. The Bar Cynster members are known for their way with the ladies and their strong aversion to being tied down. But three members have already succumbed to matrimony (See, Devil's Bride, A Rake's Vow and Scandal's Bride), and Harry Demon Cynster is determined not to be the next victim. So he leaves the whirl of parties of London society, and heads off to his stables at Newmarket. But there he finds Felicity Pargeter, a beautiful, independent and innocent young lady, ward of his next door neighbor, masquerading as one of his stable boys. Intrigued, he corners her and demands an explanation. Felicity (or Flick as she is called) is investigating a race-fixing syndicate. Demon offers to help, and then their hearts dance together. Love is never smooth, they risk their lives while tracking the syndicate.
With the passion and sensuality as her trademark, Laurens builds a story which is highly romantic, charming, witty and passionate. I can't wait to read more of her stories. She really know what she writes!

I have fallen in love with Laurens. Her first Cynster about Devil remained my favorite until 'ARP'. Demon and Flick interact so well together they almost seem 'real'. Flick is so far removed from the other Cynster women that I found her refreshing. I had just about had enough of needlepoint. I just can't say enough good things about Laurens. The sensual content in her books is almost erotic - not too much, mind you. (Scandal's Bride, not my favorite Cynster book, was probably the most sensual. And for Laurens that is saying something.). Laurens has fast become my favorite writer. She writes awfully well, she knows the regency period and she knows how to write a mind boggling love scene. If Laurens gets any better, I might have to learn how to 'swoon'. Check out her 'pre' Cynster work 'Captain Jack's Woman.' It's delightful. Keep up the good work, Stephanie!

Finally, Ms. Laurens lives up to the potential of the first book in this series. Devil's Bride was such a great story with the added bonus of knowing there were going to be at least another 5 stories to compliment it. Unfortunately, I felt Vane and Scandal's stories were way below Devil's achievement. Conversely, Demon and Flick's book was a delight to read. Here is a story that revolves around our main couple and their relationship. The outside plot compliments the relationship, not dominates it. For a while we even wonder if they are still paying attention to "the bad guys". The wrong that needs righting is not an in depth, complicated puzzle, but a backdrop for our hero and heroine to reacquaint themselves and fall in love.
After our first meeting with Demon in the story, and his adamant beliefs on staying out of the "marriage market", I thought he fell a little too quickly for Flick. Knowing the consistency and devotion of the Cynster men from our previous stories though, his behavior is not unexpected.
I have two (very) minor criticisms of the book. First, the repetitive nature of a few themes got to me after a while. There are only so many times Demon can fight his Demons and that Flick can be compared to a Boticelli Angel (heaven forbid you don't know your Renaissance artisans). I also would have loved to have seen a little more of the Cynster clan. Though we saw some of the women welcoming Flick with open arms, the Bar Cynster was painfully absent. Except for the occasional glimpse of Gabriel and Lucifer, guarding their female cousins, they were conspicuously absent. Don't let this one slip by, pick it up and read it.

Even a bad book by Laurens is better than half the rest out there but come on. I really can't stand idiot heroines who rush into crises after crises in the name of being "independent." I don't think I've ever read a heroine who cared less for her reputation than Felicity. First she spends the night with Demon and then wanders out of the cabin to be compromised when she could have easily remained inside and avoided it. The next time she's holed up with Demon in a hotel room and can't bear not to "peek" out from where Demon had safely stashed her so she could see who was at the door. Like she couldn't have waited five minutes for Demon to tell her after said visitor had left. Both times she blusters away that she's not really compromised. Oh, yes, she really is. Fool. And both times were completely unnecessary. That she was so stupid made me despise her and rather ruined a good book for me. Even a country bred miss would have more care for her reputation and the rules her society lives by. Unless she's an idiot. Which apparently Felicity is. Quite unfortunate for Demon that he's stuck with her.

I'm a big fan of Stephanie Laurens and her Bar Cynster series of regency romances, but this is a difficult book for me to review. On the one hand, this book has my favorite hero of the series, Demon, and it has some of the best love scenes. The relationship between Demon and Flick constantly sizzles and when it bursts into flame - watch out! I particularly liked the time they spent in London during the Season where Demon is simultaneously trying to court her and protect her reputation from being seen with him. On the other hand, the heroine can be one of the most annoying ninnies you'll ever find. She's one of those plucky young ladies who repeatedly proves her independence by deliberately rushing headlong into situations that even a three-year old could tell were dangerous. After she has been saved by Demon from certain rape after being warned against chasing the bad guys all by herself, she actually says, "There's nothing you can say or do that will convince me I don't have as much right as you to go hying after villains." Oh? How about the fact that you are too stupid to breathe? It's a mystery to me why romance novelists can't write about heroines who need rescuing because their in peril through no fault of their own. If you can ignore this silliness, you will otherwise find it a very pleasant read.

I loved this installment in the Bar Cynster series! The development of the relationship between the two central characters was very realistic. I found Flick trying to understand and cope with the transformation of Demon from her childhood hero/ideal into a real life potential husband a delight and far more believable than Patience trying to cope with her "distrust" of Vane's sincerity in "A Rake's Vow". Readers wanting a lot of suspense might be disappointed, but those who enjoy well drawn characters will love this one.

I really enjoyed this one. I was worried about starting this one because I couldn't even finish the third book, "Scandal's Bride". But Demon was just right! Flick was the best heroine so far in this series. I liked the fact that she still had the innocent nature after being with Demon the first time. So often the virgin turns 180 and becomes this unrealistic sex nymph. I thought the whole Dillon and the Syndicate thing was rather pedantic. If it was such a big deal I thought that there should have been more pressure from those around them. But really it was just the General's dissapointment that spurred them. I don't hold that against the book though. There was just the right amount of sexual suspense, just the right amount of sex, just the right amount of resistance from the hero, and just the right amount of innocence from the heroine to make this an excellent story! Great read!

This is the 4th book in the Bar Cynster series. This is Demon(Harry)'s story. Demon is the younger brother of Vane, book #2.
Demon has, like all the other Cynster's vowed that he will never marry. He has fled to his country estate where he soon finds himself spellbound by a fiesty chit of a girl named Flick aka Felicity. Now he has know Flick for years but has always thought of her as a young girl who he could tease. Now he finds a young woman with a beauty that steals his breath. He also finds trouble is brewing. Flick's older brother is in trouble and its ups to Demon and Flick to get him out of it.
Flick is a tomboy. She can ride like no one else and knows horses better that Demon does. She realizes that she needs Demon's help but she doesn't have to like it. But underneath the tomboy ways is a young woman who's heart goes all a flutter when Demon walks in the room. She is madly attracted to him but is knows that he will never see her as anything more than a friend. She wants his love but is afraid she will never have it.
I enjoyed this book but found it to be a bit different than the others in the series. There was passion and love but I just didn't get into these two characters they way I have in previous books. I would still recommend this book but I have to say that out of the series so far its not one of my favorites.