I found this book to be very slow paced. Though I don't expect romances to be realistic, her epiphany of love for Lord Drake was much too early. Conversely, the book seemed to leave a lot out like the relationship between his mother and Lord Saxon and both families reaction to Sebastianne and Drake's engagement. ( )

Definitely not a strong point in the series. I usually love the bookish, intellectual hero but he was one dimensional in this book. However, the heroine was more of a disappointment. Because she was engaged in stealing from the hero and pretending to be someone else, I never felt like they really connected and I never connected with the romance. I would normally give this less than 3 stars but I enjoyed the family and the characters who visited from earlier books. ( )

I reviewed this book for Romance Reader At Heart website:

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

The above blurb says it all, so I will not burden you with my own synopsis. However, I have to start this review with telling you that I have every book Ms. Warren has written, and while her Mistress series is still on my TBR pile, I’ve made sure to read her current Byrons of Braebourne series.

It all started with TEMPTED BY HIS KISS and Cade Byron’s story, which was just so very, very good. Jack Byron’s story came next in SEDUCED BY HIS TOUCH, followed by AT THE DUKE'S PLEASURE; both were just as good as the first.

But now we come to the one that's greatly disappointed me. WICKED DELIGHTS OF A BRIDAL BED was their sister Mallory’s story, and now THE BED AND THE BACHELOR, which is Drake’s story, was just not what I expected and hoped to finish this series with. Mallory’s story was, in one word, tedious. It moved very slowly, but the worst thing was that I just never warmed up to Mallory.

In this story I find myself not liking either Sebastianne or Drake. As a matter of fact, I almost didn’t recognize him. In the previous books he seemed more human, more likable, and sort of a dull, but still interesting, fellow. In this book he felt and acted more of a rake. But what turned me off was the way Sebastianne went about getting the job done. I never recovered after that. I’m sorry to say, it just didn’t do much for me. It left me cold and disappointed.

If you are a Ms. Warren fan like I am, you’ll not want to miss the end of this series. But be warned—you might be disappointed. If you’ve never read her before, please try her Trap trilogy first. They really are very well written and very entertaining.

Melanie ( )