I pushed ahead with this one because, as I rightly surmised, there was a fun, fluffy romance under all the distracting and unnecessary word play. Once I even laughed out loud. But here's the problem:

Jane smiled faintly. What an award-winning performance, she thought. Well, she could certainly say that in the heat of the night they had set the sheets aflame, silken chariots of fire. Her husband was truly a man for all seasons. It could be the best years of our lives, she thought, if only he would give an inch - well, a mile - and admit he didn't regret their marriage now. Yes, it would be so sweet to hear terms of endearment from him. Those would be like the sound of music.

Webber does that ALL THE TIME. Beatles songs, Shakespeare's plays, quoteable quotes, puns, cliches, sudoku -- okay, not sudoko. I was just overcome by her style.

If you like a light-hearted, anachronistic, contemporary language, paranormal regency 'made to marry' romance with a delightfully rude heroine AND you can stand to read paras like the above every third page, this is the book for you.

Me, I'd be delighted if Webber would dump the tricks. She doesn't need them and with them, I'm unlikely to pick up another of her books. ( )