Enjoyable Historical Fantasy Romance. This one set in Greece, where the scoundrel womanizer of the group Bennett Day meets his match in his enemy's daughter.

Next book is about Catullus Graves, looking forward to it too! ( )

Widowed from a husband she disliked and stuck under the oppressive rule of her father, the heroine is shocked to be invited to Greece to help him solve some writing mysteries. There she meets the roguish yet bigger than life hero who charms her then kidnaps her. He informs her that her father is evil and works for a society that seeks to power of England regardless of the death and suffering it causes. The heroine burns with a secret fire for adventure and they run away together. The heroine isn't angry when she finds out that the hero was the one to kill her husband because it's clear that the hero is tortured by the memory of what he was forced to do for the sake of peace. The hero is pretty much the same character as the guy from the game Uncharted. He's a rake, he's fearless and he has no dark side. He's completely free and whenever they are in danger, it's easy to understand why his presence will make everything okay. He's absolutely perfect physically and is will to do anything to insure the success of his missions. He's bound by no ties and makes it clear that he's not looking for anything but a good time. Too bad he meets the heroine. Where he says he loves every woman it's pretty obvious that those words mean something far deeper when spoken to the heroine. He admires the woman's intelligence and urge for adventure because it so matches his own. From first meeting he sees a fire within her and it doesn't take long to set it free. They are constantly teasing each other, and touching each other and when it comes down to danger, they make the perfect pair. The heroine is very capable of defending herself if need be and the hero loves a good fight. This was a great epic story taking place all around Greek islands and involving many ancient mythology and artifacts. Throughout the adventure was the clear and obvious binding the two characters felt for each other. Their sex-capades were hot and heavy but fun and teasing at the same time. I couldn't find anything wrong with this book and I enjoyed it very much. ( )

A womanizing hero (but he's doing it for the good of all mankind) falls in love with a sheltered widow whose family connections are exactly wrong. The second installment of the Blades of the Rose series once again features a strong heroine with her own talents, and a dashing rogue who may know better, but falls head over heels anyway. Oh, and magic, danger, intrigue and romance, of course. ( )

The second book in the The Blades of the Rose series tells the story of Bennett Day and London Harcourt, as they go on another Blade adventure, this time with the sea, and the Greek Islands as scenario. The storyline in this is similar to the one in the first book – man and woman join forces to solve a puzzle, find and ancient magical object that some evil people are after, and fall in love in the process.

As expected, I enjoyed this book – it has all the elements that I found entertaining in book one, those things that kept me reading and wanting more, nevertheless, Bennett, as charming and handsome as he is, didn’t quite strike me as Gabriel, the hero from Warrior, did; and neither did London, compared with Thalia. Yes, they are good characters, and yes, they have good chemistry together, but somehow I found myself bored with them by the middle of the book, and getting more and more interested in the other couple, Kallas and Athena. And of course…the must in Scoundrel for me, were the bits about Catullus Graves, near the end! (My poor, sweet Catullus…all alone in the world…)

I’m not saying another word about the sex scenes in this series again because I’m pretty sure I said it all in my Warrior review, and I hate to nag. So yes, I’ll keep reading about the Blades in 2011 – I’m almost there, Catullus! :D

Also at: http://cuidadocomodalmata.wordpress.com/2011/01/09/scoundrel/ ( )

This book was overall pretty great! I enjoyed it more than the first book in the series, Warrior.

The H/h actually have a real obstacle (multiple, actually) that may stop them from getting together, and I actually felt like their love for each other developed naturally, instead of having them get together simply because one was a guy and one was a girl.

Archer's writing has also improved. The villains in this book were much more of a threat than Warrior. The final battle, also, was much more dramatic than the first, which ended rather suddenly. Archer also added a secondary romance that I enjoyed just as much as the primary.

My one complaint with the book is Archer's repetitive descriptions. If I had to read about Bennett's leaned muscles and sculpted lines and powerful chest/arms/legs/etc. I thought I was going to go crazy.

Altogether, this book was an enjoyable, light-hearted read and I can't wait for the last two! ( )