A Stranger’s Kiss by Tarah Scott

Starts Off Well, Then Goes Completely Off the Rails

Well, this book started off with a fantastic first scene. The heroine quite boldly kisses the man who turns out to be the hero of the book to make her philandering nearly betrothed jealous. The kiss sparks the entire rest of the novel because both of them were affected. It is a steamy, well described kiss.

I absolutely adored the heroine at first. Unlike many Regency heroines, she is not of either the nobility or gentry. She is a working young woman who runs her father’s music shop and printing press after he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a carriage accident (which killed her mother) that leaves him confused and out of sync with time. The heroine struggles mightily to keep everything together without much help. She has big dreams about having her father’s magnum opus played in a major theater in town (London). She has even contracted with the theater and an opera singer to get everything in motion. But all of this unravels as she struggles in the first half of the book.

The hero is a charming rake, as they usually are. The heroine, unfortunately, learns a possible secret about the hero from her cousin that casts him in a very bad light. This is the crux of my problem with this book. I absolutely loved the strength of the heroine in the early parts of the book, as she tried to keep everything together even as one bad thing happened after another. I loved it when she stood up to her maternal grandfather, who had disinherited her mother, and therefore, her. She was super strong willed in dealing with her father and grandfather and trying to make the concert happen against all odds.

So, why then did she become a spineless, wavering young woman when this potential issue with the hero came up? Why would she trust her cousin—whom she just met—any more than this man she’d just met? (And especially after seeing the cousin’s reaction when she and the hero meet in the presence of the heroine.) Certainly, why would she trust the opinions of another man whom she has actually seen in a contentious discussion with the hero? Clearly, these two do not get along, so why would she think that he would have no reason to lie, but the hero would? She goes back and forth in her opinions on him rapidly, even though he’s basically treated her with respect and kindness—although, perhaps, a bit too forwardly with all the stolen kisses. I got so frustrated with the heroine that I nearly gave up on the book as these absolutely silly events just kept stacking up. I hate it when heroines appear to be so strong at first, but then become hopelessly confused—with opinions shifting like the wind—and almost blind in one area (the hero, in this case).

So while I liked a lot of the book, this part just rubbed me the completely wrong way. I do not feel like I can recommend this book.