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Written on Your Skin by Meredith Duran

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Written on Your Skin

Meredith Duran
Historical Romance
Published in 2009

H/h - Phin Granville/Mina Masters
Setting: London, 1884.

Read in March, 2011.

My Rating: 2 out of 5


                                                                 [spoiler alert]


I've just about read 8 chapters of the book and I'm very disappointed. Except for a few scenes in the beginning, the book is just slow and boring. I thought I'd love Phin from whatever I read in Bound by Your Touch but I'm wrong. He seems too cold, emotionally detached for my liking. And the heroine, Mina, I'm not really impressed by her. There are just too many 'odes' to her 'porcelain perfect skin, petite figure and ice-blonde hair' all over the book and honestly, whatever MD is trying to pass her as, she isn't that smart, just plain irritating sometimes. The incidents of this book is happening simultaneously with Bound by Your Touch, except the incidents 4 yrs ago.

I really liked the 1st chapters, the back story. I liked the way Phin acted and yes, one line he said to Mina, I loved it :p . I thought he'd be yum! But, now, I'm not sure. Too many details about his life scattered around the book, none is complete. So, I end up with questions such as what was his relationship with the Sheldrakes? I knew he used to know them for a long time though haven't seen them recently, spend times with them. Like Phin, Mr. Sheldrake was a cartographer. The family, I guess, was a escape from his own dreadfully drunk and debauched father. But, that's just my guess. It's like this, I keep guessing but that's all and it is seriously confusing sometimes. Also, something happened when he was working for a man called Ridland, who, now we know, isn't an honest/good man. I really don't know what happened to make Phin such a cold individual. Mr. Sheldrake's daughter Laura had a crush on him when they were both young, she seems a perfectly nice girl and likes him still. But he's rather attracted to Mina and I have no idea why ... Except for the obvious, of course! Bleh.

Now Mina, what can I say? She spent most of the book 'acting as a feather brain' but me, I really don't find much difference with the real Mina. She's an American (though her mother is British), rich, her step-father is the villain (so far) of this book. The case, which inevitably involved Phin, started 4 yrs earlier. She saved Phin's life then. She's wanting the favor back and the way she's reminding him about the favor is rather annoying. But, guess I can't blame her. Why's she wanting a favor from Phin? She's in England and her mom has gone missing, so a big amount of the book is whirling around this issue but honestly, I could care less. Whatever I read about the women, she is vain, self-centered and yes I agree with one review, ungrateful. But, guess, can't blame her for this either, after all, this is her mother we are speaking of. Then again, I don't care at all!

Mina is now in despair. Long ago, she decided not to become a 'weak woman' like her mother and willing to do anything to exact that favor from Phin. Since, he's now a peer of the realm and doesn't need money (which she has plenty), Mina's willing to trade her body (as far as I've guessed) for it. And, of course, our Miss Mina is no 'blushing virgin', if you take my meaning! I know Phin feels a lot of lust for Mina but love, I doubt. I'm tired of his odes, really. Mina wants him, that much is sure.

So, after reading a few more lines of odes to her 'baby perfect porcelain skin', I've stopped reading. No, I'm gonna finish it just to see how far this circus goes! And, I never leave a book unfinished, just to determined I won't re-read them and of course, there is the thing about the money. *sigh*
********************

Lord, where do I start? What load of confusing rubbish! I, however irritated, somehow made myself finish it.

Mina was manipulative, self-centered, pestering, annoying, sluttish, confused 'til the end of the book. Her goal in life is whining I-Want-My-Way. I was so disgusted, my god! She thinks like a 'new woman' and by new woman she means dumping virginity with a man she never cared for, making it known she's having an affair and of course, doing WHATEVER it takes to get her own way, even if it means whoring or killing a man. And, I already said all the 'good stuffs' that describes her perfectly. Her cluless, logicless blabbering made me so mad, at some point I wanted to throw the book out. I have nothing to say about Phin except I have no respect for him either. The way he, even knowing how Mina is, gave into the temptation of screwing her.

Love? Hell, NO! What I read about love here was totally forced and unrealistic. In real life, they're bound to kill each-other soon. They belong to a bedlam. Really, what kind of a man fantasizes about a woman who wants to learn to kill, do whatever it takes to have her own way? Only a perv! Why? Because she's got 'sea blue eyes, ice-blonde hair and porcelain perfect skin'? How shallow is that? I DO NOT think if Mina didn't possess all those 'glories', Phin would've obliged her anything. Also, 'sweet and pretty' girls like Laura Sheldrake hold no appeal for Phin. I was shocked to read these following lines. Do these mean what I think they mean?

Oh, hell, he would not lie to himself. Laura Sheldrake smiled, and he wanted to smash her fingers; Mina Masters pried into his desk, and he wanted to lift her skirts and lick the frown from her brow.
HUH??

They didn't trust each-other (not Mina at least) 'til the last page, with Mina being as manipulative as ever. The book ended with the following lines: 
... Will you marry me, Miss Masters?”
She deliberately withheld her reply, waiting until he frowned and laid his lips against hers again. “On one condition,” she said into his mouth.
“Name it,” he breathed.
She smiled. Excellent. “I keep all the keys.”

Seriously? And Phin, it looks like, gave in. Mina couldn't even say ILU back without hesitations on whatever crap her mother hammered into her brain from an early age.

I am thoroughly disappointed with this book. If MD keeps writing such boring, shallow and horrible stuff, with such pesky, awful heroines, I'll stop reading her books.

Now, in the end, Mina's mother was saved and I saw, again, why Mina turned out how she is. Her mother is such an example of mercenary thoughts and ungratefulness! I already wasted space on her in my earlier comment so no more. I've read enough to say my opinion of her never changed, moreover, it worsened as I read the last chapters. Even 2 stars seem a lot to me!

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I love to read in my spare time and do reviews the books I read. My blog Punya Reviews just turned 6 in 2017 and still going strong. I love music and traveling. Sometimes, I wish I could live inside a book, having my own HEA. :)
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