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And Then He Kissed Her
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And Then He Kissed Her
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And Then He Kissed Her
Ebook339 pages5 hours

And Then He Kissed Her

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this ebook

An expert in etiquette, Emma takes her pristine reputation most seriously.

But the devilish Lord Marlowe is determined to prove that some rules of proper behavior are made to be broken …

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperCollins
Release dateOct 13, 2009
ISBN9780061736551
Unavailable
And Then He Kissed Her
Author

Laura Lee Guhrke

Laura Lee Guhrke spent seven years in advertising, had a successful catering business, and managed a construction company before she decided writing novels was more fun.  A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Laura has penned over twenty-five historical romances. Her books have received many award nominations, and she is a two-time recipient of romance fiction’s highest honor: the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. She lives in the Northwest with her husband and two diva cats. Laura loves hearing from readers, and you can contact her via her website: www.lauraleeguhrke.com.

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Reviews for And Then He Kissed Her

Rating: 3.972014907462686 out of 5 stars
4/5

268 ratings24 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    (GR update erased original read date) Re-read in July 2017 and am bumping my original review up to four stars. While I usually like a fair bit of angst in my plain/spinster heroine stories, I like this one well enough on its own merits that it doesn't need to cater to my prefered tropes.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I really liked the characters, but the pacing was off. The story plodded on in the first half, picked up a tiny bit thereafter. and then inexplicably a million things happened in the last chapter. Still sexy and entertaining.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    And Then He kissed Her by Laura Lee Guhrke is a fast simple read that was exactly what I was in the mood for. I haven't read anything else by LLG but I've been seeing her name around for a bit now and I think she has a great Historical Romance voice. Nothing grandiose, a bit borrowed from Austen, but comforting like hot chocolate on a cold winter night.Emma is the best Hist. Romance heroine I've read in a long time. Independent and confident in her own abilities, she's working for our hero Marlowe as his secretary- a female secretary, something little heard of in 1893.Marlowe is a womanizing cad, burnt by a bad first marriage, but nonetheless a hardworking business man. He's a publisher including, among other things, a weekly periodical called The Bachelor's Guide. Emma considers herself a girl-bachelor- not a member of the peerage and as yet unmarried. She has her own version of The Bachelor's Guide which she has been attempting to get Marlowe to publish- even though he's rejected it several time already. When she realizes he's rejected them all- including the latest- without even reading them, she's had it.Though it seem imprudent, she resigns her position leaving Marlowe in a lurch and realizing how much he took her organization skills for granted.He naturally seeks her out only to find she's found another position. His number one revile publisher has agreed to publish her work as a weekly article.Marlowe thinks it's doomed to fail, but alas, how little he knows. As Emma's popularity rises Marlowe, being no fool, gets her back in his court.And yes, he finally sees her true passion & beauty, which up til that point had been hidden by her tamped down hair and formidable self-will.Clichéd as it is, it works, because Emma also makes some self discoveries along the way which gives the story more depth than one expects when cracking the spine.The sex is heated and the dialog engaging- once we get past 20 or so pages of Marlowe insisting he'll never marry again despite his family's meddling. That was a tad over done and annoying. Still, once passed it, the pace picks up quite a bit.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Such a pleasant perfect read! Humorous and sensual to bits. :)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved this book! Loved the humor of both characters and loved the spunkiness of the heroine. It was also refreshing that she was a "plain spoken" woman. Fantastic read!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was my first Laura Lee Guhrke novel, and I loved it! Emma's personal development from a strong, independent woman who's living by the dictates of people in her past to an even stronger, more passionate, but still smart woman living life on her own terms was beautiful and inspiring. Marlow & Emma's arguments were entertaining - especially the first one, where Emma shows her true self to him for the first time. I can't wait to read more from this author now!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    As I was browsing through the books I had read on goodreads, I realized that I had never written a review for And Then He Kissed Her. And so I must share my thoughts on a wonderfully written romance that won my heart over years ago, and I believe I have read this book so many times that I might be due for a new copy, since the pages are starting to fall out!! hehe So let me share why this book is a must read for any romance reader. It begins with our heroine, Emmeline, who is a writer and works for Harry Marlowe. She has a talent, and wants to share her ideas on etiquette, but her boss keeps turning the idea down. So she ups and quits, and decides to find someone else who will take on her etiquette pages. Harry doesn’t believe that Emma’s pages on etiquette will be useful to anyone, he believes they will be bored and he will just lose money there. So she works for his rival, and surprisingly become all the “rage” in London, and Harry is shocked that even his own family thinks that these pages are worth following as everyone else is doing. And thus begins a passion filled romance that will knock your socks off. And oh boy, this story is well worth the read!! I remember the first time I picked up this book, and I couldn’t put it down. And it doesn’t matter how many times I pick it up, I always get plenty of laughs and giggles. The bantering play by play between Emma and Harry is contagious but what a great match they make for each other. They are both characters that have similar interests and desires. They are both talented writers and readers. Our heroine is a lovely character. We see a character growth, where she decides to go after her own dreams and desires. Our hero is pretty funny to be honest. I love the way he looks at life, in a very practical manner.“No plovers no pigeons no snipe. No oysters mussels clams or whole lobsters. No artichokes no savories no cheese.” He paused for breath then went on “Nothing too rich nothing too highly seasoned. And never more than one glass of wine. Did I miss any no-noes ”She sighed. “When it comes to my work I do wish you would be serious.”“I am serious ” he assured her. “After reading this I understand why women have such tiny waists and go about fainting all the time. I thought it was corsets but no. You’re all hungry .”Seeing these two come together in the end is simply marvelous. They might seem like opposites in some ways, but they really balance each other out in all the right ways. Their relationship just fits just right for this story. And the emotion that this author shows to the reader is heart wrenching. From beginning to end, the reader is swept away by Harry and Emma, the way they connect, and sizzle, the laughs and tears—PURE CHEMISTRY!!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    2.5
    This book differs a bit from a lot of other romances I've read so far. It's missing a few usual motifs.
    Miss Emma Dove is working for Viscount Marlowe and trying to get him to publish her book on etiquette. When she realizes he has never read it, she resigns. Since she was the reason everything functioned perfectly, Marlowe and everyone around him felt her absence, so he tried to get her back. His first attempt revealed something he hasn't noticed before - Emma he never knew existed. She made sure she was never like that while she is working.

    There is absolutely no instant love here. Nobody woke up one day and realized they love someone. Marlow trying to get Emma back gave them a great opportunity to get to know each other. It was slow, but not tedious. Nobody suffered through it and they gradually fell in love.

    There isn't any villain either. I expected some of Marlowe's former lovers or his ex-wife to cause trouble, but there is nothing like that. All the focus is on Emma and Marlowe and their romance. The book is missing a Problem they have to solve to be together (unless you count Marlowe's opinion on marriage one).

    The way Marlowe is depicted, I was prepared to hate him, but that was left in the first chapter or so. He definitely didn't live up to that bad image. Emma's past is heartbreaking and it would enrage anyone. I would have liked to know more about that.

    I don't mind the lack of villains or a real problem, but a number of things started and never got to their resolution.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Cute. A little tame for my tastes. No action, very little excitement, and the sex lacked steam. 70% of this book is conversations .
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    And Then He Kissed Her
    4.5 Stars

    Prim and proper Emmaline Dove has always maintained a strictly professional relationship with her rakish employer, Harry, Viscount Marlowe. But upon learning that he has lied about reading her heartfelt manuscripts, Emma decides that enough is enough and resigns without notice. At a loss without his sensible secretary, Harry resolves to get her back and soon learns that beneath her formal facade lies more passion than he could ever have imagined.

    Emma is a lovely heroine and it is wonderful watching her emerge from her self-imposed restrictions and become the woman she was always meant to be. Harry is charming despite his womanizing ways and seeing him finally meet his match in Emma is very entertaining.

    On a side note, this is the second book I've read recently featuring references to Consuelo Vanderbilt and her doomed marriage to the Duke of Marlborough (the 2nd being Murder on Fifth Avenue), and it was interesting to see the different ways in which the history was integrated into the storylines.

    All in all, And The He Kissed Her is a delightful opposites attract romance and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thoroughly enjoyed this story of Emmaline, who prefers Emma, and Lord Marlowe. She's his efficient secretary who wants to write and he's a publisher and lord, a man who is determined to keep his life simple. She complicates things when she quits after he rejects her book on ettiquite on her birthday. She's determined to make more from her life, to sieze the day. But she's constrained by what society expects of her. He realises how much she adds to his life and wants her back, but is it for the reasons she wants? He's wary of another serious relationship after the last one left him with a scandalous divorce.It's light, could really be almost any historical time, there is a mention of the queen, but apart from that, it's not terribly well rooted in any period, but there were some details if you were looking harder, still it was hard to put down, I cared for the characters and it kept me reading and wanting things to work out. I do know that yes, it was going to work out, but I wanted to know how.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    There may come a day when I look back on this whirlwind of a day and think, "Why did I rate this book five stars?"

    BUT I DON'T CARE. I have been taken on a ROLLER COASTER of emotions. I'm at that point in my existence where I don't even understand how a fan of romance novels could possibly not love this book deep in the marrow of their bones?

    A heroine that is a good girl, but not TOO good, who speaks her mind and isn't cowed and is just struggling to come to terms with who she is and who she wants to be vs. what everyone else wants her to be. A hero that is something of a "rake" or whatever, but doesn't spend LITERALLY THE ENTIRE BOOK engaging in something just shy of rape fantasies?

    A book of beautiful consensual sex where the guy is respectful and instead of saying, "I KNOW YOU WANT THIS, I CAN FEEL IT, DON'T LIE TO ME WITH YOUR 'STOP'S AND 'NO's" and instead bothers to ask the heroine if she actually wants to keep going without making it seem like she doesn't ACTUALLY have a choice?

    AND ON TOP OF THAT THEIR FIRST KISS IS IN A RARE BOOKSHOP? Are. you. serious.

    I'm sorry. I'm just having a lot of feelings. I want to read this book 50 times. I want to always love this book as much as I love it at this very moment.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fairly middle of the road historical romance, with all the perks and pitfalls of that genre. The author gives a few things I really liked, though, like the underside of humor and historical detail.I adored how many times I found myself smiling while reading this. Favorite scene was when Harry found Mrs. Bartleby's influence even invading his manly men's club with talk of fashion and his reaction to it. The humor was evenly distributed with the nice emotional tinge to the novel. I liked how Emma and Harry balanced each other, personality wise. They felt like a great fit. And like I mentioned, the historical detail was really nice. The author really made me feel like I was in the Gilded Era with its opulence, strict Victorian morality, and the emergence of the modern world.Now unfortunately, the book did also have some clichés in it as well. The amount of sexy times was a bit eye-rolling. And I can't tell you how much I'm getting sick of the whole "rake" stereotype of the heroes. It's like they can't be anything else. Maybe that's just most historical romance author's "thing", the womanizer who gets "tamed" by the heroine, but how 'bout some variety, ladies?! At the end of the day, though, I really did enjoy this historical romance. It all elements I really did enjoy: emotional pull, a great sense of humor, and lovely historical details. The cliché bits weren't too horrid; I could live with them. So overall, if you're in the market for a historical romance set in the Gilded Era, check this one out. It's a nice escape.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    What a delightful story. The heroine had been stuffed into a psychological corset, but she gradually decides to undo the laces. The hero has sworn never to marry again, until it's pointed out to him that he already is.

    The banter between Harry and Emma is adorable. And it contains one of the sexiest love scenes I've ever read -- not in bed but with Harry whispering to Emma all of the things he'd like to do to her.

    My only complaint is the abrupt ending -- an epilogue would have been nice.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Emma was wonderful. I really liked how confident she was. When she realizes Harry lied to her about reading her manuscript she chose to walk away from him. I loved that. Especially since it left him in a total bind and threw his company into an uproar. She didn't let him get away with anything. One of the best things I liked about this book is that Emma doesn't fancy herself in love with Harry in the beginning. She isn't one of the secretaries that's in love with her employer. They're relationship is very platonic in the beginning.

    I loved Harry. In the beginning he was so insufferable I couldn't stand him, but as the story progresses and he realizes what a gem Emma really was (both to him personally and professionally) he really shaped up. I loved that he decided he needed to teach Emma a lesson, but in the end he was the one that learned. So cute.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fabulous writing and characterization: an unusual variation on the 'right under his nose' approach to the hero and heroine's relationship.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Don't let the (pretty awful) cover fool you. This was a great book, among the best romance novels I've read lately.

    Set in the Victorian era, at the turn of the century, And Then He Kissed Her deals with issues that I've never seen before in a romance novel, and it is a refreshing breath of fresh air amongst the many many (tired) regencies out there.

    I liked this novel not only because of the budding relationship between Emmaline and Marlowe, but mostly because of Emmaline's transformation from a prim and proper young lady content to follow society's strictures and rules and to uphold them most rigidly, to a woman who uncovers who she really is, stands up for herself and comes into her own.

    Excellent.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I loved the idea of this novel: most characters in historical romance novels are all members of the ton...they're rich and privileged. The exception is if a servant/lower class character gets fitted in somehow. This one is different: Emma is a working gal: and she is happy to be one! She works in publishing, and loves her job...except for her boss. Captain Butthead. As the book progresses, she (somewhat unintentionally) begins to take him to task and whip him into shape. He realizes that Emma has some hidden depths, and decides he wants - and needs - her in her life, any way he can get her. This is quite the sweet story, I loved how quickly they came together. They have a lot of chemistry, and Guhrke can definitely pen some steamy scenes! I also love that Emma got to do what she really wanted to do: write. She is definitely a heroine you can relate to and root for, and the book definitely delivers in giving her a satisfactory ending. I definitely recommend picking this up if you're a fan of historical romance!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The Story: Harry Marlowe is a successful publishing mogul and a known ladies' man. For the last five years his life--business and personal--has been kept in order through the efforts of his sensible, complacent, and remarkably efficient secretary, Emma Dove.Emma is a self-declared 'girl-bachelor' with an expertise in etiquette and housekeeping, a real precursor to Martha Stewart. She has long-since talked herself out of falling for her boss's charms, but she can't help but feel like she's missing out on life by being so straight-laced and conservative.My Thoughts: What I liked most about this story was the believable, gradual build-up to Emma and Harry's involvement. When the book opens, the two have already known each other for years, showing a comfortable and somewhat amusing familiarity between Emma and Harry. Kind of like my favorite scene from Two Weeks Notice, when Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant are eating lunch together and we see the little quirks of a two people who've been around each other too long. There's just enough intimacy that you're waiting for the UST to kick in. And then, with an unexpected turn of events, it finally does and nothing's ever the same again. Not a whirlwind romance, but rather the sudden realization of what's been under your nose the whole time. He notices how the light reflects off her hair. She realizes the sincere man behind the glib womanizer.Having read one other book by Guhrke, I have to say she's revived my interest in historic romances. I've been more inclined towards contemporary settings of late, which means these types of books sometimes come across as hokey. However, Guhrke has a writing style that facilitates the mental time-jump, making the story genuine instead of trite.And yes, this novel has all its pages.Recommendation: A good book to read with your morning coffee/tea or during the quiet hours just before bed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Charming! Emma has been Lord Marlowe's personall assistant for years, but it's not until she discovers that he's never read the manuscripts of hers before rejecting them for publication that she's had enough.Soon, though, she has a new job for a rival publisher that's rocketing the publication to new heights of popularity, and Lord Marlowe is forced to eat crow. And fall in love...I love that Emma is not at all focused on finding a husband. All she wants is to write what she loves, and the fact that her employer is a gorgeous cad distracted her for a very short time. It's Marlowe who comes to realize what he'd overlooked for years, and must change his outlook in order to win her.Sexy and romantic - recommended.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    And Then He Kissed Her echoes one of Guhrke's earlier works, Guilty Pleasures - if only superficially in terms of plot set up. Emma Dove, (much like the heroine of Guilty Pleasures) is employed by the hero Viscount Harrison Marlowe, who, (much like the hero of Guilty Pleasures) takes her completely for granted. He runs a big publishing business and she is nominally his secretary, but goes above and beyond the call of duty - so much so that she even buys his presents for his mistresses and sisters. Her efficiency and organization ensure that his business and his personal life run smoothly. Along with Guilty Pleasures, I couldn't get the movie Two Weeks Notice out of my head as I was reading this book, because there are a lot of similarities there as well, so it took a while for And Then He Kissed Her to break free from the feeling of "been there done that" and stand on its own. When it eventually does, I have a great time reading this book. Emma is heartbreakingly repressed - Harry thinks she's nonhuman at times, she's so cool and unruffled. But the reader can glimpse hints of more colorful, adventurous leanings in Emma. There's one episode, and a turning point in Emma's life, that involves a peacock fan - something so seemingly innocuous, but it's invested with powerful significance and succeeds in providing Emma with a depth and humanity that makes her a very sympathetic character. When she has her moment of awakening and resolves to change her life, I'm rooting for her all the way.Harry is a bit more typical in terms of the baggage he totes around: he's never going to marry again because he had a disastrous first marriage that ended in scandal, disgrace, and divorce. He hates rules, is dismissive of society’s opinion, censorious or otherwise, is glib and easy going, charming and fun loving. I found him much less interesting than Emma, his character arc practically nonexistent compared to hers. The attempts to show how he changes throughout never convinced me of his supposed growth - something of which he was really in need. But still they have great chemistry together. There's a lot about writing, publishing and editing in this book, which is woven into the development of Emma and Harry's evolving relationship. Emma is an aspiring writer, and part of her awakening entails her determination to get her work published. She succeeds, but with a rival publisher rather than Harry, who's repeatedly rejected her work. I liked the negotiations and conflicts in which Harry and Emma engage as he tries to get her back and she demands her due, as they both give and take and work together on a refreshingly equal footing. Outside the realm of the professional, however, they aren’t so equal, and I wasn’t too pleased with the treatment of Emma’s sexual awakening. Nor did I like how, once business and pleasure have been thoroughly mixed, she claims to have secretly (so secretly even she had no idea) loved Harry all the years that she worked for him as his doormat and up close observer of his dissolute ways, his cavalier treatment of so many women. Too many contradictions and too much insincerity really doused my enjoyment of the book, Emma's character, and her romance with Harry. Things start to bog down once they start their affair, and I got kind of bored. All that baggage, Emma's and Harry's, was dealt with too swiftly for me to feel any real resolution. Their growing love was developed in terms that can only be described as blurry. The book became mundane, the outcome obvious, the ending trite. For a while there, And Then He Kissed Her had me hooked, but I've got to knock off a star for the stumbling finish. If I were less biased in favor of Guhrke's writing style, I would have knocked off more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read And Then he Kissed her by Laura Lee Ghurke (must be a real name!) which was set in the unusual time of the very late Victorian era where those new fangeled telephones were sometimes used. She didn't make as much of a fuss about them as she could have, but she did have the hero send a cable across the country. All very exciting. The romance was also excellent ;) I liked her heroine, Miss Emmaline Dove (great name!) who was turning 30 and spinsterish and wanted to be a writer, and her hero, the hardworking but scandalously divorced Lord Marlowe who found collecting rents boring but the making money in the publishing business exciting. I liked their chemistry and their dilemmas and really enjoyed spending time with them.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Not well written, character too 21st century for book
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Romance set in 1890s London. An intriguing take on the employer-employee / titled-commoner romance storylines. Ms. Guhrke creates interesting and personable characters and draws you in with the first chapter. I found this story (and author) when entering an online contest--and am glad I did!