Mischief: A Novel

By Amanda Quick

Imogen Waterstone has always prided herself on being a thoroughly independent young woman, but now she needs a man of implacable will and nerves of iron. That's why she invited Matthias Marshall, infamous Earl of Colchester, to her home in Upper Strickland. Who better than the legendary explorer to help her lay the perfect trap?



Her scheme is simple, really: She plans to let it be known that when she inherited her uncle's collection of antiquities, she also inherited a map to a fabulous ancient treasure. She's sure that her enemy would risk financial ruin in pursuit of the mythical artifact. And to make doubly sure the scoundrel took the bait, she wants Colchester to pretend that he's out to seduce Imogene so that he, too, could get his hands on her map.



Yet in all of her plotting, Imogene never anticipates Colchester's violent reaction to her request or her own electrifying reaction to him. Neither does she expect that a malevolent threat would emerge from the labyrinth of London--sinister enough to endanger her and Colchester's lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 17, 2010
• ISBN: 9780307575555

Amanda Quick

Amanda Quick is the pseudonym for Jayne Ann Krentz, the author, under various pen names, of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers; there are more than 35 million copies of her books in print. She lives in Seattle.

Reviews for Mischief

[lauren2013_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Mischief
3 Stars

Imogen Waterson has a plan to punish the man she hold responsible for the death of her best friend. All she needs is the assistance of Matthias Marshal, the infamous Earl of Colchester renowned not only for his legendary expedition to the mythical city of Zamar but also for his cold-blooded and sinister nature. Has Imogen bitten off more than she can chew?

Similar characterization and romance to With This Ring. Although the mystery itself is different, it is, nevertheless, just as predictable, but then, one does not read Quick's books for their originality.

Like most of Quick's heroines, Imogen is an innocent bluestocking in over her head. Considering her past experiences with the ton>/i> her naiveté when it comes to Matthias's personality is both ridiculous and charming at the same time.

Readers of Quick's books will also be familiar with Matthias's hero-type. Dark and misanthropic, He is pulled into Imogen's adventures against his better judgment but finds himself drawn to her passion and enthusiasm.

The main problem with the book and the reason it rates only 3 stars is the Zamar theme (Vanza in later books), which is repeated over and over ad nauseam.

Overall, light and fluffy fun as expected.

[jetangen4571 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

suspense, murder, artifact, romance, mystery, historical-novel, reread, social-issues Another one from the prolific Quick that I have reread in print and own in audio.Yes, it is romantic suspense, has erotica, and the snarks sneak up on you. Publisher's blurb suggests the plot, but there is more fun to it, and the characters do remind me of a few folks that I have worked with. It is a lightweight, fun read with a mere hint of supernatural and a side order of social issues still present today.Can't go wrong with Barbara Rosenblatt as the audio performer.

[helenliz_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is another of Amanda Quick's fairly formulaic Regency (assumption - it's not stated) romances. Matthias, Lord Colchester, is a Regency version of Lord Caernarvon - interested in discovering the secrets of a lost civilisation, so rolls up his sleeves and in the company of Rutledge, discovers said civilisation. The lost island is entirely made up, Zamar being sort of a rich, exotic, island. It has two chief gods, a Lady god of the day and the male god of the night. And, in case we hadn't got the point, the lady and gentleman in question are frequently linked to their respective god by analogy. It all gets rather tedious. That's not to say that, as a romance, it isn't a good fun read - it's the packing that is mildly annoyiong. Everything has to be linked to a Zamarian something or other (even his methods of lovemaking). The two leads are amusing enough, Imogen is a bluestocking with little in the way of social graces and a ruined reputation, Matthias has a reputation for being cold-blooded and with no scruples. As ever, not exactly the case and the sparring between them is fun to read. There's the requisite amount of peril and some hairbrained scheme to uncover a murder that's 3 years old, but it all ties up neatly in to a fun, frivolous but faintly annoying parcel.

[jaguar897 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Hmmmm, let me see how many times I can repeat the word Zamar? Oh just about a million times according to Amanda Quick. Other than that I liked the characters and the story itself.

[slysionnach_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my first romance novel. I remember it fondly - I read it back, maybe six years ago, and had to read it all over again. I always associated romance with Harlequin and that stuff my mother would tell me as a kid, "You can read anything you want, just not in that section until you're older." Looking back, I'm surprised I listened...Regardless, the book itself I enjoyed immensely. It circles around "Immodest" Imogen Waterstone and "Cold-Blooded" Colchester. Imogen is on a hunt for the real reason her good friend died, and what better way than to enter society again? After all, that's where all the Lords and Ladies are normally.So she comes up with this fantastic way of asking Colchester to help, based on a debt he owed to her Uncle...which her Uncle left to Imogen in his will. He'll pretend to pursue her because she supposedly owns the map to an ancient Zamarian (yes, made up) artifact that they're both interested in, being lovers of that ancient culture. It helps bind them together throughout the four hundred or so pages.I think the part that made me like the novel so much more is the fact that during this conversation, Imogen gets it into her head that "Cold-Blooded" Colchester suffers from weak nerves. The way the author plays on that throughout the rest of the novel is good for some laughter.All in all, I really enjoyed reading this. The characters made me smile, the situations were just ridiculous at some points (in a good way), and there's even a touch of mystery in it to keep me guessing. Would (and have) read it again anytime.

[cljacobson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

listened to abridged audio cassette- would like to read more of this intelligent woman character; learned much about early anthropolgy , etc.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While a fun installment in her slightly alternative universe with the finding of a mysterious island called Zamar, which has captivated the historical period (which feels more victorian than regency), this somehow just didn't quite do it for me. I think that the pacing was a little off for me and I really didn't feel a sense of menace from the major bad character. Imogen Waterstone has a plan to get her revenge on Vanneck, a man who married a friend and then broke her heart. Who also was involved in getting Imogen in disgrace. She turns to Matthias Marshall the Earl of Colchester for help and finds herself more involved than maybe she should.It's fun, light and interesting but the characters never really came to life for me. Still it's a good one to borrow.