Every Whispered Word

I'm the first to admit that sometimes I chose books because of their covers. Shallow, you think? Personally I don't think so, it's the first thing you see, you pick it up, read the blurb and then you decide if you want to get it or not.

And that's what happened to me with Every Whispered Word by Karyn Monk. I'm not a fan of the author, I have read a couple of her books and I found them tedious, but the cover is so breathtaking (IMO) that I read the blurb (see!) and thought that the story had potential, and it came home with me.

Here's the blurb:

In a conspiracy of hearts...

When Lady Camelia Marshall barges uninvited into Simon Kent's London laboratory with a business proposition, she finds the famous inventor not at all as she imagined. Far from the elderly scholar she expected, Kent is handsomely disheveled, surprisingly brawny, and decidedly uninterested in helping her pursue the archaeological work of her late father that could make known to the world the stirring secrets of an ancient culture and the mysterious cave paintings of the lost Tomb of Kings.

The survival of love depends on...

Though intrigued by the strikingly unconventional beauty of Lady Camelia, Kent cannot fathom leaving behind his inventions and research to scrabble in the African dirt. But while he may not grasp the magnitude of Camelia's proposition at once, someone else does - someone willing to go to dangerous lenghts to stop Camelia...and anyone associated with her. Suddenly, seduced by the sun-kissed lair and bronze skin of this gifted and indomitable woman, Kent finds himself drawn into a risky adventure that will lead him to an astonishing paradise he could never have imagined.

I mentioned potential, right? Well, it definitely had it, it just fell short.

It had great characters: an unconventional Victorian woman who is comfortable in her own skin and a "nerd" who is sexy and unpredictable. Good secondary characters, that added to story. The dialogue was incredible, it was quick and witty. It's set in an exotic place, South Africa. There's even a bunch of wild animals running around. But what left me cold was the lack of romance between the main characters. They had chemistry, that yummy heat, but the developing romance just wasn't there, in my opinion. You know that stuff builds a relationship. Maybe it's just me. Argh!

Well, at least the cover is great! ;)

Every Whispered Word by Karyn Monk (3/5) Historical Romance; Published: Bantam (3/2005); 2009 100 + Reading Challenge (63);