Miss Hillary Schools a Scoundrel by Samantha Grace

I am currently on page 140 of this book and I have 266 pages to go -- and I have found myself reading a few pages and then putting it down and reading a few pages and putting it down.

Somehow, I am not engaged by this story or by the characters.

And I don't feel there is enough action or complication happening up to this point.

The opening paragraph is amazing and sets the stage for a truly unique heroine:

Two types of men crowded the Eldridge Ballroom this evening: the dashing gentlemen whose ardent, but proper, pursuit any debutante would welcome. And then there were the ones who pursued Lana Hillary.

Samantha Grace has singled out her character and has led us to expect that there is something different about Lana Hilary --

But she never shows us why.

She is an heiress and she's been betrayed by a fiance. She's in London for the Season and is trying to steer clear of the fortune hunters. The situations and decisions she makes while in these situations have not shown me that she is special.

The one interesting thing about her is that she has a knack for matchmaking -- and the author was not able to develop this.

Drew isn't that dissolute a scoundrel either -- (he's not constantly drunk or broke; he doesn't have a bevy of mistresses or a score of illegitimate children; etc.)

And neither of them seem compelling enough or attractive enough (to each other and to the reader) --

There is the toffee-colored locks that seem to constantly fall on Drew's forehead.

And the reminder that Lana has red/orange hair -- (how is this related to peaches?) --

~Sigh~

My impression is that these two characters would not have given each other a second thought had it not been for the constant meddling reminder of the people around them to stay away from each other.

Thus they have become the forbidden fruit to each other -- attractive only because they are forbidden to each other.

And why does everyone pop in and out of the pages just to remind either Lana or Drew of this?

Up to page 140, the story is static -- and so are the characters. They interact with each other but their interactions don't serve to deepen the attraction -- what has happened thus far is that -- they interact and then someone reminds them not to interact -- nothing else develops except the allure of the forbidden, which becomes stronger and stronger.

~Sigh~

I will put this book down and start another. I will try to come back to this and reread it again.