Say You Love Me (Malory, No. 5)

_Say You Love Me_, the fifth book in the beloved Malory series, is the story of Derek Malory and Kelsey Langton. Though Derek has been a minor character in the background of the series, he definitely shines in this unique Regency romance.

Derek Malory, heir to the Marquis of Haverston, is following fast in the footsteps of his two rakehell uncles. Though more gentle and kindhearted in his love affairs, he is definitely a man interested in pleasure for pleasure's sake. Unlike other reviewers, I found it exhilarating to have a hero who wasn't an alpha male. Beyond popular belief, not all women are attracted to overbearing brutes and that's usually the type of hero you find in this genre. Derek Malory is a cut above the rest.

Kelsey Langton, though gently bred, must sell herself in a house of pleasure to save her family. Ignorant in the art of love, Kelsey is forced to act as mistress to the man who buys her. I was extremely impressed with Kelsey's character. She's strong, brave and self-sacrificing. In a genre full of selfish, conceited heroines Kelsey shines.

I've read numerous Regency-era romances, but _Say You Love Me_ is far from being a cardboard copy of the rest. The premise is interesting, the mystery intriguing and the love between Derek and Kelsey is sweet without being sugary. In fact, I found the entire book uniquely pleasurable -- I could scarcely make myself put it down.

_Say You Love Me_ would be an amazing story on its own, but it's even better as an addition to the Malory family saga. All of the previous characters are involved in the plot and help move the story along. As usual, their wit and charm make for an outstanding adventure.

Over the last 10 years I've come to expect great things from Ms. Lindsey and once again she's proven why that is. She creates memorable characters, puts them in fascinating situations and ties it all together with excitement, passion, romance and humor. I highly recommend this book to all fans of the Malory family.

I must not have been reading the same novel as some of you. Johanna Lindsey broke my heart with this book. She was my favorite author for YEARS. But as I kept reading, all I could think was, "Sellout!" Was there even a romance here? It was like one big epilogue... If you're a big fan of Johanna Lindsey, just reread one of her earlier novels. You can still stay in that happy bubble where everything is good, especially Johanna Lindsey's books.

Basically, I liked it, but when I get down to it, no I suppose I didn't. Hmmm. Well, it starts lowly (I didn't say slowly), the girl heads to a brothel (thanks to her dumb drunk desperate hysterical uncle), she gets into sick sad trouble, turns out she didn't have to be at the brothel, she hides away and gets sick, gets kidnapped, a scandal starts, oooh, which is cured suddenly somehow (can't remember how). There wasn't much strength nor energy here. However the kidnapper sadist was something... but so scary! Awful... I hope that doesn't happen to anyone. It's too bad that it already does. Seeing it in the book was a sad thing. But it was so wonderful how she got rescued. This is not one of those sweep-your-heart-away, give you something to remember, smile gently over romances. There are very few romances that fit into this category. If you want the best of the best, this one will disappoint on one level or the other, depending on the reader. What I mean to say is this book wont get you high. And if it wont, what's the point? You gotta make it all worth your while. I've just become picky, like some other reviewers, which is to hopefully result in great book-reading experiences, and no wasted ones.

I am a huge JL fan. I love the Malory novels, especially "Tender Rebel" and "Gentle Rogue." That said, I thought that the fifth Malory novel, "Say You Love Me," while a quick read, was rather lackluster. I am actually surprised so many reviewers gave it 4 or 5 stars; it makes we wonder if we were even reading the same book, or if they were letting their love for the Malorys cloud their judgment.

In fact, I recall trying to read "Say" when it first came out in 1996. I think I read two chapters before giving up (and I LOVE Lindsey). Now, here I am, in 2004; knowing Jeremy finally has his own story, I decided to reread the entire Malory series before buying "A Loving Scoundrel." So that meant I actually had to finish "Say." Well, I did. Needless to say, I was not impressed.

"Say" revolves around Derek Malory, the illegitimate son of a Marquis, and a young rakehell, to boot. In a rather selfless act of compassion, he "saves" Kelsey Langton - a Lady in need of money to save her family from financial ruin - by buying her in a public auction at a brothel as his mistress. He deliberately outbids a sadistic lord intent on purchasing her for his own cruel sexual deviations.

An interesting start to a Malory novel. But, instead of being the usual light-hearted, witty romantic runaround that involves a lot of seduction and sensual banter (which define Malory novels), "Say" goes a different route. Derek doesn't have to seduce Kelsey - he's bought her, so she must comply. The banter is limited in this novel, probably because Kelsey is so accommodating and because the uncle that this Malory novel highlights is Jason, the dead-serious one. Worse, the novel has the darkest, most awful "bad guy" scene of any JL romance: Kelsey is kidnapped and taken to a house of horrors by the sadist, who intends to rape and torture her. This is THE most disturbing thing JL has written; in my mind, it belonged in a suspense thriller or horror story, not a romance novel. However, to top it off, this scene occurs in the middle of the novel; after Kelsey is rescued, JL spends about two sentences saying "Oh yeah, it was a pretty awful experience, so she spent a week in bed," before promptly forgetting about it. This is the type of incident that traumatizes people for life. Hello!

I also noticed that there was too much back-story to this book. Having read Malory books #1 through 4 in the last few weeks, back-to-back, I didn't appreciate the summarizations very much. I think it would have been a lot more fun if JL had written more about what Regina, Anthony, James, Warren, etc. have been up to now, rather than what had happened in novels I can reread anytime.

Finally, three other points: 1) The last half of the book revolves around why it would be scandalous if Kelsey and Derek marry (even James and Anthony, those scandalmongers, were naysaying a wedding); please, these are the Malorys - they relish scandal - so this plotline, knowing the family, seemed ridiculous. 2) What was the point to Kelsey having The Tragedy in her life? JL teased us readers with it, made it seem important, then let it flatline completely. So sad. 3) I actually finished the novel thinking it was still embarrasing for Kelsey to show her face among the Malorys, since everyone was so dead-set against her and the solution was so silly.

FYI: The Malory series includes 1) "Love Only Once" (Regina is compromised by bored rake Nicholas), 2) "Tender Rebel" (Roslynn must marry, and Anthony offers himself as groom), 3) "Gentle Rogue" (Georgina ends up as James' cabin boy aboard his ship), 4) "Magic of You" (Amy will make Warren marry her no matter what), 5) "Say You Love Me" (Derek buys Kelsey in an auction), 6) "The Present" (novella about the gypsy great-grandmother), and 7) "A Loving Scoundrel" (Jeremy lets a thief steal his heart).

i actually could not finish this book as everytime i picked it up i started to doze off. i should have know this would happen when the premise started off with almost a simple "oh well,i have to sell myself to save my family." i dont think this would be a normal reaction on anyone's part- even back when. and could you see it coming a mile off when she falls in love with him? and even though he took her virginity without almost no thought to her feelings?? and i could really have done without the ancestral mallory guidebook sandwiched into the story also. not a good idea when it's not relevant to the plotline. save your time and money and pass this one up.

Orphaned and penniless after losing their parents in an accident that has become known among the ton as The Tragedy, Kelsey Langton and her younger sister, Jean, came to live with their aunt and uncle. But when circumstance threatened to leave them all homeless, she feared for her sister's welfare and therefore made the decision to sell herself and become some aristocrat's mistress.

When Derek Malory accompanies his cousin, Jeremy, to the House of Eros, the most notorious brothel in London, little did he know that the night was going to cost him the exorbitant amount of twenty five thousand pounds for it was the night that Kelsey was being auctioned off to the highest bidder. When Derek realizes that the highest bidder was the debauched Lord Ashford, he finds himself outbidding him for fear of the sick things that would befall Kelsey if she ends up with Ashford. And so Derek inadvertently finds himself with a mistress. But what Derek doesn't know is that Kelsey is actually part of the gentry. She, on the other hand, tries to keep her real identity for fear of bringing more shame to her family. Regardless of this, both find themselves falling in love.

Well, the story started out well. The whole auction plot is quite good and both characters are very likable. I liked how Derek acts like a real gentleman towards Kelsey, something that you wouldn't expect from a Malory.

The only problem is the involvement of the Malory clan wasn't handled properly in that they pretty much take over most part of the book. Not that I didn't enjoy their appearance, but I just skipped on the parts that recap the story of the previous books' main characters. But a welcome addition is the insight to Jason Malory's love life. It was good to know a bit more about Derek's father. And of course, it is always delightful to see the banter between James and Anthony. I still enjoyed reading this even though the secondary characters tend to overtake the main ones.

First off, here is the series in sequence: 1. Love Only Once 2. Tender Rebel 3. Gentle Rogue 4. The Magic of You 5. Say You Love Me 6. The Present: The Malory Holiday Novel
I was really looking forward in reading Derek's story that I took this book with me in a long flight from L.A to Hong Kong. To my dismay, this book made me fall asleep more than I can count. The beginning was quite interesting, then things started to fall apart.... WHY? Here's why: I have notice that all books in this Malory series (except for the first one) contains lots of repetitive informations. There were times I had to skip parts wherein a Malory or two will start discussing the story or happenings of the previous books, sorta like a short summarization for those who have not read it. For readers like me who have read the series in sequence, It's useless info. and i won't lose anything to skip it... At first, this style of writing didn't seem to bother me but when I got to the third book of the series, the summarization of the first two books was getting to me. Imagine my restlessness when i was reading the 4th and the 5th book (which unfortunately happened to be Derek's story)! I skipped more parts in this book cuz I didn't need to read the summary of the 4 previous books which i have already read. All this useless (in my opinion) summarizations, overshadowed Derek and Kelsey's story. Ms. Lindsey should have concentrated on detailing their characters (esp. Kelsey) and building up their relationship with each other. This is the main reason why I rated this book quite low, there was sooo many summarizations of the previous books! No doubt, It was great to read UPDATES of the Malory characters in the previous books, i liked that part but i think there is no need to summarize each couple's story.
Derek and Kelsey's love story have some potentials... Their story was quite sad compared to the other Malory's yet I wasn't convince and drawn to them like I should. I really tried to like this book. In fact, I kept picking it up after putting it down for an hour or two... But even after skipping some parts, it still doesn't peak my interest. Derek's strong profile seemed to fade and Kelsey, being pictured as a strong level headed girl, also seemed weak and often times insecure & confuse. Perhaps it is the situation and the contradictory occurances that made this book so unconvincing or perhaps lack of detailing and building up... or perhaps it's simply the too many summarizations of the previous books that turned me off from this book. It's just too bad cuz Derek was one of my favorite Malory too. Oh well, there is many people who rated this book a 4 and 5 stars so perhaps you might like it more than I have. So pick it up and decide for yourself. PLUS, this book if part of the Malory series. If u started the series, you'll have to read this one too.

Kelsey and Derek...where do we begin? They're both very likeable characters, though rather boring. There was not a lot of emotion between them, and they just quickly settled into this comfortable relationship together. I'd expected more resisting of their love for each other - more anything really. There was just zero emotion here. This is basically just a story of two people who would be perfectly happy to fall in love and marry if only they would talk to each other - and honestly the problem was more from Kelsey than from Derek.

One big problem I have with the story? How about the fact that Kelsey's parents died earlier THAT YEAR, and she's totally comfortable with relating the story of their deaths with a simple sigh. She makes it sound like they were being silly and annoying..."sigh, they never fought, so of course it was a surprise when my mother shot him and then fell out the window." Yes, that's some stark realism fraught with emotion, wouldn't you agree? I mean, if this were my parents I'd probably be still rocking in a corner somewhere unable to even discuss it.

And finally a mention of the sex scene(s). They are incredibly lacking. I love a good sex scene, but a stellar romance would trump a bad romance with good sex. This story has neither. The one scene that was truly covered was just lukewarm and lacking in emotion (surprise!). Subsequent scenes were not fleshed out and not even worth putting into the story.

All in all not a terrible read, but I found myself skipping over the incredibly detailed discussions of the Malory family to get the "good parts"...and there really weren't any. This story was just fine.

Holey moley. Is this what a trashy romance is supposed to be like? I thought they were supposed to be at least somewhat believable, and not just an excuse for some soft porn. It's just so badly written.
granted I don't read this type of book (I like Georgette Heyer books if I want a romance novel) but I thought it was at least supposed to be engaging in some fashion... you know, characters that you care about... what a waste of time.

I have to disagree with the low rating given to this story by other readers, because Ms Lindsey ensures that the hero Dereck is quite unique - he resembles his dad Jason, but he is not like his uncles James and Tony and his cousins-in law Nicholas Eden and Warren Anderson!!! Readers must use logic, after all, Ms Lindsey is quite correct/original because she she does not typecast her Malory men!!! why do other readers expect the same old personality-type like Nicholas, Tony and that exception and BEST Malory male: James? Heroes in the same series MUST BE UNIQUE TO ENSURE VARIETY!!! Dereck is absolutely perfect in his own way!And the beautiful Kelsey is my favourite herione after Georgina...My only disappointement is the fact that a little too much information on the previous couples in the Malory series. Dereck and Kelsey did not receive the type of attention readers should have expected!!!I adore the other couples whose previous respective relationships were magical! BUT THIS IS NOT THEIR STORY!!! Other than that, the novel was perfect...