Kiss Me, Annabel (Essex Sisters Series #2)

Kiss Me, Annabel - Eloisa James So much to love in this 2nd book in the Essex Sisters series... A hunky Highland Scott Lord as the Hero (Ewan) and a beautiful, determined-never-to-be-poor-again-as-God-as-my-witness Heroine (Annabel). Lots of kissing - long, slow, seductive kisses that take your breath away. (OK, so it was Annabele's breath that was taken away, but still!) And hey, even some faith thrown in - not the 'holier than thou' or stuffy faith, but faith that rings true and is part of the Hero, not just something he pretends to understand and spout!!!While it would be easy to classify Annabel as a greedy, selfish B****, she's not. This book really helped us to understand more about how and why Annabel developed such a business-minded idea of marriage. We saw how badly her father treated her, because she was the one to keep the books for his horse farm. She was the one who made sure that her sisters didn't starve, and that their home wasn't completely taken away from them. It was up to Annabel to stand up to their father and keep the creditors at bay. And oh, how her father hated her for that.It might seem trite for a Heroine to have "daddy issues", but Ms. James does it well -- she doesn't overplay it, but she helps us to see another side to Annabel -- an insecurity that, despite her beauty, no man will ever truly love her, because her father didn't. And all of the things that Annabel did to make men desire her... it's not until much later that Annabel realizes that desire and want are not the same as love, not even for a man. So all that Annabel has put her heart-and-soul into to "get" a man now feels so empty to her, when she realizes how much more there is to relationships, to love, to marriage. I truly felt for her! And I did understand how difficult it would be for her to accept that Ewan does love her. Just like a man (and a Scott!) to not be able to clearly say that to her! Because yes, for many men (including the oh-so-honorable-good-and-dreamy Jamie from the Outlander series), love and wanting/desire often feel the same, especially at the beginning of a love relationship.Ewan might be almost-too-good-to-be-true. Is he really an impoverished Lord looking for a woman with a large dowry? And why is he so determined to get Annabel? Something seems fishy... especially when he seems to readily turn from Annabel to Imogen at the slightest hint from Annabel. But we see that Ewan is more complex than we give him credit for, as the story goes along. And we realize that Ewan is far from perfect, as his lesson "playing peasant" designed to show Annabel how one can be very happy without material goods neatly turns against him, and shows him another side to himself.I was a bit miffed that Imogen had such a large role in this book, AGAIN! And a nasty Imogen at that. I'm tired of Imogen seemingly getting her way at every turn, including taking over Tess's and Annabel's stories. It seems quite unfair, especially since we all know that Imogen gets her own book. And it seems unfair that so many suffer because of Imogen. I'd like to see her get set down because of it, but somehow, I doubt that will happen.Josie is delightful, but I wonder if she'll become too missish or too much like Imogen? I guess we'll have to wait and see.