Because You're Mine by Lisa Kleypas

This is the follow up book to Somewhere I'll Find You, and together these two form the Capitol Theatre series.

Because the Dream. . .
Young, high-spirited Lady Madeline Matthews is expected to wed an aging, lecherous lord. But she would rather shame herself in the eyes of society than sacrifice her freedom, and resolves to render herself unmarriageable by indulging in a torrid affair with Britain's most acclaimed actor and notorious womanizer, Logan Scott.

Because the Heart. . .

He is a legend in the footlights and in the bedchamber. But when the curtain falls, Logan is an intensely private, guarded man still tormented by past betrayals that cut deep into his pride and his heart. Now a forward little minx who seems completely out of place in the bright, sophisticated world of the London stage is disrupting his orderly existence with her constant presence, her unspoiled beauty and vibrant charm. And what begins with an onstage kiss threatens to blossom into something more rapturous and real. But first Logan and Madeline both must be brave enough to drop the masks they hide behind. . . and reveal their true selves in the golden glorious light of love.

When I read Somewhere I'll Find You, the character that I most wanted to find out more about was Logan Scott, the imperious owner of the Capitol Theatre, so I was pleased to find out that he had his own book. And even more when I finished reading it, because this book is a much better book than the earlier one, even though there were still a couple of issues that I didn't like.
When a young schoolgirl decides to ruin herself she decides on the dashing and handsome Logan Scott as her chosen accomplice. So she changes her name and goes to the Capitol Theatre intent on seducing Logan. So, here's my problem. The heroine was still at school damn it! Why so young? Why, why? We're supposed to believe that she wants to ruin herself, that she manages to entrance Logan - a man who can have his choice of women - to the point of him being desperately in love with her, even though he has vowed never to love again after a terrible experience in the past, and that she ends up being the perfect wife to Logan who is willing to lose his privacy that he had guarded so zealously for so many years in order to keep her happy.

As for Logan, he was a fantastic hero. His past experiences weren't forced in front of us to make him seem more rakish, he went from cold and indifferent to being passionate and hurt when things don't go well.

It is enough to say that it takes a great deal of drama in order for Logan to be willing to allow Madeline to get completely close to him, and yet I wasn't really convinced that all the drama surrounding his true identity was really all that necessary. It didn't take the story any further in my opinion.

Overall, this was a much better read than the earlier book, and I am happy to see that Logan's friend (and also kind of the villain), Lord Drake gets his own story in the Wish List anthology.

Rating 4/5