This is one of those books that could have been a five star read, but it had weaknesses that I just couldn’t get past – too much random violence, too many clichés, too much contrariness in the heroine, too much plot manipulation on the author’s part and too detached from real life in general. But oh, the hero! A confirmed rake who falls instantly for the heroine and doesn’t swerve from that for one single second – oh, yes, yes, yes! It was Gideon alone who saved this book from three-star ignominy, and near as dammit yanked it all the way up to five stars, too. Lovely, lovely Gideon.
Here’s the premise: the Merridew sisters, aged from twenty down to ten, are living with Grandpapa after their parents died. From an idyllic life of sunshine and laughter in Italy, they’re now living a miserable and reclusive existence in the English countryside, being regularly beaten for the least transgression. Yes, this is one of those tales where the villain is excessively villainous. But when Grandpapa has a fall and is laid up in bed for a while, they take the opportunity to escape to his brother, Great-uncle Oswald, a kindly soul who lives in London.
Fortuitously, he agrees to clothe them fashionably and bring them all out, but he won’t release the beautiful younger sisters onto the world until plain eldest sister Prudence is safely betrothed. Happily, Prudence is, in fact, betrothed to Phillip Otterbury, who has been in India for four years and will come back eventually to marry her, she’s sure. But she can’t tell Great-uncle Oswald about Phillip (because reasons) so she invents a betrothal to the famously reclusive Duke of Dinstable, who lives safely far away in the wilds of Scotland. But it turns out that he’s actually in town for once, and Great-uncle Oswald is determined to go and talk to him. There’s only one thing to be done – Prudence must go and talk to him first.
And then follows one of the funniest scenes I’ve ever read, when she thinks she’s meeting the duke, but it turns out to be his rakish cousin, Lord Carradice — our hero, Gideon — who rakishly falls for Prudence, and turns his rakish attention on her. And of course she can’t help responding to all that rakish charm, only partially mitigated by the inhibiting factor of the fiancé in India. So there’s a lot of kissing and unaccustomed warmth in strange places (yes, this is not a sex-free read), followed by biffing him over the head with her reticule.
And this is basically the whole of the romance part of the plot – Gideon pursues her with single-minded determination, and a degree of charm which any normal woman would find irresistible. I certainly did, and reading the reviews, I see I’m not alone. But Prudence made a solemn vow to Phillip four years ago, and carries his ring on a chain around her neck. So even though she’s drawn to Gideon, and kisses him back with equal fervour, she’s sure he’s just fooling around with her – being a rake, basically.
This is possibly the most annoying part of the whole book. Prudence, being a sensible girl and not the flighty type, really ought to make up her mind – either surrender to that rakish charm and enjoy all those deliciously rakish kisses and unexpected warmth, or else remember her solemn vow to the absent Mr Otterbury and hold herself aloof from the kisses, warmth, etc. One kiss I can allow, since she was taken by surprise, but after that, she really has to make her mind up. But she never does, berating Gideon repeatedly for forgetting about her betrothal, while giving every sign of having forgotten it herself.
Gideon, meanwhile, is slowly and almost imperceptibly melting from irredeemable rake to utterly faithful and adoring lover, who will do anything at all for his lady. It takes him a long time to realise it, but he gets there in the end, and honestly, by the point in the book where villainous Grandpapa turns up again and Gideon swears a solemn oath to protect Prudence and her sisters from him, he is absolutely irresistible, and it makes no sense to me that Prudence doesn’t simply dispense with the absent Mr Otterwhatsit instantly.
But, for tedious plot reasons, she doesn’t, and so the book veers somewhat off the rails in the later stages. There’s rather a lot of plot manipulation going on, not least that ring that Prudence always wears on a chain around her neck, except for that one convenient time when she doesn’t. And the sisters’ sojourn in Bath is replete with coincidental meetings, and some very over-the-top melodrama. It all got a bit silly.
Happily all comes right in the end, naturally. Be warned that there is a fair bit of bedroom stuff going on by this time, so if that’s not your thing, avoid. And I have to say, I wasn’t a fan of the punishment meted out to poor Mr Otterclogs (so many delicious variations on the name!) – having been on the wrong side of unwarranted violence themselves, why inflict it on anyone else? And to treat it as a joke is out of keeping with the seriousness of what was done to the sisters.
However, this is not a book that intends to take itself seriously. It’s all a bit fairytale-ish, with a cartoonishly villainous villain, a series of spectacularly beautiful heroines (apart from Prudence) and a whole heap of implausibilities. But Gideon… Gideon totally saves the book from any hint of mediocrity. He has all the best lines, all the best moves and all the emotional moments. I honestly don’t know how Prudence could resist him for as long as she did. He may (or may not) be the perfect rake, but he is certainly the perfect hero. I recommend this book for Gideon alone. Four stars.
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