I’ve loved everything this author’s published, so I knew this was a safe bet. It’s a wonderful read, literate and engaging, with a plot that’s never predictable. Some reviewers find the heroine unlikable, but I found her fascinating and totally believable.
Here’s the premise: Clara Mantell is the daughter of an unredeemed rake and sister to another, and has learnt that men are despicable, untrustworthy creatures, and she will never submit herself in marriage to one. Steadfast, honourable men like neighbour Lawrence Simpford hold no attractions for her. Instead, she plays her own game with rakish men, charming them into falling in love with her in order to break their hearts and teach them a lesson. But that can be a dangerous game for a woman, even one so resourceful and self-sufficient as Clara.
No, Clara’s not really an admirable character, but with her family history it’s unlikely she would grow up to be a simpering, demure miss. Her weak mother is no help, although having recently married a good man (was this in an earlier book? I don’t remember) she’s beginning to make better decisions about her friends. But she has no influence over Clara, who sets out to entice two of the most notorious rakes into her web, confident that she can best them.
And Lawrie, poor love-lorn Lawrie, tries his best to protect her or at least to rescue her when she gets into real trouble, and gets nothing but contempt for his pains. The two have some spectacular blow-ups, and it’s only when Clara feels that she’s lost Lawrie’s friendship for ever that she begins to appreciate and realise how necessary he is to her comfort.
Meanwhile, her efforts to keep control of her two rakes are beginning to unravel, and things take a decided turn for the worse. The finale is pretty dramatic stuff, and although it gets a little bit over the top, with more than one ‘just when you thought it was all over’ moment along the way, it’s very readable.
Clara might be a hard-hearted flirt, but the banter between her and her rakish admirers is wonderful, I loved the determined way Clara managed to get her own way so often, and Lawrie made a terrific hero. Three cheers for stepfather Mr Noyce, too, who exerted some subtle influence on Clara. I almost knocked off a star for that melodramatic ending, but the writing is so wonderful that I didn’t have the heart to do it, so five stars it is.
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