Author: Barbara

Avid reader/reviewer of historical romance and historical mysteries.

Outrageous by Minerva Spencer

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

Outrageous (Rebels of The Ton, #2)Outrageous by Minerva Spencer
Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Rebels of the Ton #2
Publication Date: 6/29/21
Period: Regency -1816 London and points north
Number of Pages:374

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I learned that the villain from the previous book, Notorious, is the hero in this book. Sometimes authors manage to redeem a character spectacularly – and sometimes they don’t, so I was anxious to see how this redemption would go. In the first one percent of the book, it seems our hero had a complete personality transplant and became filled with remorse over what he’d previously done. Actually, I like the way the author handled the redemption – he sort of ‘awoke’ and realized what he’d done and even what he was still planning to do. He definitely wasn’t redeemed at that point, but it was a great beginning and as we slowly learn the reasons for his actions, we also come to understand the pain that caused him to go off the deep end. I know page time is limited in a book, but I would have loved to see a short scene, maybe in the epilogue or perhaps the last chapter, where he approaches Dru and Gabriel to apologize and ask for their forgiveness.

Eva de Courtenay is one of those bright, energetic, fun-loving, dedicated people who just make you tired by being around her (think of the Energizer bunny). She’s drop-dead gorgeous – and would argue with a fence post. Headstrong, heedless, and reckless don’t even begin to describe her, but she is also strong, resilient, resourceful, brave, and totally loyal to those she loves. You are going to absolutely love her!

When Eva learns the villain is still after her step-brother and his new wife, she makes a plan to thwart him. She’ll just kidnap him and take him north somewhere and strand him so that her step-brother and his family will already be out of London by the time he makes it back to London. She seems to have forgotten that the man was a soldier for over a dozen years and is pretty resourceful himself. Of course, nothing in any of that scenario could go wrong – right?

Godrick Fleming, Earl of Visel, heir to the Duke of Tyndale, has had a horrendous time of it over the last few years. I won’t tell you all of it because that would spoil the book’s revelations for you. Just suffice it to say, if any of us had been through what he has, we’d probably go off the deep end as well. With good reason, he never plans to marry or have children, and yet, he’s been knocked out, kidnapped, and now he is on the Great North Road with a beautiful young woman who has him tied up and at her mercy. The young woman is totally oblivious to the fact that they must now marry or she will be totally ruined. Uh Oh.

This was a fun read – after I got past all of the age references. Those references were throughout the book and it often made me want to throw the book against the wall. Godrick is 17 years older than Eva and today we’d think of him as a cradle robber, but in that period, it wasn’t particularly uncommon. Also, it wasn’t like he had any real choice in the matter and since they needed to marry, was it supposed to be a chaste marriage? So – mention the age difference, deal with it, and then get on with the story.

I loved all of the wit and humor both of the main characters displayed. Their banter and ‘arguments’ were often priceless. I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced, well-written story filled with many, many mishaps along their trek toward Scotland. It seems as if anything that could happen, did happen. I also loved the supporting characters – especially Andrew and James who were both loyal employees and friends who enabled the adventures and helped resolve the issues.

The only reason I rated this book lower is because of the constant references to age. I got very tired of it because I often felt as if it were mentioned several times on each page. It definitely wasn’t that often, but it was so often that I started to groan each time it came up. It added nothing to the romance and didn’t move the story along, so there was no reason for the author to have fixated on it quite so much.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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West End Earl by Bethany Bennett

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

West End Earl (Misfits of Mayfair, #2)Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Misfits of Mayfair #2
Publication Date: 6/29/21
Period: May 1820 – Regency Era
Number of Pages: 400
4.5 Stars

I was very impressed with this author’s debut novel, Any Rogue Will Do, and have been excitedly waiting to see how her second release would fare. Well, the answer is in – I LOVED it. Cal was one of my favorite characters in the first book, and I am delighted he has gotten his well-deserved HEA in this book. The prose is outstanding, the story flows flawlessly from beginning to end and the characters are relatable, likable, and could easily become friends if we knew them in real life.

Calvin (Cal) Carlyle, Earl of Carlyle, heir to the Marquess of Eastly, is a fixer. He always feels it is his responsibility to fix problems for his friend and family. He’s very good at that, but it is often to his detriment – especially when those family members don’t really appreciate it or him. They are vain to the extreme and just take him for granted. The Marquess is a profligate who moves through the world without a thought to anyone other than himself. He leaves illegitimate offspring everywhere, spends recklessly, wagers recklessly, and then just expects Cal to clean it all up. Cal’s sister, Emma, is just as self-centered and reckless as their father. She goes through her life without a thought about the consequences of her actions – until those consequences catch up to her.

Calvin’s father has gone beyond the pale this time. He invested heavily on an investment when Cal had cautioned him to invest much more modestly. Then, on top of that, he made a wager he couldn’t possibly pay unless the investment pays out. That doesn’t trouble the marquess in the least because if the marquess can’t pay, the winner is perfectly willing to take Cal as his son-in-law. Cal has no intention of becoming that son-in-law, but he’s going to have a time working his way out of that. He’ll have to handle it carefully. Cal just isn’t good at telling his father no, even though there is no way for the marquess to force Cal to marry.

Adam Hardwick, AKA Ophelia (Phee) Hardwick is a survivor. Adam and Ophelia are orphaned twins who were thrust into the guardianship of their vile, odious uncle Milton Keating when they were very young. At the age of thirteen, the uncle sent Adam away to school and drew up marriage contracts for Ophelia to marry a very old and odious man. When Adam accidentally died, Ophelia began living as Adam and went to school in his place and Adam was buried under Ophelia’s name. Now, she’s been living as a man for ten years and wouldn’t have a clue how to behave as a woman. That deception works well for her – until she is attacked – and her best friend and employer, Calvin Carlyle, comes to her aid.

When Cal discovers Adam is really Ophelia, he wonders how he never saw it before. He’d always felt an affinity for Adam – and now he feels a full-force attraction that quickly becomes love. Cal has to manage to keep Phee safe, see that she continues to love him, and somehow manage to thwart his father’s schemes to marry him off to the winner of the bet’s daughter. It is fun to watch Cal screw it all up – the poor boy just can’t seem to go against his nature. Winning and keeping Phee may be one of those things he just can’t fix.

What do I think could be improved? I think the wording, descriptions, etc. sound very American in what is supposed to be nineteenth-century England. Anachronistic word choices – also sound very American, but weren’t in use at the time – for instance, ‘scrapper’ didn’t come into use until 1874, and then it was used for a pugilist. It didn’t come to stand for anyone who puts up a fight until later. It isn’t usual for an earl’s last name to match his title. I guess it is just that word usages and choices, situations, etc. just sound very American to me and perhaps the author could spend a bit more time immersed in that period in England.

However, the bottom line for me is that it was a lovely, witty, fun story featuring lovely people and I’m glad to have read it and I hope you will love it as well. The next book, All Rogues Lead to London, will feature Emma, Cal’s sister. I’m so looking forward to that because Emma grew exponentially as a person in this book and I can’t wait to see what happens with her. I also hope we see something dire happen with Roxbury AND I’d like to see Emma’s child inherit Milton’s estate. Grand payback I’d say.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

View all my reviews