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I read an earlier book from the Rogues Redeemed series. though I'd forgotten it until there was a crossover of characters towards the end of the book. This is set in the years shortly after Waterloo, so maybe 1820ish. Kai Ramsay, the designated heir, comes home to Thorsay (a fictional archipelago based on Orkney) when he receives news that his grandfather, the laird, is fading fast. He's been away from the islands for 12 years, having adventures (and possibly being a British spy) around Constantinople. Dutifully he returns home, arriving just in time to say goodbye to his grandfather who has been ably assisted in his declining years by Signy Matheson, the younger sister of Kai's long-dead fiancee. Granddad tells Kai to marry Signy, and the stage is set. The two fall in love slowly (after resolving a few issues), and Signy, full of common sense, helps Kai to take up the lairdship. There are financial difficulties and a bit of a problem with Kai's rich cousin, but to be honest there's not much tension in the first half of the book. Oh, someone takes a pot-shot at Kai. but it doesn't seem to be of much significance and it's not followed up. It's a sweet love story but without a lot of highs and lows. Kai is interested in antiquities and there's interest there. Eventually the other 'Redeemed Rogues' from pervious books, all make an appearance to give the book a good ending. Though there isn't much of a plot this is oddly charming with interesting main characters.I read an earlier book from the Rogues Redeemed series. though I'd forgotten it until there was a crossover of characters towards the end of the book. This is set in the years shortly after Waterloo, so maybe 1820ish. Kai Ramsay, the designated heir, comes home to Thorsay (a fictional archipelago based on Orkney) when he receives news that his grandfather, the laird, is fading fast. He's been away from the islands for 12 years, having adventures (and possibly being a British spy) around Constantinople. Dutifully he returns home, arriving just in time to say goodbye to his grandfather who has been ably assisted in his declining years by Signy Matheson, the younger sister of Kai's long-dead fiancee. Granddad tells Kai to marry Signy, and the stage is set. The two fall in love slowly (after resolving a few issues), and Signy, full of common sense, helps Kai to take up the lairdship. There are financial difficulties and a bit of a problem with Kai's rich cousin, but to be honest there's not much tension in the first half of the book. Oh, someone takes a pot-shot at Kai. but it doesn't seem to be of much significance and it's not followed up. It's a sweet love story but without a lot of highs and lows. Kai is interested in antiquities and there's interest there. Eventually the other 'Redeemed Rogues' from pervious books, all make an appearance to give the book a good ending. Though there isn't much of a plot this is oddly charming with interesting main characters.
I've enjoyed some of Mary Jo Putney's other books, but this one didn't float my boat. Set in the early years of Queen Victoria's reign, it's well written, but the hero's character is all over the place. Peregrine is a fabulously wealthy foreigner, fixated on revenge against Weldon, a man who wronged him when he was a child in North Africa. He comes to England as a Kafir prince from Kafiristan. I had to look Kafiristan up. Wikipedia says: 'a historical region that covered present-day Nuristan Province in Afghanistan and its surroundings'. In exacting revenge Peregrine has vowed to take everything from Weldon and then kill him, but only after letting him know exactly why he's been targeted. One of the first things he takes, is the man's fiancee, Lady Sara St James, but in doing so falls in love. Sara is sensible and moral. She agreed to marry respectable-seeming Weldon without knowing his criminal activities. It seemed like a good option at the time, but her heart was never involved. She's surprised by her strength of feelings for Peregrine, but she doesn't trust him. Nor should she. He keeps his revenge mission from her 'for her own good.' So obviously he doesn't trust her either. All in all, I simply don't like Peregrine, and I have very little sympathy for him, his methods. He's a complex character, which I usually like, but he's got a bunch of traits that add up to make him a 'right bastard'. He's uncaring of how many other people get hurt for him to achieve his revenge. He's erratic, conceited, hot headed, heedless of others, and at times just plain stupid. He has enough evidence to put Weldon behind bars, or even hang him, but he's too busy playing mind-games to make a clean job of it. Weldon is two dimensional - a certified moustache-twirler with no redeeming features. He's a misogynistic, cruel paedophile who appears legitimate on the surface but keeps brothels for men with tastes that run to the unusual; specifically there's one where they kidnap underage virgins and sell them for non-consensual sex with syphilitic men who believe that sex with a virgin will cure their disease. It's as if the writer threw everything at the villain to see what would stick. And... ah, if only the hero and heroine actually TALKED to each other instead of (or as well as) having mindless wild sex every couple of pages. There's a lot of sex in this, and not always with full consent. I did keep reading, but only just. The satisfying resolution came too late (for me) to counter what I didn't like about this book. I note that it's one of her early books, originally published in 1991.
I've read the first book in the Fallen Angels series, but they all seem to work as standalones, or at least the ones I've read do. Though a Georgian romance, this takes place far from the London ballrooms and polite society of the Ton. Stephen Kenyon, Duke of Ashburton only recently elevated to the title, receives a grim diagnosis from his doctor. He takes to the road, incognito, intending to take some time to come to terms with his impending mortality. He falls in with a warm-hearted family of travelling players, the Fitzgeralds, and is drawn to their adopted daughter, Rosalind, a widow with a strong practical streak. If the plot resolution is a little predictable the reader, has fun finding how the characters reach their conclusion.
Set in Wales, this is a fairly run of the mill Regency style romance, all the better for not being set in the London season. Nikki, half Rom, inherits an Earldom when his Romani mother 'abandons' him to the not-so-tender care of his grandfather. He's the only heir and one his grandfather resents. He's demonised in the eyes of the locals when his wife and grandfather die on the same day. There are rumours but no real answers. Despite Nicholas' reputation, Clare Morgan, the village schoolteacher (daughter of the late and much beloved Methodist minister) approaches him to ask for his help in improving conditions in the local coal mine (which belongs to Nicholas' friend). Taking a fancy to Clare Nicholas strikes a bargain. He has a bad reputation, she has an impeccable one, but if she wants his help she must sacrifice her reputation by living under his roof for three months as his guest. He intends to seduce her and destroy her reputation for real, but not against her will. She is determined to keep it platonic. Yes, you can see where this is going, and you aren't wrong, but there are a few twists that keep it interesting once you get over the initial premise. We meet Nicholas' friends who are probably the other 'fallen angels' who will have their own books in the series.
Hmmm, perhaps I wasn't in the mood for this book. I'd just finished an engaging Sebasten de Castell, so thought I'd try something completely different. This is a Georgian novel set on the high seas and the Barbary Coast, so yes, pirates, a menagerie, two beautiful English women in danger of being sold into sex slavery via a harem.
Gabriel Hawkins Vance is chucked out of the Navy for some heinous crime (which isn't revealed until well into the book). He does quite well for himself as captain of his own ship, doing a bit of smuggling and blockade running. When Aurora (Roaring Rory) Lawrence and her companion, Constance, are captured by a Barbary pirate while gallivanting around the world, they are offered up for (a huge) ransom, which despite being an Earl, her father can't pay. Captain Gabriel Hawkins (he's dropped the Vance bit along with all family connections) is sent to negotiate their release for a smaller sum. Yes the obvious happens, Gabriel and Rory fall in love instantly.There's a lot of Gabriel's backstory revealed since he has past history with the Barbary pirate in question. It turns out that his heinous Naval crime wasn't heinous. So in fact he was never a real scoundrel at all. In fact he's gentlemanly and honourable throughout the whole book. In general the characters aren't terribly engaging. The women are both a bit annoying since every experience, however dire, seems to give them fuel for the next adventure book they are writing together. There's a rescue that's a bit too easy. Expect pygmy goats, a lion (underused in the plot - like the unfired gun on the mantelpiece) and a ship's cat called Spook.
