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Rake's Redemption
Young widow Juliana was on her way to London for the social season when her vehicle collided with that of a wicked, much whispered-about marquis. Juliana cared nothing for his reputation, but she faced an unexpected problem when the marquis felt he was not good enough for her!
Mass Market Paperback
First published July 30, 1989
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September 24, 2014
Note to artwork department: The heroine is auburn haired and the hero is blond. Who are the people on the cover meant to be?
This recently re-issued traditional Regency does suffer somewhat in comparison to many of today’s historical romances, principally in the area of the depth – or lack thereof – to the characterisation of the principals. The best of today’s historical romances present us with strongly characterised, fully fleshed-out heroes and heroines – and while it’s untrue to say that these don’t exist in older books (this was originally published in 1989), I have the impression from those I’ve read that it’s less common.
That said, there is an attempt in this story to introduce some depth to both protagonists, with the author being much more successful in the case of the heroine. The hero never really rises above the two-dimensional, despite the rather traumatic experiences of his past.
The story is a simple one. Lady Juliana Grenville is a young widow, having lost her husband of eighteen weeks – who was also her childhood sweetheart – during the war in Spain. In deference to his father’s wishes, and her promise to remain faithful to Will’s memory, Juliana has sequestered herself away at her country estate and is mostly content. But her aunt and companion, Sophia, is not at all happy with this, and finally manages to cajole Juliana into travelling to London to enjoy a Season and live a little.
On the way, they are involved in a carriage accident and are assisted by Dominic Crawford, the Marquis of Aubrey, a young man with a reputation so black that ladies quail at the very mention of his name. Well, the respectable ones do. All the others throw themselves at his blond, blue-eyed gorgeousness.
Dominic and his cousin Freddie strike up friendships with both ladies, with Dominic and Juliana becoming particularly close during the few days they spend together at a country inn. Despite their enforced association, I found it really odd that Juliana, Sophia, Dominic and Freddie were on first name terms within a few hours of their meeting.
All good things must come to an end however, and the gentlemen and ladies continue their journeys to London, where Juliana finds Dominic very changed. The companionship and warmth he had shown her previously is gone, to be replaced by a coldness that Juliana is at a loss to explain.
Dominic is, of course, trying to do the honourable thing and “save her from herself” by keeping away from her, or at least, withdrawing from her emotionally. His feelings for her are further complicated by the fact that he knew her late husband, and was actually with him when he died. Hearing Will speak so movingly about the young woman he had waiting for him at home led her to become a kind of talisman for Dominic – and he cannot bear the thought of her goodness being sullied by his tarnished name and dissolute deeds.
When we find out the truth of Dominic’s past, and the reasons behind the life of debauchery into which he launched himself following his parents’ deaths, it’s certainly something which could easily have induced someone to become a little unbalanced. But here, as with so many books featuring “rakish”, “wicked” or otherwise imperfect heroes, is where the storytelling falls down, because we’re never really provided with any reason to believe ill of Dominic other than what other people tell us during the course of the book. Whenever he’s on the page, his behaviour what one would expect of a gentleman of the period (excepting his blow-hot / blow-cold attitude towards Juliana), and I really saw nothing in him to suggest he was a rake of the first order.
The best parts of the book were undoubtedly those moments where Juliana decided to take charge of her life and go after what she wants. At first, she shies away from Dominic because of the way he makes her feel, and because of the visceral reaction he evokes in her. She sees it as a betrayal of the promise she made to her dying father-in-law to not replace Will, and feels extremely guilty. But there comes a point when she finally sees that she is entitled to have a life of her own and another chance at love, and, in a lovely scene, she finally puts her past behind her and determines to move forward. Then towards the end, when Dominic is insisting that he is not worthy of her, Juliana makes it very clear that she won’t allow him to ruin both their lives because of some misplaced sense of honour.
The Rake’s Redemption is a quick, undemanding read, which boasts an attractive central couple. The writing is decent, if a little overly simplistic at times, but if you’re in the mood for a simple, clean “trad”, this might suit.
This recently re-issued traditional Regency does suffer somewhat in comparison to many of today’s historical romances, principally in the area of the depth – or lack thereof – to the characterisation of the principals. The best of today’s historical romances present us with strongly characterised, fully fleshed-out heroes and heroines – and while it’s untrue to say that these don’t exist in older books (this was originally published in 1989), I have the impression from those I’ve read that it’s less common.
That said, there is an attempt in this story to introduce some depth to both protagonists, with the author being much more successful in the case of the heroine. The hero never really rises above the two-dimensional, despite the rather traumatic experiences of his past.
The story is a simple one. Lady Juliana Grenville is a young widow, having lost her husband of eighteen weeks – who was also her childhood sweetheart – during the war in Spain. In deference to his father’s wishes, and her promise to remain faithful to Will’s memory, Juliana has sequestered herself away at her country estate and is mostly content. But her aunt and companion, Sophia, is not at all happy with this, and finally manages to cajole Juliana into travelling to London to enjoy a Season and live a little.
On the way, they are involved in a carriage accident and are assisted by Dominic Crawford, the Marquis of Aubrey, a young man with a reputation so black that ladies quail at the very mention of his name. Well, the respectable ones do. All the others throw themselves at his blond, blue-eyed gorgeousness.
Dominic and his cousin Freddie strike up friendships with both ladies, with Dominic and Juliana becoming particularly close during the few days they spend together at a country inn. Despite their enforced association, I found it really odd that Juliana, Sophia, Dominic and Freddie were on first name terms within a few hours of their meeting.
All good things must come to an end however, and the gentlemen and ladies continue their journeys to London, where Juliana finds Dominic very changed. The companionship and warmth he had shown her previously is gone, to be replaced by a coldness that Juliana is at a loss to explain.
Dominic is, of course, trying to do the honourable thing and “save her from herself” by keeping away from her, or at least, withdrawing from her emotionally. His feelings for her are further complicated by the fact that he knew her late husband, and was actually with him when he died. Hearing Will speak so movingly about the young woman he had waiting for him at home led her to become a kind of talisman for Dominic – and he cannot bear the thought of her goodness being sullied by his tarnished name and dissolute deeds.
When we find out the truth of Dominic’s past, and the reasons behind the life of debauchery into which he launched himself following his parents’ deaths, it’s certainly something which could easily have induced someone to become a little unbalanced. But here, as with so many books featuring “rakish”, “wicked” or otherwise imperfect heroes, is where the storytelling falls down, because we’re never really provided with any reason to believe ill of Dominic other than what other people tell us during the course of the book. Whenever he’s on the page, his behaviour what one would expect of a gentleman of the period (excepting his blow-hot / blow-cold attitude towards Juliana), and I really saw nothing in him to suggest he was a rake of the first order.
The best parts of the book were undoubtedly those moments where Juliana decided to take charge of her life and go after what she wants. At first, she shies away from Dominic because of the way he makes her feel, and because of the visceral reaction he evokes in her. She sees it as a betrayal of the promise she made to her dying father-in-law to not replace Will, and feels extremely guilty. But there comes a point when she finally sees that she is entitled to have a life of her own and another chance at love, and, in a lovely scene, she finally puts her past behind her and determines to move forward. Then towards the end, when Dominic is insisting that he is not worthy of her, Juliana makes it very clear that she won’t allow him to ruin both their lives because of some misplaced sense of honour.
The Rake’s Redemption is a quick, undemanding read, which boasts an attractive central couple. The writing is decent, if a little overly simplistic at times, but if you’re in the mood for a simple, clean “trad”, this might suit.
June 14, 2014
Hard to read a romance after reading such well written ones right before it. I 'may' have rated this higher had I not just come off the back of the Turner brothers novels by c. Milan.. But that should not matter should it. They should all stand on their own.
While it was good it wasn't great, not for me. I won't go I to the plot as many have written fine reviews here. (But don't listen to what anyone has to say, not fully anyway. I would have missed many a well loved book if I had done that. We all feel differently about what we read.) this is a super fast read as well at only 117 pages!
While it was good it wasn't great, not for me. I won't go I to the plot as many have written fine reviews here. (But don't listen to what anyone has to say, not fully anyway. I would have missed many a well loved book if I had done that. We all feel differently about what we read.) this is a super fast read as well at only 117 pages!
December 23, 2013
The Rake's Redemption is a story about finding love for the second time, it is about facing your past and moving on to your future. I could say all this because it is about all those things, unfortunately though, it falls short in making me feel them. Those are just the conclusions I drew in the end of the story, like when I was in high school and we were required to read a book and give a brief summary about what it was talking about. I'd read the book, but then I wouldn't exactly connect with it further than was necessary for my homework. It's a shame though, because the storyline was promising and a particular subplot was most interesting.
Juliana Grenville is a widow, albeit a young one of twenty three. She's met her husband when she was young and they enjoyed a very short marriage of one month before he perished at war six years ago. Now she passes her time taking care of her home and her brother, but in order to relieve her brother of the responsibility of caring for a young widowed sister, she wishes to marry another widower like herself, preferably with kids. So she plots to travel to London with her aunt. There she meets Dominic, Marquis of Aubrey, who's a rake, but also somewhat of a mystery. He's most definitely what she is not looking for in a husband, and yet the heart wants what it wants, and before they-and us- know it, they find themselves falling in love and facing their unique obstacles in order to end up happy together.
Let me emphasize that I actually liked this plot. It was engaging enough to make me start reading the book, and the rest of the plot that revealed itself towards the middle was good also, the only problem was the execution. I felt as if I was only told of the beginning, the middle and the end of the story, and the rest was just a few scattered dots that I had to connect whilst reading. Now I know this was a novella, but it was still one hundred something pages and it could've told more, given me more detail instead of jumping from one situation to the next without giving me the complete picture.
The dialogue style, I must say, was not one I'm used to reading in historicals. I never witnessed how they speak in those times naturally-hopefully I'll remedy that once they invent the time machine- but it didn't seem to me like it flowed naturally. It felt more like I was watching a play instead of reading a novella.
And since we're speaking of dialogue, the jump between points of view of the characters could've been made clearer, perhaps, with a new paragraph. In more than one occasion I had to go back and make sure whose point of view I was reading from, and that took from the flow of the story.
Dominic and Juliana were likable enough, but not, to engage me fully into their adventure. And that may be because I never got the chance to fully know them. Don't get me wrong, we were given every information about them that was needed to know who Dominic and Juliana are, but they were bits scattered all over, and I had a devil of a time of picking them up.
Their love was, sadly, the same for me. When we're being told from the point of view of the hero, the heroine is some sort of an angel because that's what he's told from the numerous beautiful and heartfelt stories of his friend and comrade, Juliana's dead husband. Too bad we never had a chance to hear those stories ourselves through the magic of flashbacks, because then maybe I would've been able to believe them myself. This vision Dominic had of Juliana, her being an anchor, a wonderful lively human being seemed unconvincing from where I stood. A short dialogue, an italic flashback that I'd bravely take on, would've gone a much longer way in convincing me that it was thoughts of Juliana, this lovely woman described and so adored by another man, that got him through the ugliness and desperation of war.
And I'm sorry, but I didn't get Dominic's whole 'I can never get her', 'She's most definitely off limits' attitude. Why was that so? Was she loved by a close relative, the most dramatic choice being a brother? No. Or perhaps by a best friend whom Dominic was duty bound to not touch his beloved? Again, no. Well, we know Dominic served with Juliana's dead husband at some point, and apparently they spent enough time for this man to share tales of Juliana with him, but there was no concrete proof in the story that said this man was his best friend, or someone to evoke such a devotion that Dominic would feel so guilty over loving his widow. I just couldn't buy his reasoning regarding this.
One final thought is that the grand secret, another wall that stood between Juliana and Dominic, came down in such an anticlimactic way, and dealt with so easily, that it disappointed me greatly. I won't spoil it, but it was a a matter that could've tipped the scales for the story, it needed more on page time, and much more consideration than that was given to it for the characters to get over. It was finally something in the book that interested me, and it was over before it even began, so to speak. This, with the lack of the one character that succeeded in piquing my curiosity, has led to a dull ending.
Now, a part of me does wonder about that one character, and since I don't believe in abandoning an author after just one book, I think I might go hunting in the future in the hopes that his story will be more satisfactory. In the meantime, Dominic and Juliana's story didn't exactly catch my interest, but I'm sure it can still be enjoyed by die hard historical romance fans.
Juliana Grenville is a widow, albeit a young one of twenty three. She's met her husband when she was young and they enjoyed a very short marriage of one month before he perished at war six years ago. Now she passes her time taking care of her home and her brother, but in order to relieve her brother of the responsibility of caring for a young widowed sister, she wishes to marry another widower like herself, preferably with kids. So she plots to travel to London with her aunt. There she meets Dominic, Marquis of Aubrey, who's a rake, but also somewhat of a mystery. He's most definitely what she is not looking for in a husband, and yet the heart wants what it wants, and before they-and us- know it, they find themselves falling in love and facing their unique obstacles in order to end up happy together.
Let me emphasize that I actually liked this plot. It was engaging enough to make me start reading the book, and the rest of the plot that revealed itself towards the middle was good also, the only problem was the execution. I felt as if I was only told of the beginning, the middle and the end of the story, and the rest was just a few scattered dots that I had to connect whilst reading. Now I know this was a novella, but it was still one hundred something pages and it could've told more, given me more detail instead of jumping from one situation to the next without giving me the complete picture.
The dialogue style, I must say, was not one I'm used to reading in historicals. I never witnessed how they speak in those times naturally-hopefully I'll remedy that once they invent the time machine- but it didn't seem to me like it flowed naturally. It felt more like I was watching a play instead of reading a novella.
And since we're speaking of dialogue, the jump between points of view of the characters could've been made clearer, perhaps, with a new paragraph. In more than one occasion I had to go back and make sure whose point of view I was reading from, and that took from the flow of the story.
Dominic and Juliana were likable enough, but not, to engage me fully into their adventure. And that may be because I never got the chance to fully know them. Don't get me wrong, we were given every information about them that was needed to know who Dominic and Juliana are, but they were bits scattered all over, and I had a devil of a time of picking them up.
Their love was, sadly, the same for me. When we're being told from the point of view of the hero, the heroine is some sort of an angel because that's what he's told from the numerous beautiful and heartfelt stories of his friend and comrade, Juliana's dead husband. Too bad we never had a chance to hear those stories ourselves through the magic of flashbacks, because then maybe I would've been able to believe them myself. This vision Dominic had of Juliana, her being an anchor, a wonderful lively human being seemed unconvincing from where I stood. A short dialogue, an italic flashback that I'd bravely take on, would've gone a much longer way in convincing me that it was thoughts of Juliana, this lovely woman described and so adored by another man, that got him through the ugliness and desperation of war.
And I'm sorry, but I didn't get Dominic's whole 'I can never get her', 'She's most definitely off limits' attitude. Why was that so? Was she loved by a close relative, the most dramatic choice being a brother? No. Or perhaps by a best friend whom Dominic was duty bound to not touch his beloved? Again, no. Well, we know Dominic served with Juliana's dead husband at some point, and apparently they spent enough time for this man to share tales of Juliana with him, but there was no concrete proof in the story that said this man was his best friend, or someone to evoke such a devotion that Dominic would feel so guilty over loving his widow. I just couldn't buy his reasoning regarding this.
One final thought is that the grand secret, another wall that stood between Juliana and Dominic, came down in such an anticlimactic way, and dealt with so easily, that it disappointed me greatly. I won't spoil it, but it was a a matter that could've tipped the scales for the story, it needed more on page time, and much more consideration than that was given to it for the characters to get over. It was finally something in the book that interested me, and it was over before it even began, so to speak. This, with the lack of the one character that succeeded in piquing my curiosity, has led to a dull ending.
Now, a part of me does wonder about that one character, and since I don't believe in abandoning an author after just one book, I think I might go hunting in the future in the hopes that his story will be more satisfactory. In the meantime, Dominic and Juliana's story didn't exactly catch my interest, but I'm sure it can still be enjoyed by die hard historical romance fans.
December 19, 2018
This book is dull. It had a little bit of mystery going on, but I found myself not caring to find out what the mystery was all about. I couldn’t finish it. Glad it was free.
September 23, 2025
I love stories of English Lords, duchesses, history and battles, and relationship relationships where society’s rules keep people from improper, but love propels them together. Looking forward to reading the next book by this author.
March 2, 2017
Some interesting plot twists.
December 18, 2013
Originally Reviewed For: Bodice Rippers, Femme Fatales and Fantasy
Looking to get swept away? To lose yourself in a romance? To luxuriate with the senseless of seduction? Well look no more, author Sherrill Bodine offers us a wonderful treat in The Rake' s Redemption.
There is an innocence to this book that is lacking in today's books. The Rake's Redemption was originally released in 1989 when the sensual slide was more important than sexual conquest. It was a delightful change of pace that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Juliana Grenville was a child bride.. married and widowed at 17. She was young enough to romanticize her marriage and make a promise to remain true to his memory. Not to her husband, he was a decent man who would have wanted her to find happiness but from his father. The pratt of a man made Julianna feel inferior because she didn't conceive.. They were married for a MONTH before her husband went off to war. A MONTH.. and it's her fault she wasn't pregnant. Anyway the jerk of a father in law made her promise to always keep Will first. Young and rather naive, Julianna makes that promise. Now 8 years later she is on a mission. To drag her brother into society. In order to do that she has decided to go husband hunting, finding a nice widower with children, nothing too exciting and make a match of it. Instead on a dark country road, she finds the man of her dreams..
Upon the scandalous murder suicide of his parents, Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey, vowed never to marry. Estranged from his older brother he has spent a decade sliding into debauchery. Reliving the moment of his parent's deaths over and over again and constantly placing the blame on his older half/brother. Dominic is convinced there is bad blood in his veins and he has no choice but to never really fall in love. When he meets Juliana, his world suddenly tilts and he is considering all sorts of things. Until he discovers that she is a widow.. No way will he get involved with a widow. Except his heart is already involved.
Watching these two feel their way through this relationship was endearing. Sure they had obstacles, some of them were considered insurmountable but they perseveres. Well Juliana did, Dominic had a lot to learn. A lot to accept and a lot to forgive.
His relationship with his brother plays a huge part in Dominic learning to forgive and it was quite well written. A Tragedy seen through the eyes of an 18 year old, warped by the last words of an insane father.. yeah it was tough. The secondary characters were fantastic, the obnoxious social climber, the loving aunt, the rogue of an uncle.. doting grandparents, good friends.. yeah this really was a great book and it is lovely that Ms Bodine was able to acquire the rights to it and re release it for us.
Shauni
This review is based on the ARC of The Rake's Redemption, provided by netgalley
Looking to get swept away? To lose yourself in a romance? To luxuriate with the senseless of seduction? Well look no more, author Sherrill Bodine offers us a wonderful treat in The Rake' s Redemption.
There is an innocence to this book that is lacking in today's books. The Rake's Redemption was originally released in 1989 when the sensual slide was more important than sexual conquest. It was a delightful change of pace that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Juliana Grenville was a child bride.. married and widowed at 17. She was young enough to romanticize her marriage and make a promise to remain true to his memory. Not to her husband, he was a decent man who would have wanted her to find happiness but from his father. The pratt of a man made Julianna feel inferior because she didn't conceive.. They were married for a MONTH before her husband went off to war. A MONTH.. and it's her fault she wasn't pregnant. Anyway the jerk of a father in law made her promise to always keep Will first. Young and rather naive, Julianna makes that promise. Now 8 years later she is on a mission. To drag her brother into society. In order to do that she has decided to go husband hunting, finding a nice widower with children, nothing too exciting and make a match of it. Instead on a dark country road, she finds the man of her dreams..
Upon the scandalous murder suicide of his parents, Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey, vowed never to marry. Estranged from his older brother he has spent a decade sliding into debauchery. Reliving the moment of his parent's deaths over and over again and constantly placing the blame on his older half/brother. Dominic is convinced there is bad blood in his veins and he has no choice but to never really fall in love. When he meets Juliana, his world suddenly tilts and he is considering all sorts of things. Until he discovers that she is a widow.. No way will he get involved with a widow. Except his heart is already involved.
Watching these two feel their way through this relationship was endearing. Sure they had obstacles, some of them were considered insurmountable but they perseveres. Well Juliana did, Dominic had a lot to learn. A lot to accept and a lot to forgive.
His relationship with his brother plays a huge part in Dominic learning to forgive and it was quite well written. A Tragedy seen through the eyes of an 18 year old, warped by the last words of an insane father.. yeah it was tough. The secondary characters were fantastic, the obnoxious social climber, the loving aunt, the rogue of an uncle.. doting grandparents, good friends.. yeah this really was a great book and it is lovely that Ms Bodine was able to acquire the rights to it and re release it for us.
Shauni
This review is based on the ARC of The Rake's Redemption, provided by netgalley
August 26, 2016
Originally reviewed for: Historical Romance Lover blog
I don't believe it is part of a series, but I did find 2 other books that had characters from this one.
Juliana Grenville is determined to get her brother to go to London for the season. She wants him to enjoy himself since she feels that all he does is work on the estate. Julianna and her aunt come up with a plan. They tell Juliana's brother that she is ready to find a husband (she is a widow) and he will follow her to town.
On the trip to town, Juliana and her aunt are in a carriage accident. Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey, comes to their rescue. He takes them to the nearest inn to have their carriage fixed. He feels an attraction to Juliana and decides to extend his stay at the inn to get to know her better.
Just as the two of them are getting to know each other, Dominic learns who Juliana's husband was. Juliana's husband had talked about her during his time in the army and Dominic had fallen in love with her by those stories alone. But learning who she is means that he is not good enough for her.
Juliana is hurt by Dominic's sudden change of heart and doesn't know what she did that made his attitude toward her change. Can Juliana break through this bearer that Dominic has put up so that each of them my find the love of their lives?
I really loved the story line, but the writing seemed to be amateurish at times. This is a republished edition, so maybe this was one of the author's earlier pieces of work although I would have though they would do some editing before republishing.
As stated above, I did really enjoy the storyline. I always love when the author makes the secondary characters so lovable that you want to hear their stories too. Bodine has done this. Juliana's aunt had me laughing out loud at her comments and the secondary love story was an added bonus. I will definitely be reading the other two stories with related characters in them. It appears that Bodine no longer writes historical romance, which is a shame because I would have liked to read her current work.
Thanks go to NetGalley and Diversion Books for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.
I don't believe it is part of a series, but I did find 2 other books that had characters from this one.
Juliana Grenville is determined to get her brother to go to London for the season. She wants him to enjoy himself since she feels that all he does is work on the estate. Julianna and her aunt come up with a plan. They tell Juliana's brother that she is ready to find a husband (she is a widow) and he will follow her to town.
On the trip to town, Juliana and her aunt are in a carriage accident. Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey, comes to their rescue. He takes them to the nearest inn to have their carriage fixed. He feels an attraction to Juliana and decides to extend his stay at the inn to get to know her better.
Just as the two of them are getting to know each other, Dominic learns who Juliana's husband was. Juliana's husband had talked about her during his time in the army and Dominic had fallen in love with her by those stories alone. But learning who she is means that he is not good enough for her.
Juliana is hurt by Dominic's sudden change of heart and doesn't know what she did that made his attitude toward her change. Can Juliana break through this bearer that Dominic has put up so that each of them my find the love of their lives?
I really loved the story line, but the writing seemed to be amateurish at times. This is a republished edition, so maybe this was one of the author's earlier pieces of work although I would have though they would do some editing before republishing.
As stated above, I did really enjoy the storyline. I always love when the author makes the secondary characters so lovable that you want to hear their stories too. Bodine has done this. Juliana's aunt had me laughing out loud at her comments and the secondary love story was an added bonus. I will definitely be reading the other two stories with related characters in them. It appears that Bodine no longer writes historical romance, which is a shame because I would have liked to read her current work.
Thanks go to NetGalley and Diversion Books for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review.
July 19, 2016
Originally reviewed for: Historical Romance Lover blog
I don't believe it is part of a series, but I did find 2 other books that had characters from this one.
Juliana Grenville is determined to get her brother to go to London for the season. She wants him to enjoy himself since she feels that all he does is work on the estate. Julianna and her aunt come up with a plan. They tell Juliana's brother that she is ready to find a husband (she is a widow) and he will follow her to town.
On the trip to town, Juliana and her aunt are in a carriage accident. Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey, comes to their rescue. He takes them to the nearest inn to have their carriage fixed. He feels an attraction to Juliana and decides to extend his stay at the inn to get to know her better.
Just as the two of them are getting to know each other, Dominic learns who Juliana's husband was. Juliana's husband had talked about her during his time in the army and Dominic had fallen in love with her by those stories alone. But learning who she is means that he is not good enough for her.
Juliana is hurt by Dominic's sudden change of heart and doesn't know what she did that made his attitude toward her change. Can Juliana break through this bearer that Dominic has put up so that each of them my find the love of their lives?
I really loved the story line, but the writing seemed to be amateurish at times. This is a republished edition, so maybe this was one of the author's earlier pieces of work although I would have though they would do some editing before republishing.
As stated above, I did really enjoy the storyline. I always love when the author makes the secondary characters so lovable that you want to hear their stories too. Bodine has done this. Juliana's aunt had me laughing out loud at her comments and the secondary love story was an added bonus. I will definitely be reading the other two stories with related characters in them. It appears that Bodine no longer writes historical romance, which is a shame because I would have liked to read her current work.
I don't believe it is part of a series, but I did find 2 other books that had characters from this one.
Juliana Grenville is determined to get her brother to go to London for the season. She wants him to enjoy himself since she feels that all he does is work on the estate. Julianna and her aunt come up with a plan. They tell Juliana's brother that she is ready to find a husband (she is a widow) and he will follow her to town.
On the trip to town, Juliana and her aunt are in a carriage accident. Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey, comes to their rescue. He takes them to the nearest inn to have their carriage fixed. He feels an attraction to Juliana and decides to extend his stay at the inn to get to know her better.
Just as the two of them are getting to know each other, Dominic learns who Juliana's husband was. Juliana's husband had talked about her during his time in the army and Dominic had fallen in love with her by those stories alone. But learning who she is means that he is not good enough for her.
Juliana is hurt by Dominic's sudden change of heart and doesn't know what she did that made his attitude toward her change. Can Juliana break through this bearer that Dominic has put up so that each of them my find the love of their lives?
I really loved the story line, but the writing seemed to be amateurish at times. This is a republished edition, so maybe this was one of the author's earlier pieces of work although I would have though they would do some editing before republishing.
As stated above, I did really enjoy the storyline. I always love when the author makes the secondary characters so lovable that you want to hear their stories too. Bodine has done this. Juliana's aunt had me laughing out loud at her comments and the secondary love story was an added bonus. I will definitely be reading the other two stories with related characters in them. It appears that Bodine no longer writes historical romance, which is a shame because I would have liked to read her current work.
September 24, 2014
H: Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey
h: Juliana Grenville
So this story starts by Juliana thinking she tricking her over worked, stressed brother into marriage . But really her aunt is tricking her and her brother into a marriage or trying to. Juliana was married a for 1 month to her childhood sweetheart before he left and die fighting in the war. She lives with her brother but her aunt thinks it time she moves on. Juliana made a promise to her husband father that makes her heart not able to let go of her husbands, until she meets Dominic. While traveling to London with her aunt Juliana carriage crashed and she is helped to a nearby inn by Dominic. Dominic knows Juliana but not..... he knows all about her and is in love with her without ever seeing or knowing her. (sorry you got to read this book to know what Im talking about)
Dominic has a very dark past. His family (parents and half brother) are messed up to say the least. Dominic thinks he can't marry because he wants to stop the end of his line.
This is a book about the H an h letting go of the past and coming together for a future. There is a lot of bumps along the way. I really liked this book. It had a couple of slow parts but over all pretty darn good.
Side note I loved the story between Dominic uncle and Juliana aunt, very cute!
December 12, 2013
ARC given by netgalley
It is a sweet story about redemption,forgiveness and how to move on with ones life. The story starts with a charade by Juliana in hopes that her brother will set up and marry well. In her journey to London for the season, her carriage broke down. Come in the hero with a dark past, Dominic. For a rake that lust goes unchecked, he is quite smitten with the spunky Juliana. She is like a puzzle he longed to solve. The plots mostly evolves with both the mains past as they do shape their character. It is a heart warming story with a satisfying HEA, but journey is a tough one (with survivor's guilt) the major bumps. It is a good story; with a lacklustre of steamy scenes (I mean with a title like that, you kind hope to have one or two). Overall, a good enjoyable story, as to be recommended.
It is a sweet story about redemption,forgiveness and how to move on with ones life. The story starts with a charade by Juliana in hopes that her brother will set up and marry well. In her journey to London for the season, her carriage broke down. Come in the hero with a dark past, Dominic. For a rake that lust goes unchecked, he is quite smitten with the spunky Juliana. She is like a puzzle he longed to solve. The plots mostly evolves with both the mains past as they do shape their character. It is a heart warming story with a satisfying HEA, but journey is a tough one (with survivor's guilt) the major bumps. It is a good story; with a lacklustre of steamy scenes (I mean with a title like that, you kind hope to have one or two). Overall, a good enjoyable story, as to be recommended.
September 6, 2016
nothing is more important than redemption. The marquis, unable to marry because of a situation that occurred in his youth, is determined to stay away from Juliana. Though, she's probably the only one that can offer him what he seeks. She gives him the strength to listen to what needs to be heard, and in the end turns out to be exactly what he needs. While reading the novel we're unaware for the most part why he feels inadequite to be Juliana's husband. This gets old pretty quickly, though you do continue to read just to find out. Luckily there's another storyline that's going through the novel which is even cuter: that of Juliana's Aunt and the Marquis' uncle.
February 20, 2014
I believe this is the first time I have read a book of Sherrill' s. I liked this story. It wasn't too serious but there were plenty of twists to keep you interested. It is set in the Napoleonic era and battles set some of the tone of the story. Juliana was married for only weeks when her husband went to war and was killed. She set him up as a martyr and hid in the country. Her Aunt Sophia set things up to get her back into life. That is the intro for Dominick. He has horrible memories of his youth. He can't move on until he faces his past. I will be searching for more books by Sherrill. Read this book. You won't regret it.
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April 19, 2016When I read romance it's typically just for an easy quick read and because I'm in a funk with the other genres I love. Usually historical romance is a good fit for me, but this book just never really developed and believably so for me...
And how hard is it for the artist to at least get hair color right on book covers? Multiple times the heroine was describe with auburn, red, or some other variation of hair (never blonde) and the hero as having blonde hair but never black/brown....just saying :)
And how hard is it for the artist to at least get hair color right on book covers? Multiple times the heroine was describe with auburn, red, or some other variation of hair (never blonde) and the hero as having blonde hair but never black/brown....just saying :)
December 12, 2013
3.5 stars
wrong-hair-color-heroines-avoid
July 18, 2014Reviewed by Caz
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