ROGUE, RAKE, RASCAL, AND GENTLEMAN!Rein Montgomery, the Duke of Wroxly, live as a commoner? His late uncle's will is painfully Rein must survive without his wealth or title in the meanest of London's streets for one month, or else lose his entire fortune. Luckily, his ability to charm the ladies has never failed him anywhere, anytime. And he has his newest conquest in a beguiling market girl named Anna Rose Brooks.Anna's heart is kind and her intelligence keen, but she's not sure what to make of this dashing stranger lost in the rough district of St. Giles. Is he gentleman or rake? She offers him shelter for one night, but he wants thirty. She tries to keep her distance, but he tempts her to share his bed. She gives in to scandal by becoming his mistress, but he wants her soul. Anna is no fool; she knows the men who come to St. Giles do not often stay. And now she is faced with her biggest that when he leaves, he will take her heart.
With over a million books in print, Pamela Britton likes to call herself the best known author nobody’s ever heard of. Of course, that’s begun to change thanks to a certain licensing agreement with that little racing organization known as NASCAR.
Nowadays it’s not unusual to hear her books being discussed by the likes of Jay Leno, Keith Olbermann, or Stephen Colbert. Flip open a magazine and you might read about her, too, in Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, or Southwest Airlines’ Spirit Magazine. Channel surf and you might see her on CNN, ESPN, ABC or NBC.
But before the glitz and glamour of NASCAR, Pamela wrote books that were frequently voted the best of the best by The Detroit Free Press, Barnes & Noble (two years in a row) and RT BOOKclub Magazine. She’s won numerous writing awards, including the National Reader’s Choice Award, and a nomination for Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart and the Holt Medallion.
When not following the race circuit, Pamela writes full-time from her ranch in Northern California where she lives with her husband, daughter and, at last count, twenty-one four-legged friends.
If you'd like to chat with Pamela you can find her on her myspace where she loves to hangout with her readers.
Nothing spectacular about the book.It was an easy breezy romance with a bit of mystery thrown in. The characters are lovable and entertaining. I enjoyed reading this more because the previous book that I read disturbed me to my core so I was looking forward for some light HEA romance, and it served me well!
Another 'Fairy Tale' as is the companion book 'Tempted'. They could be updated 'Cinderella' stories. It is hard for me to think that such a story would be a possibility in that period of British history. Don't think I'll be reading any more of Ms. Britton's stories.
DNF. I'm not entirely sure why I couldn't care about the characters in this novel, except that by a few chapters in they had no depth and were even increasingly more like characters (especially the father).
REIN MONTGOMERY IS THE WORST KIND OF HERO. This man is supposed to be a duke who learns his lesson after his uncle's will forces him to live as a commoner for a month or lose his fortune. Great setup, right? WRONG. He talks his way into Anna's home and then PROCEEDS TO ACT LIKE THE MOST ENTITLED BRAT TO EVER WEAR A CRAVAT. He STAYS with her, EATS her food, FALLS for her, and then his grand declaration of love is... offering to make her his MISTRESS?
MY DUDE. YOU'RE A DUKE. YOU LOVE HER. MARRY HER. But no, that would be too easy. Instead, he tries to convince this innocent market girl to become his side piece while he marries someone "appropriate." AND HE'S SHOCKED WHEN SHE REFUSES? The AUDACITY. The SHEER, UNMITIGATED AUDACITY.
Anna is supposed to be intelligent and resourceful, and she IS, but she spends way too much time putting up with Rein's nonsense. She tells him no, which I LOVED, but then the story just... drags. He keeps pushing, she keeps resisting, and somewhere in there we're supposed to find this romantic? I found it EXHAUSTING.
The "mistaken identity" trope is there but it's so poorly executed. There's a subplot with another woman that drags on FOREVER, and Rein keeps thinking about how beautiful this other woman is and how she makes him "forget" Anna momentarily. Like, WHAT? You're supposed to be the HERO, not a fickle man-child who needs a flowchart to keep track of his feelings. The writing is... fine. It's Pamela Britton, so it's readable. There's humor, supposedly. There's sensuality, technically. But it's all buried under SO MUCH FRUSTRATION. The historical details are "sufficiently" there, which is code for "I guess this is Regency-ish?" Nothing feels authentic. It feels like a paint-by-numbers historical romance where someone checked off the tropes without understanding why they work. And the ENDING. Without spoiling it completely, let's just say it takes FOREVER to get there, and when it does, it's so neatly resolved that I got whiplash. Rein's reputation is somehow untarnished despite breaking an engagement and causing a scandal. Anna's reputation is magically protected because he's popular. Her dreams of traveling? FORGOTTEN. No discussion of how marriage changes their plans. It's just "happily ever after, the end" like the author ran out of pages and had to wrap it up.
This was a good book. I really enjoyed reading it, even though during the last few chapters I wanted to throttle Anne for being so stubborn. There was a good amount of humor, which is something I love in a romance. I did think that Rein's character could have been a little bit more developed at certain points of the story, but overall he was a very likeable man. A good read!
Regency romance. Rein must live as a commoner for a month or lose his entire fortune (according to his uncle's will). He talks his way into staying with Anna, a market girl, for one night. He stretches it for days, trying to stay with her for the entire month.
Many adventures... they fall in love; he offers to keep her as his mistress; she refuses at first...
Well written and novel story idea, too. I did like the glimpses into the rookery vs having it all set in a posh environment. The ending seemed to take forever but all in all, a good read.