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The Reluctant Lady
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When rakish Lord Rothsea’s notorious temper draws him into a hasty duel, it stirs the darkest memories from his troubled past. Then his opponent’s blood-thirsty sibling turns up seeking justice!
Spirited and proud, Merry has masqueraded as a boy for most of her nineteen years, relishing the freedom of her masculine guise. Then the disturbingly attractive Rothsea crashes into her world, and turns it on its head in a dozen different ways. She vows to make him pay!
Rothsea has his own reasons for compelling the very desirable Merry to embrace her true sex. But will doing so only drive her into the arms of his handsome friend Harry?
In a dramatic adventure, full of unexpected twists and passionate sensuality, the lives of these two hot-blooded characters collide and intertwine, forcing each to face their demons and fight for love.
In the best traditions of Regency historical romance, engaging characters, sparkling wit, and sumptuous period detail bring this fascinating world vividly to life in an unforgettable love story you won’t want to end.
When rakish Lord Rothsea’s notorious temper draws him into a hasty duel, it stirs the darkest memories from his troubled past. Then his opponent’s blood-thirsty sibling turns up seeking justice!
Spirited and proud, Merry has masqueraded as a boy for most of her nineteen years, relishing the freedom of her masculine guise. Then the disturbingly attractive Rothsea crashes into her world, and turns it on its head in a dozen different ways. She vows to make him pay!
Rothsea has his own reasons for compelling the very desirable Merry to embrace her true sex. But will doing so only drive her into the arms of his handsome friend Harry?
In a dramatic adventure, full of unexpected twists and passionate sensuality, the lives of these two hot-blooded characters collide and intertwine, forcing each to face their demons and fight for love.
In the best traditions of Regency historical romance, engaging characters, sparkling wit, and sumptuous period detail bring this fascinating world vividly to life in an unforgettable love story you won’t want to end.
470 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 6, 2015
28 people are currently reading
74 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 12, 2015
I don't usually like to write reviews, but I was so appalled by this book that I just had to. Of course, since I stopped reading half way through my opinion cannot reflect on the whole book. If you don't want spoilers just know that the hero is really creepy, has serious anger management issues, and the romantic relationship is far from healthy. At one point the hero is mad at the heroine for going out when he told her not to, so he hits her. The worst bit though was when he thought Merry was going to marry someone else. He drugged them, abducted Merry and locked her in a room of an inn. He then threatened to rape her if she didn't agree to marry him. WHAT THE FUCK? How is that ever meant to be romantic? But the hero thinks that since it's all in the name of love his actions are fine. He reasons that she probably would be happy with him, but knows she won't accept his proposal without the use of blackmail due to an insignificant incident (for him) in which he murdered her brother! This book is really disturbing. I hate to write negative reviews because I know authors work really hard, but I wish I had been warned. Instead I only read five star reviews talking about a 'strong heroine'. It was shocking.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2015
I loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a well written, engrossing, lively read! I bought it after seeing a couple of good reviews and I am so glad that I did. The two protagonists were well drawn, had depth to their characters and most importantly for me, were believable so that you cared what happened to them.
Outside of Rafe & Merry's friends, there were also a cast of supporting characters, who were more than two dimensional fillers, the long suffering Brooke; the local constable unhappy having to arrest Raft, knowing he was going to be in trouble with his family; the awful Mrs Fulsome, the carrier family etc. They helped to make the tale feel rounded and thought through, with all the strands planned out so that we would arrive at a very satisfactory ending. I did like the final chapter, which gave a little epilogue and a pointer of where Rafe and Merry would be heading next - I would like to see how Rafe reacts to his daughters falling in love - could be a story there!
Kate Morrell has a good eye for period detail and has said that she likes to ensure that what we read reflects how things really were, so we had an understanding of the legal status of women or the options available when there was no welfare state. This detail helped to make the story come alive and also gave meaning / reason to the way the characters behaved, again making it feel believable and drawing you into the plot.
We are promised another book at the end of year and I for one will be snapping it up straight away and looking forward to the others that are in the pipeline.
Outside of Rafe & Merry's friends, there were also a cast of supporting characters, who were more than two dimensional fillers, the long suffering Brooke; the local constable unhappy having to arrest Raft, knowing he was going to be in trouble with his family; the awful Mrs Fulsome, the carrier family etc. They helped to make the tale feel rounded and thought through, with all the strands planned out so that we would arrive at a very satisfactory ending. I did like the final chapter, which gave a little epilogue and a pointer of where Rafe and Merry would be heading next - I would like to see how Rafe reacts to his daughters falling in love - could be a story there!
Kate Morrell has a good eye for period detail and has said that she likes to ensure that what we read reflects how things really were, so we had an understanding of the legal status of women or the options available when there was no welfare state. This detail helped to make the story come alive and also gave meaning / reason to the way the characters behaved, again making it feel believable and drawing you into the plot.
We are promised another book at the end of year and I for one will be snapping it up straight away and looking forward to the others that are in the pipeline.
April 16, 2017
I was very impressed with this novel. The writing is good, the characterization is in some depth and I was kept hooked on how the relationships would evolve. I loved Rafe from the beginning, although I was also sympathetic to Merry. She had had a strange and tough life, living dressed as a boy along with her father and brother. He had a lack of love from his birth, when his mother died and his father never got over his wife's loss. He killed here brother in a drunken rage, when a duel appeared to be forced on him. Could she ever forgive him? Could she, who had little idea of feminine emotional feelings, realise what the unsettling dynamics between them indicated - or would she settle for something warm, but only friendly, with Harry. Ah, yes, Harry - a charming, kind, and long-time friend of Rafe, and a warm and sympathetic friend of Merry during this emotionally difficult time! And two into three don't go - it leaves one very much on the outside.
I would thoroughly recommend this book, which I have read twice - while waiting for the next in to series to be published!
I would thoroughly recommend this book, which I have read twice - while waiting for the next in to series to be published!
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July 24, 2020Well, that was peculiar. In fact it was so peculiar that I’m not going to even attempt to give it a rating. There were parts I loved and parts I hated and parts that I was so outraged I wanted to hurl the book at the wall. This is definitely not your average Regency romance.
Let me get the outrageous parts out of the way first. The book starts with the hero killing a young man in a duel. He then discovers that the dead man’s only living relation is an even younger man who happens to be a girl, he immediately gets the hots for the man-girl, carts her off to be turned into a lady while telling her that he intends to marry her, spanks her when she disobeys him, abducts her when she decides she’ll marry someone else and forces her to marry him under the threat of rape. She then discovers that actually she’s in love with him. Yikes!
Where to begin with all this? The real problem is that it’s so detached from reality that it’s very hard to take. Let’s look at that duel first. The young man, Bryn, deliberately provokes the hero, a notoriously hot-tempered man, into a duel by accusing him of cheating at cards. The hero, Rafe, is supposedly a gentleman and so shouldn’t allow himself to be provoked by a callow youth, and when it becomes unavoidable, he should at the least not have killed him. And then, when he has and is overcome with remorse, he goes to help the man-girl, Merry, and instantly starts flirting with her. Worse, she is flirting right back. The blurb describes this banter as ‘sparkling wit’ and so it is - it’s actually very funny, especially when they have to come to terms with the whole boy into girl transformation. And yet the whole time my inner critic is yelling: but your brother just died, you idiot, and this guy killed him!
And the whole book is basically like that. There are moments when one or other of them remembers poor Bryn, but mostly they’re just sparring verbally with each other (which is hugely entertaining) or eyeing up each other’s physical bits and bobs (which is all a bit repetitive). Sometimes they even end up fighting each other. As a romance, it’s unconventional, but it is very, very intense to the point that everything else, including poor Bryn and the hapless but very nice friend Harry, fades into the background. They eventually get down to the inevitable, and there’s a long spell of nothing but sex, before they finally remember poor Bryn and start to wonder just why he provoked the duel in the first place.
This is a strange mixture of some really dark moments, some brilliantly funny stuff and some fairly graphic lusting and sex. It’s very well written (apart from a huge amount of head-hopping) and the Regency backdrop is convincing, so if you want to get swept up in a love-at-all-costs sort of romance with loads of humour and don’t mind the darker side of it, this might be your sort of read. I’m usually happy to read an original Regency but this was a bit too original for me. There are two more books in the series, but the next one is described as being darker in tone, so it’s not for me. No rating.
Let me get the outrageous parts out of the way first. The book starts with the hero killing a young man in a duel. He then discovers that the dead man’s only living relation is an even younger man who happens to be a girl, he immediately gets the hots for the man-girl, carts her off to be turned into a lady while telling her that he intends to marry her, spanks her when she disobeys him, abducts her when she decides she’ll marry someone else and forces her to marry him under the threat of rape. She then discovers that actually she’s in love with him. Yikes!
Where to begin with all this? The real problem is that it’s so detached from reality that it’s very hard to take. Let’s look at that duel first. The young man, Bryn, deliberately provokes the hero, a notoriously hot-tempered man, into a duel by accusing him of cheating at cards. The hero, Rafe, is supposedly a gentleman and so shouldn’t allow himself to be provoked by a callow youth, and when it becomes unavoidable, he should at the least not have killed him. And then, when he has and is overcome with remorse, he goes to help the man-girl, Merry, and instantly starts flirting with her. Worse, she is flirting right back. The blurb describes this banter as ‘sparkling wit’ and so it is - it’s actually very funny, especially when they have to come to terms with the whole boy into girl transformation. And yet the whole time my inner critic is yelling: but your brother just died, you idiot, and this guy killed him!
And the whole book is basically like that. There are moments when one or other of them remembers poor Bryn, but mostly they’re just sparring verbally with each other (which is hugely entertaining) or eyeing up each other’s physical bits and bobs (which is all a bit repetitive). Sometimes they even end up fighting each other. As a romance, it’s unconventional, but it is very, very intense to the point that everything else, including poor Bryn and the hapless but very nice friend Harry, fades into the background. They eventually get down to the inevitable, and there’s a long spell of nothing but sex, before they finally remember poor Bryn and start to wonder just why he provoked the duel in the first place.
This is a strange mixture of some really dark moments, some brilliantly funny stuff and some fairly graphic lusting and sex. It’s very well written (apart from a huge amount of head-hopping) and the Regency backdrop is convincing, so if you want to get swept up in a love-at-all-costs sort of romance with loads of humour and don’t mind the darker side of it, this might be your sort of read. I’m usually happy to read an original Regency but this was a bit too original for me. There are two more books in the series, but the next one is described as being darker in tone, so it’s not for me. No rating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2015
A wonderful read! A friend in Wales recommended this as the #1 Best seller Regency romance in the UK, and I can see why it's a hit. Definitely a must-read for regency romance fans and very good for a first novel, unless this is just her first in this genre?
It harkens back to romances written a few decades ago in its style, and yet has the physical sensuality (within marriage) that we like and expect today.
It's longer than most, with superb historical ambience and adventures. I just lost myself in it for a whole weekend, and wanted to start again when I'd finished. The characters all felt real and I liked that Merry and Rafe have the same flaws as their fathers, even though they'd hate to admit it.
Rafe is an all or nothing character, which leads to some really bad decision making, but believable given his nature and past. Merry is a great character, and I found her transition credible, as she retains so many of her boyish traits as a lady. Loved the climbing out of the window!
Harry was just lovely - the perfect gentleman. I hoped he would end up with Lydia, but perhaps that would have been too neat.
I even laughed out loud in a few places, particularly at Brooke's dry comments. What a splendid sub-character he was.
All in all a gem of a book - a near-classic - and I can't wait for the next one.
It harkens back to romances written a few decades ago in its style, and yet has the physical sensuality (within marriage) that we like and expect today.
It's longer than most, with superb historical ambience and adventures. I just lost myself in it for a whole weekend, and wanted to start again when I'd finished. The characters all felt real and I liked that Merry and Rafe have the same flaws as their fathers, even though they'd hate to admit it.
Rafe is an all or nothing character, which leads to some really bad decision making, but believable given his nature and past. Merry is a great character, and I found her transition credible, as she retains so many of her boyish traits as a lady. Loved the climbing out of the window!
Harry was just lovely - the perfect gentleman. I hoped he would end up with Lydia, but perhaps that would have been too neat.
I even laughed out loud in a few places, particularly at Brooke's dry comments. What a splendid sub-character he was.
All in all a gem of a book - a near-classic - and I can't wait for the next one.
August 5, 2015
I was expecting a slightly trashy romance novel, like so many on Amazon, but was pleasantly surprised. There wasn't a 'gotten' in sight, which is in itself a lovely and refreshing change. No need to deduct any stars therefore for lack of imagination the the side of the writer. I did deduct one for one or two slight grammatical errors around the family retainers', Mr and Mrs Cope and Mr and Mrs Coley, it was a silly mistake, especially given that two editors' have also been given credit. That having been said, on the whole it was a well written piece of work.
Apart from that it was of a decent length, with decently written characters and quite a taking plot. So, minus the deduction of 1 star above (see my blog for details), it was a four star read. I will be looking forward to other titles by this author. I did wonder if she was English or American, but think perhaps the standard, and fact that she has a very natural Heyer'esque style, the former is probably true.
Apart from that it was of a decent length, with decently written characters and quite a taking plot. So, minus the deduction of 1 star above (see my blog for details), it was a four star read. I will be looking forward to other titles by this author. I did wonder if she was English or American, but think perhaps the standard, and fact that she has a very natural Heyer'esque style, the former is probably true.
January 25, 2017
Loved this book. What more can I say would love to know when Kate will be bringing out another. Great love a first sight moment well nearly first sight. Its a bit like putting a modern women back into the nineteenth century and see the women verse man spark fly. Love both Merry and Rafe . Would love to see the other characters story's unfold too.
June 13, 2015
A fresh new kind of heroine
Loved loved and loved this book as the heroine is one of the kind unlike typical Recency leading lady and this book took me to different stages of emotions. Not once I skipped through the pages. Highly recommended.
Loved loved and loved this book as the heroine is one of the kind unlike typical Recency leading lady and this book took me to different stages of emotions. Not once I skipped through the pages. Highly recommended.
October 17, 2020
Flawed hero didn’t win me over
There are great descriptions, witty conversation and nice social observations but I just couldn’t come to terms with the foundation plot incident of our flawed hero Rafe killing Merry’s brother in a duel. I enjoyed their sparring conversations but that fact kept sticking in my mind. More than it did Merry’s, as she vacillated between revenge and friendship. For the sake of the plot and because the writing was good enough, I could suspend belief on her having been brought up as a boy for 18 years but I just didn’t like the casual snuffing out of Bryn.
There are great descriptions, witty conversation and nice social observations but I just couldn’t come to terms with the foundation plot incident of our flawed hero Rafe killing Merry’s brother in a duel. I enjoyed their sparring conversations but that fact kept sticking in my mind. More than it did Merry’s, as she vacillated between revenge and friendship. For the sake of the plot and because the writing was good enough, I could suspend belief on her having been brought up as a boy for 18 years but I just didn’t like the casual snuffing out of Bryn.
July 23, 2018
I was willing to forgive the over use of adjectives, I tried to forget about strangely changing moods in H, simplistic dialogue and too many useless words in general but when author started suggesting there was a chemistry between h and H, I had to close this book for good.
So even though the story was unusual and I was curious about what is going to happen, i had to abandon this book 15% in.
I just could not justify the possibility of this story nor the attraction between MC.
So even though the story was unusual and I was curious about what is going to happen, i had to abandon this book 15% in.
I just could not justify the possibility of this story nor the attraction between MC.
September 22, 2020
Superb
A romantic rollercoaster ride - hitting all the highs and all the lows of fighting love, falling in love, and actually just being loved. The pain and heartache of the characters is palpable, as are their joys and happiness.
With an edge of the seat, nail chewing race to save a man from the gallows, this was a totally engrossing read.
I absolutely recommend you read it.
A romantic rollercoaster ride - hitting all the highs and all the lows of fighting love, falling in love, and actually just being loved. The pain and heartache of the characters is palpable, as are their joys and happiness.
With an edge of the seat, nail chewing race to save a man from the gallows, this was a totally engrossing read.
I absolutely recommend you read it.
October 6, 2022
Unbelievable but excellent Oct 2022
A very exciting albeit unrealistic story with never a dull moment in it. The characters were interesting and diverse and a very complete story with a proper ending.
A very exciting albeit unrealistic story with never a dull moment in it. The characters were interesting and diverse and a very complete story with a proper ending.
December 3, 2020
Twist After twist
The story of Rafe and Merry takes your breath away. Makes you realize how many broken people there must be. But love can conquer all if it's true.
The story of Rafe and Merry takes your breath away. Makes you realize how many broken people there must be. But love can conquer all if it's true.
May 31, 2022
Boring. I couldn’t read beyond chapter 4.
December 7, 2015
Excellent read
Engaging characters and good dialogue in an authentic period setting, though a bit below the norm for plot. Despite this, I enjoyed reading about Merry's harried journey from young man to beautiful woman.
Engaging characters and good dialogue in an authentic period setting, though a bit below the norm for plot. Despite this, I enjoyed reading about Merry's harried journey from young man to beautiful woman.
March 6, 2025
Just re read this and found it as delightful as when I first read it. Merry is feisty. Rafe is in love their paths is certainly a rocky one. Well written. Looking forward to re reading the others in the series.
October 9, 2015
But perhaps a little overwrought
April 11, 2017
1.5 stars.
I'm having a hard time rating this one. Let me start with what I enjoyed. The writing, while not really true to this time period, was engaging and easy to read. There were a lot of instances where a modern turn of phrase or the modern content, specifically the completely ridiculous premise and the intimate scenes, would jar me out a relaxed, albeit not totally comfortable historical bubble, but I'm not a purist so they didn't really detract from my enjoyment. There was no real ow/om drama, which I really appreciated and although the H had the reputation of a rake, none of the acts that earned him that title were on page. They all happened before he met the h. There was no mention of mistresses and he never thought about the sexual encounters he had with anyone else, so that's a plus too. Harry, the H's best friend, was the Bingley of this story and he was adorable if not a little too pliable. I loved his sincerity and beautiful spirit. As a secondary character, he was very nice addition to the plot.
The inciting incident that led to the rest of the story almost made me mark this book at a DNF at 2% and the later mentions of it made me mad. Sure, as you find out later on I'm glad that the h was able to see past this crazy set of circumstances, but there honestly wasn't enough character or plot development to make me want to root for the MCs.
Had months passed between the inciting incident and the MCs meeting again, I would have been more likely to enjoy this story. A lot of change would have needed to occur for the H if the reader were to be on board with h forgiving and then falling in love with him. But we didn't get that in this story. Sure the H and his bestie felt compelled to help the h and that was honourable, but it didn't grant the H any time to change at all. His protectiveness over her was tangled up with his wanting to possess her since he experienced a historical version of insta-love. Their relationship read like the story of a bad first marriage, like when the H is falling in love with someone new, he thinks back to how crazy his ex-wife was and to how grateful he is that his current love isn't like her.
Honestly, this wasn't a romantic story. It was about two messed up people, both desperate for someone to love them. Their relationship was unhealthy and their reactions to each other and their situation were ridiculous and OTT. The H was control freak and the h was a doormat masquerading as someone with a spine. Overall I didn't enjoy this.
I'm having a hard time rating this one. Let me start with what I enjoyed. The writing, while not really true to this time period, was engaging and easy to read. There were a lot of instances where a modern turn of phrase or the modern content, specifically the completely ridiculous premise and the intimate scenes, would jar me out a relaxed, albeit not totally comfortable historical bubble, but I'm not a purist so they didn't really detract from my enjoyment. There was no real ow/om drama, which I really appreciated and although the H had the reputation of a rake, none of the acts that earned him that title were on page. They all happened before he met the h. There was no mention of mistresses and he never thought about the sexual encounters he had with anyone else, so that's a plus too. Harry, the H's best friend, was the Bingley of this story and he was adorable if not a little too pliable. I loved his sincerity and beautiful spirit. As a secondary character, he was very nice addition to the plot.
The inciting incident that led to the rest of the story almost made me mark this book at a DNF at 2% and the later mentions of it made me mad. Sure, as you find out later on I'm glad that the h was able to see past this crazy set of circumstances, but there honestly wasn't enough character or plot development to make me want to root for the MCs.
Had months passed between the inciting incident and the MCs meeting again, I would have been more likely to enjoy this story. A lot of change would have needed to occur for the H if the reader were to be on board with h forgiving and then falling in love with him. But we didn't get that in this story. Sure the H and his bestie felt compelled to help the h and that was honourable, but it didn't grant the H any time to change at all. His protectiveness over her was tangled up with his wanting to possess her since he experienced a historical version of insta-love. Their relationship read like the story of a bad first marriage, like when the H is falling in love with someone new, he thinks back to how crazy his ex-wife was and to how grateful he is that his current love isn't like her.
Honestly, this wasn't a romantic story. It was about two messed up people, both desperate for someone to love them. Their relationship was unhealthy and their reactions to each other and their situation were ridiculous and OTT. The H was control freak and the h was a doormat masquerading as someone with a spine. Overall I didn't enjoy this.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews