The Country Gentleman

by Cindy Holbrook

After escaping an attempted ravishment by her former fiance, Lady Sarah is found unconscious by the Earl of Grey, and when awakened, she pretends to have amnesia in an attempt to wrap the country gentleman around her finger.

Genres: Regency, Historical Romance, Traditional Regency, Romance, Clean Romance, Regency Romance, Historical

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Before becoming a romance novelist, Cindy received a BFA in theater and pursued a career in real estate. She was both a broker and a general contractor and actually began writing to entertain herself while she sat open house as a realtor.

Although born in Wisconsin, Cindy moved to Florida with her family at a young age and has never left. Her home in Fort Walton, on the Emerald coast, provides Cindy with warm weather, beautiful beaches, and magnificent waters. She loves reading, pretending to cook (she says that she reads cookbooks far more often than she actually makes anything), and admiring old cars-especially Mustangs. Cindy is also a devoted dog person who maintains that dogs are actually women's best friend.

Reviews

[HR-ML · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regency England. (Via paperback edition).

The ton considered Lady Sarah"The Incomparable"
beauty. She broke off her engagement w/ Ravenwich
who nearly choked and raped her as a consequence.
Sarah hit him on the head with an object, took a horse
and ran away. Did she kill him? Lord Geoffrey (the hero
& an earl) rescued the h when she rolled down a ravine.

Geoff was taciturn and a control freak & carried Amy
(Lady Sarah w/ faux amnesia) to his home. She called
him "Mr. Ungallant." She was 'no picnic' in the man-
ners dept. either. She had to manage everyone/ every-
thing, therefore the hero referred to her as 'nettlesome.'

IMO these 2, over time, wore out their welcome. Geoff
mellowed somewhat around the time he received new
clothes & a haircut, but soon fell back on his old ways.
Sarah flirted just because she could. Sarah's new friend
Melanie became enamored of a man 25-30 years her
senior. Huh?

Too much anger and too much soap opera.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
A dear friend sent me this book a while back and of course I read it right away and then forgot to review it! I have since read a few books so this review will not be as good as I would of hoped.

I really enjoyed this one. The chemistry between the two characters was so good to me. I really liked both of them. Which is saying a lot when you read a book.

Totally recommend this one!!

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one and know I will reread it in the future.

[Kathy * Bookworm Nation · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

I just love Holbrook’s books, and this was definitely one of her better ones. I was so tempted to give it five stars, but there were just a couple things that took away from my enjoyment. The first half of the book was engaging and you get caught up in the story right off the bat. I loved Lady Sarah, sure she may be a tad conceited, but she is also very caring and accepting of people. I loved how she totally shakes up Lord Grey’s life, his house and the lives of his tenants. She has a very lively personality. I thought that they had awesome chemistry as well; there are some really great moments between them throughout the book. So, yeah the first half was probably my favorite, but I also really enjoyed the second half. There comes a point where about halfway through most regencies would probably end. I loved that Holbrook continued the story, and we got to see the tables turned when Lord Grey is taken out of his comfort zone and thrown into London society.

So, there was a tad bit of language, but there was only one thing that rubbed me the wrong way. Sarah is kidnapped and taken to a brothel. Her kidnapper threatens to sale her into prostitution if she does not marry him. While there Geoffrey and Melanie arrive to rescue her. He leaves Melanie in a room to wait for him and while there Sarah’s father shows up. He is there for obvious reasons and mistakes Melanie for a prostitute. Okay, he treats her well and can tell really early on that she is not. It just bothered me that he would even visit a brothel. He does redeem himself later and I think it was a turning point for him to not only find his daughter there, but also the women he would eventually marry. So, it definitely put things into perspective for him and enabled him to see prostitutes as actual women with families and he has vowed never to go to a brothel again. I think the author meant it as a funny “meet cute” between Kendall (Sarah’s father) and Melanie. But, I wished she would have come up with a better reason for him being there, like maybe he had heard about Sarah’s abduction and also went there to find her.

I just loved Holbrook’s books and characters. They are laugh out loud funny, but also well developed stories with great characters. Unfortunately Holbrook’s books are out of print. You can get used copies from Amazon, but I sure wish they were available on Kindle so everyone could read them.

Content: Clean. No bedroom scenes, but does contain mild innuendo, talk of mistresses, etc. There is also a tad bit of swearing.

[Paula Bothwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Country Gentleman - PG13 (only because of some subject matter)
Violence: a murder (no details), a rape attempt mentioned (not details)
Language: <55 swears
Sex: delicious kisses
I LOVED this book! I had read about it a long time ago and put it in my basket to watch for on Kindle. I finally just bought the paperback and devoured it. The writing is Great: witty dialogue, great storyline, well paced. I'm searching for more Cindy Holbrook!

[Donnalee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Woman broad, slapstick, buffoony and crass--not for me

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regency

[Lanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Added to my list of favorites!
Loved it!

[Yue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Freaking GR should have a damn way to save drafts! I lost my freaking review while I was saving it... Ugggh, I am in such a bad mood now I could throw my computer against the wall.