The Righteous Rakehell

by Gayle Buck

A rakish lord. Lord Kenelm must have a wife. His choice falls on Miss Catherine Talbot. Surely, a generous settlement will counter his wicked reputation. He wants a marriage of convenience, and his untrammeled life as a man about town.

An unusual lady. Catherine accepts the viscount's offer. She's risking her heart, but she's willing to tempt fate. The high-spirited beauty insists on a London Season. Catherine plans to humble the arrogant viscount.

Lord Kenelm has no idea that trouble and scandal are in the making.

Genres: Regency, Historical, M F Romance, Romance, Regency Romance

242 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1988

About the author

Gayle Buck has freelanced for regional publications, worked for a radio station and as a secretary. Until recently, she was involved in public relations for a major Texas university. Besides her Regencies, she also writes fantasy and romantic suspense. She lives in Bandera, Texas.

Reviews

[Elisabeth Lane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, that was preposterous and not in the fun way. First of all, it's riddled with errors. The aristocratic titles were all wrong, there were tons of typos and missing words. If this is a good example of a Signet Regency, I don't think I need to read any more.

Really though I was just bored. I have limited patience these days for ballrooms and bloodlines. I thought this was going to be a marriage of convenience story where they get married and learn to like each other. I love those. Instead we get an interminable engagement (probably to avoid any reference to even marital sex) and a series of silly escapades, primarily by the heroine, to attract her insta-beloved's attention.

Frankly, I didn't see what either of them saw in the other. The hero is high-handed, perfectly calculated to make the sassy, independent heroine crazy. And she's both naive and stubborn, never a good combination. Besides their physical attraction to each other, which was never consummated because it's a trad Regency romance, they never seemed to like each other much. Add in a totally contrived crisis ending and I can say I'm officially less than impressed.

At least the plot, such as it was, proceeded apace. And the hero and heroine's families were both lovely and engaging, which kept the book from being a total waste of time.

I have another of these, that one by Edith Layton. I'll read it eventually probably. But it's distinctly probable that these just aren't for me.

[Lynne Tull · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start with the positive. The premise of the story was good. That being said...I didn't like the title of the book. I am not sure about the 'Righteous' part. It seems to me that 'righteous' and 'rakehell' are oxymorons? I didn't find the story, the hero, or the heroine believable. There were some characters that intrigued me...so much so, I am going to see if their story is told in any of her other books.

[Laura Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad story ,really liked the relationship Catherine had with her family. Her father Lord Talbot was a bad boy in his younger days right into his marriage but turned it around because he had to redeem his mortgages or would leave nothing for his son.Now the love interest for Catherine was not likable nor noble more self serving and arrogant with a temper to match . I still read the story because it allowed a bumpy road to romance and in my opinion so will the marriage be.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good book and it was very clean as well.