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Coup de Grace
CUPID'S DART SEEMS TO HAVE TERRIBLE AIM. . . .
After her ignominious Little Season and her subsequent banishment to the country, Lady Grace Granville (also known as Disgrace) lands in dire straits once again.
Cursing his luck, Rafael Marlowe comes to her rescue, putting down his brandy long enough to whisk her out of danger. With her devilish mind and angel's countenance, the chit has been trouble since they were children. But now Rafe has more important things to do--drinking himself to death, for example--than protect Grace from her family's wrath.
But, God save them all, Grace has decided to save Rafe . . . from himself! And if Cupid will cooperate, perhaps Rafe may come to love her as she has always loved him. . . .
After her ignominious Little Season and her subsequent banishment to the country, Lady Grace Granville (also known as Disgrace) lands in dire straits once again.
Cursing his luck, Rafael Marlowe comes to her rescue, putting down his brandy long enough to whisk her out of danger. With her devilish mind and angel's countenance, the chit has been trouble since they were children. But now Rafe has more important things to do--drinking himself to death, for example--than protect Grace from her family's wrath.
But, God save them all, Grace has decided to save Rafe . . . from himself! And if Cupid will cooperate, perhaps Rafe may come to love her as she has always loved him. . . .
229 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 30, 1996
2 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
About the author
Emma Jensen
24 books38 followersEmma Jensen is a bestselling author who has won both a Rita and a Reviewer's Choice Award for her Regencies. She grew up in San Francisco and among the vines of the California wine country. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, with degrees in nineteenth-century literature, sociology, and public policy.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 11, 2017
Maybe 3.5? Still, quite fun.
December 2, 2019
Grace has been sent to sanctimonious cousin in the country because of a disgrace in London. When she can't stand it any more she pilfers some boys clothes and leaves to go to her brother's estate. However, a storm forces the mail coach to stop at an unsavory inn. She is then discovered to be a girl and saved from harm by Rafe, a friend of her brother's. He take her to his hunting lodge and then to an aunt and eventually to her brother's when all hell breaks loose. A typical romance of misunderstandings is enhance by the heroine's attempts to get her erstwhile hero out of the bottle. Her attempts at saving him from himself are hilarious. Good story.
December 6, 2021
3.5 ⭐️’s. I haven’t read an Emma Jensen book that I didn’t like. I read this one many years ago and decided to read it again when I came across it cleaning out my bookshelf.
A good and easy cotton candy read. I laughed and commiserated with Grace’s antics and frustrations. Rafe could be annoying in his stubbornness. I also wonder if he’ll be a raving alcoholic with the amount of alcohol he’s used to drinking. Overall nice short book.
A good and easy cotton candy read. I laughed and commiserated with Grace’s antics and frustrations. Rafe could be annoying in his stubbornness. I also wonder if he’ll be a raving alcoholic with the amount of alcohol he’s used to drinking. Overall nice short book.
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December 19, 2023DNF. One more regurgitation of the tired theme, young innocent who constantly needs protecting is actually saving the much older Hero from himself. Oh, I should add that, of course, the spirited Heroine has loved the Hero since she was a child. Meanwhile, the Hero has just realized that the Heroine, despite continuing to behave like a child, is now a woman with ‘womanly curves’.
In this case, I found both Grace and Rafe annoying, and had no inclination to see where the story led.
In this case, I found both Grace and Rafe annoying, and had no inclination to see where the story led.
February 10, 2020
3.5 stars. The story was just okay. Rafe frustrated me.
December 11, 2023
Maybe deserves a better rating. But don't remember it at all. OTOH I kept it.
February 3, 2021
second reading two years later, desperate
am astounded at my review, my faculties have declined in these last years and this review was quite on point.
just reread vivid notions and cannot remember rafe and grace, have to go back. but coup de grace, the perfect titles was again a welcome read
nearly a perfect five
in order to understand you must read Vivid Notions where the attraction between Grace to Rafe is made obvious. A slow burn from Rafe's side towards Grace while he is sunk is grief, sell-pity, drink, and sloth after his parents have died in a fire, and he has become the Duke, far too soon. Dis-Grace is a glorious character. in between her escapades Rafe has always been there. he condemns himself for not being at home during the tragedy, rather in a widows bed. Now his worthlessness is drinking himself to death. Not a total coward, which Grace tells him he is, his perspective of his raking, after he two friends have married happily, he initially defends, calling love a madness. Grace has always been mad for him and willing to go the 90/10. She pries him out of his shell, kicking and screaming, but silently beginning to see his own dissipation and the feelings between them. The ending is too too abrupt to be satisfying with the exception that you have one scene where he succumbs to his madness and declares himself. A few long kisses is all we get, but for this book, that is all we need. And Great Aunt Myrtle is worth the price of admission. She is Rafe's only family now, and sees to it that Rafe sees Grace as a perfect partner. Since Rafe's memories of their escapades along with her brother, his best friend, have always remained with him as diversionary, outrageous, and admirable, his protection and fondness for her is longstanding. He is calm around her, and comfortable, she is witty, gutsy and entirely honorable. His many rebukes to Grace about his invasion of his privacy, and I will not marry you, yelled loud and often, are truly hurtful and should have had a better resolution. Although we see them as projections and arguments with himself. to Grace the ends justify the means. His self-containment has been life long, and Grace rattles the cage and shakes the bars. The locked cellar with her throwing the keys at him was the turning point. The ending scene had less than amatory satisfaction but carries a good bit of humor. Even Rafe admitting his obstinate blindness in not seeing her as the woman he cannot live without has its own humor. We are left with the prospect of a long and adventurous marriage between the two. I wish there were a follow up. This is not a widely read book and it should be.
am astounded at my review, my faculties have declined in these last years and this review was quite on point.
just reread vivid notions and cannot remember rafe and grace, have to go back. but coup de grace, the perfect titles was again a welcome read
nearly a perfect five
in order to understand you must read Vivid Notions where the attraction between Grace to Rafe is made obvious. A slow burn from Rafe's side towards Grace while he is sunk is grief, sell-pity, drink, and sloth after his parents have died in a fire, and he has become the Duke, far too soon. Dis-Grace is a glorious character. in between her escapades Rafe has always been there. he condemns himself for not being at home during the tragedy, rather in a widows bed. Now his worthlessness is drinking himself to death. Not a total coward, which Grace tells him he is, his perspective of his raking, after he two friends have married happily, he initially defends, calling love a madness. Grace has always been mad for him and willing to go the 90/10. She pries him out of his shell, kicking and screaming, but silently beginning to see his own dissipation and the feelings between them. The ending is too too abrupt to be satisfying with the exception that you have one scene where he succumbs to his madness and declares himself. A few long kisses is all we get, but for this book, that is all we need. And Great Aunt Myrtle is worth the price of admission. She is Rafe's only family now, and sees to it that Rafe sees Grace as a perfect partner. Since Rafe's memories of their escapades along with her brother, his best friend, have always remained with him as diversionary, outrageous, and admirable, his protection and fondness for her is longstanding. He is calm around her, and comfortable, she is witty, gutsy and entirely honorable. His many rebukes to Grace about his invasion of his privacy, and I will not marry you, yelled loud and often, are truly hurtful and should have had a better resolution. Although we see them as projections and arguments with himself. to Grace the ends justify the means. His self-containment has been life long, and Grace rattles the cage and shakes the bars. The locked cellar with her throwing the keys at him was the turning point. The ending scene had less than amatory satisfaction but carries a good bit of humor. Even Rafe admitting his obstinate blindness in not seeing her as the woman he cannot live without has its own humor. We are left with the prospect of a long and adventurous marriage between the two. I wish there were a follow up. This is not a widely read book and it should be.
February 14, 2015
synopsis:
grace has been banished from london after a little season mishap. rafe, who has known grace from childhood and is aware of her predilection for getting into scrapes, sets out to rescue her. he's been brooding and drinking since his family was killed, but he stops in order to help grace. grace is determined that rafe won't drink himself to death and sets out to help him.
what i liked: grace and rafe. i liked that, even though rafe saw grace as a child to be rescued still, he was fond of her. i liked that grace tried to help rafe, and that she didn't care what steps she had to take in order to make that happen.
what i didn't like: there didn't seem to be much story, it was mostly froth, not body.
grace has been banished from london after a little season mishap. rafe, who has known grace from childhood and is aware of her predilection for getting into scrapes, sets out to rescue her. he's been brooding and drinking since his family was killed, but he stops in order to help grace. grace is determined that rafe won't drink himself to death and sets out to help him.
what i liked: grace and rafe. i liked that, even though rafe saw grace as a child to be rescued still, he was fond of her. i liked that grace tried to help rafe, and that she didn't care what steps she had to take in order to make that happen.
what i didn't like: there didn't seem to be much story, it was mostly froth, not body.
June 28, 2007
This was my first ever Regency romance! Ah, what sweet, sweet memories of my introduction to the best genre ever!
February 11, 2015
likeable, not cloyingly sweet...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews