Rating: 4.5 stars
Genre: Historical Romance
Recommended for: Fans of angsty romances who are willing to accept a hero making sacrifices for his country, even if they seem immoral
Warning: This review contains spoilers!!!
I hate that GR doesn't allow for half stars. This is a 4.5 for me, not 4 nor 5 either. Still, the ending was just my cuppa, emotional, angsty, heartwrenching and I liked the heroes, especially the heroine so much I decided to round it to 5 stars.
The hero is part of an English spy group, called Drake's Rakes. After a meeting with an informant and while on his way back to London to report, he's drugged along with the heroine and put in the same bed where they're soon discovered by a dozen ton members. So, a marriage of convenience is mandatory.
The hero, Diccan, is one of the most popular men of the ton; tall, handsome, stylish, suave, he's the man everyone tries to follow. The heroine Grace on the other hand, is 6 feet tall, thin and straight as a board, with a bad leg; she's considered the most 'unfortunate' spinster in England. So, a lot of eyes are on this wedding and all of them see it as a joke. No one is expecting Diccan to stay true to his wife and soon enough, Diccan proves them right.
There are many reviews out there for this one and I believe most if not all of them address the main issue of this book, so I guess it's not a spoiler anymore. However, since some people don't want to read any hint about the book's plot, I'm using the new spoiler brackets. So, if you already know what the big fuss is you may read on, since nothing else is revealed. If not, then this is the time to leave the boat!
<SPOILER ALERT!>
Well, here we go:
Diccan is trying to gain information about a group of traitors, The British Lions, who are threatening to overule the king, and in order to gain this information he has to sleep with his former mistress. On top of that, since he's been warned that people he cares about, like his wife, might be used by the Lions to blackmail him, he's decided to show to everyone how indifferent and cold he is towards Grace. As it's obvious from this point, his actions towards Grace at some points are so cruel and devastating that I felt like crying. At the same time though, there are times when he can't control himself and lets the respect and admiration he's starting to feel for her show... only to raise Grace's hopes again until the next blow comes.
It's clear I believe, that readers who draw the line at abusive husbands and cheating under any circumstances, are going to hate this book with a passion. Personally, I felt that his actions were justified and even necessary, so I could get over it. To the author's credit, she made me feel that Diccan hurt as much as Grace everytime he acted like this, so I could in no way hate him; I even ached for him and the marriage those two might have had.
<END OF SPOILER>
I read in a review, that Grace was a weak heroine; I didn't see that. On the contrary, she's one of my favorite heroines ever. She knew what she wanted, how much of what she wanted could she get and set to get it, without whinning or wallowing. She knew when to step back and listen to the voice of reason and when not to. She knew her husband enough, even after he hurt her, to not believe everything she heard about him. She got in a marriage she didn't want to and tried to make the best of it without hysterics or temper tantrums as many romance heroines are prone to do. I loved her for that.
The one thing I didn't like was a couple of stupid plot turns/scenes. There really is no other word than 'stupid' to describe them. They made no sense, didn't fit with the heroes' personalities, and only served the plot's and author's convenience. I wish the author had found another way to handle those issues. And I have to say that if Marcus Drake, as head of Drake Rake's is set up for a next book, Ms Dreyer is doing a piss poor job of setting him up; he hasn't made ONE right decision in the whole book.
In the end though, I liked the author's writing style and the heroes too much to let these 'stupid' scenes destroy my appreciation of the story. I loved it and look forward to more books my Eileen Dreyer.
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