By Johanna Lindsey
Read: October/November 2009
Rating: Fun!
Do not be fooled by that innocuous cover in the Amazon preview. DO NOT, I SAY. That is a redesign, to appeal to modern readers. Why? Because this would never pass muster today:
I’m not sure it passed muster then, either. My edition is more orangey, but you get the point. Atrocious. The Smart Bitches call it The Battle of the Chins.
The 1980s were a frightening time.
I believe I picked this one up at a library sale. It was purchased in a wave of “This is so bad it’s funny.” Onto the shelf it went. A few weeks ago, I was running out of pages in my current read and went looking for backups to carry around. I tossed this in, though I was beginning to have doubts. I finished the first book. Then I took this out. I reread the back cover, and I felt physically ill. This was clearly BEYOND bad. Back on the shelf.
Even atrocious books deserve a few pages, though. So I finally got up the guts to start reading.
I finished it in just two or three days, which qualifies as devouring.Reggie is the orphaned niece of a passel of brothers. These (mostly unmarried) men have shared the raising of her since the death of their sister and brother-in-law, and are fiercely protective of her. Reggie officially entered the London Ton social season last year, and has even traveled the continent, but is still unmarried. She’s getting a bit desperate. It’s not that she isn’t gorgeous or agreeable. Her brothers just don’t believe anyone is suitable. One of them always finds a reason to boot the boy out the door. She isn’t holding out much hope, and has given up on a love match. She’ll now take just about anybody her uncles can agree on.
One man they certainly wouldn’t approve of is Nicholas Eden, a reputed rake. The black sheep son of some lord or other, Nicholas had to make his own way in the world and has recently earned enough money to be respectable. Since launching himself, he has been on his BEST behavior, and plans to take a wife to complete his transformation. He is still getting his sex fix, however, and his mistress happens to have similar features to Reggie. In trying to teach the woman a lesson, he winds up abducting Reggie. (I told you the back copy made me ill.)
Anyone asked to sum up the novel would begin with that. That is the simplest way, but it doesn’t indicate the many elements at play. You see, Nicholas has decided that Reggie’s cousin is suitable match. His mistress is actually the very first female we meet, and she’s being tricksy. And, it turns out that both Nicholas and Reggie have very interesting backstories.
Actually, the Regency tropes are sort of piled on… Black sheep, illegitimate sons, piracy, secret babies, a whole family of singletons in need of mates… All right, that’s a favorite of romance writers no matter the era.
Best of all is Reggie herself. She is the first and only heroine I’ve ever seen who can laugh at all he ridiculous things that happen. She finds genuine humor in their mishaps, and her ability to see the big picture helps to defuse things. I think she’s actually one of my favorites, now.
Of course, her fantastic singleton uncles must get hitched now. And I’m trying to find the rest in this series without busting the bank.
Just goes to prove, bad cover art is not necessarily indicative of the content. I do have to give this one props for actually portraying the characters correctly. Reggie has black hair (no mention of impossible cleavage) and Nicholas has brown hair, etc. I think this is even actually trying to represent a scene that happens toward the end!
So, my apologies atrocious 80s cover artists. You are still less lazy than modern stock art.
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