Elizabeth Boyle, This Rake of Mine

This Rake of Mine

Elizabeth Boyle

Avon, Nov 2005, $5.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 0060783990

In 1801, Miranda Mabberly has some doubts about her upcoming marriage to Lord Oxley, as he and her parents fail to defend her honor besmirched by her future mother-in-law. However, things are taken out of her hands when notorious rake Lord John Tremont, blatantly accosts and kisses her at the opera. The nuptials are over and her parents blame Miranda, completely cutting her off.

After five years of begging her parents to let her come home and learning her mother died without anyone bothering to inform her, Miranda writes off her father. She takes a job as decorum teacher Miss Jane Porter at Miss Emily's Establishment for the Education of Genteel Young Ladies. After five years there she has inherited a small fortune, so she plans to leave, but not before John visits the school to escort his disgraced niece home. He runs into Jane, but fails to recognize her though she knows him. Edged on by three matchmaking youngsters, John begins to court Jane, who rejects the advances of a rake, though they soon fall in love, but to persuade her remains impossible.

THIS RAKE OF MINE is an enjoyable regency romance, that in many ways is typical of the sub-genre with a rake getting his comeuppance through love. The storyline is refreshed by Miranda, who gives up on those who should have rallied around her when she concludes that she will always be held culpable for the actions of John. This gives her the courage to move on and not to fear challenging the aristocracy, including John and his older brother. Fans will enjoy this fine historical pot boiler starring an admirable heroine and the wastrel she reforms.