Lady Rogue (Signet Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: a disappointing read
Review: "Lady Rogue" by Amanda McCabe starts out promisingly enough: Alexander Kenton, the Duke of Wayland, returns form the wars to find that he has inherited a wreck of an estate form his wastrel brother, and that money is desperately needed not only to put the estate to rights but so that his invalid mother and young sister can know a measure of comfort and ease. And so Alexander resolves to go to London in order to find a rich wife. And he finds her in the form of Mrs. Georgina Beaumont, a very rich and independent widow, who also happens to be a talented portrait painter, and whom he falls in love with a first sight. And wonder of wonders, she seems to favour him also. And at this point, after the initial meeting, the novel fizzles. Not much happens after this: Alexander and Georgina partake in the usual tonnish rounds of entertainment, flirt a little, talk a little -- in between of which Georgina and her best friend Elizabeth discuss Alexander's good looks and good qualities at great length -- and then she's off to meet his family where she ends up spending a lot more time with his sister (Emily) than with him. And then a conflict arises between the two when Georgina generously loans Emily some money. The two fight, and Georgina leaves for London. Will Alexander try to patch things up with Georgina? Or will Georgina's wealth and Alexander's need of it be too much for him to deal with?

I tried to figure out why I was so disappointed with this novel and came away with the feeling that in spite of the fact that Alexander seemed like the perfect gentleman, Georgina was a rather nice and intelligent heroine, and their initial momentous meeting (Alexander dives into a lake in order to rescue Georgina's dog) the developing romance between the two was somewhat lacking. There was actually more of a spark between Georgina and Alexander's sister than there was between our said hero and heroine. And then there was the whole bit about Alexander not wanting Georgina for her money. The sad fact is that he needs her money in order to straighten out his family affairs. However, having fallen in love with Georgina seems to have made Alexander forget that the entire reason why he went to London in the first place: to find money. He may dislike needing Georgina's money but acting as if she was forcing it down his throat was a bit much, in my opinion.

"Lady Rogue" seemed to have the potential to be a really great read. Unfortunately for me, this potential was never fully realised.

Rating:
Summary: from Romantic Times Magazine
Review: She is called Lady Rogue by a society which accepts her work as an artist, but will never accept her as a lady of quality.
When Alex, the impoverished Duke of Wayland, realizes he has come to love Georgina Beaumont, he's afraid her fortune will stand in the way of their realtionship.
Georgina cares little for money, but is afraid that the ton will never accept her as a duchess and that Alex will want her to change. Even the bond of their love may not be enough to prevent pride and recklessness from separating them.
Amanda McCabe has finally turned her considerable talents to Georgina's story, and is fabulously successful at finding her the right man. This is a love story created by the sure, deft strokes of a master!

Rating:
Summary: A charming, fluffy, inoffensive romance
Review: There's not much here, really. Just a nice hero and heroine, who suffer no misfortunes and everything's just peachy. That's it. That's the whole plot. You keep thinking something is going to happen: the plot builds, the music swells and...the chapter ends. "What could possibly go wrong?" our hero's sister asks. Aha! Something will surely happen NOW. A guest at the dinner party makes a catty comment to cause trouble while the men are at their port. The gentlemen return and...Alex and Georgie agree that she's a viper. The entire book goes on like this in the inexorable march to the altar. There is no tension, no plot and no character development whatsoever. The characters are no different at the end than they were at the beginning. They would have been wonderful secondary characters in another novel.

There are some minor difficulties with titles: If the dowager Duchess of Wayland is "Your Grace," why isn't the duke? He's always referred to as Lord Wayland. Also, there were many anachronisms in the dialogue. No one spoke of having a "messed up" family in the 1800s!

Other than these quibbles, it's a great bubble bath read, since you wouldn't be terribly disappointed to have it fall in the water and it's not precisely taxing to follow the plot.