Saturday, January 10, 2015

Book review ARC: The Bluestocking and the Rake by Norma Darcy


~ Genre ~ Historical Romance, Regency romance

~ Blurb ~
2014 Winner — Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award — Romance

The Earl of Marcham has decided to put the excesses of his colorful youth firmly behind him so that he may find a wife and beget himself an heir. But a straitlaced spinster may stand in his way after she releases a morality pamphlet exposing some of his most private misdemeanors. Determined to have his revenge and teach her a much-needed lesson, the earl decides that his best course of action is to seduce her…

Miss Georgiana Blakelow has long given up the hope of marriage. Instead, she’s resigned to serving as governess to her siblings and saving the family estate from ruin. She might succeed, if only the wretch of an earl who won the estate at the gaming table would be reasonable.


As the sparks fly, and as Lord Marcham finds himself unexpectedly attracted to Miss Blakelow, she becomes even more determined to keep him at a safe distance. The closer he gets, the more likely he is to discover that his bluestocking isn’t all that she seems.

~ My Review ~ 4 Stars ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An amusing story about Earl of Marcham who is bored with his rakish life and starts to consider it’s time to take a wife. The author did a believable job in showing his rakish ways as well as showing the inner person that he doesn’t show to others. This side of him believes in true love. Though many would feel that the softer side didn’t fit the story I would have to disagree. I have meet people in my life who have a tough outer shell and when you get to know them you realize that inside they have a softer side that is afraid of being hurt.

Miss Blakelow comes across as a bluestocking but shortly into the story I started to think she was hiding something. And I started looking closer to the nuances in the storyline in an effort to catch her. 

I enjoyed seeing these two spare and to me it was obvious that they would connect.

The book does have a lot of twists to it. Though I had no problem following the storyline I did have to slow down how fast I read to make sure that I wasn’t missing something. This is an entertaining HEA.

A copy was gifted in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley

~ My Rating ~ 

~ About The Author ~
Bizarre as it seems to me now, I hated reading as a child. I associated it with school and homework and I seemed to read without it engaging my imagination. I struggled to finish a single book.

Then, in my early teens, my mother introduced me to the novels of Georgette Heyer and I was hooked. To the despair of my father, who thought I should be reading much more serious works, I read all her books voraciously, before moving on to Jane Austen and other classics. I discovered that I was, in fact, a bookworm in the making.

Since that time (too many years for me to admit to with impunity) I have struggled to find many Regency Romance books that have inspired me in the same way that Miss Heyer’s books did. I gave up reading the genre for a long time, bored with the fashion to focus on what was happening between the sheets rather than the interaction between the characters. I am not a prude, and I am not adverse to an intimate scene or two, but when every page is filled with lustful glances, I find myself nodding off.

Am I old fashioned? Perhaps. And of course, reading audience’s taste has changed over the years from the time of Georgette Heyer, but the reason I fell in love with the genre was the spark between two characters, where there is a hint of sexual tension which is played out in the way they interact with one another. I feel that many modern books are missing this and are focusing on two people falling in lust with each other’s bodies rather than two people falling in love with each other as people
.

My aim is to attempt to write the kind of books that I love to read: strong but believable characters, verbal wordplay between the hero and the heroine and a love story that tugs at the heartstrings.

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