I enjoyed this romance on a number of different levels apart from the obvious romantic one.
I loved Clifford as a hero, very noble, though not perfect, and his relationships with friends and enemies, which reveal his character and make the heroine Vanessa fall in love with him.
Enemies is the operative word here, for his neighbor Gerald hates him and makes his life a misery. Just when he thinks things can’t get any worse, the drunken and loutish gambler offers his half-sister Vanessa as a stake in a card game at a local ball.
Clifford is appalled to think the sensitive young woman, whom many have dubbed The Mad Mistress, might fall prey to Gerald’s friends or cousins, all fortune hunters. He gambles for her despite the protestations of everyone in the district who thought better of him, and brings down scandal on his own head for the sake of Vanessa, even though it means Gerald will hate him even worse now.
His slimy confederates and cousins are just too awful for words, which brings us to the next level of this book-a whodunnit. For the novel starts with a brutal attack and murder, with the only witness a terrified little girl.
I will not give the game away too much except to say that Vanessa and Clifford grow and develop in the course of the pages, as they fall in love. But just when all of the issues between them seem to be resolved and they look set for a happily ever after, a dead body on Clifford’s lands makes Vanessa question everyone she has ever known and cared for.
When one of their friends, Martin Jerome and his new bride go missing, Vanessa’s “madness” all starts to make a kind of terrible sense. Both she and Clifford are now involved in a race against time to stop a killer from destroying any chance they have at happiness.
The third level is the historical-this author really captures the Regency period with lots of little details which make it a great if shocking read in some places.
Some of the villains’ actions may be a bit disturbing for readers would be my only warning regarding this ripping Regency romance. The ending totally gave me the creeps. Thank goodness for happily ever after.
One other note-lots of romantic scenes between the two that build the heat, but not a ton of rampant sexual activity the way you get in a lot of romances these days. But then, this book doesn’t need it–the H/H are so super together and the story really moves right along.
Oh, and yes, one other point, I have to say, darn, these Rakehell men are gorgeous!
