Book 101: To Rescue a Rogue

NUMBER: 101
TITLE: To Rescue a Rogue
AUTHOR: Jo Beverley
STARTED: December 22, 2oo6
FINISHED: December 25, 2006
PAGES: 417
GENRE: Romance

FIRST SENTENCE: A London night is full of sounds, but the barefoot young woman had not let any of them halt her flight until she heard the rattle of a carriage.

SUMMARY: [From Amazon.com] After Darius "Dare" Debenham rescues her from a potentially ruinous late-night adventure, Mara St. Bride vows to return the favor by rescuing Dare. A year after everyone thought he had perished at Waterloo, Dare turns up in England with little memory of what had happened to him and an addiction to opium. As Dare struggles desperately to overcome his dependency, the last thing he thinks he needs is someone like sweet, stubborn Mara meddling in his life, but she is determined to bring joy and light to the man she loves. A resourceful heroine who refuses to settle for anything less than true love and a tortured hero with a scandalous past eventually earn a happily-ever-after in this quietly powerful romance.

REASON FOR READING: It fit in my carry-on.

THOUGHTS: I probably should have read the plethora of books that came before this one in the series. More than once I found myself going, "Huh?" While the book can stand on it's own, so much is brought from the previous books that it is very easy to miss the nuances. I know I certainly would have enjoyed this book more if I had read all the other books in the series first.

I enjoyed two things about this book. First, the attention to detail. Beverley does not simply gloss over the whole "Regency" period. There are certainly details written about the balls, clothes, and horses. But Beverley goes beyond that. She also write about things like books needing their pages cut to be read, jewlery store purchases, and chamber pots! She also writes about the exhibits of London that were well attended at the time. Most authors neglect these everyday aspects of Regency London and it was nice to read about them for once.

Secondly, you can actually see how Dare and Mara would work as a married couple. Too often all authors write about is the chemsitry and lust between their leads. While I failed to feel any chemistry between Dare and Mara, I could actually feel the love. Beverly has them doing little things like holding hands, and having fanciful conversations. She shoes how they could work as husband and wife without hitting the reader over the head with such details.

Aside from those two things, this book wasn't anything special; just your typical regency romance. Like I stated earlier, it probably would have been much better if I had read the other books in the series. Then again, this once story did not whet my appetite enough to look for the other books.

MISCELLANEOUS: What's with naming heroes Darius?

KEEP/SHARE/CRINGE(?): PBSing
RATING: 5/10 [I didn't particularly like it or dislike it; mixed review]