A Beginner's Guide to Rakes by Suzanne Enoch

October 10, 2011
http://www.suzanneenoch.com/index.html

You can color me sad, you can color me blue, you can color me unimpressed, you can color me surprised, you just can't Color me Barbra.

I have had an epiphany about myself! I give authors all kinds of latitude when it comes to historical romance novels. Contrary to what it may seem, I'm not really one of those readers that go into a tizzy when historical accuracy and historical romance books don't match - especially in the language and slang department. Let's get serious here - I would probably have a really hard time understanding just what was being said in a novel that was written in the phraseology of the time. So, when I'm reading historical romance and 21st century words/slang slither their way into the story I don't mind - IF I am enjoying the story. However, if I find the story to be less than satisfactory, weird words just start popping out at me and I start to nitpick. I knew I was in trouble with this book when the slang "color me unimpressed" jumped off the page at me. Color me unimpressed! Really! Can anyone really hear those words falling out of Elizabeth Bennet's mouth? So, it was at this point I knew I was losing interest in the story. Oh, and by the way, "calling a kettle black" was legitimate because the term was first recorded by William Penn in the 1600's. However, I did spend the time looking it up, which still means I was having trouble with the book.

So, why did I lose interest in a story by one of my favorite authors? Well, not only did I lose interest, but I was mightily irritated by the two main characters who happen to dwell within the pages of this book. Yessiree, the more I read the more I disliked Oliver and Diane. Let's examine why this book almost hit the wall. And, yes there are spoilers ahead.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I have always been of the opinion that since time immemorial, most men have always tried to put their Mr. Toads in any woman who will let them, or as a friend of mine says, "men would screw a snake if it had knees." And, most men do this without any thought to love, promises, commitment, fidelity. Now, we as women know this... we have it hammered into our head from childhood - don't do any whankey-roo until you have that ring on your finger. Or, words to that effect. So, it is my belief that a woman of the 19th century would have the same armor as we do in this century. Which is why it was beyond my comprehension as to why the heroine in this story reacted to being dumped the way she did. She is a widow of a week or two and she jumps into the bed of a renowned rake and has mind-blowing hot sex for almost two weeks. Then, when he leaves her she is surprised, hurt and turns into this angry bitter woman. T-w-o years later when these two run into each other again, she is still a bitter person and for some reason he is a tad bit hateful. I didn't get it. Unless the heroine was some kind of obsessive psychotic maniac, her reaction was way over the top. And then the bickering, sniping, I hate you routine begins and lasts for-e-v-e-r. I just wanted to bang their heads together. Mix into the antagonism a convoluted "let's set a trap for the villain" plot and an implausible building of a gambling house and genteel women applying for the jobs; is it any wonder I was looking things up in a slang dictionary. And, by the way, even though there may have been text that was considered a thesaurus in ancient Greece, it wasn't until 1852 that the first Roget's Thesaurus was actually published, even though he was compiling it in 1805 - so the mention of a thesaurus list in the book was another throw-out-of-the-story-moment.

I am assuming that there are more books in this series since there were some very interesting secondary characters wandering through the story and I will of course be buying and reading those. Suzanne Enoch is a wonderful writer and usually I love her books, but this one was a struggle and I was very disappointed in the main characters. Better luck next time.

Time/Place: Regency England or thereafter, I think...we are never given any dates, but Napoleon is mentioned - so some time before 1821.
Rating:
Sensuality Rating: Hot