The Spinster and the Rake by Anne Stuart

July 10, 2017
Hidden Treasures or Look what’s in Storage!  

http://anne-stuart.com/
The Spinster and the Rake by Anne Stuart, 1982. Sometimes when you go digging through the dust and cobwebs of the past, all that happens is a sneeze. But other times you find a forgotten treasure and you say to yourself – now I know why this author is still around. Written in 1982 by fledgling author Anne Stuart, The Spinster and the Rake is considered a traditional Regency romance, but this is much more than just traditional. This book has the beginning of Anne Stuart’s powerful voice and one of her manly-men-dark-heroes which she is known for, (though not as dark as her later ones). While nothing can compare to my favorite Anne Stuart book, The House Party, this one comes pretty close. This is a relatively short book, clocking in at 194 pages. But when the writer is Anne Stuart you don’t notice the length of the story. You just sit back and enjoy it.

Plot, plot, plot. What’s the plot? We can make this really short. Gillian Redford is a thirty-year old spinster who is happy to spend her life going from one of her siblings’ houses to another. While her family takes advantage of her, she is also a favorite of her nieces and nephews. She also is not a martyr; she is in control of her life and she doesn’t take too much guff from her siblings. Then we have Ronan Blakley, Marquis of Herrington, and he is one of Anne Stuart’s typical rakes. And, when I say he’s an Anne Stuart rake, I mean he is a real rake, not a pretend rake who is really a good guy in disguise. Well, one rainy evening Ronan and his drunk friend Vivien Peacock rescue Gillian from a carriage wreck. From that moment on this book is filled with delightful banter, great farce, and occasional deep thoughts.

There is also a cute secondary romance thrown in and numerous other little plots – revenge, wagers, seduction.

This was a delightful little package which had a mature couple in the center of all the shenanigans which went on around them. If I had any quibble, it was there wasn’t enough of Ronan’s brain-think. Even with that I highly recommend this story – it has aged well.

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality:Warm