Things are looking up.
http://www.annegracie.com
So, as an experiment, I have to say my All About Romance project is working. Of course, this is only the first book in the project.
The Perfect Rake written by Anne Gracie in 2005 was a delightful story. It is the first in the Merridew Sisters series. Over the years I have read Anne Gracie off and on, but she is not one of my auto buy authors. Lucky for me The Perfect Rake was one I had missed. I smiled almost all the way through the book thanks to our delightful hero and heroine, Gideon and Prudence.
You know how occasionally I have ranted about Jerry Lewis comedy. The kind of comedy that never stops; it goes on and on until it’s no longer funny. Well The Perfect Rake could have done that, but it didn’t. While the comedic part of this book was close to being outrageously farcical, Ms. Gracie knew when to stop and let some poignancy flow in.
The plot – sort of. Prudence is the oldest of the Merridew sisters; there are five all together. They are living with their horrible, abusive, maniac, grandfather. Their lives have been utterly miserable. Over the years all of them have suffered at the hands of this guy. He has a problem with red-heads and left-handed women. He also has a problem with beautiful women. In fact, he just has a lot of problems. When the story opens he is beating the youngest sister. Prudence races in to rescue her sister. Her grandfather turns his ire on her and chases her down the steps. In so doing, their grandfather falls down the stairs becoming incapacitated. At least for about six weeks. Then the story turns from this depressing scene and we are reintroduced to a different Prudence.
This Prudence has lots of ideas; most of them require a lot of subterfuge. She and her sisters concoct a plan in which one of them gets married and then saves the rest. Part of the plan requires that they run off to London and lie to their Great Uncle Oswald. Oswald is the kind-hearted brother of their grandfather. Prudence then invents an engagement between herself and the Duke of Dinstable. Well, Uncle Oswald is upset with Dinstable because he thinks Dinstable has taken advantage of Prudence. Oswald decides to confront Dinstable. Panicking, Prudence races out of the house, runs to Dinstable’s house, burst into the place and tries to warn the handsome man who is sitting behind a desk. She immediately starts yammering out the story she made up to the man who seems to be taking it all in. She is encouraged that the Duke is taking it so well. Unbeknownst to her the handsome man is not the Duke but his cousin, Gideon. This whole scene between Gideon, Prudence, Oswald and the real Duke was a whole lot of fun. It raised the bar for the rest of the book and the momentum carried me through the pages. Was Ms. Gracie able to sustain the momentum? Mostly. Let’s take a closer look.
Gideon. I loved Gideon. When he was on the page, the book sparkled. He was funny, irreverent, arrogant, and obnoxious. He always had a comeback. Did he occasionally misunderstand things? Yes. But, even his misunderstandings were delightful. But, he wasn’t just a clown. He was also a caring guy and he hid a childhood which had some dark secrets. I cannot say too much more about Gideon without over gushing, but what a great character!
Prudence. I’m undecided when it comes to Prudence. For me, she seemed as if she were two people. When she was on the pages with Gideon, she was this strong, witty woman who found Gideon irritating but who had no trouble putting him in his place. The funny strong Prudence I liked a lot. But there were two sides to Prudence. Spoilers. The Boo-Hoo Prudence remained loyal to her slug of a fiancé for four long years. This guy took advantage of her when she was just sixteen, and left her pregnant to face her maniac grandfather. Promises are promises - I get it! How she could hold onto a dream of a life with that slug was beyond me. And, her obstinacy with this issue was out of character with the funny Prudence, the one who matched wits with Gideon. These two sides of Prudence’s did not match.
I was also a little disturbed with a final melodramatic scene with the crazy grandfather. He kidnaps Prudence, ties her up, and starts to beat her. My funny Prudence should not have been tied, she should not have been victimized. The Prudence who sparred with Gideon would have been able to yank the whip out of the old man’s hands and smack him with it. I’m saying all of this because the Prudence who is irritated by Gideon deserved a better direction at the end of the book than the one Ms. Gracie gave her. The irritated Prudence, the one who I was so fond of, didn’t need Gideon to save her. My favorite Prudence would have been allowed to save herself, and that is the one issue I had with this book.
Overall. I truly enjoyed this story, there were parts of this book which were filled with some pretty remarkable writing. Ms. Gracie knows how to write humor and then make it wonderfully poignant. Gideon was a wonderful hero and his scenes with Prudence were full of vitality. The comedy was not over the top. Where the book didn’t work so much for me was when Prudence became a victim. I didn’t think it was necessary to make her into one. Having said that, I do recommend The Perfect Rake.
Time/Place: Regency England
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