Rating: 
Summary: The redemption of a tortured hero
Review: The Notorious Rake starts quite surprisingly with what looks like the climax of a story: Mary Gregg, Lady Mornington, blames herself for letting her terror of thunderstorms push her into Lord Edmond Waite's arms one night in a secluded shelter at Vauxhall. Mary hates everything about Lord Edmond: he is a luscious, lewd, mocking and spiteful libertine, a rake of the worst kind, whose reputation makes him the black sheep among the ton. He's still accepted among his noble peers only because of his wealth and title, but everyone in London despises him, most of all Lady Mornington. She, on the other hand, evolves around the high ton; she's famous for the literary salons she organises every week, and she managed to keep her reputation intact despite the rumours of a liaison she might have had with a married male friend.But on the night of Vauxhall, everything changes for Mary. Her unexplainable but nonetheless very real physical attraction to Edmond revolts her. And at first, when Edmond pursues her for days without taking no for an answer, the reader is bound to hate Lord Edmond Waite and his tactics that not any better than those of a stalker's. And therein lies the strength of this story: the hero is a truly tortured character, who first offers to us the image he gives to the world, and whose true self is progressively uncovered both by the heroine and the reader, one step at a time. For Lord Edmond is a very tortured and loveable character, who put love to a far corner of his being long ago and decided not to bother with the painful emotion any more. Lord Edmond's character is no doubt fascinating. He's mocking, vulgar and obnoxious most of the time, but the mask is progressively pulled off his face as he keeps pursuing his quest for Lady Mornington's body (but despite what he claims, is it just her body he's pining for?) and she valiantly fights her attraction to him. This story is one of two heroes that everything seems to keep apart, but shows us that reputation are deceitful and that every character is a lot more complicated than what they appear. Yet another Mary Balogh keeper!
Rating:
Summary: Balogh at her magical best
Review: This is a memorable regency romance by one of the contemporary masters in the genre. The publisher really needs to re-release it! Balogh, once again, takes the reader on a journey into the soul of a troubled man who has finally met a woman he can't psychologically or emotionally dismiss. Although Balogh employs many regency plot staples in this book (an outrageous, unrepented rake who is not what he appears to be; a respectable widow unacquainted with the delights of passionate sex; a Brit-twit family estranged by tragedy) she, as always, infuses them with a freshness and vitality that make you feel you're encountering it all for the first time. Balogh's amazing when she's at the top of her form and in this one, she's there. Well worth the out-of-print price--and then some!
Rating:
Summary: Balogh at her magical best
Review: This is a memorable regency romance by one of the contemporary masters in the genre. The publisher really needs to re-release it! Balogh, once again, takes the reader on a journey into the soul of a troubled man who has finally met a woman he can't psychologically or emotionally dismiss. Although Balogh employs many regency plot staples in this book (an outrageous, unrepented rake who is not what he appears to be; a respectable widow unacquainted with the delights of passionate sex; a Brit-twit family estranged by tragedy) she, as always, infuses them with a freshness and vitality that make you feel you're encountering it all for the first time. Balogh's amazing when she's at the top of her form and in this one, she's there. Well worth the out-of-print price--and then some!
| 
