Caroline Hanscombe hates the London Season. She has made all attempts to turn the gentlemen away, much to her stepmother's dismay. Her only place of refuge is with her widowed Aunt Jessica who allows Caroline to be herself. Jason Kinkaid, Lord Radford has finally decided to take a wife since he lost the only woman he could ever love long ago. He sees marriage as a business arrangement and any well-bred lady will do. After a few drinks with a friend, he makes a list and pulls Caroline's name out of a hat. When Caroline's sister makes a love match, Caroline's parents inform her that it's up to her to make a brilliant match with Lord Radford. Caroline feels forced into accepting Jason's proposal for the sake of her family. As hard as Jason tries, his fiance can barely speak to him or even manage to look at him. In an effort to get to know her better, he invites Caroline and her aunt to his estate. When Jason discovers Caroline's aunt is the love of his life, he feels honor bound to marry Caroline yet he can't stop thinking about kissing Jessica. What a dilemma! Richard Dalton, recently returned from the wars, is shocked to discover that should he accept it, he is the next Earl of Walgrave. Richard isn't sure he wants the duties and responsibilities that come with the title. After a nomadic life, he wants to settle down on a small estate and live life as a country squire. If he doesn't accept, his rake of a cousin will inherit and sell the estate. Believing that Walgrave is uninhabited, Caroline is given permission to use the music room where she loses herself in playing and composing. When she meets Richard, he is kind, gentle and shares her love of music. He supports her unladylike dream of composing music and encourages her to follow her dreams. In short, Richard is nothing like the curt, sardonic, almost elderly (he's 35 to her 22) Baron. She still feels she must marry the Baron to save her family. Richard loves Caroline and he thought he loved him back, he wouldn't hesitate to risk the Baron's wrath and offer for Caroline instead. Will any of these characters end up with their true loves? The answer is obvious but getting there takes a long long time. This story is really slow and nothing happens. There's no relationship between any of the characters. I'm not sure why Caroline fears Jason so much. Her relationship with Richard is developed slowly and sweetly and I can see why a shy girl would be drawn to him but there's no real romance there. Jason's interest in Jessica has potential. I could see at once what drove them apart in their younger days (haven't they read Pride and Prejudice?) and what had to happen to fix things, yet nothing really did happen. There's no real romance in this novel - not even much kissing. There are a few villains who are stereotypes of Regency men. They don't really add anything to the story, but merely pad out the plot too much and complicate matters.There are quite a few typos in the Kindle edition which drove me crazy. Overall, this story is entirely unmemorable and I would not recommend it.
Two Romances Neither Completely SatisfyingTHE STORY: Jason Kincaid, Baron Radford needs to marry so he decides to draw his fiancee's name from a bowl because he cares so little who he marries. He draws the name of Caroline Hanscombe. Her family pressures her into accepting Jason's marriage proposal. That's when things go crazy. It turns out that Caroline's chaperone, Mrs. Jessica Sterling, is the woman that Jason loved as a young man. Now widowed, the attraction between Jessica and Jason hasn't diminished. At the same time, Caroline meets Richard Dalton who is the secret heir to the Davenport fortune and title. The two end up falling in love as well. Misunderstandings and confusion ends up with four very unhappy people.OPINION: I thought this book was promising when I began reading the story of Jason and Jessica. There wasn't really anything developed between the two, however. Their entire story is based upon the past and there is little to explain their continued attraction or how their relationship works. The story between Richard and Caroline was better because at least readers got the chance to see how they fell in love. Ultimately, however, both romances got shortchanged in this novel. Either romance on its own could have been a good book. Instead, two stories were smashed in together and neither was fully developed. I was disappointed because I felt that either story had great promise.WORTH MENTIONING: This book definitely is on the sweet side since there is nothing more than kissing depicted.FINAL DECISION: I almost liked this book. Unfortunately, with two romances I think that both got short changed in the story.CONNECTED BOOKS: THE DIABOLICAL BARON is connected with THE RAKE. The hero of that novel, Reggie, is the semi-villain in this novel. STAR RATING: I give this book three stars.
What do You think about The Diabolical Baron (1987)?
The reason for the 2 stars.. is because I was confused. The book starts out focusing on 2 sets of main characters.. then the partners get flipped around, and ends up on 4 sets of characters. It would've made more sense had the 4 characters gotten equal coverage in the beginning, but they didn't, so they only seemed like secondary/supporting characters. I did like the characters, I just didn't like them as stars of the same book.
—Highland-dreamer
This book held alot of promise to it, but sadly fell short in the end. It had a wonderful start to it with a great cast to keep it moving but, as the chapters started to drag on I couldn't help but feel I was jumping back and forth to much between the two story lines that finally do meet up. The characters in the book lacked real depth to them, never really giving you a chance to know who they are or what they're truly thinking. Beating around the bush between this characters rules this books along with a load of misunderstandings and lack of just speaking up for ones self. The only saving grace for this book was the solider turn peer Richard Dalton who was the only true loveable and likeable character in the group who was shown to have a hard past and great depth. While the main woman of the cast Caroline was such a wallflower for a love of music that "finally" only showed guts at the end of the book, but whom mostly overshadowed by her Aunt who in the end didn’t speak up to know the truth of the matter that could have solved everyones troubles. Many of the so called main characters were more like secondary characters along with the Baron for which the book is name after and one of the shallows of the cast of characters. Overall: a quick real that riddled with promise but didn’t hold up in the end.
—Rane
Putney is a very good story teller. She knows that a story well told has to be developed and led up to. By drawing out her characters and allowing the tale to unfold, she allows the reader to reap the rewards of her labours. I enjoyed both romantic relationships in this novel. I found each character's journey and subsequent convergence with others to be smartly done. Even Reginald Davenport, who is not a main character, had an interesting story, albeit not very detailed in 'The Diabolical Baron'. These characters were believable since they were neither all-good nor all-bad (which again brings to mind Davenport who I admit is mostly bad, but intriguing). Well done!
—Hortencia
