In a word - a waste of time and money.The concept was promising, the execution however, was poor. The hero was promising, and his brother was delightful, but the heroine pulled them down. The plentiful photographs meant to illustrate the book added to the disaster. There is no way the female in those photos can be a vision of paleness - so fair in colouring (according to the author's description), when the female in the photos that were constantly thrust in your face showed a woman who was neither fair, or whose complexion could ever be described as flawless. By the time I'd come to the fourth photo within the story, I was feeling thoroughly insulted. Did the author think I lacked the imagination to read her verbal descriptions and be able to build a suitable picture of the characters in my own head? Or did the author think she lacked the authorial expertise to create in words characters we could see? The heroine's nemesis - this creature we are given to believe in the beginning of the story to be some brute of a man who tortures women by chasing them with hounds and horses like they're a two legged fox, but then brutally rape them and leave them for dead.But then we get to actually see the downtrodden little man, and though he's apparently corpulent given the fleshy folds that flutter like flubber when he shakes his head, he's a snivelling little coward whose terrified of his mother. Possible, but the characterisation wasn't seamless or well executed to be convincing.The story also dragged. There is SO MUCH internal dialogue, most of it doing nothing to advance the story. And while this is a time travel story, I have to say I lost whatever remained of my determination to read what I'd paid good money for the moment the heroine started ranting and raving like a pre-menstrual 20th century teenager who lacks self-discipline or any sense of dignity in self. At that point, the shaky world-building was shot to pieces, and I was kicked out of the story. Maybe I used up what was left of my tolerance by the time the heroine started riding out in London, without shame or apology, in loose fitting mens clothes and without giving a damn for how her behaviour could reflect on this man she's supposed to be falling for. But it's a common theme throughout the book - to her, it's all about her. I have no idea if she grows and matures later on. Because after the scene with her nemesis following her 'ruination' when she went ballistic like a hyped-up streetkid, I closed that book with not even a smidgin of regret and lots of heartfelt relief that the torture for me was over. I then dropped the book in the rubbish rather than putting it in the charity bin and subjecting someone else to the torture. First this book needed to be edited down. For reals. It would have been so much better. When francine waited for the dressmaker to make her dresses, I felt I was waiting a week for the book to move along. In a nutshell: time travel!, interesting stuff, boring things, boring things, boring things, dresses are made, boring things, boring things, boring things, ooh kisses!, boring things, boring things, boring things, he has a brother!, boring things, boring things, old gross guy wants to marry her, boring things, boring things, boring things, more kisses!, boring things, boring things, boring things, Kidnaped!, exciting things, sex!, the end.
What do You think about The Rake And The Recluse (2011)?
Thank you, Tiffany Reisz for recommending Jenn LeBlanc! I truly enjoyed it.
—Rebecca
won this from Ms. Jenn LeBlanc :) so happy ...
—Amie
