Review - - Once a Rebel

Once a Rebel

By Mary Jo Putney

Publisher: Kensington/Zebra

Release Date: August 29, 2017
Reviewed by Janga

Callista Brooke is only sixteen when she and her best friend, Lord George Gordon Richard Audley, who is a year older, elope to save Callista from being forced into marriage to a wealthy planter decades older than she. The youthful pair is caught by their fathers, and, to save her friend’s life, Callista agrees to the marriage her father has arranged. She is married to her father’s friend and moves with him to his home in Jamaica. Richard, as Callista calls him, is charged with theft and kidnapping and transported to Botany Bay. Callista is told that he died on the prison ship en route to New South Wales.

Callista’s husband proves to be a better man than her father. He treats her well, and she takes an interest in his illegitimate children by his slave mistress. She also encourages him to free his slaves. When her husband dies, his revised will conveniently disappears. Fearful of her eldest stepson, a greedy, villainous man, Callista flees Jamaica with her stepchildren and their grandparents, carrying with her documents to prove that the children and their relatives have been freed. She settles with her made family in the United States, in the young nation’s capital, a city familiar to her through visits there with her husband.  Within three years, she becomes “the best dressmaker in Washington.”

Lord George Audley did not die. With the help of a friendly captain, he escaped when the ship docked in Sydney Harbor. He went on to live a life of adventure, including a narrow escape from execution in Portugal and, most recently, work as an operative under the direction of spymaster, Lord Kirkland, a former classmate at the Westerfield Academy. It is Kirkland who gives him the assignment to rescue an English-born widow living in Washington. Certain family members in England have grown anxious about her safety as Washington has become a war zone. Captain Gordon, as Audley is now known, is commissioned to escort her to England, or, if she refuses to return, to see that she is safe and has ample funds.

Captain Gordon is surprised to find that the English widow is his old friend and almost-bride, Callie Brooke. Callie is shocked when the man she thought was dead appears to save her from an angry group of British soldiers who have torched her house and are threatening her person. Callie and her Richard reestablish their old pattern of close friendship with remarkable ease. They escape Washington as the British invade and rejoin Callie’s stepchildren and their grandparents in Baltimore, only to face the bombardment of that city. Their feelings for one another deepen as they spend time together, but Callie must decide if she will return to England as the wife of Captain Gordon or remain in America with a family that is changing and growing less dependent on her every day.

Once a Rebel is the second book in Putney’s Rogues Redeemed series, but it is linked through the hero’s history as Lady Agnes Westerfield’s “one failure” and through his association with Kirkland to the Lost Lords books. Fans of the Lost Lords and those eager to hear more of the five “rogues” introduced in Once a Soldier will doubtless be pleased with the connections, but this book stands on its own quite well. It is rare among English historical romances in its setting, the War of 1812. It is even rarer in the perspective from which the story is told, the view of a civilian observer of battles. The reader sees less of the gore and horrors that soldiers go through and more of the effects of war on non-participants. Putney captures the tension, the fear, and the ordinary concerns of this population without sacrificing the central romance. History and fiction blend seamlessly as Callie, Richard, and Callie’s family watch the bombing of Fort McHenry and later pay a visit to Callie’s lawyer, Francis Scott Key, who shares with them the poem he penned during that anxious night.

I like these characters. Callie and Richard had cruel fathers whose treatment of them certainly shaped the adults they became, but neither protagonist broods over his/her wrongs or withdraws from commitment. I believe in them as individuals and as a couple, and that belief is based in large part on the growth the characters experience. The connection between them endures, but the adults who meet in 1814 have been tested and tempered. They are not the impetuous young people who eloped fifteen years earlier. Molly, Trey, Sarah, and Joshua--the freed slaves who make up Callie’s family--are also credible and interesting, and their roles in the story add dimension and poignancy. I also loved seeing more of Kirkland and Laurel. They are one of my favorite MJP couples. And Callie and Richard’s visit to Lady Agnes was delightful.

I read a Mary Jo Putney book with high expectations. Nobody combines adventure and romance better than she does. Her characters always face danger and find the resources to survive. They risk their hearts and often their lives with high courage. Putney calls her heroes “warrior poets” who are “brave and protective, vulnerable and kind . . . wounded by life, but not broken.”  I find such heroes irresistible. Her heroines are strong and resilient, capable of toughness and tenderness, but they remain women of their time. They are practical enough to understand conventions and the price of defying them. I have been falling in love with MJP’s books for nearly three decades, and Once a Rebel (and I love the layers of meaning in that title) is another Putney keeper.

A couple of caveats: the business of the hero’s name changes can become confusing, and the last bit of the book that takes place in England is less powerful than the American-set section. But I found these minor niggles in an overall excellent novel. If you are a Putney fan, you will certainly want to add this one to your TBR list. If you like historical romance with the spice of danger and a romance with an HEA that is earned and believable, you should read this book.

On Second Thought - - Silk and Shadows

Silk and Shadows

By Mary Jo Putney

Publisher: Mary Jo Putney, Inc.

Release Date: November 29, 2013

(originally published by Signet in 1991)

Reviewed by Janga

Recently, I did my part to see that romance readers knew that the ebook of Silk and Shadows, the first book in Mary Jo Putney’s Silk trilogy, was available free. A week or so before the sale, I recommended the trilogy in a FB conversation with Miranda Neville. Of course, all this attention stirred a longing to reread the books. I did, and fell more deeply in love with the characters than I did when I first encountered them more than twenty-five years ago. Silk and Shadows not only introduces the trilogy; it is also my favorite of the three.

The prologue introduces the hero, Mikhal Khanauri, or “Peregrine, the wanderer,” who has just arrived in London. The year is 1839, and Peregrine is ready to set in place a plot for revenge that has consumed him for most of his life.

The flame of hatred had been fired when he was a boy of ten, and over the years he had tended it with black bitter care. Waiting and preparing for his revenge had been a strange mixture of pleasure and pain. He has wandered the face of the earth, acquiring wealth in many ways, honing mind and body until he was a more deadly weapon than any knife or rifle, learning how to survive and prosper in any land, among any people. Every skill, every golden coin, every sharpening of wit and hand, had been treasured as another step toward his ultimate goal.

Because Peregrine twice saved the life of Lord Ross Carlisle, author, younger son of a duke, and another who has traveled widely, he has an entrée into London society that his wealth alone would not have given him. Ross introduces him as Prince Peregrine from the mysterious country Kafiristan. Peregrine’s exoticism, his obvious wealth, and his impressive physical presence make him one of the season’s most popular guests. Ross also introduces Peregrine to Lady Sara St. James, only daughter of the Duke of Haddonfield. Lady Sara, first cousin to Ross, has just accepted the marriage proposal of a wealthy baronet, Sir Charles Weldon.

Weldon is the man whom Peregrine has targeted for destruction. Although the reader remains ignorant of the reasons for Peregrine’s hatred of Weldon until well into the book, enough of the baronet’s character is revealed to understand that he is a hypocrite steeped in evil, exploitive practices. For example, part of his fortune comes from brothels he owns, including one that provides underage virgins.

Peregrine’s plan is to destroy Weldon financially and socially before killing him. In order to do this, Peregrine must end the betrothal between Weldon and Lady Sarah, who will bring a large dowry to her marriage. He chooses to do this by arranging for Ross and Weldon to walk in on his seduction of Sara. Marriage to Sara is not part of Peregrine’s plan, yet he finds himself proposing that they wed. Sara has fallen in love with Peregrine, but she is remarkably clear-headed in her view of him. But when she realizes that Peregrine’s vengeance will not only destroy his enemy but hurt innocent people, she leaves him. Peregrine must choose between revenge and love.

Mary Jo Putney has been one of my favorite authors since very early in her career. I love her heroes, but she has created more of my favorite heroines than any other single author. No one is better at drawing a heroine who is both genuinely good and deeply passionate. Sara is one of these heroines. Her faith is not a matter of words spoken or rituals observed but rather of the way she lives her life. Her integrity holds even through choices that are painful for her. She marries Peregrine in the face of her father’s disapproval, and she leaves Peregrine even though doing so means heartbreak for her. Although Peregrine brings change to Sara’s life and challenges her to grow in significant ways, he is the character who changes most fundamentally and whose growth is greatest. His hatred for Weldon is understandable, but Peregrine finally understands that to be possessed by hatred diminishes one’s own humanity.

MJP also avoids the one-dimensional villain. Weldon is truly evil, but he is credibly evil because his errors stem from pride and selfishness, the most human of flaws. He also has one redeeming quality that ultimately leads him to a choice motivated, at least in part, by unselfishness. He is thus more complex and interesting than a character portrayed as Evil Incarnate. Weldon also is the vehicle through which Putney reveals the darker side of life in Victorian London. One of my favorite parts of the novel is the secondary romance between Jenny, a young girl Peregrine rescues from the virgin brothel, and Benjamin Slade, Peregrine’s trusted lawyer. Jenny’s courage and Benjamin’s ability to recognize her essential innocence and goodness rather than labeling her based on her experience sounds another redemptive note in the novel.

If you like romance that features characters whose bodies, minds, and spirits are all part of their development, romance that shows gritty edges beyond afternoon teas and fancy balls, romance that will leave you considering the human spirit, I highly recommend Silk and Shadows. If you have read it before, I suspect you will find a rereading as immersing and rewarding as I did.

I also recommend the other books in the trilogy. Silk and Secrets (1992) is a tale of reunited lovers who have been separated for twelve years. The reunion takes place in Persia when warriors who owe allegiance to Juliet Cameron rescue Lord Ross Carlisle, an Indiana Jones type, from Turkoman raiders. The third book, Veils of Silk (1992), is a marriage of convenience story set in India. The hero, Major Ian Cameron, is a Scotsman, an army officer horrifically imprisoned in Central Asia; the heroine, Laura Stephenson, born Larissa Alexandrovna Karelian, is the daughter of Russian aristocrats. The Silk Trilogy is not as widely beloved as Putney’s The Rake or the Fallen Angels books, but all three books are marked with this author’s usual excellence and a touch of the exotic. They are romantic in the fullest sense of that word.

Review - - Once a Soldier

Once a Soldier

By Mary Jo Putney

Publisher: Kensington

Release Date: June 28, 2016

The year is 1814. Napoleon has been exiled to Elba, and Major Lord Will Masterson is weary of war and ready to return to England and the life he left there. But the army has one more task for him first. Colonel Duval, an intelligence officer whom Will met five years earlier when they and three others barely escaped before being executed by the French, asks Will to accompany a small, advance group of soldiers who are returning to their home, San Gabriel. The tiny country, located between Spain and Portugal, proved a staunch ally during the war, but news has been sketchy since a marauding French officer attacked the country and captured the monarch and his heir. England wants information, and the authorities believe Will is the man to provide it.

Will arrives to be met by a tall, pistol-packing Englishwoman, Lady Athena Markham. Athena is companion and advisor to Princess Sofia, who will become San Gabriel’s ruler once she comes of age. Independent and unconventional, Athena is unlike any other woman Will has known. As the two work together first to help rebuild war-ravaged San Gabriel and later to stand with the San Gabrielites when their enemy, undeterred by the end of the war, returns, a genuine friendship develops between the two. Underlying the friendship is an attraction that proves irresistible and a love strong enough to conquer all obstacles. And the obstacles are also genuine. Will finds Athena beautiful and fascinating, but she, the illegitimate daughter of a legendary courtesan and an aristocrat, is not interested in following her mother’s example or in becoming the wife that will plunge Will into scandal.

Once a Soldier is the first book in Putney’s new Rogues Redeemed series, and it is definitely another MJP winner. The portrait Putney paints of San Gabriel and the courage and tenacity of its people in enduring the costs war exacts and in struggling to rebuild and reclaim their lives is powerful. Athena is a heroine who lives up to her name without losing her humanity. She is ferocious in war, wise in counsel, and believably flawed. I particularly liked the relationship she and her mother shared for the first fourteen years of Athena’s life. Delilah was not another scheming courtesan parent who used and abused her daughter.

Will, of course, is wonderful—a tough war hero with a conscience, a willingness to give of himself, and a tenderness guaranteed to melt hearts. Fans of Putney’s Lost Lords series will recognize him as one of Lady Agnes’s lost boys and half-brother and champion of Damian Mackenzie (Nowhere Near Respectable, Lost Lords #3). The secondary characters are deftly drawn as well. The people of San Gabriel, from peasants to royalty, have a strong appeal, and Princess Sofia is predictably beautiful and brave and unexpectedly vulnerable and endearing. She has her own romance. I won’t spoil the surprise, but I will say her hero was a delight for several reasons. (I do like to see loose ends tied.)

Putney is known for her skillful blending of romance and adventure, and she does it again here. Some readers may find the viniculture bits slow the pace, but others will enjoy the details, as  I did. I would also argue that the adventure doesn’t end when the leads leave San Gabriel. One of the novel’s great strengths is the development of the relationship between Will and Athena, one that grows from initial meeting until the HEA.

The book hooked me on the series, another mark of its success. I love the redemption theme, and I am intrigued by the four remaining rogues. I’m especially excited that Gordon, another Westerfield Academy alumnus and a mysterious secondary character in Not Quite a Wife (Lost Lords #7) is one of these rogues. Perhaps his story will be next or perhaps the next hero will be half-French, half-English Duval. Whoever the next hero is, I eagerly await his story.

 ~Janga

Review - - Not Always a Saint

Not Always a Saint

By Mary Jo Putney

Publisher: Kensington

Release Date: August 25, 2015

Although life is lonelier since his sister Laurel reconciled with her husband (Not Quite a Wife), Daniel Herbert still finds great satisfaction in his medical practice at the infirmary he and Laurel founded in Bristol. That life is threatened when he unexpectedly inherits a title and all the responsibilities that go with it. Daniel finds comfort in the assurances of his brother-in-law, James, Lord Kirkland, that becoming Baron Romayne does not mean the end of Daniel’s medical career. Indeed, Kirkland reminds Daniel that the fortune that came with the title can be used to build more infirmaries and fund medical training for promising but impecunious young men. At Kirkland’s invitation, Daniel accompanies him to London to take his place in society.

Since the death of his betrothed a few weeks before their wedding, Daniel has given no thought to marriage, but he decides to look for a wife while he is in London, preferably one with sufficient knowledge of estate management to leave Daniel free to treat the sick. He seeks a mature bride who is not too fond of London society, and he is emphatic that she be “reasonably attractive but not beautiful because beauties require too much attention.”  But his requirements are forgotten in an instant when he sees the beautiful Black Widow, Jessie Kelham: “She radiated mystery, sensuality—and danger. She looked like original sin—and he craved that promise of reckless passion as intensely as Adam had craved Eve’s apple.”

Daniel fails to recognize Jessie as the battered woman he had treated in his Bristol clinic several years earlier, but Jessie knows immediately that he is the doctor who helped her when she was at her most desperate. It was thanks to the aid that Daniel and Laurel gave her that Jessie was able to flee Bristol and create a new life for herself. Eventually she married Philip, Baron Kelham, and found in her marriage to the much older Kelham a happiness and security she had never before known. But Kelham’s recent death left Jessie vulnerable once again. Frederick, Kelham’s nephew, furious that the title and entailed property he expected to inherit, through an ancient barony of writ recently uncovered, instead has gone to his uncle’s four-year-old daughter, threatens to sue for guardianship of Beth, claiming that Jessie as a former actress is unfit to bring up her daughter..  Kelham’s lawyer advises Jessie to remarry a husband with reputation and influence enough to ensure that the court will rule in Jessie’s favor if Frederick follows through with his threat.

Like Daniel, Jessie is in London to find a spouse. Like Daniel, she has definite qualities in mind. She wants an older husband who possesses the kindness and wisdom she found in Philip. Twice betrayed by youthful passion, she is particularly wary of men of her generation for whom she feels a strong attraction. Daniel is unsuitable for these reasons, but he is even more unsuitable because if he remembers her from their earlier meeting, he can link Jessie to the life she fled and memories that still fill her with terror.

She refuses Daniel at first, but when the two are discovered in a compromising situation, marriage to Daniel offers the only way to avoid a scandal that would benefit the vicious Frederick. Just as happiness seems within the reach of this deserving pair, danger from an unexpected source menaces their future.

This is a book I have eagerly awaited since I turned the final page of Not Quite a Wife, and I am happy to report that it exceeded my expectations. Putney has indicated in the past that she finds the alpha/beta tags unsatisfactory, preferring to describe her heroes as “warrior poets.” Nevertheless, I suspect most readers will see Daniel as a beta hero. Regardless of labels, he is a rare hero, complex and likeable with a strong sense of honor, a compassionate heart, and a clear vocation in the fullest sense of that word. He is a good and decent man, but he is a far cry from the stereotypical pallid saint. He is a fully dimensional character with fears and regrets and as much passion as piety.

Having fallen for Daniel in Laurel and Kirkland’s book, I was particularly interested to see what kind of heroine Putney would give him. Jessie is as unusual in her way as Daniel is in his. A beautiful woman whose beauty for most of her life has led to abuse and exploitation, she has little sense of her own worth. Despite having been a victim, she has developed surprising strength and is fierce in her determination to protect her daughter. Beginning with some of her earliest books, Putney has integrated social issues into her stories in interesting and realistic ways. She does so once again in this book by using Jessie’s situation to show how vulnerable women were physically, psychologically, and legally in a world that saw them as the property of males.

If you like historical romance that combines character-driven stories with intense action and historical accuracy, I highly recommend this book. I never miss an MJP book, and I loved seeing characters from earlier Lost Lords books appear in this one. I was especially pleased to see Lady Agnes again. (I’d love to know more of her history.) But I think Not Always a Saint can be read as a standalone, although reading it after at least Not Quite a Wife likely provides a richer reading experience.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Lost Lords series and was sorry to learn that this book, the seventh Lost Lords book, marks the official end of the series. However, I am delighted that MJP’s new series, Rogues Redeemed, is a spinoff from the Lost Lords. Will Masterson, half-brother of Damian Mackenzie (hero of Nowhere Near Respectable, Lost Lords #3) will be the hero of Once a Soldier, the first book in the new series. Look for it in 2016. For readers like me who are intrigued by Gordon, Lady Agnes’s one failure and a minor but significant character in Not Always a Saint, I have it on the best authority that we will see more of him in the new series. The first book is not yet available for pre-order, but I’m already hooked on the series.

~Janga

Review - - Not Quite a Wife

Not Quite a Wife

By Mary Jo Putney

Publisher: Kensington

Release Date: August 26, 2014

Spymaster James, Lord Kirkland, is in Bristol on business pertaining to his shipping company when he is struck with a bout of malaria that leaves him disoriented and unable to find his way back to the inn where he is a guest. In this vulnerable state, he is robbed and badly beaten. Two stevedores from the docks find him and carry him to the Herbert Infirmary, a clinic operated by a clergyman/physician and his sister. Daniel Herbert is on mission in Wales, but his sister praises the stevedores, who attend her brother’s chapel, for their Good-Samaritan deed and assures them that she can take care of the man whom she recognizes as an old friend of her brother.

Laurel Herbert and her brother share a deep religious faith and the conviction that their faith requires active service to those in need. Shortly after Daniel completed his medical education, the two of them opened the clinic and a shelter for women and children in Bristol. The brother and sister are close friends not only because they work together but also because ten years ago when Laurel fled her husband’s presence and her parents refused to take her in, Daniel stood by Laurel. It was the allowance provided by her husband that funded Daniel’s medical training and allowed him and Laurel to open the clinic and the shelter. Laurel has not seen her estranged husband since she left him, but ten years is not long enough to prevent her from recognizing James when she gets a close look at her newest patient.

Lauren and Kirkland met when Daniel brought his friend and schoolmate at Westerfield Academy and Oxford home with him. It was love at first sight, and eighteen-year-old Laurel and twenty-one-year-old Kirkland were married a few months later. All was bliss for a year, and then one evening Laurel walked into her husband’s study and saw a man about to attack James. She screamed a warning, and James turned to defend himself and broke the man’s neck. Horrified that her husband had not only killed a man but showed no remorse for doing so, Laurel saw him as some monstrous being she had never known. She left him, insisting that she never wanted to see him again. James took her at her word.

Ten years have not diminished the sexual attraction between the two. When James, thinking she is part of his feverish dream, reaches for Laurel, she does not reject him. Unexpected consequences lead to their giving their marriage another try, but just as it seems as if they may find lasting happiness together, an attack on Laurel leads to events that threaten their new start. Can Laurel accept tones of gray in a world she has viewed strictly in black and white, or will she retreat to a life of selfless service where James is only a memory?

Not Quite a Wife is the sixth book in Putney’s Lost Lords series. Readers who have followed the series have been waiting for the story of Kirkland, the mysterious man who has pulled the strings in several of the lost lords’ adventures. Kirkland proves to have even more layers than I anticipated, and I loved discovering them. His love for Laurel and his love of music made him particularly interesting. He became one of my favorite heroes in this series.

I was somewhat ambivalent about Laurel. One of the things that I appreciate most in Putney’s fiction is that she is unafraid to create characters who have bodies, minds, and spirits. In a genre that typically ignores the spiritual, Putney has long woven stories with characters who tackle issues of faith and belief, most notably in The Rake, Thunder and Roses, and Twist of Fate (the third book in her contemporary trilogy, retitled An Imperfect Process in a 2013 reissue). Daniel and Laurel are devout in the practice of their Christian faith, and although they are not Methodist, they work with the Methodists in providing social services to the poor. Laurel’s interpretation of “Thou shalt not kill” likely will seem extreme to some. I thought that given the time and Laurel’s youth, inexperience, religious convictions, and limited knowledge of her husband’s life, her reaction when she saw James kill a man was credible. But when a decade made little difference in her views, despite her years of contact with the grimmer realities of life, I was disappointed. But this was a relatively minor complaint and did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

I predict that this is going to be a book that readers either love or strongly dislike. Loving a Lost Lord and No Longer a Gentleman remain my favorites in this series, but I cast my vote with those who love this book. If you enjoy romances that move beyond the superficial, that include historically accurate social issues, that feature a daring rescue, I highly recommend this book. I think Not Quite a Wife can be read as a standalone, but Kirkland’s connection to the other lost lords and their spouses will not have the meaning for readers unfamiliar with the earlier books that it has for those who have read them.

I expected Kirkland’s story to end the series, but I was delighted to read that MJP is now working on Daniel’s story, tentatively titled Not Always a Saint. Although Daniel is introduced in Not Quite a Wife, he is one of Agnes Westerfield’s lost boys. I eagerly await his book—my usual state when an MJP novel is involved.   

~Janga

Guest Review - - Sometimes a Rogue

Sometimes a Rogue

By Mary Jo Putney

Publisher: Zebra

Release Date: August 27, 2013

Sarah Clarke-Townsend and her identical twin sister, Mariah, the Duchess of Ashton, slip away for a curricle ride at dawn because the heavily pregnant Mariah is restless and wants to get outside. As the sisters are about to visit an ancient, abandoned church on the Ashton estate, Mariah’s labor begins. Realizing that there is no safe way to get Mariah back to Ralston Abbey, Sarah sends the groom for help and makes her sister as comfortable as possible inside the church. The arrival of a carriage has Sarah checking on the identity of the visitors, and she overhears a group of rough-looking men talking about their plan to kidnap the pregnant duchess. Sarah insists that Mariah hide while Sarah convinces the kidnappers that she is the duchess and the child she has already delivered is with his wet nurse. Sarah knows that the danger that threatens her is very real, especially when she is forced into a dinghy bound for Ireland, but she refuses to give up hope. Confident that her brother-in-law will send rescuers, she speculates about whom he will send.

Rob Carmichael, like Ashton one of the young aristocrats who attended the Westerfield Academy, is on his way from Glasgow to London when he decides on a whim to detour for a visit to Ralston Abbey, knowing that there will be a welcome for him whether Ashton is in residence or not. He arrives to find a chaotic scene. The duchess, obviously in labor, is being transferred from a wagon to a litter so she can be carried inside. Equally obvious is her fear for her sister, and she insists her husband send someone to rescue Sarah immediately. Rob, long estranged from his family, is an experienced, skilled Bow Street Runner. He is the best candidate for the rescue assignment, and since neither Ashton nor Major Alex Randall, whose wife is also pregnant, can accompany him, it’s ideal that he is accustomed to working alone. Hoping that the courage Sarah showed in protecting her sister is indicative of her character, Rob begins his search at the site of the kidnapping.

Rob has good fortune in finding information that helps him track the kidnappers quickly. Frustrated when he arrives shortly after the thugs and their captive have left for Ireland, a site that concerns him because it raises the possibility of a politically motivated kidnapping, Rob hires the fastest craft available and sets off in pursuit. He finds Sarah without too much difficulty, but his clever rescue plan almost turns into disaster until Sarah proves her courage, her competence, and her skill with domestic weapons. An action sequence follows as Rob and Sarah evade the pursuing kidnappers. Just when all seems lost, they are washed up on the Somerset shore, fortuitously near Rob’s family estate where Rob is received with all the warmth of an Arctic blast. But this time, in a surprising turn of Fortuna’s wheel, Rob has all the power, and Sarah is just the person to see that he receives the respect and obedience his new title merits. Rob will soon discover just how much he needs Sarah in his home and in his heart.

Mary Jo Putney has been weaving together action and historical romance for well over two decades. She proves her skill in doing so once again in this fifth book of her Lost Lords series, but this time she pairs the suspenseful action of Rob and Sarah’s literal journey with the quieter metaphoric journey they take once Rob assumes his new responsibilities. In the first part of the book, Rob and Sarah prove their physical courage and ingenuity; in the second part, they prove that they also have the emotional fortitude and tenacity to confront the challenges of ordinary life. Both parts are necessary in order for these characters to become the people they were meant to be. Sarah, whose life before her kidnapping had been peaceful, longed for adventure, and while she discovers that adventure is more frightening than her imagination suggested, she also discovers that she is equal to the task. The reverse is true of Rob. His adult life has been filled with adventures that routinely placed him in danger and tested his endurance and intelligence, but he has been at heart the cat who walked by himself. His new life tests his ability to accept responsibility for the well-being of others and his courage to expose his vulnerabilities.

I’m an unabashed MJP fan. She is one of a select group of writers whose books never fail for me. Sometimes a Rogue will join my other Putney keepers on a packed shelf. I loved these characters, and I loved watching their growth. I loved the complex mix of emotions in this book. I loved the flashes of humor and the poignant moments. I thought Rob was a fascinating character in the other Lost Lords books, and I was not disappointed in his development as the hero here. And I adored Sarah. I said in a recent discussion of heroines that my favorite heroines are those who are strong enough to do what they can do and smart enough to ask for help when they need it, and Sarah is just such a heroine.

One of the things I admire most about Putney is her ability to take romance tropes that have been used—and sometimes abused—in thousands of novels and use them in a way that avoids any trace of the hackneyed. She does this in Rob and Sarah’s story with the kidnapping plot and with the marriage of convenience tale.

Although Sometimes a Rogue is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone. The book most closely connected to this one is the first book in the series, Loving a Lost Lord. It is Mariah and Ashton’s story, and it gives the history of Mariah and Sarah’s separation and reunion. But sufficient details are included in Sometimes a Rogue for a reader new to the series to follow the story without difficulty. If you consider yourself a historical romance reader, you owe it to yourself to read Mary Jo Putney’s books. She is quite simply among the very best. Sometimes a Rogue is a great place to begin, and then you have her incredible backlist to explore. It’s probably redundant to say so at this point, but I give this book my highest recommendation.

~Janga
http://justjanga.blogspot.com

Review -- Never Less Than A Lady

Never Less Than A Lady
Lost Lords Book #2
By Mary Jo Putney
Publisher: Zebra (Kensington)
Release Date: April 27, 2010







As the sole remaining heir to the Earl of Daventry, Alexander Randall knows his duty: find a wife and sire a son of his own. The perfect bride for a man in his position would be a biddable young girl of good breeding. But the woman who haunts his imagination is Julia Bancroft--a village midwife with a dark secret that thrusts her into Randall's protection.

Within the space of a day, Julia has been abducted by her first husband's cronies, rescued, and proposed to by a man she scarcely knows. Stranger still is her urge to say yes. A union with Alexander Randall could benefit them both, but Julia doubts she can ever trust her heart again, or the fervent desire Randall ignites. Yet perhaps only a Lost Lord can show a woman like Julia everything a true marriage can be. . .

Major Alexander Randall has been notified by his odious uncle that he is now the heir presumptive to Daventry and must sell his commission in the army and return home. It's time for him to find a suitable wife, settle down and produce an heir. But the only woman who interests him, who occupies his thoughts is Mrs. Julia Bancroft--widow, midwife and not exactly "proper" wife material. After Alex returns from the war and is in the country visiting friends, he learns that Julia has been kidnapped, and he races to rescue her.

Lady Julia has been hiding out for the last few years, assuming the identity of midwife Julia Bancroft, praying her father-in-law never finds her. Julia married her husband at the tender age of sixteen, never imagining the monster that lurked under his handsome visage. When he falls and hits his head during an argument with her and later dies, both Julia's father-in-law and father accuse her of murder. Cast out, she has no choice but to fashion a new life. But fate can be fickle, and her father-in-law eventually discovers her whereabouts and sends his henchmen to kidnap her.

After Alex rescues Julia, he discovers that she was married to his cousin, the bully who made his childhood a living hell. Alex proposes marriage--something he has secretly desired--in order to offer her protection from his uncle. Given Julia's experience with marriage, she is reluctant to say yes, but there is something about Alex that makes her trust him, so she agrees. Alex fears this could be a marriage in name only---at least for some time--due to the abuse that Julia suffered during her marriage to his cousin. Alex must patiently woo his new bride and earn her trust so that they might have a chance at real happiness.

"I think this is one of the main reasons people get married," Randall said reflectively. "For touch. For warmth and closeness. Passion is all very well, but it's brief. Affectionate touching can be done much more often."

Alex wants Julia with a passion he fears may frighten her. They each bear scars, both physical and emotional, which probably makes them ideal for one another.

A wounded spirit could ache far longer than physical injuries.

Julia is truly physically attracted to Alex, but is understandably wary of having a physical relationship with a man after the horror she endured with her husband. But Alex is loving, patient and willing to let Julia decide when she is ready to be his wife in more than just name.

"My mind and body still have fears, but my heart trusts you," she said as she raised her hand to his cheek. The light brush of her fingertips was startlingly erotic.

For the space of perhaps two dozen heartbeats they held each other, adjusting both physically and mentally to the irrevocable change in their marriage. Then Julia raised her face into a kiss. She filled his senses with touch and taste and scent. His wife, the fulfillment he had longed for and feared he would never find.

Heartwarming, poignant and unbelievably romantic, Never Less Than A Lady will have you cheering for Julia and Alex and leave you smiling with satisfaction as you close the book. Ms. Putney has given her readers another treat with the second book of her Lost Lords series. It's not necessary to read the first book, Loving A Lost Lord. In fact, I did not, but I immediately purchased it when I finished Never Less Than A Lady. I can't wait to see which "Lost Lord" is the hero of Ms. Putney's next book!

~ Gannon