Review - - LADY ANNE'S LOVER

Lady Anne's Lover
By Maggie Robinson
Publisher:  Kensington Brava
Release Date:  July 30, 2013

Lady Imaculata Anne Egremont is no stranger to scandal.  For years, her exploits have been headline fodder for the London List and on the wagging tongues of the ton.  But when an encounter with Evangeline Ramsey, the owner of the London List, leads Imaculata to confide the devastating reason behind her behavior, Evangeline helps her disappear from London and the danger that lurks there by providing a disguise, a new name and a housekeeping position deep in rural Wales.

Arriving in Wales with the fervent hope that her new employer, a retired soldier, is too old and feeble to notice that she has neither housekeeping nor cooking experience, the newly-named Anne Mont, a plain, respectable widow, is surprised to discover that Major Gareth Ripton-Jones is neither old nor feeble.  He is, however, so drunk that he probably won't even notice she's there...or so she hopes.

Things aren't going well for our hero.  He returns home from a successful military career to discover his father has mismanaged the family estate to the brink of bankruptcy.  Then he's seriously injured by a fall off a tenant's roof and the woman he loves dumps him for greener pastures when the fall results in the loss of his arm.  If that's not enough, when his former lover is found brutally murdered, all eyes turn to Gareth, the spurned fiance, as the most likely suspect.  Perhaps he can be excused for seeking oblivion in the bottom of a bottle.  But not for long...

When Anne learns of Gareth's financial situation she proposes a solution to both their problems.  If they marry, she gains access to the fortune left to her by her mother.  Gareth can save the family lands and Anne can travel far, far away to a place where she can live an independent life and her powerful father will never find her. Gareth, who by now has sobered up enough to realize his new housekeeper is young and beautiful, has other ideas...ones that involve a marriage in more than name only.  But someone is determined to keep that from happening.  Could Anne be destined for the same fate as Gareth's former love?  And even if she escapes that fate, will Gareth be strong enough to turn his life around and make himself into a man worthy of her love?  Then there's her father, a man with evil in his soul and his daughter in his sights...

Considering the subject matter, this book could easily have turned into a heavy, angst-ridden story - the kind I struggle to finish - but Robinson's skill kept that from happening.  By infusing humor, sharp dialogue, snappy banter and a heroine with a rapier tongue and a surprising amount of adaptability and determination, Lady Anne's Lover was transformed into an enjoyable story that kept me entertained from beginning to end while still retaining the emotional strength that the journey demands.  The villain of the piece is rather easily identified but that didn't detract from my pleasure in the story.

Another aspect of the story that I enjoyed was the realistic pacing of the novel.  No easy fixes here.  Both Anne and Gareth require time, introspection and growth before opening their hearts to one another and I'm happy Robinson gives them that time.  Watching Anne confront her tormentor at the end of the book - with Gareth by her side but with the strength to stand on her own - brings the story, and the London List trilogy, to a most satisfying conclusion.

You don't have to have read the previous two books in this trilogy before reading Lady Anne's Lover though you'll probably want to after reading this book.  The first two books are Lord Gray's List (read my review here) and Captain Durant's Countess (read my review here).

If you enjoy books filled with heat, heart and humor then give Maggie Robinson's London List trilogy a try.

~PJ

The hero of Lady Anne's Lover faces the very difficult challenge of conquering alcoholism while the heroine has been subjected to abuse by a parent.  Have you read any other historical romances that feature characters facing these challenges?  Any books that you would recommend?  If you haven't read any books of this type, tell me about what you've read lately or are reading now.  

One randomly chosen person leaving a comment will receive a signed copy of Lady Anne's Lover.
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Review - - Lord Gray's List

Lord Gray's List
The London List - Book 1
By Maggie Robinson
Publisher:  Kensington
Release Date:  October 30, 2012

Baron Benton Gray has had just about enough of being the laughingstock of London.  For the past two years, the publisher of The London List has made it his mission to report Ben's activities, in lurid detail.  Every Tuesday, the citizens of London, including his staff and even his mother, rush to get their copies of the gossip sheet and read about Ben's latest exploits.   Strangers assume he lives for pleasure alone, his mother frets he'll never find a wife (as she says, "you're verging into desperate widow territory.") and the mysterious publisher of The London List is certain he hasn't a brain in his head.

Evangeline Ramsay had never had a true home nor a stable life with her gambler father until he had the good fortune to win a business in a card game.  When his health failed, Evangeline (Evie) insisted they settle in London and for the past two years, she has run the weekly tabloid, The London List disguised as a man - for no one would ever accept a woman as the manager of a business.  Everything is running smoothly until an angry Benton Gray bursts into the office one day, insisting she stop printing stories about him, and she finally finds herself face to face with the only man she's ever loved, the man who proposed marriage to her ten years ago, the man she rejected out of fear that he would grow into a man identical to her unreliable, gambling father.

Ben is stunned to discover the newspaper publisher who has been vilifying him on a weekly basis is the woman who broke his young heart all those years ago, a woman he is still wildly attracted to.  He tells her he wants to buy the paper.  She refuses.  He goes behind her back and, visiting her father in one of his rare lucid moments, buys the paper from him, intending to shut it down, but leaving more than enough money for Evie and her father to have everything they need.  However, when it becomes apparent that many people count on The London List for much more than entertainment, instead of closing the doors, Ben finds himself running the paper with Evie.  Will working side by side prove to Evie that Ben's more than just a pretty face?   Will Ben open his heart enough to let Evie back in, even though she shattered it all those years ago?  Will these two be able to keep their hands off each other long enough to get any work done?

Robinson has crafted a charming romance; fast-paced and fun, with snappy dialogue between the heroine and hero that reminded me of old Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn movies.  Evie is starchy and uptight while Ben is easy-going and fun and both have histories that have molded them into the people they are today.  I adored Ben from the beginning though Evie was harder to warm up to.  I did understand, though, why she initially withheld her heart and her trust even while indulging in the red-hot desire between them.  Watching Ben slowly win her over while, at the same time, realizing some truths about himself was immensely gratifying.  And fun.  Did I mention fun?  This was one of the most fun couples I've read in a while.   Smart, sassy, sexy, snappy and fun.  I highly recommend Lord Gray's List and look forward to more stories in this new series from Maggie Robinson.

~PJ