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Considered unmarriageable
by the
Ton, Lady Beatrix Lennox seems to bring scandal with her wherever she
goes. So an invitation to Esme Rawlings
house party is just a bit of fun. There
she finds Stephen Fairfax-Lacy, Member of Parliament, and decides that
he’d be
perfect for her. And what Lady Bea
wants, she sees no reason to not go after.
After all, she’s already compromised her reputation
once.
Recently widowed, Lady
Esme Rawlings
has decided that she’s not going to commit another scandal. She has a baby on the way and can’t behave
like the younger set anymore. Still,
she’s attracted to her handsome gardener, who refuses to leave no
matter how
many times she fires him. He’s actually
Lord Sebastian Bonnington, hiding there to get close to her.
This is a fantastical
romp of a
light-hearted historical. A Wild
Pursuit takes the clichéd
Regency house party and puts it to
good use as a backdrop for romance. This
story has a little bit of
everything: scandal,
respectability and far too many plots to count.
There’s the primary romance, straight-laced Stephen
and free-spirited
Bea; then, formerly wild Esme and her supposed gardener; and finally,
there’s a
subplot featuring the complication to Bea and Stephen’s romance, Helene
Holland. She first had her eye on
Stephen as a way to escape a bad marriage, but returns to try to
salvage it. Rumor has it that Helene gets
her own book,
if it’s anything like this one, it too will be a keeper.
Ms. James has created a future classic.
Reviewed by Meribeth
McCombs for The
Road to Romance
June
14, 2004
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