Sandy M’s review of Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake by Laurie Brown
Paranormal romance published 1 Sep 07 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Blurb:
She’s the only one who can help him…Â Deverell Thornton, the ninth Earl of Waite, must convince her to come back to his time and foil the plot that would destroy him…
His plea is irresistible… Josie Drummond is a modern career woman, and she doesn’t believe time travel is possible, until her overpowering attraction conquers all doubt…Â But what will happen when their time runs out?
As a modern woman, thrust back in time to the sparkling social whirlwind of the Regency period, Josephine Drummond must contend with the complex manners and mores of the day, make sure no one discovers her real identity and unmask a dangerous charlatan. And in the end, she must choose between the ghost who captivated her or the man himself, who is clearly determined to sweep her off her feet and shows no mercy when it comes to seduction…
[No author site or excerpt to be found.]
I’m a huge time travel fan and was very excited to stumble across this book that I had heard nothing about at my local Borders. While the time travel elements are done in a unique way and the storyline is a little interesing, the book never grabbed me and I found myself at points just wanting to get through it and get it read so I could move on to another book.
I did like the main characters, but they were only good together. Josie is an independent and feisty modern woman who is a scientist, so she doesn’t believe in time travel. Deverell is the typical high-born Regency male who knows what he wants and goes after it. They just don’t have that soul-searing connection that makes you just love them a way a lot of your favorites do. Actually, the best of Dev and Josie were the sex scenes, of which there are several and they are very well done. I also enjoyed the villains of the book. Greed is usually a good motivator to make villains quite evil and nasty and these are no exceptions.
The storyline did put in a couple of twists and turns and answered a lot of questions posed throughout the book, so I wasn’t left hanging without knowing what was going on. I also liked the consequences of the time travel itself. You don’t get consequential minute details like that in most books, so in this case that made it interesting when it gave Josie a dilemma in deciding what she wanted versus what she needed to do. Therefore, the ending was good and worked out nicely.
So having said all that, the book landed just shy of the mark to make it a keeper. It was the in-between scenes that seemed to drag along and I found my skipping a few paragraphs just to get back to the action I was interested in. All in all, an enjoyable read with a few bright spots from an author who I think will do well in the future.
Grade: C+
This book looked interesting to me as well, but I read another review that reflects yours and so I think I’ll give it a pass. I’ve got too many other books on my TBR to get to!
Hmmm… I’m not a huge fan of TT, there’ve been several I liked, though. But I have to admit that this one SOUNDED really intriguing and I was tempted to read it. The Regency period and the rigid rules of the ton through the eyes of a modern woman. That idea is soooo interesting! Do you think that aspect of the storyline lived up to its potential, Sandy? If not, do you think it would have been a better read had she done so, or do you feel it would have been too complicated?
Actually, that part of the book was quite interesting. The heroine goes through some very quick etiquette “training” before she goes back in time so that she can squeak through and try to blend in. And once she’s there, there is also more about it, the so-called “pecking order” and decorum, etc. That was actually part of the book I did like! It’s not a huge part of it, but it works the way the author did it.
I read this a couple of months ago and thought it was okay. The way that the various complicated Regency rules were introduced to Josie was very good!