Stevie‘s review of How To Rescue A Rake (Book Club Belles Society, Book 3) by Jayne Fresina
Historical Romance published by Sourcebooks Casablanca 05 Jan 16
I’ve been enjoying this series of romances inspired by Jane Austen’s novels, and I’m very sorry to see that this may be the last of them – at least for now. On the other hand, we have now reached Persuasion in our reading, along with the ladies of the Book Club Belles, and that’s a novel I’m almost as fond of as Pride and Prejudice. Once again there are a lot of similarities between the two stories we follow, and it was fun spotting those as well as the shout-outs to past events in this series.
Like Anne Elliot in Persuasion, Diana Makepiece and her mother are living in reduced circumstances in spite of having wealthy relatives. Diana’s mother eloped with an unsuitable admirer, who subsequently died, and now the pair live mostly on the money they make tutoring the young ladies of the village. Diana has two failed love affairs behind her – she rejected Nat Sherringham mainly on her mother’s advice and broke of her engagement to a supposedly more worthy suitor, because she didn’t feel they would make a good match – but now she’s resigned to life as a spinster.
When Nat returns to the village, with his new-found riches and in search of a wife, Diana is sceptical, especially as she believes he intends to propose to one of her younger friends. Nat, meanwhile, is still smarting from what he believes was Diana’s failure to respond to a love note he sent her three years earlier – a note it transpires that Diana knows nothing about. The pair run into each other in a series of mishaps, but never quite manage to resolve their differences, before Diana is invited to stay with wealthy relatives in Bath. Nat, meanwhile, has been talked into escorting a scandalous lady – rumoured by some to be his mistress – to that same city in order that she can stay there as companion to the one relative who hasn’t turned her away.
Nat and Diana’s paths continue to cross in Bath, and they both cause scandal: Nat by his inability to refuse help to any lady appearing to need it and Diana by her determination to speak her mind and no longer care what her mother might think, should she hear. We get to meet yet more intriguing secondary characters, some of whom get deserved happy endings and all of whom serve to show Diana different sides of life to those she has experienced before.
I’m very much hoping that this isn’t really the end of the series, as there seem to be more Austen books that could be tackled and more Book Club Belles that might need adventures and happy endings. I’m also going to miss the exploits of Sit Mortimer Grubbins, the wayward pig. Definitely a series that merits rereading a time or three.
Grade: B
Summary:
HOW TO RESCUE A RAKE:
Reject his marriage proposal
Nathaniel Sherringham has returned to Hawcombe Prior a changed man. Gone is the reckless rake who went out on a limb to propose to Diana Makepiece three years ago. Now Nate’s mysterious new wealth has the town’s rumor mill spinning. To stir things up (and get Diana’s attention), Nate boldly announces his plans to marry “any suitable girl” under the age of 25.Run away
Diana, now 27 and still single, is acutely aware of Nate’s return. When her mother suggests a trip to visit a cousin in Bath, Diana leaps at the chance to escape the heartbreak and regret she can’t help but feel in Nate’s presence…and avoid his irritating charade to find a bride.But for Nate, Diana has always been the one. He might just have to follow her to Bath and once again lay his heart on the line to win her attention-and her heart.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
