Review: Untamed by Hope Tarr

Lawson’s review of Untamed by Hope Tarr
Historical romance released by Medallion Press 1 Feb 2008

This is the third in the series about three orphans who have come into their own. The first book followed Hadrian St. Claire, the second Gavin Carmichael, and now Patrick O’Rourke has his turn. Rourke has appeared in the first two books in the series, offering advice when his two friends have hit a rough patch with their respective loves. The question is to see if he can follow his own advice when things hit the rocks with his own new bride.

There’s some time backtracking in this story. The first few chapters revisit a few scenes from the first two books, instead from Rourke and his intended bride, Lady Katherine Lindsey’s point of view. One scene at a ball, an unfortunate wager and the fallout from that, and then the eventual wedding, which happens about the same time Enslaved ends.

Though Shakespeare has a small part in Enslaved, with Daisy’s part in As You Like It, the bard has a larger influence in the fact that as a joke, a copy of The Taming of the Shrew is given to Gavin. Lady Katherine has an unfortunate reputation as a shrew due to her sharp tongue and snobbish demeanor. It’s a front though, since her father is a wastrel and she has a pampered and spoiled younger sister. She’s trying to keep up appearances since her father looses money far too easily.

Kate is then has no choice to marry Rourke under some blackmail, but he doesn’t really know how to treat his new wife. When The Taming of the Shrew finds its way to his hands, he decides to follow the route of Petrucio. Which is probably where the mistakes start. For one thing, Petrucio is the one Shakespearian main character who doesn’t grow and change in a play. He’s always who he is and it’s Katarina that changes and becomes a different person.

Neither Rourke nor Kate, though, really seem to give anything. When they finally seem to be getting along and things are going well, a wrench is thrown in the works and the bond that had been built dissolves like sugar in the rain. Yes, there’s a HEA, but not without some meddling of Daisy and Callie and makes the whole thing rather hollow in the end. Much like the love at the end of Shrew. Though Katarina comes when her husband calls, it’s more for outward appearances rather than because she is there to obey what her husband.

The best way to sum things up actually kind of goes along with the cover. The model is walking with head up high, but her pose is awkward at best, painful at worst and just looks like it’s trying to be something it’s not. How disappointing that the first two books in this series were rather wonderful, and this one didn’t measure up.

Grade: C-

Summary:

“The Men of Roxbury House” wraps with Patrick O’Rourke–Rourke–and Kate’s rocky road to romance, due out February 2008. A marriage based on blackmail takes a surprising turn in this refreshing retelling of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.”

Former Roxbury House orphan, Patrick O’Rourke is a rough and ready Scotsman as well as a successful self-made businessman. Lady Katherine Lindsey–Kate–is a beautiful English spinster, a gentlewoman. When she finds herself blackmailed into accepting a marriage of convenience with the handsome Scot, she lets Rourke see another side of her. Following a hasty wedding, Rourke sweeps a seething Kate from the elegant and refined drawing rooms of west London to his crumbling castle in the Scottish Highlands. The only guide he has to wooing and bedding the stubborn spitfire he’s taken to wife is a copy of Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew.” But as passion sparks between them, Rourke finds he may well be in danger of being tamed.

Click on the “Untamed” tag for an excerpt on this site.