Dinca’s review of And The Miss Ran Away With The Rake (Rhymes with Love, Book 2) by Elizabeth Boyle
Historical Romance published by Avon 26 Mar 13
So much story is crammed into these 384 pages. The author knows how to get the reader to feel the emotion. I find myself laughing and then wanting to dump something cold and wet on the hero’s head. Every character in this book has a personality for better or worse. Some you just love and some you don’t want to like but you do anyway. Others you do not like at all and that is the way it is meant to be. Even the little terrier, Mr. Muggins, has a personality and a jolly good time of his own. I can’t wait to read something else by Elizabeth Boyle.
A long-standing family feud between the Dales and the Seldons makes love impossible for Miss Daphne Dale and Lord Henry Seldon. The village is considered to have a curse on marriage, and more than a few of the young women are of age to be considered “on the shelf” and well on their way to spinsterhood. This being the case, Daphne answers an advertisement for a wife. Little does she know, the ad was placed by a Seldon, and by the time she finds out, love has taken hold on the pair and the family feud has been refueled. Daphne’s best friend is marrying a Seldon and that wedding is the only way she will have a chance to meet her mystery pen pal – the man she is falling in love with. So she finagles a way to attend the wedding, unbeknownst to her family.
Henry is shocked to find he has feelings for a Dale. Unlike his nephew, he has never been part of a scandal and fears Miss Dale is about to change that forever. As his feelings blossom into love, he tries to give Daphne the times she needs to accept him for who he is and to realize she loves him anyway. When they are separated by her family, he realizes scandal can actually be a means to an end and work in his favor.
I have read a lot of Elizabeth Boyle’s novels in the past. I will have to go back and catch up on a few releases I have missed while dabbling in the contemporary world. Along Came A Duke is the first book in the series of the Rhymes with Love series. I am looking forward to more laughter in the spunky world Ms. Boyle has created in Kempton, England.
Grade: A
Summary:
Sensible gentleman of means seeks a sensible lady of good breeding for correspondence, and indue consideration, matrimony.
Which is exactly the sort of advertisement that makes practical-to-a-fault Daphne Dale’s heart flutter. A sensible gentleman, in her estimation, is the perfect match, and she’s even more convinced once she’s exchanging sensibly romantic letters with her very appropriate suitor. That is, until Lord Henry Seldon strays into her path. He’s everything she’s vowed to avoid—a rakish charmer whose very touch seduces her practical sensibilities and her resolve.
Lord Henry Seldon was not amused when his nephew placed an advertisement to find him a wife. Yet he couldn’t resist replying to the note from “Miss Spooner.” And once he discovers he’s corresponding with none other than the disarming Daphne Dale, he finds it’s too late to disavow his heart. Now it is up to Henry to prove to Daphne just how insensible—and powerfully passionate—true love can be . . .
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
