Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book that makes me feel and makes me think., February 26, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Cad (Mass Market Paperback)
I fell in love with Edith Layton's books when I read "The Duke's Wager." I'm still in love. It's good to see some things stay constant in this changing world. Bridget has a defect -- a scar, an insurmountable handicap in many people's Regency Whirl. But Edith knows that what people often most love about us are our very faults and she reminds us of this. Her characters jump off the page and into our room. They're right there, behind us, just over our shoulder, if we could ever take our eyes off our book long enough to look. "I have a confession," he said. "Sometimes I yearn to kiss that scar, did you know that? Yes, look shocked. I've wanted to put my lips on it -- trace it with my tongue, even -- to acknowledge it for you and for me. I've been tempted to do that so many times but was afraid of what you'd think. It's not because I'm perverse -- or that perverse." He grinned. "Or because I feel sorry for you, or because I'm trying to heal the hurt, or any of that muck. But because if it weren't for that scar, we'd never have met. Have you ever thought of that?" "No!" she said, tilting her head to the side as she considered it. "That's the nicest compliment you've ever paid me, I think." "Then I'll have to do better in the future," he said, and went back to his beef." Thank you, Edith, for giving just the nicest flavor to my daily beef, too. You not only entertain, you make me think. What a gift! Paula Kosinski
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poignant story of two flawed lovers making each other whole, May 8, 2001
This review is from: The Cad (Mass Market Paperback)
I'm so glad I started reading Edith Layton's novels! This is the first longer one I've read, and I enjoyed it so much. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this series! Bridget is the archtypal 'poor relation', passed around from family to family among her many relations. At present she is acting as companion to her beautiful cousin Cecily; she was considered suitable, her aunt tells her, because of the contrast between her and her cousin. Because Bridget, though beautiful in profile, has a very visible flaw once she turns to look at someone properly: she has a deep, jagged two-inch scar on her face, just beside her mouth. She's very conscious of the scar, and is deliberately self-effecing as a result, hating to be stared at. But one evening, at a ball, someone does stare at her, and she makes the mistake of staring back. He is Ewen, Viscount Sinclair, a known rake. And, living up to his reputation, he follows her, gets her alone and offers her carte blanche. She refuses, but he engineers another time alone with her and offers again. When she refuses this time, he offers marriage. Her relatives assure her that he couldn't possibly have meant it, that he might pretend to want to marry her but will simply seduce her instead. And since she refuses to believe them, they throw her out. With nowhere to go, she flees to Ewen, putting her trust in him. We're told bits and pieces about Ewen along the way: that he has been married before but hates to talk about it, that he spent many years spying for the British government on the Continent, and that he used the cover of rakish activities in order to fulfill his missions. And he certainly has been a rake; the expectation of his friends on meeting Bridget is that she is his latest mistress. But he marries her. Then, not long after the wedding, he abandons her in the country house he'd taken her to - and where he also used to take his mistresses - and goes back to London. It is at this point that the question of whether he is a cad or not comes about. Has he, as Bridget wants to believe, been honest with her about everything - including the fact of their marriage? Or has he been playing a game with her and has now abandoned her, as the servants, Ewan's cousin Drummond and the knowing street-urchin Gilly would have her believe? Find out for yourself in this very touching, poignant love story!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
_The Cad_ is anything but!, August 4, 1998
This review is from: The Cad (Mass Market Paperback)
I haven't read any of Edith Layton's books before _The Cad_, but be sure that I'll be picking up all of them before too much longer. This Regency romance features a heroine with common sense and a certain wry look at life, occasioned by her position as the poor relative. The hero, the Cad of the title, is and he isn't. Some of his caddishness is a facade assumed to cover his role as a spy in the Napoleonic wars, some is a reaction to his previous, failed, marriage, and some is just because ... he falls head over heels in love and has to do anything he can think of to get this woman to marry him. There are some very enjoyable secondary characters, particularly the flower girl, Betsy, and her bigger sibling, Gilly, but the book centers around the primary couple, which is as it should be. I found the writing to be much more true to life than in many romances, and the amount of period detail was just enough to bring it to life without overwhelming.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
