Customer Reviews

Chasing a Rogue (Sonnet Books)

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While I enjoyed this book alot, I am used to and appreciate when an author actually describes the heroine. It wasn't until the middle of the book where her hair color was even alluded to! Forget her face and eye color! These descriptions bring characters to life! Please Ms. Malvey more details!!! Then I will buy another of her books until then I will stick with my favs: Monk, Kleypas, Quinn and others of their ilk.
However this was a nice story so for that and if you have a very vivid imagination then go for it!

Despite a few flaws--mostly pertaining to compromising situations, as though both, especially the heroine, would not be more cautious of her reputation--this book is a delight to read. Witty, warm, and engrossing. The lead characters are fun and suffer none of that annoying tendency to be ridiculously obtuse. They have misunderstandings, but both are smart, thoughtful people who can figure things out well enough that they don't spend most of the book blindly stumbling about with wrong perceptions.

Although the resolution of the mysterious financial matters is not completely believeable, the romance is beautifully written and brimming with passion and respect. Harriet is stupidly stubborn at one point, but it allows Steven to play out an interesting proposal scene. Their interplay is lively, sensuous, and loving.

No deep heaartache here, just a heart-warming, feel-good romance that hits the right notes and leaves the reader is a great mood.

Victoria Malvey acquits herself with this delightful Regency era effort that sees tenacious Harriet Nash in relentless quest for martial bliss after witnessing the glow on her friend Laurel with husband Royce. Steven Morris, the earl of Heath is her target prey as in her "fox" theory as she launches her seduction towards the unsuspecting rogue. However when their flirting and sparring intensifies, their love and affection for each other grows to an extent that they spend a night of passion. It is fortunate that Steven is honorable and plans to marry Harriet but his dire financial straits will not permit. His hope for a wealthy heiress has been dashed and a treacherous Laird McWilliam is bent on destroying his family name. Harriet while trying to help is mistakened by Steven for her lack of trust. Their path to marriage, she will discover, isn't simple after all. Ms. Malvey adds spunk and passionate sensuality to the formulaic Regency with the amicable couple and an ensemble of vibrant side characters like Harriet's guardian aunts Agatha and Hilda. She adds depth to the simple courtship romance with obstacles for the couple to weather and makes us convinced of their conviction for each other. A spirited and merry chase indeed.

In 1817, Harriet Nash decides she wants Steven Morris as her husband so she decides to go after him treating him like a dog chasing after her, the fox. Steven wants Harriet also, but he needs money to climb out of severe debt caused by his mother when she met with a series of "accidents" while traveling the continent. Steven knows he needs an heiress.

Harriet persuades Steven to teach her how to "flirt" so she can go after a rake. In their tryst, both get carried away and they make love. He plans to marry her as more than just the honorable thing to do but even his best friend Royce is unable to help with the debt because his money has been challenged in court and frozen by a MacWilliams. This is the same person who bought up all of Steven's promissory notes and may have caused his mother's accidents. If he is to wed for love, Steven must learn why MacWilliams wants to destroy him.

CHASING A ROGUE is an enjoyable Regency romance that actually explains why the hero needs to wed an heiress as opposed to marrying for love. Though the reason behind the accidents seems very weak, sub-genre readers will delight in the antics of the lead couple, especially Harriet's campaign tactics. The return of characters from A MERRY CHASE will send the audience seeking that novel and other works by Victoria Malvey.

Harriet Klausner

Harriet Nash is a desperate lady. Still unwed after several years of being out in society, Harriet is feeling the pressure to either marry or return to country where the matrimonial prospects are dismal at best. However, being neither an heiress nor a great beauty, she has long been overlooked by most of the ton's bachelors. Given her desire for a true love match and the fact that time is running out, Harriet knows that it will take a miracle to find the right man. A miracle that happens the night she claps eyes on the newly returned Steven Morris, the Earl of Heath.

Steven Morris is in trouble. Big trouble. He's just found out that due to covering his mother's debts, he is now practically bankrupt. The only way to save his patrimony is to marry an heiress. Enlisting the help of his friend Royce, the pair decides to go on a "hunt" for a proper wife. But having barely begun his mission, Steven finds himself attracted to the wrong woman. There's something special about Harriet Nash but, alas, she doesn't have the kind of dowry that can save him from debtor's prison. What this earl doesn't realize is that he's just met his match.

In this spin-off to last year's A MERRY CHASE, Victoria Malvey brings back Laurel and Royce Van Cleef and pairs their best friends with each other. Harriet and Steven's story is a classic tale of the battle of the sexes. Taking a page from the original story, Steven has set up a wife hunt, but he doesn't count on Harriet taking the very same game plan and modifying it with a fiendishly feminine twist. Add in her clever idea of joining forces with him, supposedly to rehabilitate his reputation and teach her how to flirt with men, and one can practically hear the rod reel this hero in. Eating asparagus was never this much fun.

TheSchemer