11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A good premise, but falls far short of the goal, February 16, 2004
This review is from: The Last Rogue (Harlequin Historical) (Paperback)
Raleigh is not surprised when he wakes up one morning with a hangover - but he is very surprised when he discovers that he has spent the night with an unattractive virgin in his bed, and now he must marry her since he has compromised her! Raleigh does the honorable thing and marries Jane Trowbridge, the sister-in-law of one of his friends, and takes her with him to his parents' home, and then to the estate he inherited from his late great-uncle. Raleigh is disappointed, however, that he, the match maker of all his friends, is now saddled with a wife who does not love him, nor does he love.
Jane Trowbridge, the compromised virgin with an inferiority complex the size of Wales, never thought that she would marry someone like Raleigh. In fact, she wondered if she'd ever marry at all. And now that she was married, she couldn't have married a more unsuitable fellow, in her opinion. Not only was Raleigh from a wealthy family, but he was obsessed with fashion, food, and pleasure - things that Jane found frivilous at best. How could this unlikely pair even grow to LIKE one another, much less fall in love?
Okay, I will be quite honest and say that I do not like this book at all. I won't go so far as to say I hate it, because hate is too strong of an emotion, but I was pretty apathetic while reading this book. Raleigh is a bit "fluffy" for my tastes, and I doubt that he has more than one serious bone in his entire body, but I felt very sorry for him to be forced to marry someone like Jane. Jane is absolutely unlikeable. I really tried to see where she was coming from, to have sympathy for her, to understand her motivations, but frankly I have come to the conclusion that Jane is just the most nasty, sour, temperamental, irritable, cruel, unkind shrew known to mankind. From the start of her marriage, she never tried to make things work with Raleigh, although he was doing his best to be kind and considerate of her. I felt so incredibly sorry for Raleigh, to be tied to such an unpleasable woman. Several times, I wish I could just reach out and slap Jane a few times. There is no excuse, no matter how big your inferiority complex is, to treat someone in such a way.
I was incredibly concerned for Raleigh's sanity, therefore, when he fell in love with Jane's personality. I do not know what there was in her personality to fall in love with, unless he had a serious desire for emotional harm to come to him. Jane was very rarely kind to him - she was kind to everyone else, it seemed, but her own husband - and I never could understand what he would ever see in her. And quite frankly, both characters had me annoyed with their sniffs and squeaks (Jane) and hums (Raleigh). If Jane sniffed so much, I would think she was coming down with the flu, and if Raleigh hummed constantly around me, I would be more than a little annoyed with him. This book was just bad, and nothing could really salvage it after Jane's high-handedness came into full view. Don't waste your money with this one - there are plenty of better regency novels out there!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another good read from Deborah!, May 11, 2009
This review is from: The Last Rogue (Harlequin Historical) (Paperback)
This was of one of my favorites from Simmons. At first I was a little worried when I saw the bad reviews. But I really liked Raleigh, and found him entertaining. And I really like his personality mixed with "plain" Jane's...Opposites attract! To me it was charming. I'd recommend it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a great book if ......, July 5, 2008
This review is from: The Last Rogue (Harlequin Historical) (Paperback)
This is a great book if you enjoy characters with real motivations, and frames of references that have been built from their own backgrounds and experiences. This author is truly amazing, as she has not pandered to the shallow, low quality and high selling plots that feature stereotyped personalities secretly hankering after one another in cookie cutter fashion.
Who wants an author to tell them everyone is beautiful, dashing, intelligent, witty, or whatnot. As in real life, I want to discover these things myself as I read. Of course, I recognize that many readers need the fairy tale plots - and so if you are one of those, this book is not for you. I enjoyed this book a lot and will be looking for more of this author's work.
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