Customer Reviews

Reforming Lord Ragsdale (Signet Regency Romance)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Staples is a rake of the worst kind. He gambles, drinks and keeps a mistress of whom he's tired. He doesn't enjoy his life, but doesn't find the courage to take the necessary steps to change it. When Emma Costello steps into his life, as the servant of his American cousins, he loathes her on the sole purpose that she is Irish; losing his father and his eye in a battle against her people didn't help in making him friendly towards them.

And yet he saves Emma from being gambled in a game of cards. He buys her indenture back and finds himself "owning" a woman he hates. He doesn't treat her as a slave, though, but employs her as his secretary. He never suspects what ideas are up her sleeve, and he isn't careful enough when she makes him sign a document allowing her to reform him and make him a respectable gentleman until he can marry Lady Clarissa Paltridge.

John's growly reaction to Emma's first few actions to lead him to a righteous way of life are hilarious, but soon we realise that he's more willing to obey than he appears. But is his goal to become the gentleman that Lady Paltridge has set her eyes on? Or is he more interested in his reformer than he wants to admit? And can Emma ignore the desire that this dangerous rake stirs in her?

This is another must-read by Carla Kelly. The antagonism between the two main characters makes their journey to love enthralling. John hates the Irish, and yet he will help Emma in her search for her family, supporting her in her search at the Criminal Office. John does all he can to find answers to the questions haunting her. Their friendship is refreshing and proves that even a war between their people can't keep our two heroes apart. I've seen several readers mention that Carla Kelly writes about people before all, and this is true of this novel again.

My one and only regret, although Reforming Lord Ragsdale remains an outstanding novel, is that the first kiss between Emma and John wasn't showed live. The way it was written lessened its impact, I'm afraid, and I wish Carla Kelly had showed us what happened between the characters *when* it happened and not afterwards.

But this nitpick is very much compensated by the depth of character development that Ms Kelly devotes to her every novel. Reforming Lord Ragsdale is no exception when it comes to the quality and care brought to the personalities of both Emma and John.

Unfortunately, most Regency books are churned out with uninspired stock characters, plots, and endings - with only a few exceptions. "Reforming Lord Ragsdale" breaks the formula Regency with compelling charm and originality.

The title character is quite simply wonderful: he's funny, flawed, deep, and complex. His reformer, Emma, is equally rich and imperfect, and the two together are possibly one of this limited genre's most engaging couples.

I loved this book and couldn't help falling a little in love with Lord Ragsdale - as will anyone else who reads it. It's Carla Kelly's best and will spoil the reader for other Regencies, most of which will seem pallid, silly even, in comparison.

Get a hold of this book any way you can, you'll read it over and over - it's that irresistible!

I didn't think Carla Kelly could equal 'Mrs Drew Plays her Hand' for a heart-warming love story with moments which make the reader want to cry, laugh, and ache for both hero and heroine. But she's done it with this one. I know this book was written before 'Mrs Drew,' and in some respects it shows: Kelly's narrative style and vocabulary aren't quite as much in keeping with the period and some Americanisms creep in. But the book is so good that these errors failed to jolt me out of the story.

Ragsdale is a wonderfully complex but sympathetic character, initally seeming to be a dissipated rogue, but we quickly discover that underneath he has a very kind heart despite the episode in his past which makes him predisposed to hate Emma because she is Irish.

Emma is no ordinary servant, despite being in fact a slave (an indentured servant, forced into servitude for no pay for a fixed period). She too has reason to hate the British, and that hate initally becomes focused on Ragsdale as the epitome of that uncaring nation.

But both discover very quickly that first impressions are rarely accurate, and we are given insights into the reactions of both characters as they find themselves reluctantly drawn to each other. And despite the fact that Emma has set herself the task of reforming Lord Ragsdale - which involves healing his pain along the way - she also ends up being the subject of his attempts at reformation.

As someone originally from Ireland, I was very impressed with Kelly's use of Irish history as a backdrop; so many American writers have a tendency to write Irish people and Irish history in a very 'twee,' romanticised manner far divorced from reality. Kelly captures the atmosphere perfectly.

This book is now very difficult to obtain, and I got my copy through an Amazon auction. Now, having read it, I'd have paid twice as much as I did for it, including postage. It's really that good.

Emma may seem like a brash Irish servant, but Lord Ragsdale soon discovers a well-educated upper class woman dealing with harsh Anglo-Irish reprisals has become his servant. Great characters and depth of feeling emerge as Ragsdale sobers up and takes notice of his surroundings, and of Emma in particular.

gentle read, fell in love with Carla Kelly characters, like her writing style.
loved the book.

Oh, this was good; this was very, very good! REFORMING LORD RAGSDALE is a must read for all historical romance readers. Carla Kelly writes a wonderful love story with very believable characters and just enough romance to seize her reader's heart . . . forever. What a joy to find a love story so well-written, so emotionally touching and so marvelously captivating. If you CAN find a copy, grab it and break away, for you'll never regret reading it.

MaryGrace Meloche.

I really like Carla Kelly. This is one of her best. She gives alot of backstory and the people get to know each other well. I didnt want it to end!

I love this author's works and sought hard to find this book. It was a great read beginning with a main character that has hit bottom with the bitterness of life, but resists anyone's attempts to help and with an unlikely savior who can't stand him, but is determined to see him better with his agreement to set her free from her obligations. At times it is hilarious and at times it breaks your heart, but you grow to love the people. The historical backdrop and depth of the characters is amazing.
Recommend wholeheartedly.

I enjoy Carla Kelly's writing so much, and this is one of her best. It was funny and touching to watch Emma "reform" John into the good man that he was deep inside. Kelly is a master of relationship development, and never has her characters just "fall" in love with each other - she takes the time needed to make their friendship and love strong and believable, based on deep feeling and commitment, rather than just filling pages with blazing lust. I also found the historical information I learned about the Irish and English conflicts interesting; while I know the Irish people have not been held in high esteem throughout history, I didn't realize there was such a severe hatred of the Irish people in England at that time. As always, Kelly does thorough research and gives us a fascinating plot, a strong heroine and a "tortured" hero who actually has a good reason to be "tortured." No eye-rolling here. I couldn't put it down!

This rich story opens with liquor-sodden, hopeless Lord Ragsdale observing the aimless chaos his life has become. What made the day the novel opens any different from any other day or week or month was the unexpected arrival of his first cousins. He almost immediately wrote off his cousins, but they had with them a maidservant, who was unobtrusive, attractive, and apparently both intelligent and educated (certainly more so than his cousins). She piqued his interest until she made a comment under her breath and he heard her Irish lilt. That ended that because, in addition to his other charms, Ragsdale felt a virulent hatred of the Irish...or so it seemed. Along the road to Oxford, where Lord Ragsdale and his mother were going to enroll Robert, one of his cousins, the entourage stopped for the night at an inn. There Ragsdale discovered Robert's ruinous addiction to gambling. When instinct awoke Ragsdale in the night, he discovered that Robert had stolen, and gambled away, all of Ragsdale's money and that his cousin about to gamble the indenture contract of his sister's Irish maidservant. And that is how Ragsdale ended up with the indentured Irish woman, Emma Costello.

In order to more quickly end her indenture and get on with her own personal agenda, Emma takes Ragsdale up on his drunken request that she reform him. Now the story of their mutual redemption begins.

Carla Kelly is one of my favorite authors and this is a grand story. The characters struggle with guilt, human frailty, and rise above adversity with strength, caring and, finally, love. This novel takes place over a number of months, but how lovely it would be if alcoholism, and religious and cultural prejudices could really be as easily overcome as it was in this book.