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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Historical Romance Review: A Gentleman Never Tells by Amelia Grey

I am a fan of Amelia Grey's Regency romances, so when I had the opportunity to read A Gentleman Never Tells, I was very excited about it.

Book Info:

When a lady is in a predicament...


Beautiful, clever and courageous Lady Gabrielle thwarts the shackles of her arranged betrothal by kissing a stranger in the park. But who is this man? Finding herself stuck in yet another forced engagement Gabrielle needs another strategy that isn’t so dangerous.

A gentleman may find himself in deep trouble...

Viscount Brentwood is walking in the park early one morning when a beautiful, enchanting young lady walks out of the mist and into his arms. Now Brent has no choice but to marry the delightful Lady Gabrielle.

Unfortunately his intended bride has other ideas, and the determined Viscount finds himself plunging into one scandal after another.

A GENTLEMAN NEVER TELLS

The Rogues' Dynasty #4
Mass Market Paperback
ISBN-10: 1402239750
ISBN-13: 978-1402239755
Released in July 2011

My Review...

I have read Ms. Grey's other books in The Rogues' Dynasty series, so I was excited to see some secondary characters previewed previously brought more to life: such as the twins who look just like Sir Randolph. But these are not the main characters of the story, rather the twins' older brother, Lord Brentwood.

This story started off with a bang! An intriguing plot and a hero and heroine who sizzled not only with their clandestine kiss, but their witty banter. The banter continued throughout the story, and kept the pages flipping. A cute story, with an interesting secondary plot of dog-knapping. Lots of sensual kisses, some funny twists--loved the scene with the "orbs"!! And you will too, but I'm not telling you what its about, you'll just have to read it!

The ending was satisfactory in that Gabrielle and Brent do get together despite her, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, type motivation, and her nasty ex-fiance's schemes. The mystery of the missing dogs is resolved satisfactorily and actually helps the characters to grow and change which I enjoyed. I did have some tears toward the end, there is a sad moment, which if you are a dog lover, you will cry too! But there was one thing that I wished had been different--Rosabelle, Gabrielle's selfish sister. I did not like that she had what appeared to be a happy ending. She did nothing but torture her sister the whole book, and Gabrielle just took it. Gabrielle had such a strong backbone, I didn't understand why when it came to her sister she let her walk all over her. It was reminiscent of Lydia from P&P, the way she was so selfish and willing to do whatever it took to get her way. I wish her ending had been more like Lydia, that after walking all over everyone, she wasn't so pleased with herself. My dislike of her sister did not detract from the story however, but rather had me itching for Gabrielle to rat her out--which I will not tell you whether or not that happened else it would spoil the story!

Another great story by Ms. Grey! Cheers to you!


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