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The Rogue's Return by Jo Beverley
I've been looking forward to the next book of Beverley's Company of Rogue's series. I had hoped it would be that of Dare, but I wasn't at all sorry to read about Simon St. Bride in The Rogue's Return.
This is a road romance for the most part. The book opens in Canada, where Simon is acting as a sort of inspector general, tracking fraud that has been done with respect to treaties with the Indians. He and Jane marry suddenly, at the request of her uncle, Simon's friend, on his death bed. Jane, who has been reclusive since coming to Canada, is not someone that Simon knows well, despite the fact that they have resided in the same home for nearly a year. Simon and Jane (called Jancy) settle her uncle's affairs and Simon's affairs (affairs of business and affairs of honor, among other things) and then return to Britain. A large part of the book is spent at sea, traveling from the colonies homeward; once they land in England, the book remains a road romance, as they travel from point to point because of family business. As Jancy reflects one morning, they wake in five different beds over the course of five days, with hurried, harried travel in between.
While they wrap up their affairs and travel, Simon and Jancy fall in love. But Jancy is keeping a secret -- she is not Jane Otterburn, daughter of a school teacher and haberdasher, but Jancy Otterburn, illegitimate daughter of that same schoolteacher and a Haskett, a no-account, taken in and raised by Otterburn's widow as a "cousin." Her cousin Jane died on the passage to Canada, and Jancy, fearing that she would be cast out by someone who was no blood relation, assumed her identity. Simon has some concerns about introducing her as she is known, but what will happen if he finds out that her class status is even lower than he originally thought?
I, like many other blogging romance readers, find that often in a book that is part of an ongoing series, the story of the hero and heroine is overtaken by the cameos made by the past h/h and by the new characters being introduced to further the series. Beverley has somehow managed to publish seven or eight Rogues' books, including this one, without overpowering the main hero and heroine. That's not to say that the other Rogues are absent, just that they are spice to the stew rather than the meat. Hal Beaumont, a Rogue and returning character, plays a large part in TRR as does his continuing romance of Blanche Hardcastle. But his part of the story never overwhelms Simon and Jancy.
Beverley did a very good job of showing Jancy & Simon's gradual learning of each other and falling in love, as well as their courtship aboard ship. And her handling of the matter of class and status was excellent. It seems like most authors of historicals never address class -- dukes marry governesses without a qualm. That is not the case here: Beverley makes Simon's opinions about class and status consistent with his own status and position. I particularly enjoyed how she demonstrated the evolution of Simon's opinions. At one point, when talking about marrying an actress, he tells Hal that he could not do such a thing to his family. But later, when he learns of Jancy's low origin, although hurt that she did not trust him sooner, he was not outraged and made no plan to discard her. In fact, just the opposite, he planned on how to keep her and their marriage. I also like how conscious Simon is of what he wants from his marriage. Unlike many heroes who are rakes without any intention of marrying or settling down, Simon anticipates marrying someday and wants to love the woman he marries. While he hadn't planned on marrying Jancy initially, he doesn't harbor resentment toward her for the hurried circumstances, nor does he bewail his fate. He starts to get to know her, to see if they can make their marriage one that can become what he had thought his marriage might someday be.
Truly, the only thing that I did not like about TRR and the only thing that keeps it from being my favorite book of the Rogue series is the ending. Everything wraps up fairly quickly and patly, a little too much so. Jancy's concerns are basically soothed and smoothed over in a few pages, and the matters that Simon investigated (and which caused the duel that nearly killed him) disappeared without any resolution.
Can I say, I love some of Beverley's prose? One scene, a love scene, is not explicit (although she does include at least one explicit scene) but strikes me as completely passionate and sensual. So I have to share it:
I think it's okay for me to use that quote under Fair Use, but just in case it isn't, it is copyrighted to Jo Beverley, 2006.
After years of living in the New World of Canada, Simon St. Bride is ready to return to aristocratic life in England. But his plans are delayed by a duel and a young woman he feels honor bound to marry, even though his family is unlikely to welcome her. for despite her beauty and seeming innocence, Jane Otterburn is hesitant to speak of her enigmatic past....
Then treachery strikes their world. And, as Simon and Jane fight sidy by side against enemies and fate - on land and on sea - he discovers a wife beyond price and a passion beyond measure. But will the truth about Jane tear their love asunder?
This is a road romance for the most part. The book opens in Canada, where Simon is acting as a sort of inspector general, tracking fraud that has been done with respect to treaties with the Indians. He and Jane marry suddenly, at the request of her uncle, Simon's friend, on his death bed. Jane, who has been reclusive since coming to Canada, is not someone that Simon knows well, despite the fact that they have resided in the same home for nearly a year. Simon and Jane (called Jancy) settle her uncle's affairs and Simon's affairs (affairs of business and affairs of honor, among other things) and then return to Britain. A large part of the book is spent at sea, traveling from the colonies homeward; once they land in England, the book remains a road romance, as they travel from point to point because of family business. As Jancy reflects one morning, they wake in five different beds over the course of five days, with hurried, harried travel in between.
While they wrap up their affairs and travel, Simon and Jancy fall in love. But Jancy is keeping a secret -- she is not Jane Otterburn, daughter of a school teacher and haberdasher, but Jancy Otterburn, illegitimate daughter of that same schoolteacher and a Haskett, a no-account, taken in and raised by Otterburn's widow as a "cousin." Her cousin Jane died on the passage to Canada, and Jancy, fearing that she would be cast out by someone who was no blood relation, assumed her identity. Simon has some concerns about introducing her as she is known, but what will happen if he finds out that her class status is even lower than he originally thought?
I, like many other blogging romance readers, find that often in a book that is part of an ongoing series, the story of the hero and heroine is overtaken by the cameos made by the past h/h and by the new characters being introduced to further the series. Beverley has somehow managed to publish seven or eight Rogues' books, including this one, without overpowering the main hero and heroine. That's not to say that the other Rogues are absent, just that they are spice to the stew rather than the meat. Hal Beaumont, a Rogue and returning character, plays a large part in TRR as does his continuing romance of Blanche Hardcastle. But his part of the story never overwhelms Simon and Jancy.
Beverley did a very good job of showing Jancy & Simon's gradual learning of each other and falling in love, as well as their courtship aboard ship. And her handling of the matter of class and status was excellent. It seems like most authors of historicals never address class -- dukes marry governesses without a qualm. That is not the case here: Beverley makes Simon's opinions about class and status consistent with his own status and position. I particularly enjoyed how she demonstrated the evolution of Simon's opinions. At one point, when talking about marrying an actress, he tells Hal that he could not do such a thing to his family. But later, when he learns of Jancy's low origin, although hurt that she did not trust him sooner, he was not outraged and made no plan to discard her. In fact, just the opposite, he planned on how to keep her and their marriage. I also like how conscious Simon is of what he wants from his marriage. Unlike many heroes who are rakes without any intention of marrying or settling down, Simon anticipates marrying someday and wants to love the woman he marries. While he hadn't planned on marrying Jancy initially, he doesn't harbor resentment toward her for the hurried circumstances, nor does he bewail his fate. He starts to get to know her, to see if they can make their marriage one that can become what he had thought his marriage might someday be.
Truly, the only thing that I did not like about TRR and the only thing that keeps it from being my favorite book of the Rogue series is the ending. Everything wraps up fairly quickly and patly, a little too much so. Jancy's concerns are basically soothed and smoothed over in a few pages, and the matters that Simon investigated (and which caused the duel that nearly killed him) disappeared without any resolution.
Can I say, I love some of Beverley's prose? One scene, a love scene, is not explicit (although she does include at least one explicit scene) but strikes me as completely passionate and sensual. So I have to share it:
" . . . they ended, sated, in a tangle of skirts and sheets that threatened to knot them together for eternity. What could be more perfect than that?"
I think it's okay for me to use that quote under Fair Use, but just in case it isn't, it is copyrighted to Jo Beverley, 2006.