Review: Interesting addition to the series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 7, 2013
This book is part of the author's Rakehell series and I think it's up to about 14 books now. There is a core group of friends who went to Eton together and raised a lot of hell together, but then became each other's family of choice after some lost wives and children, some were crippled by war, some were disowned by family of birth for being too radical, etc... The group has changed and added on during the years, each man adding a few choice members, but the core group remains. Each book is about a specific member or adventure of the group, so it could be considered a stand alone, but as you get into the higher number books, it becomes more difficult to follow the story without knowing the supporting characters from that core group of family/friends.This book is about Ashkoda Paignton, a half Indian/half British doctor whom we first met when he was suffering from a debilitating disease and was only a teenager. His mother's use of Indian Ayurvedic medicine helped heal one of the Rakehells in the" Model Master". Since then, she met and married another of the group and had two children with him, making Ash the step son of one of the Rakehells.Returning home from London to join a medical practice, Ash comes upon a young woman he is acquainted with being mauled and assaulted in the woods. He rescues her, takes her to his home for his mother to examine and gets to know her better, finding out that her sister set her up on that disastrous" carriage ride" from which he rescued her.From the time Ellen is rescued by Ash, she's fascinated by his happy family, (his stepfather is her cousin), his political, spiritual and healing beliefs and his gentleness with her. She learns so much from his mother to help care for her own, who had a stroke. Ellen loves to hear about Indian culture and religion. But mostly, she's fascinated with Ash. He's the largest but most handsome man she's ever seen and even though she's normally nervous around men, Ash makes her feel so wonderful.Ellen has no qualms or problems merging Indian culture with British. In fact, learning about tantric practices sounds downright wonderful. But any time two cultures meet, someone's going to be upset, now just to figure out who's spreading nasty rumors before their relationship is tainted with some one else's lies.Heat factor hot.