Review: What a fun romp!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 17, 2013
Lady Lissa's Liaison by Lindsay RandallA year after her beloved father's death, lovely Lady Lissa emerges from mourning to find nearly every eligible (and some, perhaps no so eligible) bachelor of London's high society all but camped on her Derbyshire doorstep. She knows the gentlemen are all aware of the value of her large inheritance and refuses all suitors. Unfortunately, the determined Lord Langford daringly fastens a locket around her neck, telling her that he will only be convinced she's rejected his suit when she returns the jewelry to him. Alas, she cannot unfasten the chain or she'd return it immediately.Far from being interested in marrying anyone, Lissa prefers spending her time sketching insects and other wildlife along the Dove river, where her neighbor, the infamous and reclusive Lord Wylde, having retired to the quiet of the countryside to escape Polite Society, the members of which have shunned him, labeled him a ne'er do well and even a murderer, fishes for trout.What, Lady Lissa wonders, would hints of a liaison between her and Lord Wylde do her supposed eligibility? Why, the very notion would surely relieve her of the pesky would-be suitors! She sets out to give the impression they are involved and, thanks to her gossipy household staff, word does get around. She has not, however, counted on handsome Lord Wylde's reaction to her plan when the word gets around to him.Gabriel Gordon, the Sixth Earl of Wylde, is less than amused by Lady Lissa's plot. He sets out to humiliate her, a task he easily accomplishes by publicly making it appear their "liaison" is far from the mere hint she intended to plant. To his dismay, though, his actions backfire on him and he finds himself emotionally entangled in the web the young beauty casts, and jealous of Lord Langford who refuses to give up.Lissa would dearly love to be rid of both Wylde and Langford, but that is not to be. As stubborn as she's found the clasp of Langford's locket, the dratted thing falls off into the Dove River and is swallowed by the very trout Lord Wylde has tried unsuccessfully to catch. Wylde has been unsuccessful, she discovers, because he is a poorly equipped and inept angler. To regain possession of the all-important locket, she must teach him the art of fly-fishing, which brings them closer and closer to what Lissa sees as a disaster in the making, one that threatens her avowed intention of remaining unwed.This delightful tale made me smile, made me laugh out loud, and left me shaking my head at the strictures that bound young women in the period so cleverly recounted by Ms. Randall. For fans of the Regency period, and even those who are not, I call this a "don't miss" story.