Review: love conquers all
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2013
Letter from a rake is about two soul mates Millie and Alex who are meant for each other. The story dates back to 1817, where Millie Ashton, born and raised in India has just arrived in England with her family. She hates England and keeps on whining about her wish to return back to India. While no body in England welcomed Millie like the way Alex's sister Lucy did, she would have sworn to have died living in England. But the only problem is Lucy's second brother Alex, the sight of him looking at her gave shivers. When she gets to know him better, she comes to a conclusion he is not all bad. It is love at first sight for him.Then again when everything was going well, Alex screws his love by taking Millie away from a public party without his sister and her brother knowing. As they were caught filled with shame, Lucy breaks off her friendship with her, blaming her for being only friends to get closer to his brother like all the other girls did. She gets a wrong impression of Millie and the next day their whole family is off to Scotland because of the mishap they created. Millie is shocked but she quickly recovers from it.I loved the author's portrayal of Millie Ashton. In almost all the novels the female protagonists are slender with beautiful curves while in this novel, the author has introduced us to a plump, fat girl with curvaceous figure who also wears a sapphire nose ring much to the men's dislike even though she is amazingly the most ravishing, strong female character I have read so far. She is also very likeable, valiant and knows how to defend for herself in times of trouble.Alex's character is the most humorous and also the saddest part in the novel. He has bad tastes in women. When he returns for Millie from Scotland, he is heartbroken to see her new slender figure. I also laughed so much at his innocence and stupidity. He knows how to make things harder. He puts two ladies in Jeopardy because of the silliest reason he can not write or read. This time his brother doesn't come to his rescue which makes things even harder for him. Now he has to right the wrongs before Millie chooses the first man who agrees to live with her in India.Overall, I wasn't able to like the first half. I felt the story was rushed .The second half was full of fun and entertainment. The ending part was so touching with Lady Carolice finding the right man like she deserved. I highly recommend this to everyone who likes historical fiction.