Review: More sensual slide than sexual conquest
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 16, 2013
Originally reviewed for the Blog, Bodice Rippers, Femme Fatales and Fantasy[...]Looking to get swept away? To lose yourself in a romance? To luxuriate with the senseless of seduction? Well look no more, author Sherrill Bodine offers us a wonderful treat in The Rake' s Redemption.There is an innocence to this book that is lacking in today's books. The Rake's Redemption was originally released in 1989 when the sensual slide was more important than sexual conquest. It was a delightful change of pace that I thoroughly enjoyed.Juliana Grenville was a child bride.. married and widowed at 17. She was young enough to romanticize her marriage and make a promise to remain true to his memory. Not to her husband, he was a decent man who would have wanted her to find happiness but from his father. The pratt of a man made Julianna feel inferior because she didn't conceive.. They were married for a MONTH before her husband went off to war. A MONTH.. and it's her fault she wasn't pregnant. Anyway the jerk of a father in law made her promise to always keep Will first. Young and rather naive, Julianna makes that promise. Now 8 years later she is on a mission. To drag her brother into society. In order to do that she has decided to go husband hunting, finding a nice widower with children, nothing too exciting and make a match of it. Instead on a dark country road, she finds the man of her dreams..Upon the scandalous murder suicide of his parents, Dominic, the Marquis of Aubrey, vowed never to marry. Estranged from his older brother he has spent a decade sliding into debauchery. Reliving the moment of his parent's deaths over and over again and constantly placing the blame on his older half/brother. Dominic is convinced there is bad blood in his veins and he has no choice but to never really fall in love. When he meets Juliana, his world suddenly tilts and he is considering all sorts of things. Until he discovers that she is a widow.. No way will he get involved with a widow. Except his heart is already involved.Watching these two feel their way through this relationship was endearing. Sure they had obstacles, some of them were considered insurmountable but they perseveres. Well Juliana did, Dominic had a lot to learn. A lot to accept and a lot to forgive.His relationship with his brother plays a huge part in Dominic learning to forgive and it was quite well written. A Tragedy seen through the eyes of an 18 year old, warped by the last words of an insane father.. yeah it was tough. The secondary characters were fantastic, the obnoxious social climber, the loving aunt, the rogue of an uncle.. doting grandparents, good friends.. yeah this really was a great book and it is lovely that Ms Bodine was able to acquire the rights to it and re release it for us.ShauniThis review is based on the ARC of The Rake's Redemption, provided by netgalley