Review: Dairliciously Romantic
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 26, 2014
Lucinda Brant's Dair Devil will further beguile longterm fans (like me) but just as surely tempt new readers to join their/our ranks.While Dair Devil could be read as a stand-alone book, I'm glad to have read it after the three previous Roxton titles. That is not only because some characters in the series have become my firm favourites (none more so than Antonia, the teen bride now aged to become the formidable Autumn Duchess) but also because I find the interweaving and development of people, events, history and issues of the times to be more easily understood when read sequentially.That said, Dair's Devil adds some great newcomers and some new plot twists to the Roxton series.For example, a character who is only glimpsed in Autumn Duchess (Dair Fitzstuart) becomes the hero of this work. When first mentioned, Dair appears little more than a preening peacock.In this new story, the first impressions of Dair's involvement in the rowing race and its aftermath are shown to be erroneous, with Dair eventually revealing himself as a man who is hiding insecurities and yet worthy of a gentle and loving woman, Rory Talbot.Rory is one of the new characters in the series. She is Antonia's god-daughter and the grand-daughter of Britain's spymaster.  Her life has been marred by tragedy and disability, and even cruelty when she is a baby in the nursery, but she has survived and surmounted that negativity. (No doubt because she was fiercely loved and defended by her protective brother.)If Dair is the flashy, reckless, rakish beauty who cannot refuse a wager, Rory is his opposite. She is quietly lovely, intrigued by other people and in non-flashy interests, like growing pineapples. She watches the extroverts and narcissists interacting, notices nuances and what is really happening behind peoples' masks. She does not seek the limelight.And yet Rory and Dair not only complement one another, they see to one another's core, recognising that they are able to do so because they share important characteristics, developed in childhood.They also provide one another with the opportunity to behave differently. Rory digs deep to move past the restrictions of her upbringing, the confinements imposed by her grandfather and the limitations of her damaged leg/use of a cane.  She listens to her inner voice and takes risks. For the first time, she  "dares" to  embark on some adventures and even embraces behaviour considered outrageous for a single woman of her class at that time.Conversely, Dair becomes more introspective, regrets some actions and decisions, opens himself emotionally and trusts Rory to care about him. In his attitude to and relationship with his illegitimate son, as well as the mother of his child and her family, he shows himself always to have been more decent, loving and giving than he first appeared. So it is no surprise when he shows Rory that he can be trusted to defend her and to be loyal to her.Romances often flounder when an author fails to convince the reader to care about the main protagonists and their fates. After his apparent behaviour in Autumn Duchess, and the ghastly wager he accepted as a young man, Brant has her work cut out for her when transforming Dair from a wastrel into a hero. Thankfully, she does so convincingly.Rory needs no transformation, although lovers of feisty, fierce and outspoken heroines will not be adding her to their lists. Rory's attributes are more gentle, but nevertheless courageous. In fact, she deserves the descriptor of beguiling.As usual, Brant also includes a sub-plot and mystery to her story, this time based around Rory's parents and her grandfather. Cruel. Dark. Sad.Brant also includes some slapstick. The opening scene is outlandish, and amusing, even if Dair is shown to be an overgrown schoolboy as he invades a famous painter's house, dressed only in a loin-cloth and war paint. It certainly gives Rory an eyeful, an amatory adventure and a reason for Dair to notice her, even if he mistakes her for a courtesan.Finally, Brant provides a delightfully romantic setting for Rory and Dair to make love. Very sweet.As is the HEA.I received an advance version of Dair Devil but have also subsequently bought my own copy..