Review: A Heroine like no Other, a Duke who isn't what he says
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 27, 2014
Miss Emma Harlow is a miss who does and says what she pleases and at the moment, it pleases her to try to extricate her twin sister Lavinia from what she considers a disastrous betrothal.  To that end, she enlists the aid of a rake to divert Vinnie’s attention and succeed in breaking her sister’s engagement.Alexander Keswick, seventh Duke of Trent, is as much a rake as most men of his era, which is to say, not as bad as some but better than others. He immediately sees Emma’s plan may lead not only to her sister’s ruin but her own also…so he plays the libertine to save both…and discovers when it comes to Emma he may not be playing a role at all.Little do either of them know that what starts out as a small plan to break up a betrothal will soon turn into a race for life on the road to Dover and beyond…MY OPINION:  This is the first novel by Lynn Messina I have read and it is the most delightful example of the genre I’ve come across lately!  Emma isn’t your usual Regency heroine. She’s opinionated, resourceful, devious, and still thoroughly innocent. The Duke is also different from his usual Regency counterparts in that he’s not a rake waiting to be reformed and tamed by an innocent miss but a man pretending to be a libertine to keep the woman he’s discovered he loves from harm.There are so many twists and turns in this story, it’s difficult to give a short synopsis and each little deviation from the expected plot are thoroughly enjoyable.  In fact, nothing in this story goes the way the reader thinks it should.  Emma comes by the nickname “hoyden” because she never does what anyone expects. Trent is a man who expects everyone to do what he tells them. When the two meet, something is going to give but it isn’t what anyone expects. It’s a nice turn for a change to have the hero being the one determined to make a marriage, and the heroine the one who’s wedding-shy.The writing is fresh and descriptive. There are neat turns of phrase and witty groupings of words that will bring out a chuckle or two if not an outright laugh in places.All in all, this is a well-known theme delivered in an entertaining and very original way.