Review: Nowhere Near As Good As the First Petticoat Club Story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 14, 2014
After having read the first novella in this series, "Poppeia and the Petticoat Club," (which I absolutely loved) I was really looking forward to reading this second book.  Alas, this story is nowhere near as good as the first, quite the contrary.  IMO, this book is barely an OK read.  I think the author got too carried away and completely disregarded the rules and strictures of the time period in which she set the story.  IMO, too much of the story is unrealistic.Lady Caroline Lacey, the daughter of an Earl, is the informal leader of the Petticoat Club. As you would expect of a gently reared lady, who participates in riding the streets, holding up carriages, and exacting revenge for the wrongs against women, Lady Caroline is bold, independent, reckless, and unconventional. The face she shows to the ton; however, is the complete opposite. In public she dresses like an unprepossessing dowd, hiding behind ill-fitting gowns, spinsterish hairstyles, and unflattering spectacles. Furthermore, her manner is shy and retiring; she seems almost a simpleton!  All this she does to divert attention from herself as leader of the Petticoat Club.Trajan, Viscount Randall, doesn't have too high opinion of the fairer sex, but really, his opinion isn't any different from most men of that period. When he denigrates the idea that the Petticoat Club exists, Caroline decides to teach him a lesson. To that end, she kidnaps the Viscount and holds him captive. From the point of Trajan's holdup and kidnapping, the story quickly progresses to its conclusion.  While the book is well written and edited, and the plot interesting, the story that unfolds is somewhat unrealistic.  Thus, I would give the book a 3 star rating...because it's an OK read, but only just.  BTW this is absolutely NOT a clean romance!***SPOILER SPOILER*** Although Lady Caroline claims she kidnapped Trajan to teach him a lesson, her real motive--the one she wont admit, even to herself--is that she is desperately in love with him, and has been ever since her first season, some five years earlier. Trajan paid particular attention to Caroline during her first season, but when he didn't make an offer for her hand, she was hurt and believed she wasn't attractive enough to hold his attention. Now she's determined to have one night of pleasure with Trajan, to compensate for being unable to have him for a lifetime. The problem with that, is that the author has an innocent, gently reared young woman, living in the Regency period, behaving almost like a courtesan, instigating French kisses and performing oral sex, among other things, all while Trajan is tied to a chair.  Now I understand that a lot about sexual relations is instinctive,  but really this was too much! ***END OF SPOILER***So, bottom line, while this story is an entertaining read, it's not one that I would recommend.  If the blurb for this book interested you, and you haven't read the first novella in the series, "Poppiea and the Petticoat Club," I'd suggest you read that one and skip this one.  Better yet, Amazon offers the set of both novellas (this one and "Poppeia") for the same price the you would have to pay for this book.  The title of the set is "The Petticoat Club."  As a matter of fact, as of today, Amazon is actually offering the set of two for free, so grab it while you can!  Happy reading!