Review: What Happened to the Doggone Bunny??
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 1, 2013
*Spoiler Alert*  This story has a very dark theme.  The heroine, Candace Green, 17 years of age and her little sister, Caroline, were basically sold into slavery by her hateful uncle.  Candace lived as a prostitute - the time was apparently for a period of one year.  During this time, she lived in fear that the same men who used her as a sex slave would soon turn to 14 year old Caroline.  This dark time and some of the details are visited during the prologue.The main story begins with the two girls escaping as they are trying to make it from Bristol to London where their maternal grandparents and mother's sister reside - from whose company they have been estranged due to their mother's marriage choice.  Caroline still has her innocence - in fact she doesn't even know what Candace has endured during the past year.  You might say this lack of info is the first of a few parts of the book that come across as unbelievable.  In fact, don't count on learning how and where Caroline lived during that "year" so that she was so totally unaware of what Candace was enduring for their survival.  The facts will be as obvious as what happened to the bunny Caroline found on the side of the road during their escape - in other words - NONEXISTENT!At any rate, while they are traveling and attempting to be as careful as possible, apparently Caroline decides to stand out in the middle of the road - again an unbelievable part - in the way of an oncoming carriage?  Yes, now you would think that she would have heard the carriage coming and run for cover.  After all, these girls are absolutely terrified that they are going to be caught by the bad guys who have been holding them prisoner.  Nope - she nearly causes the carriage to crash.  Whereupon, our H comes into our view for the first time - Lord Blackstone and his friend, Langham who are on their way to Blackstone's home.As I said, instead of running for cover, Candace stands there and chews out Blackstone's driver and everyone else for nearly running Caroline over.  Come on, would this be the way a girl would act toward some strange men after what she has been through the past year and one who is so terrified for her little sister.  I don't think so!  At this point, both girls' lives do change.  The men feel they need to act as protectors for the girls, Blackstone takes them to his Mama to give the girls a bit of polish so they can take them to London and introduce them to their grandparents, the Humboldts - grandpa is an earl and apparently grandma is an unforgiving woman.  Oh yes, to make the story more interesting, it has long been expected that Blackstone will marry into this family.  Candace has a cousin, daughter of her mother's sister and this cousin was set to be Blackstone's wife.  So this makes the story line a bit more interesting.The major problem with this story is that Blackstone makes it appear to Candace there is a price to pay for his help.  Yep, you got it - he wants her in his bed.  Now, as the story actually goes, it's obvious that he means for her to be his wife at some point but, he never tells her this fact.  She always believes she has to go along with his plan to help her sister.  Candace feels her life is basically over and she will have to live with her ruination all her life.  She just wants a safe harbor for Caroline.  Along the way, Candace falls in love with Blackstone.Blackstone is a blackguard for not telling Candace when and what he feels for her.  Even at his friend, Langham's insistence, Blackstone doesn't ask Candace to marry him until the very end of the book after she has decided she will marry another man.  It would have served Blackstone right if Candace had married someone else.  He is not at all the kind of Hero that would appeal to most women.  The "other" man was everything that a woman could want in a man even though he was introduced late into the book.  He was Candace's friend from her youth - not titled but wealthy and willing to do everything he could to protect Candace and Caroline - even after he learned about Candace's history.A few minor questions:  Did they have any money to help them escape?  How did they plan to pay for their room at the inn? Most ladies would have protested even though Blackstone took them there.  How did they pay for the clothing the landlady provided at Candace's request?  Why did they think it was okay for Blackstone's mother to purchase them all the fancy clothes?  Services and clothing provided by others would have been major issues for young ladies during that time period - it was called pride.  Biggest question of all - during that day and age, at least based on all the books I read, it was nearly unthinkable that Candace would have been brought into Society after the kind of life she had led. Not that she would have been shunned by those who loved her but it would have been expected that she would live a more quiet life for her own safety and protection because she would possibly at some point run into extreme prejudice, and very likely some of the men she had served.And, last but not least, what in the world happened to the doggone bunny?