A taciturn soldier and a social butterfly —is the perfect home worth the price of a marriage of inconvenience?Blake Montague’s draconian temper and clever mind belong on the Continent, decoding French communications. Instead, as the youngest son of a baron, he’s terrorizing London ballrooms in search of a wife who will buy the commission he can’t afford. Jocelyn Carrington, after years of smiling … Carrington, after years of smiling through the pain inflicted by an uncaring family, has just inherited a fortune. Now she can buy the special home with an aviary her eccentric younger brother needs—but Blake Montague’s family owns it. They offer the house if she will marry their son and prevent him from marching off to war. Except Blake will use her dowry to buy his commission.
How can Jocelyn gain the home of her dreams while keeping alive a courageous man with a bad habit of attracting trouble? Can Blake believe the beautiful Jocelyn might actually free him from his family’s manipulations?
Can this wary, cynical pair open their hearts to trust in the power of love?
~~~~~
“Intriguing protagonists, quirky secondary characters, and a surprising plot make for an endearing sequel to …The Wicked Wyckerly” – Publishers Weekly
“Rice takes her cast of characters—including the naughty French-speaking parrot, Percy—on a passionate, sensual, rib-tickling romance. A master of the nuances of humor, she brings joy, lots of love, and plenty of laughter to this fast-paced, unforgettable second Rebellious Sons story”— 4 ½ stars Top Pick, Joan Hammond, RT Reviews
more
Alt-neuro, espionage, and caretaking
This is a fine new wrinkle in a regency romance trope that has become a little shopworn: the Napoleonic wars and consequent evolution in spy craft. Our hero is a blunt, strangely rigid and socially inept dabbler in code breaking – a mathematical tyro with the social graces of a barn animal. Our heroine is elder sister to a seventeen year old who dotes on birds, and daughter to a mother whose obsession is genealogy research. Were these people living today, we might recognize them as “alt-neuro” – people on the autism spectrum. The classically over-competent caretaker does what she does best – she falls for and takes on the hero whose difficulties and works are so familiar. The tone of this romance is anything but gloomy, martyred misery, and the author’s portrayal of these characters is realistic, respectful, and positive. Nobody’s helpless, everyone has talents and contributions to make to the HEA that solves a mystery, heals a family, and sees justice done. And the romance? Hot, hot, HOT!
Blake Montague is desperate to buy a set of colors so he can return to the war on the continent and continue to decipher coded messages by the French army. Jocelyn Carrington wants to secure a home for her brother, mother and herself. Since her father passed away, her brother and half sisters have tossed the three of them from their homes. An unexpected inheritance helps her in her efforts to find a husband and the security she craves. Can what starts out as an agreement to a marriage of mutual convenience lead to true love? It can be a dangerous and exciting journey.
After reading the first book WICKED WYCKERLY in this series I knew I will have to read this one too.
It was very different from the first one, with less humor but still plenty of action.
From the beginning it was an opposites attract kind of trope, as even if they deny it, Jocelyn Carrington is drawn to Blake Montague. While he is rude to her, he thought her a dimwit young miss and nothing more. But soon she shows him there is more than her fluttering of lashes and blinding smiles behind her well built facade.
While Blake’s bluntness hide his unease among his peer, he get to the point. Why he can appear gruff, because he does not know otherwise.
But for Jocelyn, he is willing to try. But it is a road paved with dents and accidents.
He is prone to kill himself at any turning point when she only plots how to protect those under her care even if it means deceit.
Outside the spy plot, their greatest challenge is being able to trust the other, him to confide in her and her to accept his support. They lived so long without anyone close enough to see past their mask, they had their trust chattered so they need to put their misconceiving aside and work together with each one’s talent.
It was lovely and quite amusing to see Jocelyn let her social mask slip and express her true feeling and finally stand for herself after bending for so long. While even if Blake stayed true to him, he was also able to see Jocelyn other than a charming hostess and that not all heroic acts were on the battlegrounds.