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Barely a Lady Drake Rakes Eileen Dreyer 9780446542081 Books

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Barely a Lady Drake Rakes Eileen Dreyer 9780446542081 Books

Reading this book was like driving by a car accident: you can't stop your curiosity and you wonder what happened so you look, see waaay more than you wanted to and regret ever glancing that direction. I usually don't fault a book when the author doesn't say what I think they should. I mean, it's their story, not mine, and they can say what they want. This story, specifically two of the characters, left me with such strong feelings that I I had to break my own reviewing rule.

The male lead (sorry, but he is no hero), believes lies and innuendo from his family and shames, abandons, and divorces his wife. Five years later she finds him on the battlefield and rescues him, torn between the love she once held for him and the pain and desolation she has endured for five years. He ends up with amnesia, thinking they are still married, but snatches of memory make him lust for another woman, calling out her name (Mimi) and regretting also lusting after his "wife." Fearing a brain fever or setback, those caring for the male lead don't tell him anything; he needs to remember on his own.

The female lead (again, not a heroine) falls in with the above plan and feels pulled by her enduring love and loathing for her former husband. She can't tell him why she is so sad, why there is a distance between them, why she's dressed like a drudge. The male lead feels badly, acknowledging and fearing what he has done to hurt her, but he just loves her so much. As his memory returns in fleeting bits and pieces, however, he gets more irritated with his "wife" as he falls back into his five-year-old feelings.

The positives
The author's voice is clear, concise, and informative. She has a fabulous writing style and her narrative flows with very few "slow" or wordy parts. Some of the characters are really intriguing and even hilarious. There is witty reparte and some terrific dialogue between secondary characters.

The negatives
Oh boy, here's where it gets dicey. I'm not going to reveal complete details but I will allude, broadly, to my specific complaints. Skip to the asterisks below if you're nervous. As the hero recovers his memories we are told he remembers trying to right a wrong, he remembers guilt over his past behaviors, he feels heartsick - several times - for his treatment of the female lead and that he's responsible for her current unhappiness and ill feelings. When the truth finally comes out, guess what?! The male lead goes back five years and hates/distrusts/abuses his wife. Really?! What about those memories of trying to right wrongs? Apparently his amnesia transferred to block out any culpability our lead had begun to feel.

When all the plot lines finally hit the fan and the male lead is finally ashamed, the female lead - spoiler alert again - forgives him immediately. Two paragraphs earlier he's fondly reminiscing about his busty Mimi until her duplicity is revealed. Oh, okay, never mind about Mimi. I'd like my wife back, please. And when he remembers - spoiler alert again - that he was working a a crown spy, the storyline goes off on a "crime against England" tangant. Way did the male lead feel he had hurt his wife? Why did he keep feeling regret and ashamed for possibly hurting her? He felt these things while an amnesiac; he regains his memory, mostly, and those feelings are gone. The female lead actually feels bad that the male lead was so duped, causing him to be forced into mistreating her. He would never have done that had he known the truth, she believes. You did tell him the truth, sister - immediately and unceasingly.

Lastly, the evil cousin Gervaise. No spoiler here - we know from the beginning this guy's a jerk and playing everybody for the fool. He's in everyone's ear constantly but only the female lead knows his true vile nature. The entirety of the other characters are shocked by his depravity when it's finally proven. There are a few characters that voice regrets over not believing the female lead, but even then everyone remarked on his smooth manners making him so believable. Even when he told his outlandish stories? Yep, even then. The only liar in the book was the - wait for it - female lead, a vicar's daughter, for crying out loud. The only character ever required to prove anything is the female lead. Every other character can make a declaration and it's completely accepted. Ironically, the servants are all on the female lead's side; maybe as a statement about class structure of the time period.

*** Spoiler-free zone now. I can recommend this book for its writing style and action flow, but I also recommend antacids for the stomach-churning words and situations the female lead endures (up through the final chapter, no less!), and rose-colored glasses so you can see how the male lead could be so gullible. I would also read this in a cool place because your blood will likely boil over the unfolding dramas and scenarios. Brace yourself.


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Barely a Lady Drake Rakes Eileen Dreyer 9780446542081 Books Reviews

...though I'm stunned that Publishers Weekly gave this book a starred review. There are plenty of accurate reviews here, from readers who reacted about like I did after reading BARELY A LADY. The reason I'm chiming in is because I was a huge Eileen Dreyer fan. I loved her Silhouette romances as Kathleen Korbel; in fact THE ICE CREAM MAN and A ROSE FOR MAGGIE are two of my favorite books ever. But Dreyer moved to writing murder mysteries under her own name, and I followed her there...for a while. Murder mysteries aren't really my thing, Dreyer's talent notwithstanding, so I eventually lost track of her work. Then I ran out of books to read on my , and it occurred to me to see what Dreyer has been up to lately. Oh goodie, a historical series! So I downloaded what I thought was the first one in the series, ALWAYS A TEMPTRESS. When I realized it was 3rd in the series, I went back and bought BARELY A LADY and started to read it first. Well, I made myself finish it. Paid money for it, right? But--ugh!--what a jerk of a hero! And gratuitous sex scenes galore. And confusing espionage plot. And over-the-top confusing villains. Trust me, I understand the difficulty of juggling a huge cast of characters and all that research and a complex plot (some of it deftly handled with Dreyer's trademark humor and wordsmithing). But if I were an author seeking to capture an audience for a genre new to me, I would pay attention to negative reviews, learn from them and make a course correction.

I can't believe I'm addressing a talented, award-winning author, but here's the thing your readers want you to do well. A bigger proportion of them than most publishers realize would prefer a softening of the graphic sex scenes. In a romance novel, there are things the hero just doesn't do, and no amount of telling us "it's okay because he's a hero" makes it okay (drool over the mistress's big boobs in front of the heroine? Ew). Even in a series, the most important plot twists need to be worked out WITHIN THE BOOK so that the reader isn't left scratching her head going "huh?" (for example, what happened to Olivia and Jack's son; for another example, who the heck are Mimi and the Surgeon, and why should we care?).

So anyway, to other readers If you're a fan of sexy historicals because you like reading about sex and/or you like reading about the gorgeous clothes and settings and language and manners, you may very well like this entire series. Dryer is a very gifted writer. But if you're a Dreyer fan already, this series is not like anything else she has written, and you should be aware of that going in. I did finish this book because I wanted to be fair in evaluating it. I also started reading ALWAYS A TEMPTRESS (paid money for it, right?), but gave it only two chapters before I deleted it from my app. Also deleted BARELY A LADY, because I didn't want my family coming across it and being curious. Again, unlikeable characters, nauseating sex scenes, and confusing melodrama in the plot.

So so sorry because I was looking for a great series and didn't get it. I'll just go back and read THE ICE CREAM MAN again.
Just Wow. Othello.

OK, there are lot of low ratings on this book because the author gleefully stomps all over some established romance conventions, and she does it well. She also produces some tried and true tropes...some successfully, some not so well done.

Our hero has some over-the-top asinine moments that literally endanger the heroine. He has amnesia. He believes the worst of his heroine, on the word of those who wish her anything but well. He has a less than endearing habit of blurting out the name of his mistress, without really comprehending that he's done so. And yet he's human. He eventually accepts and owns his shortcomings.

The heroine is endearing and admirable, but frustrating. Yes, she loves the guy, even after he did her so very wrong. But when you look at where they started, she was about 17 or 18, he wasn't much older. Its all very Romeo and Juliet, but they live. Which is nice. Its nice that they survived to actually grow up. The characters did evolve with time, and were strongly affected by what they experienced.

This book opens on the eve of Waterloo, and Dreyer's vivid painting of the aftermath of that battle is worth the price of the book. The secondary characters are strong and endearing. To me, the villains are the weakest link of the story. There are more than one and none really take off and fly. There's a lot going on here, some plot threads just whimper and trail away. Others remain strong and relevant. I loved that the heroine was able to fight for herself and that the hero was given some really good moments.

This book is well worth reading, just don't expect it always to be easy. Not many authors could have pulled it off.
Reading this book was like driving by a car accident you can't stop your curiosity and you wonder what happened so you look, see waaay more than you wanted to and regret ever glancing that direction. I usually don't fault a book when the author doesn't say what I think they should. I mean, it's their story, not mine, and they can say what they want. This story, specifically two of the characters, left me with such strong feelings that I I had to break my own reviewing rule.

The male lead (sorry, but he is no hero), believes lies and innuendo from his family and shames, abandons, and divorces his wife. Five years later she finds him on the battlefield and rescues him, torn between the love she once held for him and the pain and desolation she has endured for five years. He ends up with amnesia, thinking they are still married, but snatches of memory make him lust for another woman, calling out her name (Mimi) and regretting also lusting after his "wife." Fearing a brain fever or setback, those caring for the male lead don't tell him anything; he needs to remember on his own.

The female lead (again, not a heroine) falls in with the above plan and feels pulled by her enduring love and loathing for her former husband. She can't tell him why she is so sad, why there is a distance between them, why she's dressed like a drudge. The male lead feels badly, acknowledging and fearing what he has done to hurt her, but he just loves her so much. As his memory returns in fleeting bits and pieces, however, he gets more irritated with his "wife" as he falls back into his five-year-old feelings.

The positives
The author's voice is clear, concise, and informative. She has a fabulous writing style and her narrative flows with very few "slow" or wordy parts. Some of the characters are really intriguing and even hilarious. There is witty reparte and some terrific dialogue between secondary characters.

The negatives
Oh boy, here's where it gets dicey. I'm not going to reveal complete details but I will allude, broadly, to my specific complaints. Skip to the asterisks below if you're nervous. As the hero recovers his memories we are told he remembers trying to right a wrong, he remembers guilt over his past behaviors, he feels heartsick - several times - for his treatment of the female lead and that he's responsible for her current unhappiness and ill feelings. When the truth finally comes out, guess what?! The male lead goes back five years and hates/distrusts/abuses his wife. Really?! What about those memories of trying to right wrongs? Apparently his amnesia transferred to block out any culpability our lead had begun to feel.

When all the plot lines finally hit the fan and the male lead is finally ashamed, the female lead - spoiler alert again - forgives him immediately. Two paragraphs earlier he's fondly reminiscing about his busty Mimi until her duplicity is revealed. Oh, okay, never mind about Mimi. I'd like my wife back, please. And when he remembers - spoiler alert again - that he was working a a crown spy, the storyline goes off on a "crime against England" tangant. Way did the male lead feel he had hurt his wife? Why did he keep feeling regret and ashamed for possibly hurting her? He felt these things while an amnesiac; he regains his memory, mostly, and those feelings are gone. The female lead actually feels bad that the male lead was so duped, causing him to be forced into mistreating her. He would never have done that had he known the truth, she believes. You did tell him the truth, sister - immediately and unceasingly.

Lastly, the evil cousin Gervaise. No spoiler here - we know from the beginning this guy's a jerk and playing everybody for the fool. He's in everyone's ear constantly but only the female lead knows his true vile nature. The entirety of the other characters are shocked by his depravity when it's finally proven. There are a few characters that voice regrets over not believing the female lead, but even then everyone remarked on his smooth manners making him so believable. Even when he told his outlandish stories? Yep, even then. The only liar in the book was the - wait for it - female lead, a vicar's daughter, for crying out loud. The only character ever required to prove anything is the female lead. Every other character can make a declaration and it's completely accepted. Ironically, the servants are all on the female lead's side; maybe as a statement about class structure of the time period.

*** Spoiler-free zone now. I can recommend this book for its writing style and action flow, but I also recommend antacids for the stomach-churning words and situations the female lead endures (up through the final chapter, no less!), and rose-colored glasses so you can see how the male lead could be so gullible. I would also read this in a cool place because your blood will likely boil over the unfolding dramas and scenarios. Brace yourself.