After a series of disappointments, I have finally found one I am loving to bits - Jo Beverley’s To Rescue a Rogue. Beverley is a hugely hit-or-miss author for me (My Lady Notorious is one of my all-time favorites but some of her novels, not so much). Luckily, TRaR falls into the ‘awesome’ pile. Not only is it pretty much hurt/comfort fantasy come true, I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen such an amazingly common-sense, sane heroine (the hero is awesome too, but the heroine’s sheer wonderfulness knows no bounds).
Mara, our heroine, has known Darius (Dare to his friends) all her life as Dare and her brother Simon were close friends. So when she gets into a scrape in London, it is second nature to ask for his assistance. However many things have happened since she last saw him when she was a gawky adolescent and he a charming and happy young man. For one thing, Mara grew up into a beautiful and strong young woman. For another, Dare was horribly wounded and left for dead at Waterloo. And after that he was ‘rescued’ by some bad guys who got him addicted to opium as part of some sort of revenge plan (I am not exactly clear on the details of said revenge plan (though it’s immaterial) as this book is part of a really long series, and I haven’t really read the rest - it’s fine as a stand-alone). Ever since he’s been rescued and came back, Dare has been a broken shadow of his former self - trying to recover and also to kick his opium addiction. And Mara decides to help.
Why is the book so wonderful? It’s romantic to bits, and Mara and Darius are just such good people, who are not just hormonal together but actually are genuinely friends and have fun together. You could actually see them spending years together. There is also h/c, of course (mmm) and all sorts of other wonderful things, but to me it ultimately comes down to Mara. She is pretty much the most sensible heroine I have ever come across in a romance novel. She realizes she is in love with Dare by about page 10 of the book, and then decides to both try to get him to fall in love with her, and also to help him get better/happier. She also tells him she loves him, without being pushy, but so he’d know. And there is also the fact that while she wants him off opium, she is aware he may never be able to get off it and her attitude is that as long he takes only a little so he can be functional bur not incapacitated, she can deal with it.
Dare is wonderful enough to deserve Mara though - he is obviously tormented and holding on to his sanity by the skin of his teeth (and at one point suicidal), but he is still such a good kind person with an incredibly strong will and conscience. I basically ship them so much and want him to get fixed and for them to be happy forever and ever.
Now off to read more…
ETA: I finished it, and it was wonderful from beginning to end! As a h/c junkie, my favorite part was, of course, when Dare finally went off opium entirely and Mara helped take care of him, but the whole book was A++++++++++
Mara, our heroine, has known Darius (Dare to his friends) all her life as Dare and her brother Simon were close friends. So when she gets into a scrape in London, it is second nature to ask for his assistance. However many things have happened since she last saw him when she was a gawky adolescent and he a charming and happy young man. For one thing, Mara grew up into a beautiful and strong young woman. For another, Dare was horribly wounded and left for dead at Waterloo. And after that he was ‘rescued’ by some bad guys who got him addicted to opium as part of some sort of revenge plan (I am not exactly clear on the details of said revenge plan (though it’s immaterial) as this book is part of a really long series, and I haven’t really read the rest - it’s fine as a stand-alone). Ever since he’s been rescued and came back, Dare has been a broken shadow of his former self - trying to recover and also to kick his opium addiction. And Mara decides to help.
Why is the book so wonderful? It’s romantic to bits, and Mara and Darius are just such good people, who are not just hormonal together but actually are genuinely friends and have fun together. You could actually see them spending years together. There is also h/c, of course (mmm) and all sorts of other wonderful things, but to me it ultimately comes down to Mara. She is pretty much the most sensible heroine I have ever come across in a romance novel. She realizes she is in love with Dare by about page 10 of the book, and then decides to both try to get him to fall in love with her, and also to help him get better/happier. She also tells him she loves him, without being pushy, but so he’d know. And there is also the fact that while she wants him off opium, she is aware he may never be able to get off it and her attitude is that as long he takes only a little so he can be functional bur not incapacitated, she can deal with it.
Dare is wonderful enough to deserve Mara though - he is obviously tormented and holding on to his sanity by the skin of his teeth (and at one point suicidal), but he is still such a good kind person with an incredibly strong will and conscience. I basically ship them so much and want him to get fixed and for them to be happy forever and ever.
Now off to read more…
ETA: I finished it, and it was wonderful from beginning to end! As a h/c junkie, my favorite part was, of course, when Dare finally went off opium entirely and Mara helped take care of him, but the whole book was A++++++++++