A Lady’s Guide to Rakes
Meredith Merriweather has only good intentions when she sets out to research the behavior of rakes in Regency-era London. After all, she herself has suffered greatly at the hands of a rake and wants only to protect other innocent maidens from same fate. Her book, A Lady’s Guide to Rakes, will teach other young women how to safeguard themselves against the temptations offered by this particular sub-species of man. Meredith’s rallying cry, “once a rake, always a rake,” propels her higher and higher until she actually falls out of a hot air balloon and lands in the lap of her most recent target, the notorious Lord Lansing, Alexander Lamont. Lord Lansing, however, insists he’s reformed, and Meredith’s great-aunts, Letitia and Viola, seem to be under the impression that reformed rakes make the best husbands.
This light, amusing novel follows Meredith as she stumbles from one comical situation to another, all in her quest to study Lord Lansing without actually getting caught in his seductive embrace. Her great-aunts, fresh from their previous appearances in Kathryn Caskie’s two previous novels Rules of Engagement and Lady in Waiting, certainly don’t help Meredith’s cause. The characters are funny, occasionally silly, but the writing supports the humor without letting hero or heroine fall into caricature.
