To Rescue a Rogue

Author: Jo Beverley
Published: September 5, 2006 (Signet)
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 8/10

My first Jo Beverley, and it was pretty good!

Adamara St. Bride is on the verge of scandal, walking down a London street wearing nothing but a shift and stockings, covered with a blanket, and she needs help fast. She's quite aware that she's on the verge of being ruined should she be discovered, and takes refuge outside the front door of an old friend, Lord Darius Debenham. He finds her in front of his door and brings her inside and gets her cleaned up and clothed with one of his sister's old gowns, and is rather incensed at the idea of a man (old enough to be Mara's father) taking advantage of Mara and imprisoning her away from home sans clothing (so she can't escape), but that didn't stop the daring Mara.

She's cursed with what the St. Bride family calls "devil hair," inherited from the ancestor, Ademar St. Bride. It's very dark hair with red highlights, and only she and Simon, her older brother, have it. In short, it dooms Mara to a life of passion, recklessness, and obstinance. Mara's object of obstinance is now Dare. She realizes, after he rescues her, that she's loved him for the longest time, as he was always around when they were children. He has become a strong and kind man, but went through a tragic experience in the war. He was trampled by the cavalry when his horse was shot out from under him, and an evil Belgian widow nursed him back to health, but kept him captive by addicting him to opium. He's now trying to break away from the addiction, but the previous times he's tried, he's failed and almost died. This time, it's all or nothing, and Mara is going to make sure he succeeds... so they can live happily ever after.

There's not much more to the story beyond Mara and Dare trying to get through his addiction. There's a bit of intrigue when a spurned lover (Mara's old dude), tries starting a nasty rumor about Dare, saying that he was hiding from the fighting and that's why he was trampled by cavalry. They solve the problem quickly, with the help of the Rogues, a group of twelve men formed while youngsters at school. Jo Bev has a series of titles for these Rogues, and apparently, this is the final story to be told. I was confused sometimes, overwhelmed by the sheer number of new characters being thrown at me, as there are 10 living Rogues and most of them are married, so you meet their wives as well. Everyone feels it's honorable to be one of the Rogues, and even though some of their friends want to be in the group, you can only be a Rogue if you were in the original group, or if you marry into the exclusive club. So, that closes the doors to their male friends, even though they joke about it.

It was a great love story, but I didn't feel like it was very wildly passionate. It was a deep, steady love, and that's good too. Mara declares her love for him very early on, which I appreciate, and Dare admits his love and desire to marry her soon as well, which I appreciate even more. I get annoyed when the hero and heroine decide to love each other and live happily ever after in the last 5 pages in the book, making it feel like the end was far too abrupt. This is why I'm so fond of epilogues.

I will definitely read more Jo Bev in the future.