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After this inaupicious meeting, Alasdair finds himself wanting to apologise, so he tracks Kate down... and discovers that she is a distant cousin of the Scalbys, a couple on whom he's plotted revenge for years. He blames them for his father's ruin and suicide and, we suspect, probably more too. He has the evidence to destroy them, but he wants to do it publicly, and he thinks that Kate would be the perfect means of getting close to them. So he suggests a deal to Kate: pretending that he needs help to be rehabilitated into polite society, he offers to squire her around to social events she won't get a chance to go to otherwise, if she will help to make him respectable.
Is Alasdair being fair to Kate? His best friend, Leigh, continually urges him to think of her and draw back before Kate gets hurt. In particular, Leigh says, what if she falls in love with him? She won't, Alasdair says - but can he guarantee it? He thinks he can guarantee that he won't have any feelings for her greater than fondness - but can he prevent himself?
The scenes of dialogue between Kate and Alasdair are tremendously enjoyable, and their first kiss - when it finally comes - is explosive. Kate is a fascinating heroine, worldy-wise in so many ways and yet naive in others. Alasdair is coldly cynical, and of course he is using Kate in quite a cold-blooded way, and yet he gradually reveals that he does still have a heart - and a soul.
Where the book began to lose its way, for me, was close to the end, and this is why it gets four stars rather than five. While the final chapter or two of the book - where we finally see Alasdair make his choice between revenge or love, and he almost makes the wrong one, as another review notes - are very well done indeed, the three or so before that just feel like filler, as if we're marching time waiting for the final denouement. Nothing much happens, and I wondered what the point was.
Layton again gives much detail about the London underworld, a feature of some of her earlier Signets and, of course, Gilly's story from her C series. Here, too, I felt that some of it could have been trimmed; we don't need quite so much extraneous information.
In terms of secondary characters, I liked Leigh and Sibyl very much indeed, and I'm hoping that Layton plans a book - or books - about them. However, I see that her next book is about neither. Still, we can hope!
wmr-uk
Secondly, as someone pointed out to me on a board, this book is essentially about Revenge (with a capital R). It reminds me of other revenge-oriented books that I love - These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer, By Arrangement by Madeline Hunter, among others. Keep in mind however (and this is a bit of a spoiler), that the hero does not allow his love for the heroine to distract him from his ultimate vengeance, even though he does make a couple of compromises here and there. If you loved the Duke of Avon in These Old Shades, this will be right up your alley. [And Katherine comes off better than does Leonie in the Heyer book]. If you believe that love completely or partially changes a man, and that love should definitely allow the hero to give up his plans for revenge (especially if they hurt other people), you might be put off. I don't think it is fair to compare this book to Mary Jo Putney's Silk and Shadows, because in that book, the hero's revenge is hurting other people, not just the heroine - and in very material and physical terms. In this book, Alasdair's revenge nearly hurts the heroine badly (when she is kidnapped) but he makes every effort to rescue her. It is true that he contemplates his revenge all through his subsequent courtship of the heroine, and that his need to revenge himself could have had a disastrous effect on his marriage. [For which and other minor flaws, I do take off one point here].
On the other hand, Alasdair is also keeping secrets from his wife, at least until their wedding night when, after the ultimate intimacy, he will tell her all his secrets. [Compare this with Heyer's Duke of Avon who keeps secrets from his wife all his life]. If you don't like books where a major secret is sprung on you nearly at the end, avoid this book. That secret goes a long way along with his professed reasons to explain why Alasdair is so driven by the need for revenge.
I still think this is a great book, an unusual one for Layton, and a clear homage to Heyer in more ways than one. But, if Revenge Plots trouble you, and a hero like Alasdair (who nearly allows his desire for revenge to consume him, and who refuses to give up that long-withheld desire for love) repels you, avoid this book. I am not usually fond of Revenge Plots, unless very well-done, but I happen to consider this well-done. This is a story of a man who finds love at the same time that he finds the opportunity for revenge, and who satisfies both his need to love and be loved at the same time that he tries to carry out his revenge. If you like the Duke of Avon in THESE OLD SHADES, you may enjoy this book (although Alasdair is of course not omniscient!).
Tall and well-built (if not handsome) Sir Alasdair St. Erth is working through the endgame of vengeance. He has built up a fortune abroad in mysterious ways and has an uncivilized habit of pulling a gun when startled. Now he just has to work out how to force a confrontation with his foes - a couple called the Scalbys. Hunting for a way to do that he starts to mingle with society and is rescued from a social trap by Katherine Corbet, who just happens to be a cousin of the Scalbys.
Poor and pretty young Katherine Corbet has come to London to visit with her cousins the Swansons, and has been kept hidden away (along with the youngest sister) while the Swansons try to marry off three more of their many rich but ugly daughters. Watching the crowd from a hidden way Katherine and her friend Sibyl Swanson overhear the plot to compromise Alasdair into marriage, and Katherine pops up in the correct room at the right moment. Little does she know that Alasdair will latch onto her as a perfect key to his scheme and insist on plotting a way to bring her and Sibyl out into society where the Scalbys will certainly hear rumors about Alasdair and Katherine.
The plot grows more complicated with more parties who wish to harm Alasdair appearing, a deadly street fight, and an abduction. But it all boils down to : will Alasdair continue to hold vengeance as his highest priority, or will love change everything?
Amidst the improbabilities and melodrama of the plot, Alasdair and Katherine shine as flesh-and-blood human lovers. You will cheer for them in their successes and fear for them in their troubles. Recommended.
At the Swanson Ball, country mouse Katherine Corbet shows the strength of a lioness protecting her cubs when she helps Alasdair escape the machinations of a marriage minded woman. Though he realizes she is an innocent, Alasdair decides she is the perfect pawn to enable him to complete his personal mission. However, as he begins to fall in love with his sacrificial lamb, he starts questioning his desires because he knows when he gains checkmate he loses everything.
Though the theme of revenge and romance has been used numerous times in novels and movies, Edith Layton provides Regency readers with a strong tale due to a delightful cast. The lead couple is wonderful as Alasdair struggles between love and revenge knowing he needs the former, but remains obsessed with the latter though the presence of Katherine has weakened his resolve. Ms. Layton provides her usual exciting novel starring two strong protagonists that will leave fans satiated and new readers as fans.
Harriet Klausner
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