The Perfect Rake: Merridew Sisters Series, Book 1 (Merridew Series) [Kindle Edition]

From the back cover
"Fleeing the harsh guardianship of her grandfather, Prudence Merridew escapes with her beautiful younger sisters to London. One of them must marry—and fast. To act as her sisters' chaperone, Prudence invents a secret engagement to a reclusive duke... But when the duke arrives unexpectedly in London, she needs his help to avert disaster.

Aristocratic Gideon, handsome, rakish and with a strong frivolous streak, casually hijacks Prudence's game, awarding himself a stolen kiss or three along the way. Used to managing sisters and elderly men, Prudence is completely out of her depth with a charming, devious and utterly irresistible rake. And her plot goes terribly—if deliciously—awry..."

I really enjoyed reading this book. The romance between the two main characters is nicely developed but the book shines with the wonderful side characters especially Great Uncle Ozzie and Aunt Augusta. It does get a little sad at times. This is definately better than your average period romance novel!!

Fleeing from the cruelty of their grandfather, Prudence Merridew and her younger sisters travel to London in the hope that one of them can contract a marriage and save the rest from their grandfather's tyranny. However, their Great Uncle Oswald won't hear of the younger 'beautiful' sisters having a come-out until 'plain' Prudence is at least betrothed.

Hence Prudence claims to be betrothed to the Duke of Dinstable, a renowned hermit. Unfortunately for her, the Duke has come to town and Great Uncle Oswald is determined to confront him. In her panic to prevent this Prudence travels to the Duke's house and seeks his help. However it's not the Duke she meets but his cousin Gideon Carradice a charmer and a rake who she mistakes for the Duke .......

Prepare yourself for the funniest scene i have ever read in a historical novel! I laughed out loud several times. I can't recommend this novel highly enough. The humour and romance continues throughout the book with equally amusing secondary characters that you want to meet again. Prudence is beautiful, but totally unaware of it, which leads to a number of amusing misunderstandings and you can't help falling in love with Gideon Carradice who is both funny, caring and charming.

This is the first novel by Anne Gracie that i have read but i now intend to read all the rest. This is my new favourite romance book and if all the rest of her books are like this one then Anne Gracie will, i'm sure, become my new favourite author!!!

I so enjoyed this book that it made me want to write my first review so that others could enjoy the book too.

Who the heck is Anne Gracie? I had no idea but various people recommended this book so I thought I'd give it a go. The cheesy title and the cover artwork weren't too encouraging (actually, apart from the new Arrow edition Georgette Heyer books, I tend to find most Regencies' artwork is toe-curlingly awful) and so I started the book without expecting too much.

But it was good - very good. Anne Gracie knows how to write, how to keep your attention even though not that much is happening in the plot. Prudence Merridew and her sisters (Faith, Hope, Charity and Grace) live with their horrible grandfather who regularly beats and whips them. They decide they have to escape him before he does them serious injury and whilst he is laid up with a broken ankle. So Prudence with her sisters, a maid and a footman, journey to London to throw themselves upon the mercy of their great-uncle, having faked a letter from his brother first of all.

And their Great-Uncle is delighted to see them and says he will launch them into society - only he has to launch Prudence first as she's plain (the other sisters are stunningly attractive). The problem is that Prudence and their sisters only have six weeks or so until their grandfather is up and about and realises they've gone (the servants were covering up for them). The plan was for one of them to marry within that time so that the others were under the protection of the new bridegroom. But the Great-Uncle's plans will ruin it - who will want to marry Prudence? Besides, she's already secretly betrothed to Phillip Otterbury and so can't accept another offer of marriage - but her Great-Uncle would not approve of Phillip, a farmer's younger son who has been in India for four years, so she pretends she is instead betrothed to the Duke of Dinsdale, a hermit who lives in Scotland.

But, as in all of these novels, things don't go smoothly. The Duke of Dinsdale happens to have arrived in London looking for a wife so Prudence has to go and see him to warn him about the fake engagement. But the dishevelled gentleman she meets isn't the Duke... and thus starts a strange flirtation with Lord Carradine. Of course he wouldn't find Prudence attractive, she knows that, and he's a well-known rake, so she doesn't make much of their time together.

The story continues (and I won't give anything more away) but what's so good about this book is the dialogue. Anne Gracie doesn't spend a great deal of time describing scenes, clothing, people - it's all about conversation and she makes it believable that the hero and heroine fall in love through their shared humour. She portrays how people can slide into love without really realising it and how misunderstandings can persist, especially for Prudence who knows she's no diamond of the first water. This is, perhaps, the only part of the book that didn't work for me - Lord Carradine finds Prudence absolutely beautiful and barely notices her sisters whereas everyone else finds the sisters stunning and Prudence plain. Would such a successful rake really have completely different tastes than the rest of the world? Or is it beer goggles?

Some of Prudence's fears are well written - does Carradine want her as a wife or a mistress? Does he take anything seriously? And his slow change from a rake to a caring and kind man is well written. There are a number of other romantic sub-plots that are very well written too. Anne Gracie is definitely an author to watch and I recommend this book as an enjoyable read.