Every romance reader deserves to be gifted with a novel like "A Most Unsuitable Man" every now and then -- a novel where the hero is honourable and thrilling, the heroine is intelligent and determined and where the romance is both passionate and poignant. A follow-up of "Winter Fire," this is, for me anyway, one of the best romance novels that Jo Beverly has written to date.
Damaris Myddleton has just inherited her ruthless father's fortune. And having lived quietly in the country near penury all these years, has decided that what she wants is to belong to the glittering world of the aristocracy. But in order to do that she would have to marry a titled gentleman. And after careful consideration, she settles on the impoverished Marquess of Ashart. Except that Ashart, having fallen in love with his aunts' companion, Genova Smith, opts to marry Genova instead, much to Damaris' humiliation. Now she must look for some other impoverished aristocrat to marry. Definitely she shouldn't waste any time of Ashart's good friend, Mr. Fitzroger. An adventurer, with a scandalous past and no money, Mr. Fitzroger is exactly the sort of person she should avoid. Except for the fact that he seems to understand her completely, that he makes her pulses and has agreed to stand her friend. Thrown together by unforeseen circumstances, Damaris and Fitzroger find themselves working together to untangle a tantalising secret; and the more Damaris comes to know Fitzroger, the more she begins to wonder about her plan to marry a title. After all, shouldn't an heiress be able to buy what she wants? And if she should want an adventurer who fires her blood and who matches her in intelligence and temperament, what's to stop her...
I've always preferred Jo Beverly's Georgian romances to her Regency-ear ones. Perhaps it's because she's given her Georgian heroes and heroines different temperaments from her Regency ones. Somehow, her Georgian heroes usually expect the heroines to be intelligent and independent and courageous, and all bent out of shape if the heroine actually has a thought in her head! This was definitely the case in "A Most Suitable Man." Damaris and Fitzroger were (obviously) a perfectly matched pair: Fitzroger was noble and honourable, while Damaris was determined and courageous. Each appreciated the other's sterling qualities, and worked well together to achieve their goal. And this, more than anything else, raised the passionate romance that developed between them to the level of a "once-in-a-lifetime-love." So that all in all, I'd vote this as a romance novel not to be missed, and a definite keeper.
