LORD PERFECT

Author: Carla Cassidy ISBN: 0425208885 3/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: BERKLEY
Time Period: Regency 1821

IDEAL The heir to the Earl of Hargate, Benedict Carsington, Viscount Rathbourne, is the perfect aristocrat. Tall, dark, and handsome, he is known for his impeccable manners and good breeding. Benedict knows all the rules and has no trouble following them—until she enters his life. INFAMOUS Bathsheba Wingate belongs to the rotten branch of the DeLucey family: a notorious lot of liars, frauds, and swindlers. Small wonder her husband’s high-born family disowned him. Now widowed, she’s determined to give her daughter a stable life and a proper upbringing. Nothing and no one will disrupt Bathsheba’s plans—until he enters her life… SCANDALOUS Then Bathsheba’s hoyden daughter lures Benedict’s precocious nephew into a quest for a legendary treasure. To recover the would-be knights errant, Benedict and Bathsheba must embark on a rescue mission that puts them in dangerous, intimate proximity—a situation virtually guaranteed to end in mayhem—even scandal!—if anyone else were involved. But Benedict is in perfect control of events. Perfect control, despite his mad desire to break all the rules. Perfect control. Really.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Now this is the way I love my Loretta Chase! LORD PERFECT is fun and delightful, filled with wit, great characters, and the sort of bantering I love to see between characters. Ms. Chase sure can dream up the greatest and sexiest heroes when she wishes, and in my book, Benedict Carsington fits that mold to a tee.

Dubbed the "perfect" aristocrat by society, Benedict seems more than a little willing to "put his foot outside the box," so to speak, when he crosses paths with a beautiful young widow named Bathsheba DeLucey. Sparks immediately ignite between them, but the scandalous past of her family makes any sort of relationship with the arrogant and handsome earl seem utterly impossible. Leave it to the widow's impish young daughter, Olivia—who seems to possess more than a few of the DeLucey's more dubious traits—and Benedict's nephew, Peregrine, to bring the earl and Bathsheba together. When the two youngsters secretly embark on a quest to find the fabled DeLucey pirate treasure, Bathsheba and Benedict are left with no choice but to ally themselves in a hot pursuit of the runaways.

Everything about the fast-paced LORD PERFECT just sparkles. Benedict becomes endearing as his reserve begins to waiver, and the perfectly "perfect" aristocrat becomes not-so-perfect anymore. The air between he and Bathsheba sizzles, and the dry humor and wit with which they spar is just too perfect for any reader to miss. Olivia and Peregrine are as perfect together as their uncle and parent, and I hope somewhere down the line we see the two of them paired together, once again, in another confection of a story of which Ms. Chase is so wonderful at penning.

Loretta Chase has written some classic historicals, with THE HELLION and LORD OF SCOUNDRELS being two on my personal all-time "Best Read" list. However, I have no qualms whatsoever in adding LORD PERFECT to that lineup, and rounding out my "Most Wanted Wittiest, Handsomest, and Sexiest Aristocrats" list with the Earl of Hargate.

Short and sweet, LORD PERFECT is shear perfection—simply perfect—in every which way that matters.

Nancy Davis