ONE WILD NIGHT
Author: Barbara Dawson-Smith ISBN:0312982291 9/2003 HISTORICAL Publisher: ST. MARTIN'S PRESS
Time Period: Regency-1816
I have always taken pride in my bad reputation. Polite society viewed me as depraved and utterly dissolute, for I was a disciple of passion. Pleasure was my hallmark, women my pastime. That is, before the incomparable Lady Charlotte Quinton disrupted my life -- again. Due to a scandal of her own making, she had been banished from home for five years. Apparently she decided that a life of boring respectability was the key to her happiness. We might have continued down our divergent paths if not for the vicious attack on our grandmothers. Tracking a dangerous criminal occupied my time, but the tart-tongued spinster Charlotte occupied my mind – and my desires. Certainly no other woman in London was immune to my charms. Yet the more Charlotte spurned me, the more I vowed to have her. After all, I can resist anything but temptation . . . .
--The Memoirs of a Rake by Brand Villiers, fifth Earl of Faversham
Visit Barbara's website at: http://www.barbaradawsonsmith.com/ |
 RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS: 
Brand Villiers is the Earl of Faversham. He's a good looking guy with a bad reputation. Gambler, womanizer, and former member of the now defunct hellfire club, The Lucifer League. Now somebody is killing off former members one by one and he is determined to find out who.
Lady Charlotte Quinton comes to London when her grandmother is in a carriage accident with her two friends, one of whom happens to be Brand's grandmother. Though they grew up together, Brand and Charlotte haven't seen each other in the five years, since Charlotte was exiled to York due to a scandal which indirectly involved Brand. They are not on the best of terms. Believing that the old ladies may have been a target of the killer, Charlotte is determined to find the killer also. Forcing Brand to accept the fact that she is going to help him - like it or not - with his investigation forces them to discover each other.
Brand discovers that Charlotte has changed from a spoiled, bitter and conniving woman into a poised, considerate yet strong-willed woman. A woman he desires to have in his life, though not necessarily as his wife. Charlotte discovers that there is more to Brand than what he has striven so hard to make society believe - that he is worthy of their contempt. She finds herself falling in love with him, but sees no future with him. Charlotte desires, more than anything, to be a wife and mother. Brand has sworn he would not marry and doesn't want children.
The interaction between these two characters was quite entertaining. One often baiting the other just to see what the response would be.
All characters in ONE WILD NIGHT have a lot of history with each other from previous books, but this book stands on it's own without having to read the others. What you need to know is told without dragging the story down. This story does not drag at all; far from it. It's definitely a page turner.
I think what I liked most about this book is that I could visualize each and every moment of it. Almost like watching a movie, except I was reading it. If there wasn't dialogue, there was motion. When a character was remembering an event, you remembered with them; you could feel them snap out of it and back to what was going on around them.
Barbara Dawson-Smith had me hooked from the very first page to the very last. While I read a lot of books I can't put down, this was a book I COULD NOT put down. Loved it and will be looking for others by this author.
Sue Cloud |
