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Kate has always been a fun loving and
outgoing young woman. The problem with this is that a young
English woman is not supposed to get into the kind of
trouble that she does, constantly. In fact this seems to be
keeping any interesting suitors away from her, and getting
her into trouble. Her latest foray into adventure, while it
was supposed to teach someone else a lesson, seems to have
also hurt a few innocent parties along the way. Kate has
gotten into situations before where she tends to think and
act, without completely thinking through the actions, and
looking at who might get hurt.
Now her Aunt and Uncle are almost
beside themselves as her actions are starting to reflect
badly on them. While this is true, they are more concerned
with how it will affect Kate in the long run.
Enter Ally, a long time friend of the
family, and successful businessman in his own rite. He is
the younger brother to a Viscount, and has long seen Kate as
the pesky younger sister of his friends. Though she was
actually one of his friend’s cousins, when her father
passed, and her mother ran off, she went to live with her
Aunt and Uncle. Ally is driven nuts by Kate’s actions but
still is pulled into the role of watcher. He even sets up a
fake engagement when one of Kate’s forays gets out of hand.
But, will the engagement turn out to
really be a fake or is there more to their interactions than
they are giving each other credit for.
I was sucked into The Reluctant Petruchio long
before I decided I really needed to learn the definition of
the word. I found that it referred not to a definition but
to a Shakespearean character who like Ally was reluctantly
brought into service to coach a woman, and keep her in
line. I loved the spunk that Ms. Furness wrote into Kate’s
character, while keeping the types of things that she would
try true to the time period. Not only was I drawn right in
but the story kept my attention right. I loved how, as
usual, the main characters were the last to know what
everyone else did, that they were in love with each other.
If you love historical romances, as I do, than you will want
to pick up The Reluctant Petruchio to add to your
collection. |