Guest Review: The Rake and the Recluse by Jenn LeBlanc

Tracy’s review of The Rake and the Recluse by Jenn LeBlanc

The Lady in Question

Francine Larrabee woke up on the wrong side of the century. She was fairly certain she went to sleep in her own comfy bed, but she doesn’t quite seem to be there now. Only adding to her problems is that she has no voice, is constantly being glowered at by a large, stunning man who is obsessed with propriety, and she is apparently betrothed to a horrid little man, determined to ruin her, and any other girls that get in his way.

The Rake

The Lord Peregrine Trumbull, Viscount Roxleigh, is a rake of the worst order. As the spare to the heir he went off to the Royal Navy then returned to conquer the young ladies of London. With never a care in the world save his brothers survival (which allows his freedom) Perry has quite a name for himself in the ton: Viscount Impermissible.

The Recluse

Gideon Alrick Trumbull, 10th Duke of Roxleigh, came to his responsibilities much sooner than expected. Groomed from birth to oversee one of the oldest and most respected titles in England, the weight of his duty to the crown is heavy. One of his obligations requires that he entice a suitable lady to marriage, unfortunately his demeanor does much to quash the advances of any admirers of: the Duke of Impossible.

Francine Larrabee is in a cab on her way to work one day when the cab stops suddenly, she hits her head on the partition and she wakes up in another century. She is now in the late 19th century and she’s being taken care of by the Duke of Roxleigh and his staff. Not only is she in a different time and country she doesn’t even look like herself. Her hair had changed color from blond to brown – from short to long. She has one great tantrum at the Duke about being kept against her will and then she loses her voice. The doctor wants to take her to Bedlam as he doesn’t think she’s quite right in the head but the Duke refuses to let him. For quite a length of time she is unable to do anything but whisper but that doesn’t stop Francine from finding an intense connection to the Duke.

The Duke is confounded by his guest. She is beautiful but when she yelled at him he was astounded by the fire of her personality. He takes care of her and slowly starts to come out of the self-induced shell that he had created. He starts to get to know Francine and he very much enjoys her company. But she is betrothed to a wretched little man who is determined to get Francine back. The Duke and his brother, Perry, decide to take matters into their own hands and Perry becomes not only Francine’s guardian but the guardian of her two younger sisters as well (not that Francine – who in this century is French and is known as Madeleine – knows her sisters or her supposed parents but she plays along). The Duke and Francine fall in love and want nothing more than to be together but Lord Hepplewort, her previously betrothed, won’t give her up quite that easily.

Now for my problems with the book…unfortunately there were more than a few. First there was SO much going on that the love story was almost lost in the shuffle. We also had Perry and his guardianship; we had the sister of one of the Duke’s servants who is attacked and almost killed; we had the tragedy of the Duke’s mother that comes to light; we had the architect and his discovery of a secret room; we had the love of said architect for an Earl’s daughter…um, I think that’s it, but that’s a lot! Even for a long book, which this was, there were too many side stories for me. I know the book was entitled The Rake and the Recluse, and yes, both of those were included in this story but really, the story was about the recluse and his love story. While Perry, the rake, was a lovely secondary character I felt that his part was really just a set up for the next book.

I also felt that Francine’s personality was too mercurial. She seemed like a regular 21st century girl when she arrived and threw her tantrum. I realize that she didn’t want to be sent to the loony bin so she tried to keep her temper under control and act like a regular 19th century woman, but then when her normal personality showed up again it was so unexpected and I just couldn’t see everyone accepting it as they did as she was acting a bit crazy. I also kept waiting for the revelation to the Duke by Francine about the whole time jump thing but that was skimmed over in the story and accepted by him unquestioningly – really? No questions about her story at all? I find that impossible to believe.

This was an illustrated version and personally I didn’t feel that the pictures enhanced my reading experience in any way but some people might like them.

The end of the book was another portion of it that I was greatly confused by. The book was written in sections so when there was yet another section at the end of the book I thought it was part of the book but after reading it and being left in what felt like the middle of the story I think I was reading an extremely large excerpt of the next book which is Perry’s. But I really have no idea. There was no part that said it was an excerpt…there was no part that said “The End” after the previous section so I’m not sure what to think. If it wasn’t an excerpt and just the end – I didn’t like it at all. But if it was, then why was it not stated? I can honestly say I don’t like being this confused at the end of a book! lol

Now that I’ve told you what I didn’t like about the book let me tell you what I did like. It’s really quite a lovely love story when you get down to the nitty gritty. Francine and Gideon, the Duke, had a wonderful romance and I loved seeing Gideon becoming the man I think he was meant to be. He truly blossomed with Francine and I loved seeing that.

I also really liked Perry and Gideon’s characters together. They had lost both of their parents and had formed a bond between them that was quite unshakable. I love reading about family ties that survive tragedy as I believe that the tragedy makes them stronger. The two men very much loved each other in their own way and it showed in their actions.

While there were chunks of this book that I didn’t care for I liked it for the most part. While I would have tightened up the story and shortened it a great deal (I probably would have ended the book at page 440 instead of 575 …or was it 533? – IDK as I’m still confused about the end) in quite a few places I wasn’t the author so there ya go.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

This book is available from The Illustrated Romance. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Edited to add: You can buy this book for 55% off here by using the code BookBinge.

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