Kathryn Caskie

Regency/Royle Sisters series

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There aren't many options for the Regency romance miss.

She can marry a man who doesn't love her, then capture his affection with her intelligence and curvier-than-is-the-fashion figure.

She might settle for being the loving mistress of one who is betrothed to another until he decides to defy convention to wed his light 'o love.

Or she can simply do what would be inconceivable for a man of her day, that is to say, do without.

That last option's a sticky wicket, for as you know, without a capitulation of even the most innocent sort, it's not so easy for the writer to conjure the heartache we so look forward to in anticipation of the Happily Ever After.

Sometimes authors choose to set the Regency miss on a course that allows her to experience an arc of maturity without their compromising her desire to wed a man who loves her -- rather than simply wedding the man who's ruined her.

It's a decision made between writer and heroine that lends a refreshing, yet still contextually realistic layer to any Regency.

When included within a cheery and slightly nutty romantic farce like Kathryn Caskie's terrific new "How to Seduce a Duke," the reader is treated to an element that renders any Regency miss infinitely more interesting -- and makes the desirably predictable outcome of the romance more interestingly predictable.

Mary Royle isn't certain, as are her sisters, that they're the unacknowledged daughters of England's Prince Regent. So she concentrates instead on ensuring a solid future by winning the heart of the man she adores from afar: Quinn Wetherly, war hero and handsome viscount.

Her plans are thwarted at every turn by the viscount's step-brother Rogan, Duke of Blackstone. Rogan's seen enough guinea-grubbing women to be certain that Mary's just a déclassécountry miss out to snare Quinn in the parson's mousetrap.

Yet Rogan's plan to keep Quinn safe from Mary's wiles by keeping her constantly in his own company may not have been at all the thing; he finds her maidenly, yet passionate, responses to his kisses deuced troubling.

Worse, his own response to her attempts at innocent seduction could have him the one dangling from a preacher's noose of his own making. And he'd be solely to blame, for surely, what woman can see past his title and money to the man?

Caskie's romances are charming little entertainments, made even more special by her wacky sets of supporting players, in this case, a group of past-their-primes rogues who remind rakes everywhere what becomes of lovable profligates whose hearts are never rescued by innocent romance misses.

The men meddle and machinate, and generally add a madcap tone to an already lovely and lighthearted novel.

Don't be missish, doing without "How to Seduce a Duke" for no good reason.

Buy the book.

www.KathrynCaskie.com

Next week's review and AuthorView: "Hot Dish," by Connie Brockway