Brook Ridge Press, $2.99, ISBN 978-0463508664
Historical Romance, 2018
Julia Honeyfield has no idea that she will live up to her last name when her ill mom packs her off into a carriage to London. You see, despite Julia’s fervent denial, her mother points out that their father, who left to buy whatever the 19th century equivalent to cigarettes is a year ago but has never shown up since, is never coming back so there is no way they will be able to survive on their own. No, Julia will have to find her own way in London, with mommy darling practically telling her to sell her honey field to the bees with the fattest bank account.
Despite this, Julia is still shocked to realize that she has been delivered to a brothel. What, she has to rut with men that shower me with nice things? Oh my god, perish the horrifying thought! She flees and tumbles right into the arms of Charles, the Duke of Selkirk. He brings her to his luxurious home, where his family treats her well, he shows her nice things and buys her pretty things, so naturally she gifts him her honey field without any promise of marriage.
Wait, what? It’s one thing if Julia had been consistent with her viewpoint and refused to put out, even if it meant starvation and death, unless the pee-pee in question comes with a ring, but no, she just swoons in the arms of a hot guy that treats her well and happily offers him for free the only thing of hers that may be perceived as valuable. What happens if he then kicked her out on the streets? Go back to the brothel and beg for a job?
Of course, Charles is a nice guy and he will never kick Julia out of his house, but still, this entire story would have easily led to Julia’s utter ruination anyway if she had put out to the wrong fellow. Hence, Amanda Mariel’s Her Perfect Rogue, whether by design or by accident, is another historical romance that sees a heroine happily la-la-la’ing her way into potential ruination and worse, only to be inadvertently rescued by the fact that the beanpole she is throwing herself onto for free is attached to a nice guy. Good for Julia to basically stumbling into a happy ending without any active agency on her part, and thank god for the rich, nice blokes of the world that gallantly save these stupid women from their own doom.
This is an alright rescue fantasy, well written enough to be a quick middling-sized read that offers very little surprises along the way, but I wish the author had done a little bit more to convince me that Julia deserves the happy ending of hers. Sure, Julia’s a sweet young lady, but my god, there’s nothing much up there in her attic.
