Jennie's B(ook)log

Title: Lord Perfect
Author: Loretta Chase
Published: 2006, Berkley
Category: Historical Romance
Rating: 6.5/10

This was a much, much more satisfying read than my last. I've just recently discovered Loretta Chase, with Mr. Impossible. And I found a free copy at work, which is always a good thing. The cover is truly God-awful, what was the art department thinking?? And I think they should have come up with a better title. I know it's part of a series (with Mr. Impossible and Miss Wonderful) but still.

Lord Perfect is the eldest Carsington brother, Benedict. He is "perfect"--dutiful and good, never getting into trouble or creating scandals. He is thrown together with our heroine, Bathsheba Wingate, when his nephew runs away with her daughter to find a hidden treasure. Bathsheba is one of the Dreadful DeLuceys, a family originally of good birth, who have been cast out of "good" society for being unscrupulous and mercenary. When Benedict and Bathsheba fall for each other, even though Bathsheba herself is perfectly moral and un-Dreadful, she and Benedict both know that she would never be accepted as his wife. An impossible situation...maybe in real life. But this is romance!

Chase writes very witty, clever heroines. And there is none of the overdramatic histrionics that are so common in romances. Just good action, funny dialogue, steamy love, and a satisfying conclusion. Basically all the things I look for in a good romance.

There is one more unwed Carsington brother, so I'm sure he has a book in the making.