Mr. Impossible
92. Loretta Chase, Mr. Impossible
Rupert Carsington, the fourth son of the Earl of Hargate, has been packed off to Egypt by his father in disgrace. Once there, he is promptly jailed for having a scuffle with the local soldiers. Meanwhile, the beautiful young widow Daphne Pembrooke has an even more serious problem: her brother Miles has just been kidnapped. Miles is widely believed to be an exceptional scholar of Egyptian hieroglyphs, but in fact Daphne is the true expert; she simply conceals her intellect because of the stigma attached to “bookish” women. Fearing that Miles’ kidnapping is connected to his supposed knowledge of hieroglyphs, Daphne sets out to rescue him. However, she needs an appropriately strong man to accompany her, matching his brute strength to her brains. Daphne bails Rupert out of jail, and the two of them set forth on an exciting adventure throughout Egypt, falling in love along the way.
Several people have encouraged me to read this book, even though I wasn’t a big fan of Miss Wonderful, the first book in Chase’s Carsington series. Luckily, their advice was true - this book is a lot better than its predecessor! (And don’t worry, you don’t need to read book 1 to understand this one!) My favorite thing about it was the playful banter between Rupert and Daphne. He frequently poses as a “cheerful blockhead,” although he’s a lot smarter than he lets on; meanwhile, she’s a strong and courageous woman who’s not afraid to trade insult for insult. The Egyptian setting was also very interesting, and it made me curious to learn more about the antiquities trade in England and France during this period (the 1820s). I didn’t much care for the erotic scenes, particularly because they seemed completely unnecessary to the plot, but I guess that’s to be expected in a romance novel. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to fans of Regency romance!