The Runaway Countess by Leigh LaValle
Publisher: Samhain, 2012
Genre: Romance
Sub-genre: Historical
Rating: 3 pint of blood
This is pretty standard cover art in Romancelandia these days. Big dress that could be sort of historical looking in a bold colour, heroine leaning up on hero, both their heads cut off. Kind of paint-by-numbers, really. It's not bad, but it's not great, and it's not something that would make me stop to look in a bookstore. (Although those moobs do look like they could make a comfy pillow.)
So why did I read it? Well, I heard it was more or less a Robin Hood-type story with some gender reversal, and that was enough to pique my interest. She robs from the rich to give to the poor; he's the law in these parts.
Oh, come on. Robin Hood be awesome. You know that caught your attention, too. Even if it only meant you started thinking about Richard Armitage.
Once upon a time, Mazie Chetwyn was a lady of high society. That was many years and heartbreaks ago, though, and now she's devoted to protecting those who can't protect themselves, fighting injustice wherever she sees it. In her quest, she joins forces with a local highwayman who steals from the rich to give to the poor.
It only takes one thing to go wrong, though, and Mazie is caught. Trent Carthwick, the twelfth Earl of Radford, is determined to discover the identity of the Midnight Rider, a man who is making Trent's life a political nightmare. Since Mazie is his only way of getting to the man, he's determined to keep her until she gives up what she knows.
Mazie has her reasons for protecting the Midnight Rider, though, and even if she wanted to give up the highwayman's secrets, how could she possibly trust the Earl of Radford, whose father is the reason for the injustices she has to fight in the first place? By his own admission, Trent aspires to be just like his father. The two stubborn wills are set to face off, and in an attempt to figure out how best to deal with her, Trent begins digging in Mazie's background, discovering a few surprising things she would much rather have kept hidden. The more he digs in the past, though, the closer he comes to some dark secrets in his own history, things he would be much happier not knowing about.
The majority of Mazie's secrets are hidden from the reader as well as from Trent, at least until the opportune moment. Some readers might find this helps to drive the tension, and others will find themselves extremely annoyed at this tactic, especially considering the majority of the story is told from Mazie's perspective. There were a number of times I just couldn't understand her reasoning, even after her secrets were revealed. She tells Trent quite honestly that she has no idea where the Midnight Rider is or how to get in contact with him, but then refuses to divulge the nature of her relationship with him. Information that could bring a greater understanding from Trent about her loyalties to the Midnight Rider and might have even made him more sympathetic. But no, lock that up in spite of the fact that it really isn't going to help him find the Midnight Rider any faster than you could do yourself, which you've already admitted you can't do. Sure. Ok.
The chemistry between Mazie and Trent is full of sparks, and although I'm not sure I found a raging fire in there, I do think those sparks could ignite into something more permanent than the intense attraction they start off with. It was fun to watch the relationship develop between them, although I would have liked to see Mazie hold her own more often. When they disagreed (which was often), 95% of the time Trent is right, or at least is portrayed as being so. I very much liked the contrast between her free-spirited attempts to seek justice outside the system, and his rigid, "by the book" approach, but it would have worked better for me if there was more give and take there instead of just constantly seeing how Mazie was always wrong in her approach.
The Runaway Countess is available as an e-book through the kindle store
or your favourite e-book retailer. My copy was generously provided by the author.
Genre: Romance
Sub-genre: Historical
Rating: 3 pint of blood
This is pretty standard cover art in Romancelandia these days. Big dress that could be sort of historical looking in a bold colour, heroine leaning up on hero, both their heads cut off. Kind of paint-by-numbers, really. It's not bad, but it's not great, and it's not something that would make me stop to look in a bookstore. (Although those moobs do look like they could make a comfy pillow.)
So why did I read it? Well, I heard it was more or less a Robin Hood-type story with some gender reversal, and that was enough to pique my interest. She robs from the rich to give to the poor; he's the law in these parts.
Oh, come on. Robin Hood be awesome. You know that caught your attention, too. Even if it only meant you started thinking about Richard Armitage.
Once upon a time, Mazie Chetwyn was a lady of high society. That was many years and heartbreaks ago, though, and now she's devoted to protecting those who can't protect themselves, fighting injustice wherever she sees it. In her quest, she joins forces with a local highwayman who steals from the rich to give to the poor.
It only takes one thing to go wrong, though, and Mazie is caught. Trent Carthwick, the twelfth Earl of Radford, is determined to discover the identity of the Midnight Rider, a man who is making Trent's life a political nightmare. Since Mazie is his only way of getting to the man, he's determined to keep her until she gives up what she knows.
Mazie has her reasons for protecting the Midnight Rider, though, and even if she wanted to give up the highwayman's secrets, how could she possibly trust the Earl of Radford, whose father is the reason for the injustices she has to fight in the first place? By his own admission, Trent aspires to be just like his father. The two stubborn wills are set to face off, and in an attempt to figure out how best to deal with her, Trent begins digging in Mazie's background, discovering a few surprising things she would much rather have kept hidden. The more he digs in the past, though, the closer he comes to some dark secrets in his own history, things he would be much happier not knowing about.
The majority of Mazie's secrets are hidden from the reader as well as from Trent, at least until the opportune moment. Some readers might find this helps to drive the tension, and others will find themselves extremely annoyed at this tactic, especially considering the majority of the story is told from Mazie's perspective. There were a number of times I just couldn't understand her reasoning, even after her secrets were revealed. She tells Trent quite honestly that she has no idea where the Midnight Rider is or how to get in contact with him, but then refuses to divulge the nature of her relationship with him. Information that could bring a greater understanding from Trent about her loyalties to the Midnight Rider and might have even made him more sympathetic. But no, lock that up in spite of the fact that it really isn't going to help him find the Midnight Rider any faster than you could do yourself, which you've already admitted you can't do. Sure. Ok.
The chemistry between Mazie and Trent is full of sparks, and although I'm not sure I found a raging fire in there, I do think those sparks could ignite into something more permanent than the intense attraction they start off with. It was fun to watch the relationship develop between them, although I would have liked to see Mazie hold her own more often. When they disagreed (which was often), 95% of the time Trent is right, or at least is portrayed as being so. I very much liked the contrast between her free-spirited attempts to seek justice outside the system, and his rigid, "by the book" approach, but it would have worked better for me if there was more give and take there instead of just constantly seeing how Mazie was always wrong in her approach.
The Runaway Countess is available as an e-book through the kindle store
or your favourite e-book retailer. My copy was generously provided by the author.