The Rake and the Recluse
By Jenn LeBlanc
Genre: Time Travel/Historical
Francine Larrabee woke up on the wrong side of the century. She was fairly certain she went to sleep in her own comfy bed, but she doesn’t quite seem to be there now. Only adding to her problems is that she has no voice, is constantly being glowered at by a large, stunning man who is obsessed with propriety, and she is apparently betrothed to another horrid little man, determined to ruin her, and any other girls that get in his way.
How does she find herself in the past, when she couldn’t even find herself in her present? How does a self sufficient businesswoman survive in a time when women were still considered property for the whole of their lives and what is she going to do with this man who draws her to him so fiercely.
Okay I have to be honest I got this book because of a twitter conversation with the author. As I was already reading a couple other books I didn’t pick it up right away, but once I did I was completely hooked.
Time travel books are one of my favorite books, because of the possibilities that can happen between the characters.
When Rox and Francine first meet she is a force to be reckoned with. She is in his face about where she is and what she is doing there, and how she is being treated. It’s as she realizes the truth that she loses her voice and has no way to communicate with anyone that she begins to discover who she really is inside.
Rox has no clue how to deal with a woman like Francine and so he does what comes naturally to him he re-treats. Francine however won’t let him and makes him come out and deal with her. This causes him to have to deal with his emotions something that he has never done.
Francine has no clue how she came to be in the past and wants nothing more than to get back to the future or does she.
There is an amazing set of secondary characters that enrich the story and make you want to know more about them.
I really liked this book. It was a different kind of travel book that what I normally read. This was such a fun and different read that I literally devoured it in a couple of hours. I absolutely loved the pictures that were throughout the book.
If you are love time travel with a twist, withdrawn and tortured heroes, than you will love this book.
Grade: A-/B+
How can she give him a piece of her mind, when you first write: she has no voice?
I bought this book at RomCon because you were raving about it so much. I haven’t read it, but I looked at all of the pictures, LOL! Plus – I got to chat with Jenn LeBlanc for a bit at RomCon and she is a doll.