BEGUILED

Author: Shannon Drake ISBN: 0373771312 12/2006 HISTORICAL Publisher: HQN
Time Period: Turn of the Century, 1890's

Who can resist a dashing highwayman? Ally Grayson never wanted to be a heroine—she dreamed of writing great stories, not living in a fairy tale. But when she's abducted bv a charming highwayman right out of a novel, Ally finds herself thoroughly enchanted. No matter that she's betrothed to another—or that she has no intention of binding herself in an arranged marriage anyway. But when Mark, her burdensome fiance, is revealed to be none other than the rogue of her dreams, Ally must make a choice: plunge into a world of murder and deceit without a protector, or place her trust in the man who lies to her but makes her heart sing.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I must admit, Shannon Drake and I had parted ways over a year ago when I reviewed WICKED, the first book in this series. That's not because I don't appreciate or enjoy her work, because I do and have in the past. No, our amicable parting came over one simple, irritating item, an item that has appeared more frequently in her books and seems to multiply as rapidly as rabbits. It's just a small thing, really, but one that can make or break a book for me if it's overused. That item is: the simple exclamation mark (!).

But when BEGUILED came into us for review, and I read the book blurb, I became intrigued and thought, now this looks like it'd be good. Not to mention that it had been awhile since I'd attempted to read her again. Perhaps Drake's writing style had changed, or maybe her editor, new or old, suddenly realized there was an over population of those pesky little upright dotted slashes. Nevertheless, always one to be cautious, I waded into the first chapter with highlighter in hand, ready to go exclamation point hunting if need be and include their sum in this review. But guess what? THERE ARE HARDLY ANY! *doing the happy dance here* Yes, there is joy in this little Michigan town tonight.

And guess what else? I genuinely liked this story, in spite of the fact that the falling in love bits happened a bit too quickly, Mark's moonlighting job wasn't all that convincing or even necessary to the storyline, and the characters didn't exactly have the greatest depth known to romance literature, something I know Drake is much more capable of writing. A little less time spent on the suspense and a bit more delving into Ally's and Mark's characters would have been to BEGUILED's advantage. But the story's setting, toward the end of Queen Victoria's reign during the second industrial revolution where you've got such a wonderful mix of old and new—horses versus the new automobile and electric lights versus gas lamps, for example—well, it's a great age to set a storyline into and something that Drake did very well.

I'm happy to give BEGUILED a 4 Rose Read, because even though it is lacking in some qualities I expect in a romance story (and I just didn't see its relationship to the fairy tale, The Little Mermaid, that Drake says this story is based upon), it is an above average read and one I did enjoy.

Whether you're are a fan or not of Shannon Drake—and happily, she and I are now amicable again as long as she can keep those pesky dotted slashes at bay—BEGUILED really is well worth the read and a book I'm happy to recommend.

Nancy Davis