Charming story. Re-read and still enjoyed it on maybe the second or third read, Rake and the Reformer are the sequel to this. ( )

The Diabolical Baron was Mary Jo Putney’s debut novel, and it shows. It is slow going in the first part of the story, but once she hit her stride, the characters began to shine. In the end, it is an amusing comedy of errors as two couples find love.

Full review: https://rebeccasreadingcorner.blog/review-mary-jo-putney-the-diabolical-baron/ ( )

This has a convoluted plot that takes a long time to get to the obvious solution. Jason Kincaid picks Caroline Hanscombe's name out of a hat for his wife, but the lady only accepts his proposal due to family circumstances. When he invites her to a house party at his estate, he finds that her aunt/chaperone is his long-lost love, Jessica. Meanwhile, Caroline, who loves music, meets the neighbor whose piano she plays on as often as she can and falls in love with him. Since everyone is obligated to someone different, the situation is awkward and it takes a while for resolution - too long in my opinion. Everyone is longing for someone they can't have when all they need to start the ball rolling is for one person to confess his/her true feelings. ( )

It was very, very difficult for me to get to the 50% point in this book, but then everything with this crazy love quadrangle clicked. That said, there are two love stories, and while I think MJP did a decent job integrating them, it often left me wanting more of one or the other couples. And the end was very enjoyable, it still wasn't enough to save this one for me overall.
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Jason, the baron of the title draws Caroline Hanscome's name out of a hat as a wife. It turns out that her aunt's first love was Jason, although Caroline is comfortable with the marriage it isn't ideal and there's another suitor who suits her better.

A fun read that's pretty undemanding and a lot of what goes on is pretty well flagged. Still it's a first novel so that's to be expected. ( )