Gentle Rogue

Georgina Anderson travels from her home in America over to England to find out what happened to her erstwhile fiance who was conscripted into the British Army. Turns out he's married someone else. In a fit of outrage, and just wanting to get home, Georgie disguises herself as a cabin boy in order to catch the first boat back to America. Captain James Malory, previously the Dread Pirate Roberts Captain Hawke figures out her ruse pretty quickly, but then has a great time seducing her into giving it up.
The Malory series is adorable, even though the men are a little marriage-avoidant, and the women a little too prone to (idiotically) getting themselves into dangerous situations so that they can be 'rescued'. Classic late 80's/early 90's show more romance. show less

I loved this. The heroine, Georgie, was very lovable, and a bit of a tomboy who had grown into a pretty woman but didn't know her beauty. I LOVED her going in drag as James' cabin boy, and that unknown to her, he was aware of who she was. I laughed out loud several times throughout the book. There was tons of angst, Georgie's brothers were hilarious, and overall this was a lot of fun. It sort of dragged on at the end, but I enjoyed this book a lot. I may read more about the Malory brothers and their reformations from rakedom. (4.5 stars)

As something of a connoisseur of romance novels, I have read my share of simply bad books. I would not normally have expected one from Lindsey's heyday to arise in that category, but "Gentle Rogue" confounds all expectations and does just that. The book is well-written, the characters reasonably well-developed, and the plot no less plausible than is average; the reading does not drag too tediously, and there are numerous opportunities for really heart-wrenching romance; unfortunately, Lindsey fails to capitalize on any of these. The extreme popularity of this book bewilders me.

Georgie, the heroine, is not generally unlikable. Her failure to realize that Captain Malory discerned her gender does nothing to recommend her intellect, and the show more way she childishly mimics Malory's habit of sarcasm, which "was not her forte," (among other things, e.g. a British accent, a manner of raising her eyebrow, and an entire style of humor) suggests childish infatuation. But for all that, her personality is not particularly offensive. Her naïve description of sexual arousal as a type of "nausea" is even endearing.

This sentence summarizes my frustration with Georgie: "Her temper wanted to flare, but when James rested between her thighs, anger was the farthest thing from her mind." This sentiment is repeated with shocking frequency, no matter how he deliberately humiliates or hurts her. I understand the ease in rechanneling anger into lust, but Georgie's legitimate problems repeatedly disappear when James kisses her into submission. He refuses to let her see her own family and her response is to rage at her brothers for "kidnapping" her when they (very naturally) attempt to help her. He refuses to let her call herself his wife, and when she asks if that makes her his whore, he says yes. Her anger at this doesn't last more than a few sentences; instead she does an admirable job of proving him right. He, in effect, sexually manipulates her into being pliable and content, and… it works. With no apparent resentment or even realization on her part. Nothing explains her devotion to him, as he treats her like a valueless sex object for the duration of the novel. At some points it appears that she is near to calling him out on his blatant use and abuse of her, but nothing ever comes of it. Instead, she settles for the "tenderness" she senses when they make love, a cringingly classic female mistake. His final declaration of love is unconvincing, but she doesn't care—she begs to return to him even before it's issued—and she proceeds to gush that "he is her life" and further inflate his impossible ego. (This ego is, admittedly, nothing out of the ordinary; but the delight I take in these novels is that the female usually manages to take the hero down a peg. Georgie only lowers herself.)

Making Georgie's ludicrous gullibility even more obvious is the comparison drawn to her brother-in-law and his wife. James mockingly refers to the way in which his brother's wife withheld sexual favors from him during a fight (occurring in a previous book), and can confidently assert that his own wife would never do such a thing. Tragically, he is right. Georgie's internal dialogues, depicted as between herself and "her conscience," are invariably lost by her conscience and won by some hedonistic part of herself with no practicality and less self-respect.

In short, this book was difficult to finish; I had absolutely no desire for Georgie to have her foolishness unpunished, and I could not bear for James to have his misogyny and manipulativeness forever unchecked. If I were Georgie's brothers, I would have followed through on the threat to beat some sense into her. Perhaps she could have used it. show less

I loved this. The heroine, Georgie, was very lovable, and a bit of a tomboy who had grown into a pretty woman but didn't know her beauty. I LOVED her going in drag as James' cabin boy, and that unknown to her, he was aware of who she was. I laughed out loud several times throughout the book. There was tons of angst, Georgie's brothers were hilarious, and overall this was a lot of fun. It sort of dragged on at the end, but I enjoyed this book a lot. I may read more about the Malory brothers and their reformations from rakedom. (4.5 stars)

Fun escape, the spirited dialogue between the spunky heroine and the 'rogue' pirate/high class gentleman she gets involved with is what makes it interesting. It also has a whole 'woman disguises herself as a boy' plot at the beginning which creates lots of interesting moments. Much sexual tension and hijinks, but all works our right in the end of course.
If you like historical romances with spirited characters, lots of subterfuge, and sexual tension this one is for you.

I read this during my historic romance era. Very predictable love story-hate story- love story on and on until "I love you even though I said I never would marry or love anyone", you know the kind of story I am talking about. Shallow me, I did enjoy the story, but it wasn't very deep in development. 3 stars and that was generous.

#50States50Romances #Connecticut

Sadly, I didn't read the Fabio cover because that cover is way more indicative of the book's contents. It's not a terrible book, but it's not good, either. I mean, the author chose to name a ship Pogrom, ffs. That ship only has a cameo, but still set the tone for me for the rest of the book. The plot's a mess, full of huge time skips and a what-the-what of an "I did it because i love you" form the hero. The book was originally published in 1990 and it shows. It's overly-long— spending too much time on descriptions of furniture and settings and not enough on actual plot—and a couple of scenes that veer way too close to "forcible seduction" (though the author makes a point of the heroine's consent) for show more me to feel completely comfortable. And, to be honest, my biggest problem was that I never felt anything for, about, or from the hero and heroine. I mean, I just didn't care and I never really felt that they did, either. You can't just tell me they love each other and expect that to be enough. I have to see it and feel it for myself and that didn't happen. show less