Book Review and ARC Giveaway: A Gentleman Never Tells by Amelia Grey

This is a regency treat!

A Gentleman Never Tells by Amelia Grey

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca; Original edition (July 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402239750
• ISBN-13: 978-1402239755

Genre: Historical Romance
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Product Description
When a lady is in a predicament...
Beautiful, clever and courageous Lady Gabrielle thwarts the shackles of her arranged betrothal by kissing a stranger in the park. But who is this man? Finding herself stuck in yet another forced engagement Gabrielle needs another strategy that isn’t so dangerous. A gentleman may find himself in deep trouble...
Viscount Brentwood is walking in the park early one morning when a beautiful, enchanting young lady walks out of the mist and into his arms. Now Brent has no choice but to marry the delightful Lady Gabrielle.
Unfortunately his intended bride has other ideas, and the determined Viscount finds himself plunging into one scandal after another.

Review: This book reminds me why I love Historical Romance: a little mystery, a lot of banter, a lot of humorous charm and a passionate romance.
Lady Gabrielle is the beautiful, kind and ‘good’ eldest daughter of a Duke.  She was prepared to enter the marriage her father arranged for her until one night a week before the wedding when she witnessed her fiancé in a passionate kiss with another woman. Gabrielle goes for a walk in the park with her faithful, elderly mastiff, Brutus, and runs into a handsome man who is walking a little Pomeranian type dog.

She recognizes that this man, Lord Brentwood, is kind and courteous. He is willing to walk his mother’s small dog, Prissy, at early hours of the morning and he expresses concern for her welfare in walking alone in the park. She also realizes that this is the first time she has been drawn to a man and on a sudden impulse she kisses him.  Brent gets lost in the kiss from this beauty of the mist until the angry voice of the Duke/father challenges him. With the Duke is another gentleman who turns out to be the father of the man that Lady Gabrielle is affianced to.  In the resulting confusion, Prissy disappears.

By the end of the day Brent finds himself coerced into agreeing to marry Lady Gabrielle. Brent is 30 years old and had been contemplating finding a suitable wife.  Although unhappy about being used, Brent determines that Lady Gabrielle may suit him just fine.

Gabrielle on the other hand has had quite enough of men determining her choices. She doesn’t want to be forced into marriage and she had not intended to trap Brentwood. It is quite fun to read all of the things Gabrielle tries to convince him that she would make a terrible wife. While their conflict continues they try to locate Prissy and some other small dogs who are suddenly going missing.

I felt the story fell short in resolving two areas. The elopement of Gabrielle’s ex-fiancé did not really make sense considering the attitude he expressed toward women. Also, the author missed a perfect opportunity in the end to correct Gabrielle’s fun misunderstanding of “golden orbs.”  Nonetheless, I completely enjoyed the romance that developed between Gabrielle and Brent and I enjoyed the mystery involving the dogs. This is a fast read with a heart for dogs and a lot of charm.

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Thank you to Sourcebooks for this book to read and review. This is a part of the Rogue's Dynasty series but there is little connection other than the heroes being rogues, which IMHO, Lord Brentwood really isn't.  So feel free to read this as a stand alone and not worry about the order of the series. See my reviews for two other stories by Amelia Grey.

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* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on August 12, 2011.
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED on AUGUST 13 and will have 72 hours to respond by email or the winners form linked in the announcement.