Hi Everyone ~ Nice to be here!

I'm a writer of historical fiction as well as contemporary romantic suspense and young adult stories.  I live in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales with my DH, a retired lawyer and our bossy cat. The wildlife is pretty demanding too! I just read a great book by another Aussie, Anne Gracie, whom I'm sure you're all familiar with. I thought I'd post my reiew here.

The Perfect Rake
Fleeing the harsh guardianship of her grandfather, Prudence Merridew escapes with her beautiful younger sisters to London. One of them must marry—and fast. To act as her sisters' chaperone, Prudence invents a secret engagement to a reclusive duke... But when the duke arrives unexpectedly in London, she needs his help to avert disaster.

Anne Grace writes with great wit and charm. She handles some serious issues in this book with a light touch. It gives pause to the way women were treated back then and how powerless they were. I thought the characters were beautifully drawn, the grandfather particularly as someone most likely suffering dementia. I can get a bit bored with a book if it focuses too much on the conflict between the two main characters without a good storyline. This had a good plot, however, which kept me interested. I loved it that Prudence, the heroine of this book, wasn't seen as a great beauty through anyone's eyes except her lover's. Rose-coloured glasses? Perhaps. But what Gracie did so well is show the rake, Gideon's tender side as he falls in love and not just into lust, and becomes a far better man because of it.