How to Rescue a Rake

November 16, 2015
The third Book Club Belle Society Regency (after Sinfully Ever After) continues Fresina’s trend of prickly, acerbic heroines matching wits with immature heroes. Once upon a time, the already-engaged Diana Makepiece rejected the scandalously flirtatious Capt. Nathaniel “Sherry” Sherringham’s proposal of
marriage. Four years later, Diana is
unengaged, unmarried, and fading into
spinsterhood. She’s resigned to a life struggling to make ends meet with her stifling mother. Then Sherry returns to their tiny English village of Hawcomb Prior with claims of turning over a new leaf. Neither would-be lover trusts the other enough to speak honestly of their current circumstances or intentions, until a series of coincidences lands them both in Bath, where they can begin their acquaintance again, away from the prying eyes of the villagers. The pacing struggles under the weight of its excessive backstory, but the book is riddled with moments of gentle humor and amusing twists that Fresina ties up with a fruitful conclusion.

December 1, 2015
In the latest in the series (following Sinfully Ever After, 2014), Fresina's Book Club Belles return, and this time Diana Makepiece is featured. Captain Nathaniel Sherringham returns to the village after his stint in the military. Before he left three years ago, he proposed to Diana and left her a note begging her to meet him at a bridge. She didn't; he left, and now he's back. He soon discovers that she didn't marry the man her mother approved of and has become a withdrawn shell of her former vivacious self. When Diana is sent to a relative in Bath, Nathaniel encounters her and finds himself matching wits just as they used to. But he is not ready to put his heart on the line again, leaving her to take action. Fresina takes her cues from Jane Austen's Persuasion in this sparkling tale. And Diana's journey to rediscover and rescue herself from a dismal future of caring for her bitter mother is just as compelling as the love story. Fans of Grace Burrowes should also be introduced to Fresina.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)