Surprising Lord Jack

January 7, 2013
MacKenzie fumbles the follow-up to Bedding Lord Ned. Escaping a cartoonishly evil aunt's forced marriage plot, Miss Frances Hadley dons a cross-dressing disguise and ends up having to share a room at an inn with Lord Jack Valentine. When he discovers her identity, she sees no reason why this escapade should ruin her plans to set up solo housekeeping in a remote country cottage. She knows Lord Jack's rakish reputation, and marriage, which he so magnanimously proposes, is clearly not what either of them wants. But that doesn't discourage Lord Jack from trying to do the right thing; his determined do-gooder sensibilities also lead him to rescue babies, fund homes for orphans and ex-prostitutes, and hunt serial killers. Toggling between Jack's superheroism and Frances's depressing family problems makes it hard for the reader to know how seriously to take any aspect of this flimsy Regency-era story.

Starred review from March 1, 2013
When Frances Hadley overhears Aunt Viola, her guardian, make plans to marry Frances to a disgusting older man, she disguises herself as a boy and flees on horseback, determined to get the money that will go to her unwanted groom. Frances wants to buy a small cottage where she doesn't have to worry about others making decisions for her. But a violent winter storm strands her at the Crowing Cock Inn. The innkeeper and his wife take pity on the lad, letting him stay in the room usually reserved for Lord Jack. As fate would have it, Lord Jack unexpectedly checks in but decides to let the scrawny, sleeping boy stay. Jack then insists on accompanying the youth to London, where he discovers that the lad is a lass. Although nothing happened, they did spent the night in the same bed, so there's only one thing an honorable man, even one known as a rake, can domarry her. But Frances still has no interest in matrimony. MacKenzie (Bedding Lord Ned, 2012) has penned another humorous Regency-era gem that will get a collective thumbs-up from readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)