Never a Gentleman (Drake's Rakes)

by Eileen Dreyer

[Ing Cruz]

My Synopis:

Grace Fairchild is a respectable spinster. She has traveled the world and seen things no woman should ever witness. Grace was raised by her father, who was a soldier during the Waterloo wars. She'll never be considered the reigning beauty of the ton nor is she their favorite. Grace is very plain, thin, extremely tall, and has one lame leg. She does have the devotion of her friends, the soldiers she befriended during her days marching with her father and her staff. All of them adore and dote on her because Grace has spent her life always taking care of others. Since Grace made her appearance in the ton she has been drawn to Diccan Hilliard. He is everything she is not. He's adored, charming, handsome and full of confidence. Never in a millions years would Grace have thought she'd end up marrying Diccan.

Diccan Hilliard was on his way to London to impart some very vital information to his fellow Drake's Rakes. These are the only men he'd trust with this information since they are trying to uncover the culprits behind the planned assassination of Wellington. So Diccan is shocked and appalled to find himself naked and in bed with a very naked Grace as well. At first Diccan insults Grace by accusing her of trapping him into marriage. Diccan quickly realizes that he's been set up by the enemies to discredit his reputation by having it looked as if he'd debauched one of respectable virgin miss of society. Diccan is not happy about having to offer marriage to Grace but to save them both he will. With him leading a dangerous life as a spy for England having a wife and an unwanted wife at that is the last thing Diccan needs.

Can these two find love out of a rocky start to a marriage that neither really wanted? Will they even have a chance, with conspiracies, danger, spies, old mistresses, a savage killer on the loose and horrible in-laws lurking around the corner?

WARNING: THERE BE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD. STOP NOW IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS.

My Thought:

Wow where to begin? Seriously this book had me running through a myriad of emotions. My emotions were up and down and all over the place! It ranged from pity, loving it, disliking it, sadness, intense ache in my chest, happy, hate, frustration and WTF! Mrs. Dreyer had me turning the pages even when I was disgusted and didn't think I'd want to continue. I had to find out how she was going to make me believe in Grace and Diccan's happily ever.

The first half of this book was promising. Their marriage had a rocky start. Diccan, respects and likes Grace but he’s not attracted to her. At first I couldn’t see how the author was going to convince me that Diccan would be interested in Grace ever sexually since he didn’t have nice things to say about Grace physical wise in his head. He even dreads having to bed her to consummate the marriage. Mrs. Dreyer does do a good job of showing how Diccan starts to notice the non-physical aspects of Grace. The conversations they have, the horse riding in the park and her kindness. Through Diccan’s inner thoughts on these discovery of Grace’s other attributes I began to have hope for these two.

Then the middle was like WHAM! Seriously WTF just happened here folks? I kept thinking seriously, really, why? All this is explained below.

Grace is plain, horsey face, pale, drab...etc! This was brought up over and over in the book. You couldn't read a page where, we the readers aren't reminded about how Grace is not even remotely attractive. It felt like the author hated the character of Grace or something! Poor girl couldn't catch a break because not only is she plain on top of that she has a lame leg and is tall. I liked Grace's character overall. She is a very likable person. I found myself cheering for her during the times she stood up for herself. She tried to make the best of an unplanned marriage. She gave Diccan all she had and lost herself in the process. Even as she lost herself that bit of Grace was still there and I kept waiting for her to give Diccan the ass whupping he deserves. It never came! Grace is put through hell in this book. I mean how much heartache and devastation could one person go through.

As for Diccan wow I’m still not sure what to think of him. I should hate him but I don’t. I think Dreyer does a good job of giving Diccan's POV so even during the times where he's a big time jerk I knew he regretted. Not that him regretting all his insults, cheating and indifference made it ok but at least I knew he was feeling some kind of remorse. Diccan and the Drake's Rake explained all the things he did emotionally to her as it's all for the good of Grace and protecting her from the enemies trying to destroy him and England. There is a plot to ruin him and he is forced to befriend the bad guys which include his old mistress. An old mistress that he sleeps with in order to get intel from her. Not once but he sleeps with her throughout the book. He and his fellow Drake’s Rake keep the ladies in this book in the dark instead of warning them about all the danger surrounding them. The guys seriously were idiots for doing this. All the heartache Diccan causes Grace could have been avoided if he’d tell her what was going on IMO.

In the end I think more groveling could have been done! Grace forgave Diccan too easily. Yea..yea..all he did was for the greater good of England…blah..blah!

So with all this said I still liked the book. I know you are probably confused because I’m confused myself..lol! I think the writing is suburb. This book literally put me through an emotional ringer! Believe me, I felt some strong emotions. The insults and having to be cold hearted and such would have been ok and I could have dealt with that. The cheating is what gets to me and makes me frustrated with the book. I will give her next book a chance because the hero and heroine in the 3rd book caught my attention in this book. The fact that this authors writing and storyline for all is flaws in the middle was suburb. I still found myself turning the pages and engrossed. I still found myself caring about both the hero and the heroine! All this earns Dreyer another chance from me. I won’t quit her yet and hope that the 3rd book won’t involve any cheating heroes again.