Rescued by a Rogue
Rescued by a Rogue by Cynthia Wright 2020 Regency
When I began reading this novel, something was off. Then I discovered it was an email version of a novel “Caroline” published in 1977. Most novels in that period were termed “bodice rippers” and followed a pattern where a rake, usually handsome, wealthy, and loved by many women meets an innocent, takes her virginity, refuses to marry her but is forced into marriage and then admits his love. The woman is spirited but gives into the circumstances and authority of the rake.
If you want to read a novel from this time, this one will fulfill your nostalgic desires. Alexandre Beauvisage is a major from the American Revolutionary War which is over and in 1783 he is fulfilling a promise to a friend who died and checking on his property, which he left to Alex. On the road he encounters an unconscious woman dressed as a boy who has amnesia. He calls her Caroline or Caro and they travel together, fulfill their lusts for each other, kill two men who try to rape her, and reach his home where she befriends his family. He is jealous of other men and she is jealous of his mistress. A man appears out of her forgotten past and says they are to marry, but what are his real intentions?
Wright provides plenty of description of scenery, buildings, gowns, and famous people from that time period so historians will enjoy those passages. She describes the looks of longing, steamy sex scenes, and jealousy that sends Caroline into emotional highs and lows. She also add a villain, but his motive and how it ties to other events isn’t revealed until the end.
Writers can learn from books written centuries ago or decades in the past but keep in mind what dates a novel and what readers want from a modern novel. Point of view was all over the place in novels of this time. Modern novels should maintain a single point of view per chapter even if the chapter is only a couple of pages long. The woman needs an active part in the outcome of her life and the story. And the man’s autocratic authority needs to be tempered with listening to the woman he loves.
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