Review: The Rake’s Challenge by Beth Elliott (2011)

This is one of those books that absolutely shouldn’t have worked for me. It was too tropey for words, and channelled some of my least favourite Georgette Heyers. And yet I enjoyed it a whole heap. So there.

Here’s the premise: Annabelle (Anna) Lawrence is a straight-out-of-school heiress running away from home because of a wicked stepfather trying to push her into an unwanted marriage (I told you it was tropey). Giles Maltravers, the Earl of Longwood and heir to the Duke of Hawkesborough (because of course he is) is a world-weary rake, bored with his fast-living scandalous life of duels (three this year!) and tired of his avaricious mistress. Yes, I know, Heyer wrote this plot several times, but stay with me. Anna has enterprisingly arranged a job as a companion to an elderly lady to tide her over until she can draw on her inheritance and be independent, but, being scrape-prone, she’s missed the stage coach and can’t afford to stay at the inn, so she sets off along a quiet country lane in the middle of nowhere, where she is set upon by two upper-class thugs bent on… well, rape, presumably. Was Hampshire really so lawless that an obviously gently-bred girl would be targeted in that way? Fortunately, along comes our dissolute hero, who surprises even himself by becoming an actual hero and rescuing her.

So far, so unoriginal. This book was first published in 2011 (according to Goodreads) but it feels a lot older than that. Yes, it’s an unoriginal start but I’m always prepared to give a book its initial premise. It’s how things develop that I judge on, and here things look more promising. Giles takes it upon himself to protect Anna, successfully negotiates the hazards of the overnight stay at an inn, and drives her to destination, where there’s a much more interesting setup. Lady Fording, Anna’s elderly employer, turns out to have a daughter who’s an Italian Contessa and a nephew who’s also very Italian and clearly some kind of revolutionary. The three are hoping to return to Italy soon now that things have settled down on the continent a bit. So that’s all a bit different.

Lady Fording is supposedly ill, but happily her indispositions never interfere with the plot. The three decide to decamp from the Hampshire countryside to Brighton for a little shopping and socialising, and they buy a whole new wardrobe for Anna. She’s a little surprised that the paid companion is to be fashionably dressed but she’s young enough not to refuse. And so off they go to Brighton, where everyone turns up – not merely Giles and a couple of cronies, but also his mistress and the two thugs who assaulted Anna, and a mother and daughter determined to hook Giles by any means necessary. And of course the Prince Regent, because what self-respecting Regency romance can visit Brighton without Prinny?

And so the plot trundles on, with Anna falling into one scrape after another, Giles rescuing her in gentlemanly fashion, and his attentions attracting the jealousy of his ex-mistress and the ambitious mama and her daughter. And then there’s the scheme which required the fancy clothes. I’m not quite sure just how much Lady Fordham and the Contessa were involved in all that. Were they complicit, or merely willing dupes? In other hands, this story might have been dull work, but Elliott gives it a light-hearted froth, and the main characters are likeable. Anna is the innocent abroad, not exactly silly but not always wise to the machinations of those around her, although she’s a fast learner.

As for Giles, he’s a charmer right from the start, clearly falling in love with Anna from day 1, yet stoutly refusing to believe it’s anything more than a gentlemanly urge to protect her. Even when the idea of marriage seeps into his brain, he finds all sorts of reasons why it won’t do – he’s too old for her, for heaven’s sake! He’s thirty, not exactly at his last prayers. And although much is made of his scandalous reputation, we never see him as other than honourable. It seems to be a habit with the genre that a man can be described as a rake of the most committed sort, yet behave impeccably throughout. Giles steals one kiss, under provoking circumstances, but is stricken with guilt afterwards, so no, not in the least rakish, and no, I don’t believe for one minute that rakes give up their wicked ways the instant the heroine hoves into view. Not plausible. But, as I said, he’s a charmer, despite the author’s attempts to paint him as a stern sort of man, and I liked his very honest discussion with his father, which was the best scene in the book, with real emotion showing through. I’m not quite sure what he saw in Anna, who seemed a little bit too young and innocent for a sophisticated man-about-town, but he says he’ll never be bored with her, and that’s as good a reason as any. Love is ineffable, after all.

I spotted very few errors. The Duke of Hawkesborough was referred to as Lord Hawkesborough, which is wrong. I baulked at ‘weekend’, but there were pre-Regency usages, although not necessarily in the modern meaning. I also wasn’t sure about the use of fans to convey meanings, which sounds more Victorian to me. Other than that, nothing tripped me up, and the writing was very smooth. It’s not as literate as Heyer (but then, what is? She was one of a kind), but for a Heyer-esque plot with a fine, independent-minded heroine and a charming hero, I can recommend this. Four stars.