In Caskie's breezy Regency romance, Meredith Merriweather is determined to warn other innocents by penning A Lady's Guide to Rakes
. Her current object of study, Lord Lansing, has cut a swath through the hearts of young misses, lonely wives and merry widows. He claims he's reformed, and common wisdom is that reformed rakes make the best husbands, but Meredith intends to reveal there's no such thing. When her spying lands her literally on top of him, a connection is made that neither one expects nor wants but proves impossible to resist. Caskie's decision to make Lansing a frequent and unapologetic adulterer, have Meredith hire a courtesan to seduce single and married men for her rake research, and allow Meredith's elderly aunts to try to force the couple into marriage by drugging them and putting them in the same bed—all without much introspection on the morality of such actions—may strike some readers as daring, others as discomforting. While there's little character depth, this meringue of a romance should satisfy most looking for a fast poolside read. Agent, Jenny Bent at Trident Media
. (Sept.)
