Society Author Reviews


Once A Rake
Rona Sharon
ISBN-10: 0821780581
ISBN-13: 978-0821780589
Zebra, December 2007, 384pp
Historical – Regency
$4.99 (US) $5.99 (CDN)

Reviewed by Laurel
December 2007

Isabel Aubrey once fancied herself in love with friend of the family and her dear departed brother’s best friend – Lord Ashby, who Society now refers to as the “gargoyle”. Having not seen him since before he left for the war, she bravely calls on his home to ask him if he will sponsor her charity that she and her two friends, Iris and Sophie are trying to organize. However theman she meets is not the friendly and affectionate man she once knew… he is a bitter and angry man, hiding behind a mask. Isabel is intent on bringing him out of his shell and to remind him how things could and can be. But is she prepared for the emotional lord and his growing desires as they both remember a time long ago, when the only thing that separated them was age and an impending war?

Lord Ashby is a man of few words; the war against Napoleon cost him, it shattered his soul, he lost his best friend Will… something he carries immense guilt and shame over. Returning from the war he shut himself away in his house and wallowed in self-pity until Isabel re-appeared and put a spark back into his soul. Realizing his intense feelings for Isabel, he desires to be the man Isabel has always thought him to be. During his courtship of Isabel, he does everything wrong… potentially costing him the love of his life. Now desperate and intent on getting her back into his life, Lord Ashby does the impossible, he ventures back into Society... With the hope of driving Isabel right back into his arms as his wife. But he has an enemy, one who claims Isabel for himself and will do anything including revealing horrible and scandalous secrets about Ashby on the battlefield to win her heart.

From the battlefields fighting Napoleon to the glittering ballrooms in Regency, England, Rona Sharon delivers a well crafted and executed novel of the emotional and physcial scars one man suffers from being in the war. ONCE A RAKE is Rona Sharon’s second novel and much like her first it is full of history and rich details laying a strong foundation for her characters to thrive and grow under her powerful pen. Her characters are human, full of flaws, self-doubts and insecurities, something I found vastly appealing and attractive reading this novel.

The author delves into the darker aspect of The Regency Era as those fighting the war saw and lost more than the average person would be expected to endure. Lord Ashby was one of those soldiers; it would be asinine to assume that a person would rise from the ashes – emotionally intact. Rona Sharon wrote her characters with deep torment, while I was rattled and frustrated with Isabel during the middle part of this novel. She appealed to me, her naiveté outshone her good heart and warm personality. It was easy to see why Lord Ashby was so taken with her but reluctant to let his heart’s desire be known.

ONCE A RAKE is an emotional and heart-warming novel, telling the story of a tormented man desperately in need of love and a woman strong enough to break through his reclusive shell. It pulls at your emotions whether basking in the happiness of the characters, or in abject anger as the situation took a turn that appeared to be lost to them forever. I recommend this novel to any Romance Reader who is looking to read past the scandalous parties and glittering ballrooms of the regency era.