Improper Ladies by Author by Amanda McCabe Paperback: 448 pages Publisher: Signet Available: September 7, 2010 Genre: Historical Romance

The Golden Feather Young Caroline Aldritch is shocked to learn her late husband’s only legacy to her is a notorious gaming establishment-where she must hide her face from all, including the dashing Lord Lyndon, who’s determined to unmask the secretive beauty…

The Rules of Love Rosalind Chase must endure her brother’s friendship with the notorious rake Lord Morley. But when she can’t stop thinking of the insufferable libertine, Rosalind wonders if his ways just might be the path to love…

Reviewed by: Samantha 

Improper Ladies contains two previous books released by Amanda McCabe: The Golden Feather and The Rules of Love.

The Golden Feather Caroline owns and runs The Golden Feather, a gaming establishment, while hiding her face behind a disguise. It would be disgraceful for the people of the town to find out a lady runs such an establishment. Caroline needs the money from the establishment to ensure her sister receives a good education. One evening she has an arousing encounter with the enchanting Lord Justin Lyndon. But Caroline must take care to never reveal her true identity to him. After Caroline sells The Golden Feather, she and her sister Phoebe arrive in a seaside town to spend their summer season. Caroline could have never guessed that the family next door spending their summer seaside would be the Lord Lydon himself along with his brother and mother.

The Golden Feather is a simple and uncomplicated historical romance that moved at a quick pace in large part due to the chemistry between Caroline and Justin. As the two spend their summer next door to each other, they each find themselves more and more smitten with each other. I actually found myself more and more smitten with Justin as I read. Caroline knows she can never reveal her true identity for fear she and her sister will be shunned. The story is also infused with other fun characters such as Caroline’s exuberant sister, Phoebe, and Justin’s boisterous and somewhat troublesome younger brother Harry. When I first saw the title of the book was Improper Ladies, I must admit I kept reading along waiting for something "improper" to happen between Caroline and Justin. I guess the "improper" part was the fact that Caroline owned a gaming establishment. The romance in this book is very chaste, so don’t expect to read any improper happenings on the pages. What you can expect is well drawn out characters that were enjoyable to read with each having a uniqueness that kept the story interesting and sweet.

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The Rules of Love Rosalind is the schoolmistress of a school for girls. She has also secretly written a book called A Lady’s Rules. The girls at her school and women everywhere are reading the book and living by the rules. Rosalind must sell lots of copies of her book to help pay for her brother’s debts which he keeps racking up at a feverish pace. One of her favorite students, Lady Violet is heading home for the break and waiting to be picked up by her brother, Lord Michael Morley. Rosalind believes Michael leads her brother into all sorts of trouble. After a brief encounter between Rosalind and Michael at the the time he picks his sister up from school, both leave each other with feelings of attraction. When Michael learns of the book of rules he sets out to break as many as he can. Her book stops selling and Rosalind must go to London to figure out what is going on. She of course comes across Michael in London where he starts to pursue her.

I did not enjoy The Rules of Love as much as I did The Golden Feather. I found the chemistry between the two lead characters of Michael and Rosalind to be a bit forced. And unlike Justin in The Golden Feather, I just didn’t find myself swooning much over Michael in The Rules of Love. This story was again very simple and uncomplicated, and the romance was very chaste. Again, I kept reading while waiting for something improper, but I think the only improper things I found was Rosalind’s desire to drink whiskey (which she really should have drank to maybe loosen up a bit!) and the fact that she hid the truth that she was the author of A Lady’s Rules. I did enjoy Rosalind’s sister, Violet. She was a sweet girl with an infectious personality. I also enjoyed the way Michael showed his softer side by looking after his sister. This story was just a little slow for me and overall I found it to be anti-climatic.

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Favorite Quote: From The Golden Feather

Justin: "Trying to distract you from what, Miss Lane?" Phoebe: "From my purpose in coming here." Justin: "Which is?" Phoebe: "To tell you what a looby you are, of course. A wicked looby." Justin: " A – what?" Phoebe: " A looby." "It is a word I heard your brother use. And I am sure you are one."

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