Ravishing in Red Book

This is the first by this author that I've read so it was something of a gamble for me; one that paid off, obviously, given my rating. It's a Regency era romance, but it has something of a different flavor than I'm used to and it took me a bit to decide whether I was in favor of it or not. In the end, I decided that I at least don't mind and the surrounding story was so engaging that I'd have probably continued reading even if I had found it off-putting.

I've been trying to pin down how it differs from other Regency romances and I'll do my best to explain. I think at heart it is a kind of unabashed embrace of sentimentality that only works because it is completely sincere. In this book, Audrianna is pursuing information about the scandal that pushed her father into suicide. In doing so, she takes risks that appeared at first to indicate that Hunter didn't much care for actual Regency norms'like traveling on her own, renting a room in a hotel and meeting a stranger there. These are things that no Regency woman would even consider, or at least, be so concerned by the impropriety that she'd put her chances of achieving her aim at functionally zero. But Audrianna is committed to exonerating her father and her heart is engaged to an extent that is beyond simply extraordinary. Which is to say it's ramped beyond human norms and thus unrealistic. The thing is, if you can go along with this (and no, I couldn't really rewrite it in my head because there were too many other dependencies), then the story unfolds beautifully and delivers very poignant vignettes of uncertainty, trust, love, friendship, honor, and forgiveness. Vignettes that it absolutely earns, even if you take the background of unabashed sentimentality into account.

The thing is, the sentimentality isn't static, nor is it limited to just Audrianna. It kind of permeates the story in a way that serves to highlight and underline other themes and motifs of the plot and characters. By dialing that aspect up, it highlights and brings forward the emotional aspects of the story in ways that would otherwise have been more subtle. And the weird thing is that even though I'm usually a big fan of subtle, I really enjoyed seeing the emotional dynamic play out center stage, here.

So it turns out I have an unexplored sentimental streak (note, I don't say unknown, as anyone who knows me well will probably give me a big "duh" on that one). Which makes me wonder if the rest of Hunter's novels have that same background assumption or if this is an aspect of Audrianna's character. I kind of hope it's universal in her work as I look forward to exploring more of it.

Of course, it also wouldn't have worked if the characters hadn't been engaging and the story interesting and the pacing excellent. Hunter also pulls off another amazing feat in making a plot about wartime materiel fraud work. It's a topic that's dry as old bones on its own, but investing it with the human interest of lies, betrayal, manipulation, and death made it as engaging as a plot of spy/counter-spy. It also gave a perfect backdrop for Sebastian to truly shine as the man of honor and determination who would fully earn Audrianna's love in the end'even though they start off absolutely opposed as he is the investigator who first shone the spotlight on her father. I loved that emotional arc and how they couldn't help developing a mutual respect despite being so fundamentally opposed in motive.

Anyway, the ending was so powerful that I'm tempted to ramp this to five stars. I may decide to change it later, but I need time to digest that unabashed sentimentality and decide what I think about it. It could be problematic and your enjoyment of the story is going to depend heavily on if you can accept that strong background element.

A note about Steamy: There are three or four explicit sex scenes in the story and that would normally pop this in the upper end of my middle range. But these scenes served so well to outline the growing trust and love between Sebastian and Audrianna that it really didn't rise that high. Really, really well done.