Lord Perfect (Carsington Family Series)

Unlike a few of the previous reviewers, I was not surprised that "Lord Perfect" seemed to read more like a traditional Regency-era romance novel, because for me, except for the parts where Rathbourne and Bathsheba succumb to the attraction that they have for each other, "Lord Perfect" reminded me quite a bit of Loretta Chase's earlier works like "Isabella" & "The Sandalwood Princess." Witty, humourous and with brilliant and detailed character portrayals plus a well thought out and executed plot (even if it is an often used one) "Lord Perfect" was a wonderfully entertaining and satisfying read from start to finish, and one I'd recommend for anyone looking for an amusing and romantic read.

All her life Bathsheba Wingate has had people look at her askance because of her scandalous family. Currently a young widow with a young daugher to provide for, the last thing Bathsheba expected was to find herself deeply and hopelessly attracted to Benedict Carsington, Viscount Rathbourne, otherwise known as Lord Perfect. So that when an unexpected turn of events forces both Rathbourne and herself into a road trip together, Bathsheba knows better than to expect a happily ever-after ending -- even if the attractive and completely taking Viscount Rathbourne sees things otherwise...

"Lord Perfect" third novel dealing with the Carsington siblings (the other two are "Miss Wonderful" and "Mr. Impossible") fits in perfectly with the other two books in the series. Humourous and witty (the dialogue in this book is priceless), I kept chuckling out aloud as I read the novel. Also well done was the character portrayals -- how Ms Chase portrayed the two children (Olivia and Peregrine -- though it would have been more satisfying to have seen more of Peregrine's sensible influence on Olivia), and especially how she gradually brought out the more impulsive side of the staid, sensible Rathbourne to the fore. I thought that the romance angle was well handled and that the novel unfolded at a smooth and steady pace. The only thing that jarred, I felt was Rathbourne's father's sudden turnabout: this character seemed to suddenly morph from someone who wanted his son to marry suitably to someone who wanted his son to marry happily. Other than that, this was a wonderfully enjoyable read. I didn't find either Rathbourne or Bathsheba to be too self-sacrificing for their own good. Indeed I thought that their stance about duty and responsibility was admirable and understandable and so made their hard won happily ever-after ending so satisfying. A truly worthwhile read.

After reading the only four reviews that were up before I bought the book I was worried that I was going to have a disappointing read. (Recently I have read a couple of bombs from writers whose new books I had eagerly anticipated. I think authors are being pushed to write too fast.) Anyway, while it might not be my favorite Chase book it still contains the droll humor that have been more and more making her books a treat to read. If you like Chase's unique style and characterizations you will like this book from the first few pages. The eldest Carsington son's story might not be as madcap and exotic as his brother Rupert's Egyptian saga but it is still an adventure not to be missed! Chase writes with a witty style and wry intelligence lacking in so many other romances. I only wish there were several more brothers in this family.

Okay I have to write a review because unlike most of you I think this book deserves 5 stars. It helps to have read the first two books in this series dealing with the sons of Lord Hargate and his attempts to get them wed, especially the predecessor Mr. Impossible. In that book you get to know Hargate's eldest son and heir, Benedict, who is so in control of his emotions that a blink conveys great emotion. And you begin to suspect that mother and dad are orchestrating the choices.

Granted the book uses some often written plot elements but it is how the writer uses those themes that matter, and Loretta Chase does it beautifully. The most used themes are turned upside down in this one. The hero is no rake, lovable or not, and the heroine, while notorious, was `ruined' by a many times great-grandfather who turned pirate back in the 16th century. Widowed and with a daughter, `the most notorious woman in England' returns to London to salvage not her own reputation but that of her young daughter, who as it happens is more like that long ago pirate than her own mother.

I beg to differ with one reviewer who said Lord Hargate made too abrupt a change from opposing to supporting the marriage of his son to the widow. For Benedict and all who paid attention know exactly when and why he changed his mind.

Benedict and Bathsheba - love that name by the way - are both honorable people who try to do what's best for their family members, falling in love in spite of themselves. And the plot ending - oh the ending - is clever and satisfying. Add to that wonderful dialog, gentle humor and likeable supporting characters and you have a delightful read.

If you like droll, dry humor, you will love this book, as I did. If you laugh at "While he tied her petticoat, she swallowed and said, 'I daresay proper ladies do not unbutton gentlemen's trousers.' 'They do not do that,' he said as he tugged her frock straight, 'nearly so often as one could wish,'" then this is the book for you. Bathsheba and Bendict both know that they cannot marry, and she, especially, does everything in her power to break off with him, but he realizes her motives, so we don't have any cringe-inducting scenes of misunderstanding, jealousy, or accusation. "Lord Perfect"'s heroine matches the hero's intelligence, dedication to family, self-sacrifice, and most of all, love. I normally dislike the presence of children in romances; they are either obnoxiously mature and sexually aware or they are just impediment; the two kids in this book did make me laugh out loud. I did not expect the resolution to Benedict and Bathsheba's problem, a solution that made me laugh--again! If you love a romance that makes you laugh, fall in love with the hero, admire the heroine, and sigh over the romance, "Lord Perfect" is a perfect book.

I won't recap the plot. I'll just tell you why I enjoyed this book so much.

First of all, I LOVED the characters, especially Bathsheba. I appreciated the fact that she wasn't a schoolroom virgin (that stereotype gets old after a while). She was an experienced woman of "two and thirty", and I felt her feelings and insecurities were believable for someone in her situation. Chase could have easily made her too proud and, in my opinion irritating. Instead Bathsheba was human and endearing. You just can't help but love her and cheer her on.

Benedict and Bathsheba's relationship was exciting to watch unfold. There wasn't too much conflict, but I never felt cheated. Their interaction and banter was wonderfully written with lots of wit, humor and chemistry. I LOVE the part when he accidentally walks in on her (it was so hot).

I found myself laughing and smiling and re-reading pages because I wasn't ready too move on (which is RARE for me). I hate it when writers include "filler" dialogue or scenes. I never felt that while reading Lord Perfect. The story was quick and to the point, but well-told.

This was my first Loretta Chase book and I am anxious to start another. Definitely a keeper.

It's hard to give this book a higher rating since the secondary characters completly distracted me from the main characters. While they were interesting the hero/heroine were upstaged by the children and Hargate (hero's father). Basically this book is about a wealthy, young peer who is the epitome of young English blood stock, he secretly lusts after a woman who is no longer welcome in their insular society. She is hired to teach his nephew how to paint while her daughter convinces the nephew to run away to the ancestral home and search for treasure. The adults soon follow and mayhem ensues. The main problem is that you find yourself caught up in the children's travails and uninterested in the adults troubles. The end was cute and clever and not really a surprise. If you read her older books this book is not as meaty but still enjoyable.

I liked the witty interaction between Benedict and Bathsheba. And I liked that she loved her first husband. Benedict was a stuffy man, I liked that about him too. However, the kids were a total distraction.

What really put a damper on this tale was the notion that Bathsheba would be mentally capable of embarking on lustfilled adventure whilst knowing her 12 year old daughter was off on a lark across the English countryside with Benedict's nephew. Wouldn't any mother be in MORE terror of a crazy creep getting hold of her daughter than thinking about how hot the man helping her is? Seems like the kids could have done all sorts of things to bring the adults together without going off on some ridiculous quest for treasure.

Honestly, even if Johnny Depp was sitting beside me holding my hand throughout the ordeal, I would be so completely beside myself with worry and panic for my child that I would be oblivious to his incredible sex appeal. I might turn to him for comfort but not sex - well, until my child was found safe and sound at any rate.

Loretta Chase's wonderfully dry sense of humor is clearly at work in this sweet and funny tale of a second chance at happiness. Benedict Carsington, Viscount Rathbourne, has been a widower for two years, following a rather indifferent marriage. He is an outstanding member of society, polite, responsible, philanthropic, self-controlled, and the heir to an earldom. In other words, he has a life that is perfect by society's standards - only it is rather joyless. This orderly if somewhat oppressive existence is turned on its ear when he meets the beguiling widow Bathsheba Wingate and her wily 12-year-old daughter, Olivia. Bathsheba recently arrived in London after many years of impoverished exile in Ireland with her late husband, Jack Wingate. Jack, an earl's son, was disinherited by his family and became a social outcast following his marriage to Bathsheba fifteen years earlier. This was because Bathsheba's family, the "dreadful" DeLuceys, were social pariahs who had a reputation for fraud, scandal, and even piracy. Although an honorable young woman, the beautiful Bathsheba was tainted by her family's reputation, and was labeled an evil temptress for causing her husband's ruin. Jack was labeled a fool. In reality, their marriage was a love match and, though poor, they were happy until Jack's death three years earlier.

Bathsheba, a talented artist, is barely making ends meet giving drawing lessons, when she happens upon Benedict and his 13-year-old nephew Peregrine at a London museum. Benedict and Bathsheba are immediately attracted to one another - although they do not act upon it - and soon Benedict has arranged for Peregrine to take drawing lessons from the beautiful widow. Benedict knows that his family would not approve of a connection to the infamous Bathsheba, so the lessons are done secretly, and against his better judgment, though for the life of him Benedict cannot explain why he doing this. He also thinks constantly about the Bathsheba while ignoring his regular duties, and keeps finding reasons to accidentally bump into her. This is completely out of character for Benedict, who is such a model of moderation and social correctness. Things come to a head when Olivia and Peregrine run away to the country on a quest to find buried treasure supposedly left by a pirate ancestor of the DeLuceys. Benedict and Bathsheba embark on a frantic road trip in search of their wayward relatives, but soon the conflicted couple are themselves acting in a wayward fashion, though an amorous one. Benedict knows it is social suicide for him to be entangled with Bathsheba, and kind-hearted Bathsheba does not want to be the cause of his ruin, but the attraction is acute and undeniable. How is this impossible romance ever to work out and, by the way, where are the children?

I greatly enjoyed the clever and tender banter between this quick-witted and well-matched couple. Benedict and Bathsheba have such a clear understanding of and affection for each other, almost from the start, that it is easy to believe in their destiny. This type of storyline is one of my favorites - where the couple realizes early on that they're perfect for one another, but there is an outside force - in this case, their utter rejection by polite society - that prevents them from remaining together. There were many well-written teary moments when this reader dreaded their breakup as much as the couple did. As always, Ms. Chase's humor is delightful. Her character's outrageous musings, their deadpan reaction to alarming situations, their frequent use of self-effacing humor, the hilarious letters written by Olivia - all add to the enjoyment of the story. I definitely recommend this book, and also the previous one in the series, "Mr.Impossible."

This is the third book in a quartet of Georgian romances in which each book is better than the one before.

The first book in the series, "[[ASIN:0749937106 Miss Wonderful (Carsington Quartet 1)]]" is a better than average regency romance.

The second, "[[ASIN:0749937114 Mr Impossible (Carsington Quartet 2)]]" set in Egypt just after the end of the Regency period, is a highly entertaining romp which is a bit like a version of the film [[ASIN:B000092WAW The Mummy [DVD] [1999]]] set a hundred years earlier and with the supernatural bad guys replaced by mortal but evil and dangerous gangs of tomb raiders.

The third and fourth volumes, this book "Lord Perfect" and "[[ASIN:0749937955 Not Quite a Lady]]," are very funny and intensely moving respectively.

There is also a follow-up novel set a few years later, [[ASIN:0061632678 Last Night's Scandal]], in which the hero and heroine are the children from this book, now grown up. "Last Night's Scandal" is even more hysterically funny than "Lord Perfect" but you will get most out of it if you read this one first.

Lord Hargate, a distinguished politician, had five sons, which we are told was "three more than he needed". The first two were sensible and responsible and soon married and settled down. The younger three, while good hearted, brave and handsome, had a tendancy to "tumble into trouble with depressing regularity" at great expense to their parents, and as each approached the age of 30, Lord Hargate put increasing pressure on them to marry the right woman. Sons three (Alistair) and four (Rupert) did eventually find appropriate matches in the first two books of the series. As we reached the conclusion of "Mr Impossible" the reader might have been about to share the assumption of Lord and Lady Hargate's eldest son Benedict that they can now turn their attention to the fifth and last remaining batchelor, Darius.

However, the first hint that the fifth son will have to wait until the fourth book comes in the last three lines of "Mr Impossible as the eldest son takes his leave of his parents and they stand looking after him.

"Not Darius, I think" said Lady Hargate.
"No" said her husband, "Not Darius."

Benedict, who as Lord Hargate's eldest son and heir has the courtesy title of Viscount Rathbourne (or Lord Rathbourne), has tried so hard to please his demanding father, and been so well behaved that he has acquired the nickname of Lord Perfect. He is very wrapped up in parliamentary work and charitable activities.

Holders of courtesy titles very rarely sit in the Lords, but they could and sometimes did get elected to the House of Commons. Although the book does not say so in so many words, certain passages make most sense if you assume that Benedict is an MP.

Lord Rathbourne is a widower, and at the start of the book he has a boy in tow, but the lad is Lord Lisle, his nephew. Lisle, is an honest and clever young man whose very strengths make him extremely difficult to deal with: he would much rather have a future as a scientist and explorer than as a member of the House of Lords.

Benedict is looking after the lad while his parents decide what to do with him.

At a museum, Lord Lisle becomes involved in an altercation with a girl of his own age, Olivia Wingate, who is descended from a notorious branch of a noble but dissolute family called the "dreadful DeLanceys." As they rush to separate their charges, Benedict is brought into contact with Olivia's mother, Bathsheba Wingate (nee Delancey) a widow who is trying to bring up her daughter respectably in very straightened circumstances because her late husband's family cut him off without a penny for marrying her.

Thanks to Lisle and Olivia, Benedict keeps finding himself in Bathsheba's company, and soon starts to wonder if he wants to be so perfect after all: and then the children get into a serious scrape and things start to go really wrong ...

Very amusing and entertaining, I can recommend this book.

I found it really funny, with witty dialogues, also very romantic. The characters were very endearing. I particularly liked Olivia. This is a very entertaining story that made me laugh out loud several times. This is first book I've read from this author. I just ordered 7 more of her books; that is how much I loved her style of writing.