Let Sleeping Rogues Lie [Mass Market Paperback]

I have to admit, I haven't read any of the previous installments in this series -- the premise of this particular series isn't really my cup of tea. But I thought I'd give "Let Sleeping Rogues Lie" a chance. After all, I have enjoyed other novels that Sabrina Jeffries has written, and really given how popular the feisty heroine type currently is, I rather thought the notion of having the hero, who happens to be a rake, give the pupils of the Mrs. Harris School For Young Ladies lessons on how to detect a rake, as a plot device, was a rather good one. Unfortunately, "Let Sleeping Rogues Lie" didn't really live up to expectations.

In order to gain custody of his niece, confirmed bachelor and rake, Anthony Dalton, Viscount Norcourt, needs to convince the courts that he is a changed man. And the first step in his campaign is to get his niece enrolled in Mrs. Harris School For Young Ladies. Unfortunately, Mrs. Harris, the school principal, is leery about helping the unrepentant rake, that is until one of the teachers, the school's practical science teacher, Madeline Prescott, comes up with a scheme: have Norcourt give the senior girls lessons on how to detect a rake and avoid him, while Madeline and Mrs. Harris observe him to see if the man is sincere about trying to change his ways and become more circumspect. The Viscount is annoyed but desperate for the ladies' help, and so he agrees to the scheme, but soon finds himself fascinated by Madeline. The lady claims to be immune to his charms -- can Norcourt tempt the lady into a dalliance?

When I say that the book didn't live up to expectations, I don't mean that the book was badly written. To the contrary; it was just that there was a lot of interesting material available in "Let Sleeping Rogues Lie," unfortunately this material wasn't used enough. For example, both Norcourt and Madeline are provided with some rather rich, angst ridden back grounds, but all this gets lost in favour of the "will-they-won't-they" sexual tension that takes over much of the book. And then there was the whole motif about Norcourt's "beast"-like sexual appetite, which inspired a whole lot of eye-rolling rather than titillation. Another thing that irked was that while both Madeline and Norcourt seemed like nice, likable characters, the novel seemed to emphasize the negative parts of their characters rather than their positive. For example Madeline's reluctance to tell Norcourt the truth about why she needed his help in spite of the fact that they shared a common enemy made little sense; likewise Norcourt's tendency to jump to conclusions about Madeline. These, however, are just some of the negatives; where the book really shone was when Mrs. Harris' girls came into the picture, and the last few chapters where Sabrina Jeffries tied everything up satisfactorily. All in all this was an averagely pleasantly read -- if you're a fan, or someone looking for a relaxing pleasant read, "let Sleeping Rogues Lie" will definitely do. But if you're looking for something more substantial, than you might want to pick up something else.

sabrina jeffries has been on my auto-buy list for years now and although i still anticipate her future releases, i feel as though this book is one of her weakest offerings.

ms. madeline prescott is a physician's daughter with a love for nature and mathmatics. after one of her father's patients dies under mysterious circumstances, she and her father are forced to flee from the scandal. she ultimately becomes a teacher at a girls school, all the while hiding her past from her boss while also determined to meet the man who can obsolve her father of guilt.

anthony dalton is a second-son suddenly thrust into the role of viscount after his brother and sister-in-law are killed. he is engaged in a bitter battle for custody of his young niece with the abusive aunt and uncle who raised him. he's desperate to get his niece enrolled into the school as he feels it will help his case against his relatives. unfortunately, he's known as a rake bent on debauchery, and therefore, needs all the help he can get.

madeline, realizing anthony can help her in her quest to prove her father's innocence, bargains with him. after they come to terms, she makes a desperate plea to the headmistress to allow his niece entry. despite (or perhaps because of) his reputation, he is ultimately hired to teach the girls how to recognize a rogue. if he proves successful, his niece will be admitted to the school.

and here is where the story first goes wrong. a known rake getting a job in a girls school is unbelievable. this guy wasn't a play rogue, he was known for screwing around and getting high and drunk. no way he should get a job at a girls school during this time period, even if it is only temporary.

also, madeline is so single-minded in her desire to help her father, she doesn't care that she's jeopardizing anthony's chances of getting his niece enrolled. this wouldn't be all bad except for the fact that she knows the niece is probably being abused on some level by the aunt and uncle. there are numerous times throughout the story when the heroine behaves selfishly, even as she discovers more horrible things about anthony's past which one would think would lead her to behave less rashly. she makes all kinds of desperate decisions that put plans in jeopardy.

another weak point is how anthony time and again looks for ways to justify madeline's selfishness. even though he barely knows her, even though she's basically blackmailing him into helping her, knowing that helping her might hurt his chances to gain custody of his niece, he's extremely forgiving of her behavior. she doesn't necessarily lie to him so much as allow him to formulate his own horribly inaccurate assumptions without correcting him. as a result of her subtle manipulations, all kinds of misunderstandings ensue. even when he ultimately confronts her, he ends up putting most of the blame upon himself. although it makes sense considering his childhood abuse, it felt like the hero was being taken advantage of in a bad way. the heroine doesn't really do anything to empower him other than to offer her body for the slaking of his 'beastly desires'.

in other words, this relationship never feels healthy or healing. i don't feel as though the hero has become all that much stronger by the end. sure, there are some token instances where the hero gets a chance to step from behind the "scared and abused little boy" he was, but those moments proved to be emotionally unsatisfying.

on the plus side, jeffries still knows how to render an intimate moment. the love-making scenes walked a fine line between hot and explicit but never felt pornographic. the couple did have great sexual chemistry and their mutual love for mathmatics gave the relationship more depth.

however, the story suffers mightily due to main characters i found difficult to emotionally invest in and a plotline lacking romance.

i'd recommend this one for those readers who like really hot love scenes and sexual tension and don't mind if the characters aren't all that likable or memorable.

I'll freely admit it, there are times when I realize that I've been reading too much of the same thing, and my brain starts to curdle. Characters become flat, plots listless, and one story fades into another without hardly a break in between. Most of the time this happens with books that fall into the genre of historical romance.

If I'm really lucky, the author has managed to make her characters interesting, or the plot have some new twists, or has actually done some research into the time and place. Most of the time, the books are pretty forgettable, and only very rarely does the novel end up on what I call my 'keeper' shelves.

One of the more recent authors to have been reaching that keeper shelf has been Sabrina Jeffries. Her novels have managed to get beyond the 'smut in fancy dress' level, and she does include little tidbits of daily life and history in her novels set in the late Georgian, or Regency, period of English history, usually about 1820 or so. Continuing her 'School for Heiresses' series, Let Sleeping Rogues Lie is no exception to this trend.

Madeline Prescott has a problem on her hands. She has come to Mrs. Harris' School for Young Ladies to support herself and her father after one of his medical cases resulted in a death. Now she is struggling to clear his name, without too much success when Anthony Dalton, Lord Norcourt, enters her life. He too has a few problems on his hands, and has come to the exclusive school to seek the approval of the courts to become his niece's guardian. If he can arrange Tessa to become a student there, his reputation will lose some of its tarnished allure. Almost immediately he finds himself tempted by Madeline, and starts a rather heated chase to get her into his bed.

But Madeline is anything but a naive teacher, and she knows exactly what he is after. And better still, he can arrange for her to meet with a scientist to help her father rebuild his life. In response to his need to get Tessa into the school, she wants him to teach some of her pupils of the dangers of men such as he, and to help her with her own researches into the results of inhaling nitrous oxide.

Yes indeed, that substance known today as 'laughing gas.' It seems that in the early nineteenth century, parties among members of society were arranged to inhale the gas, and soon they became known for rather scandalous goings on. Even Anthony, with his reputation, is horrified by Madeline's request. So begins this tale of mutual seduction, with a generous mix of lust, family secrets and scarred pasts. Will they ever get to the point where they're not trying to decieve each other and learn to love and trust?

I was rather surprised by this one. Despite the rather dull opening, and the usual machinations of haughty-nobleman-meets-clever-woman, by the midpoint of the story, I was finding myself curious to see how this one turned out. What is unusual is that Jeffries includes some actual historical figures, including Sir Humphrey Davy, who was the chemist who found the process of extracting nitrous oxide and wrote a massive volume on his findings. Along the way, we find a bit about the item known at the time as 'French Letters,' which decency forfends me from naming from their more commonly known term, and about what society at the time deemed moral behaviour.

Some readers might be shocked at the rather frank, and fairly modern, attitude towards sex in this one. The more intimate scenes are fairly steamy, but also very tastefully done. Jeffries doesn't let her prose get too purple, in a welcome break from some of the more outrageous historical romances out there, and neither does she allow the hero and heroine turn into sugary, syrupy nitwits either. Instead, they remain rather likeable and very human.

As with the other novels in this series, Jeffries opens each chapter with a letter from the headmistress, Mrs. Harris, and her mysterious benefactor, known only as 'Michael', who seems to have an amazing grasp of the doings of high society. These letters form a larger arc in the overall series, and I wonder if there will be any more of the story revealed. It's an interesting sidebar.

As historical romances go, this is better than most, and is a worthy entry in the series. The sensual scenes keep away from the more improbable shenanigans, and actually are interesting to read without being too offensive. What I did like was that there were real consequences to the characters' actions here, and they had personalities from what they had gone through in the past. The plot gets resolved in a fairly realistic way, without any hyperbole attached, and comes to a believable end.

Along with the story, there is an author?s note at the end about some of the details of the novel along with a few tidbits about the historical aspects. An excerpt from her next School novel is included, Once a Rake, Always a Rake.

Four stars overall. Recommended.

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