Rules Of An Engagement [Mass Market Paperback]

Captain Bradshaw Carroway is at a crossroads in his life. He loves his current mistress, the sea, but he is also hitting the beginning stages of burn out for his current life. When a sealed order from the Royal Navy and a request from the Duke of Sommerset send him on a mission he finds the perfect cure for his restlessness-a feisty, improper lady, Zephyr Ponsley. Miss Ponsley and her famous botanist father, Sir Joseph Ponsley are in need of transportation to the South Seas to examine the flora and fauna. Given the importance of their research, and with the power of the Royal Society, the Ponsleys receive one of the best captains in the biz.

Right from the get-go Shaw and Zephyr engage in a battle of words and wits. In their initial meeting, our heroine was more than willing to throw our hero into the "stupid brute" stereotype. Not one to turn down a challenge, Shaw came up with his fair share of witty retorts to her snobbish comments. Surprising Zephyr with his quick mind and quicker lips their verbal sword play became a highlight for this book. I found myself a few times at the droll banter of these two. Once these two establish that they are a match in the intelligence department they realize they are also physically attracted to one another. Shaw, an alleged rake does a very un-rake like thing and begins to court her like a proper lady. Well, at least as much as he can on a ship.

The real scene-stealer in this book was the action. You have cannibalistic, Dahmer-type natives on the islands, spiders the size of football fields in the jungles, and "The Perfect Storm" type weather on the seas. You wonder where they found time to fit in this courtship and the romance.

Well, Enoch really didn't. Didn't fit in romance that is. The action, subplots, and dialogue (even if it was witty and made me laugh) completely trumped any relationship developement/romance in this book. Now I'm not saying you can't have a fantastic plot and dialogue in a romance novel. That's not it at all. You just have to make sure you leave enough room for a little somethin'-somethin' to bloom, or you might as well just label it historical fiction. The sneak kisses and the passionate scenes just felt forced. It didn't work for me.

The other gripe I had with this book is Shaw's invitation to the Adventurers' Club. I know, I know...It is a somewhat petty and self-indulgent gripe to put in this review. But that invitation felt forced too! It was like Enoch wanted to bring in as many "blasts from the past" as she could, so she shoved Sommerset in this book. With it being Sommerset, she of course had to bring his club into it. If you bring his club into it, you might as well throw out an invite. Right? Silly! Then on top of it there was the little disgruntled speech from Mr. Thomas Easton about the only qualification needed to join the club nowadays was surviving rough seas. That just makes me think Enoch knew that Shaw had no business being in that club, but SHE decided to be self-indulgent and do it anyway.

If you are looking for an amusing tale with some engaging action and a smooch here and there...Buy this book! If you are looking for the next Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, you might want to keep on looking. This just isn't up to par with Enoch's usual work in the romance department.

Kiss or Diss? Too busy fighting natives, but meh...Give me a quick peck!

-Sarah of RomanticallyReviewed

Here Enoch nicely ties her new Adventurers' Club series to her Lessons in Love series from the early 2000s. Not that you need to know any of this to enjoy the book, which works fine as a stand alone, but the tie-in is an added specialness for us long-time Enoch fans. Our hero Bradshaw Carroway is brother to Robert (ENGLAND'S PERFECT HERO) and Tristan (THE RAKE) and it's nice to see and hear about them again.

The story itself and its romance is not Enoch's best effort but it's pleasant reading. The setting, Bradshaw's ship and several South Sea islands, is a nice change of pace from the usual rarified atmosphere of the London ton. A British naval captain, Bradshaw is assigned the mission of escorting botanist Sir Joseph Ponsley and his daughter Zephyr (our heroine) on a scientific expedition to gather samples of flora and fauna in the islands and to make observations of the natives there. In addition, the Duke of Sommerset (our Adventurers' Club founder) has entrusted to Bradley the return of the prized possession of a one-eyed native fellow nicknamed King George living in Tahiti. This possession, a mirror, must be returned within a set amount of time (to add a little tension to the time frame of the story).

H and h don't hit it off too well at first, mainly because Zephyr initially comes off as an intellectual snob, feeling superior to Bradshaw because, in her opinion, he doesn't read enough and likes to shoot things. Also Zephyr has been accompanying her father on trips around the world since she was a child so has little idea how to act in social situations. Bradshaw is supposed to be a bit of a rake (that's "de rigueur" in most HRs) but doesn't act especially rakish to me. One thing I did appreciate is the relatively angst-free aspect of this book. Bradshaw is merely discontented, unsettled and unsure of what he wants for his future, not tortured or tormented about anything.

Enoch's addition of some upper-class, snobbish passengers who are to be delivered to Manila to visit their uncle was not as successfully done as I would have liked. They were pretty much cartoonish and one-dimensional. A bit more nuance would have made the story more interesting. As it was, their addition to the book cut down on the uniqueness of the exotic setting and the adventure storyline and turned much of the story into the same-old catty, tonnish behaviour and situations found in London-set HRs. This, in turn, led to a slightly disjointed novel and a not-fully-realized romance.

So the book has its ups and downs, a few funny moments with a captured bird that learns to talk, a spider episode, some moments of tension, some stolen kisses but not many actual sex scenes (three, to be exact, and not too explicit) and is a fun way to spend a few idle hours, although, for me, it doesn't fully deliver on the promise of its setting and characters.

This novel has enjoyable, strong characters -- both the hero and the heroine. The dialogue is quick and witty, and the shipboard setting is something different. As usual, Ms. Enoch provides characters you can root for.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars