Where Roses Grow Wild [Mass Market Paperback]

Pegeen MacDougal is the maternal aunt of the Duke of Rawlings, a ten-year boy. His father is dead and his mother is missing, and now the spirited young lad is living with "his Pegeen". Lord Edgar Rawlings, is the second son of a deceased duke and does not want the available duchy; thus, he begins his search for his nephew -- the misplaced Jeremy. Let the games begin . . .

The bantering, back and forth, is lighthearted. Though these two people are usually at odds with one and other, they never get down and dirty. This is uplifting. Cabot pulls out the humor and she charms the reader.

The cast of secondary players lends strength to the storyline. Subsequently, a grave reading disappointment surfaces with the writer's treatment of Edgar's loyal friend, Alistair Cartwright. Cabot relinquished Alistair's amour to a brief skim held during the final pages -- a shame. The author could have pleased her readers, immensely, with a personal Alistair Cartwright novel.

Jeremy Rawlings, the young, vivacious duke, is a lively little boy. I relished the scenes in which he appeared. He was delightful in his attempts to act grown up. My compliments, Patricia Cabot, the intrigue for his story is well done. I will track down "Portrait of My Heart" to find out what happens to Jeremy Rawlings.

What was wrong with this novel? Pegeen's dark secret she hides from the world; the drawn out deferral, belonging to this mystery, cause the story to drag.

Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.

If my unsubstaniated opinion isn't enough to dissuade you, here's some more reasons it's a bad book:

The events/stated facts are inconsistent. In the beginning of the story, She has 2 dresses. She wears her weekday dress to an event that smells so bad she vomits. She then runs most of the way home, meets Him within the hour and He thinks She smells sweet. During this time she has not freshened up even a little. My guess was she smelled like sweat, anger, blood, and vomit. Meanwhile, He drinks bottles and bottles of liquor without becoming drunk or smelly.

The book didn't get any more believeable for me. Her character is supposed to be hardworking of rural middle-class birth, but she acts 'to the manner born' without hardly blinking. She goes from being a social worker to someone who no longer thinks of dressing herself without the aid of a maid without any hint of transitional period. She goes from being sole caregiver for her nephew to hardly ever seeing him as he is banished to the nursery with hardly a murmur on her part. It takes time and training to learn those behaviors and she doesn't have either.

Additionally, there is some contrived plot about her having a terrible secret which "of course she can't tell him" but it's not really her secret, but her sister's, and of course he'll find out and not care because it barely even involves her. Give me a break - that's the worst kind of plot device. It doesn't create suspence, just annoyance. There's also supposed to be a secondary romance between Anne and Alistair. I couldn't find it but they wound up married anyway.

This book was just a huge disappointment in every respect, especially considering how good her other efforts are.