Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand

I never really thought of myself as a romance novel reader, but then, somehow, I got sucked into the sub-sub-genre of the regency romance. Ah, the hours spent trolling my local library in search of books entitled "The Rake and the Reformer!" Ah, the mocking I endured from my friends! And the truth is most regencies are pretty bad, completely innacurate, and more than likely to present a dangerously dated scenario--impoverished, weak woman saved by a dominant, rich man, while sexual attraction substitutes for genuine feeling. I don't know what need this sexist formula fulfilled in me, but I read a lot them. And then I happened onto a book called Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand. In Carla Kelly's works the men and women treat each other with respect. Admiration comes first, love follows. And the protagonists actually like each other before they consumate their relationship. Imagine that! In her books there is none of that "I hate him and yet I'm kissing him! Darn his maddening attraction!" There is only the believable progression from liking and admiration to love.Roxanna Drew is an impoverished widow who loved her first husband (also something that virtually only Kelly would attempt) and has two adorable daughters. When we first meet her she is trying to avoid the ugly advances of her brother-in-law. Lord Winn is a military hero who doesn't fit in society anymore because of a disgraceful divorce. He becomes her landlord and falls in love with her and her family. As her situation becomes more desperate he offers to help. There are lots of very kind, believable moments as he gets to know Roxie and her daughters. Instead of the usual conflict consisting of contrived misunderstandings and forced bickering which hides "attraction," what threatens Roxie and Winn is her recent bereavement and reluctance to love again. As usual, it's the kind of actual human problem that only Carla Kelly would attempt in this genre. After I read Mrs. Drew I read all her other regencies and now she has effectively ruined me for every other romance writer. Darn her terrific writing ability!

Roxanna Drew has been living alone with her two daughters since her husband's passing. Despite financial constraints that could lead her to homelessness, she turns down flat her brother-in-law's offer for a home if she would agree to share his bed. But Marshall Whitcomb won't take no for an answer, and Mrs Drew takes refuge in the abandoned dower house of an estate that belongs to the absentee Lord Winn.When Lord Winn arrives at Moreland in the middle of a snowstorm, he finds a shelter in the newly occupied dower house, where his encounter with Mrs Drew and her daughters radically changes his life. Despite a general wariness of females caused by a disastrous marriage and sisters who won't leave him alone, he quickly takes the Drew family under his wing, turning into a father figure to the two daughters, and a dear friend to Roxanna.Carla Kelly's inimitable style pulls the reader into the scenes she writes. She makes us part of a story that is so involving that one can think of nothing but the characters until the very last page.The banter between Roxie and Winn is witty and refreshing, but also reveals a lot about their true self. In this book we discover characters that more real and three-dimensional than in almost every regency romance.Lord Winn, deeply hurt by his wife's betrayal, is a disgraced man since his divorce; his experience with women makes him wary of them to the extreme. He has no wish to marry again, and his cynical side considers that "children should be drowned at the birth". And yet he treats Felicity and Helen Drew as if he were their father.Roxanna Drew cared for her husband throughout his lethal illness, and it's clear that she had a happy marriage. And yet Ms Kelly does something that is too rare in the world of romantic literature: she gives her heroine a second chance with love without making Roxie's previous husband look like a man of flaws: it's perfectly believable for Roxanna to love Lord Winn without betraying the memory of her late husband.It's a shame that this book is out-of-print, but if you manage to get your hands on it, it's very well worth its often-high price!

I was simply stunned by this book; it haunted me for days after finishing it. Carla Kelly is an incredible writing talent!Roxanna Drew is a relatively recent widow left in straitened circumstances, but who would rather be homeless with her two daughters than dependent on her brother-in-law's not entirely selfless charity. So she manages to rent a run-down cottage on Lord Winn's estate. Then Lord Winn himself gets caught in the snow and begs for shelter....The growing friendship between Roxanna and Winn is alternately hilarious, touching and heartwrenching. Both have sorrows in their past - his more public than hers - and both need each other's friendship; her daughters also begin to rely on him as a father-figure, making things even more poignant. There is a beautiful scene not too far in the book where Winn is about to leave for his sister's home, but he simply turns around and comes back, unable to leave Roxanna and the children.From there on... suffice to say that I doubt anyone could read the rest of the book without crying at least twice. The threat to Roxanna's daughters, the horseback ride to Scotland and back when Winn gets frostbite, and what happens from then on is so well written I couldn't put the book down. This is genuinely a love story for adults. And by that I don't mean that it's X-rated; simply that Kelly treats her readers *as* adults and gives us a story full of the whole range of human emotions. Her characters are real and down to earth, and concern themselves with the mundane and essential things of life, rather than superficial things like balls and dresses (if you want blushing debutantes and visits to Almacks, don't buy this book). I could only wish that this, and Lord Ragsdale's Reform - another excellent Kelly novel - were twice the length they are. If I can't have that, I'll still say that this book is absolutely perfect. No matter what you have to pay for it, BUY IT!

After taking this book out of my local library for the 4th time in 2 months, I realized I needed my own copy! The heroine is admirably self-reliant without being obnoxiously independent, and the hero is generous without being condescending. Both are portrayed in a completely believable manner, with an endearing awareness of their own flaws. The supporting characters are portrayed so humanly that I cannot even hate the villian! While it remains entirely true and in character for its Regency setting, this is a story about grief, loss, love, and the every-day courage that life requires.

I would be happy if only one of every ten Regencies I've picked up were half as good as Carla Kelly's books. Charming, witty, intelligent and funny. Best of all the story stays within the confines of it's genre, Regency England.