The Country Gentleman

Oh this is one funny book! A rare treat for a historical romance reader. Fans of Lynsay Sands older books (before the vampires) will love this. Its hate-turns-to-love and slapstick comedy rolled into one. The Incomparable Lady Sarah thinks that she has killed her fiance when she knocks him over the head with a small statue. Serves him right. The brute actually attempted to rape her in order to seal the marriage deal. Without any witnesses and with her father out of the country Sarah fears that no one will believe her. So she flees her former fiance estate in the middle of a stormy night. While partaking in one of his favorite pastimes, hunting, Geoffrey spots a mud soaked unconscious woman at the bottom of a ravine. He quickly takes her to his home.........and that, later on he would realize, was his first mistake. For Geoffrey never expected the exquisitely beautiful woman to be a sharp tongued harpy bent on making his life miserable. And it turns out that she has amnesia! So she has to stay with him?!?! Damnation! How much can the poor devil take? I loved this book. So hilarious. Sarah (aka Amy) really knew how to make poor Geoffrey crazy. As the leader of the ton, she is a complete snob and turns her nose down at seemingly everything. Geoffrey on the other hand considers himself a country gentleman (even though he is an Earl). And despises London and the ton. So he challenges Sarah to become more country-ish. She proceeds to make a mess out the kitchen and mend his shirts crookedly. He buys her an ugly dress. She steals his clothes. His temper explodes. And she tells him that his kisses must be poor. LOL! It goes on and on. And it gets even better when they get to London! How these two get together is a miracle. For he is practically engaged already and she is wanted for murder. The reader is taken on one very funny adventure from beginning to end. The only minor quibble I have is the lack of a love scene -it would have been explosive! Other than that I highly recommend this as a humorous historical romance. Some other funny historical romance that I have enjoyed; Simply Scandalous (Zebra Debut) Love Is Blind (Leisure Historical Romance) Bliss

Cindy Holbrook has the knack for writing funny romances. This novel is a keeper and something to be re-read. Lady Sarah, London society Incomparable and heiress, hits the Duke of Ravenwich, her fiance, on the head with a statue of Pan when he attempts to rape her to compromise her and then tries to strangle her when she resists. Frightened that she has killed him and with her father in Africa so he cannot protect her from hanging for murder, she flees into the night in her dress and a shawl on one of his horses. The horse throws her when it is frightened by lightening. While fleeing on foot in the rain, she loses her footing and rolls down a hill into a pond. Geoffrey, the Earl of Gray, is out hunting when he finds her soaked, muddy, and unconscious by the pond. He slings her over his shoulder and takes her home. (Lady Sara is a statuesque 5 feet 9 and Lord Gray is quite a bit larger than Sara.) Because Geoffrey is a country gentleman and dislikes London, he does not know who Sara is so Sara feigns amnesia in order to bide her time at Lord Grey's estate until her father comes back from Africa. Because she says she does not know her name, they decide to call her Amy. Geoffrey is stubborn and a tyrant and Sara is willful and spoiled. After Sara comes down in Geoffrey's clothes to dinner one evening, Geoffrey decides she needs to be taught some lessons to be more than a spoiled society miss. He has his long term meek fiancee, Melanie, teach "Amy" how to be a country gentlewoman. Sara submits because she likes Melanie. Melanie teaches "Amy" how to sew tears in clothing -- Sara sews the arm of one of Geoffrey's shirts to the side of the shirt and hems up his pants so one leg is very much shorter than the other. And she embroiders flowers on all of his handkerchiefs. Sara argues daily with Geoffrey because she tells him he is ungallant and he because she does not obey him as a woman should. The adventures and mishaps between Sara and Geoffrey are funny. However, during one argument Geoffrey kisses Sara and the kiss turns passionate. Geoffrey has never found himself so attracted to a women and Sara who has been kissed frequently has found a man who makes her melt. However they each deny the attraction between them. Sara does because he is engaged to Melanie, who she likes. Geoffrey does because he is engaged and he finds Sara infuriating. Time and time again, Geoffrey cannot help kissing Sara. When Geoffrey takes Sara to buy some dresses from the small town seamstress, she teaches both the seamstress and the local wifes all the latest fashions and how to dress move comely. When the local Squire's wife has a country ball, somehow, due to Sara, a brawl enrupts involving both the men and women. One day out in Geoffrey's hay fields, passing riders recognize Sara. She pretends to be a yokel look-alike for Lady Sara. She also learns that Ravenwich is still alive and now must decide how to save herself in case Ravenwich discovers where she is hiding. He

This is one of Cindy Holbrook's best books. The plot and the characters were so entertaining. Everyone who likes romance should read this book and any of the other books by Cindy Holbrook.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Country Gentleman. The characters and the story line were a lot of fun. I can recommend this book to anyone.

I have enjoyed reading Cindy Holbrook's work for a number of years. This one is right up there with Lord Sayer's Ghost - funny, fast-paced, and well-written! As a Regency writer myself, I can heartily recommend THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN! Donna Bell