The Rebellious Ward

My thoughts: Synopsis is the hero who is a cousin and also the guardian of the heroine, is in charge of making sure the heroine will marry and have a secure future despite her illegitimacy. But the heroine is in love with someone else - him ^_^ Yes, as the previous reviewer said, the prologue made me do something evil - skip to the ending!!! But they were right, I was not able to find out what the heck the story so I had to read the book correctly. I'm glad I did! The book was absolutely charming. The heroine was cute, spunky and full of fire and life. I thought it was funny and nice that she didn't shy away from kisses from other guys hahaha! The hero was also nice but I couldn't really imagine him as a mathematican, etc. And gosh, even though he wasn't the hero, the hero's rival was just so sweet! I felt SO bad that the heroine couldn't choose him =( I was hoping there was a sequel, that maybe he would have his own romance. Alas there wasn't. My only complaint is that I don't think there was enough "romantic" time between the hero and the heroine. I thought maybe there were stolen kisses or something but such was not the case. But despite all that, this book was REALLY good. That is why I gave it almost 5 stars. If you are semi disgusted by the fact that they are related, don't be. As mentioned by a previous reviewer, this was quite common in the olden days. I don't think they are first cousins. Heroine's father and hero were cousins. There is an 11 years age gap between them. Anyway, this book is highly recommended!

Joan Wolf is just a great writer--and it is a crime that her fiction and talent is not better respected. While she has stopped writing her shorter, romance-fiction Regency novels for years, they are among my favorite books. I would not think of selling the ones I own--some of them more than 20 years old. The Rebellious Ward is just an excellent example of how she takes a common theme/motif and elevates it to quality fiction--her characters are always real people--I feel I could know Catriona if I met her today on a visit to England. Even the secondary characters--such as Freddy--are writen with nuance and insight which given them a depth lacking in most other writers' work in fiction--historical or not. I just wish she would return to this era. I love her novels of Ancient Britian as well--not too crazy about the Red Deer work--but I wish that someone would realize what a gem these novels are and reissue them--even do a series on Brit TV because several of the novels share some common characters-- just great writing...

the story of ward and guardian romance-a classic regency theme. Some me be slightly off put with the fact that hero and heroine are cousins-second cousins to be exact-but realistically this was something that happened quite a bit in regency times. A satisfying, years long tale is told in a short 200+ pages-with several secondary characters I'd love to see in their own books (and may well be for all I know). A wonderful read for a traditional regency fan-4 stars!

You can always trust Joan Wolf to give you a good story. The usual guardian-ward romance but written with such consummate skill , it turns out to be so beautiful, touching and heart-warming. I just love it.

The prologue alone is worth the money. The suspense is so cleverly done that merely peeking at the last page wouldn't give the answer. I was caught and "fooled" until the very last moment. And the way everything gets wrapped up is really satisfactory.