Friday, April 17, 2009

Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress-Elizabeth Boyle

Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress
Elizabeth Boyle
Avon, May 2009, $6.99
ISBN: 9780061373244

Lady Philippa "Pippin" Knolles knows she loves American privateer Captain Thomas Dashwell and has for several years since he kissed her on the smuggler’s beach way back in 1810 or so; but this was no happy ending as the fickle fingers of life such as war, marriage, and children kept them apart.

In 1837, a widow of two years Pippin welcomes her naval son home. While the Admiral boringly speaks, Pippin glances around to another ship the HMS Regina where she sees a ghost of her past on board. She faints as the young sailor looked like her dashing Dash albeit over two decades ago that is. Unable to resist she goes to find her Dash, but learns you can’t go home as he is no longer the daring hero; instead he is a drunk who lives on his past glory. Hoping to save her beloved like she did just before the second war with colonials, she turns to the scandalous red dress she wore to win his love the first time; hopefully this time forever.

Lady Philippa and Captain Thomas Dashwell have been important characters throughout the Bachelor Chronicles (see CONFESSIONS OF A LITTLE BLACK GOWN, LOVE LETTERS FROM A DUKE, THIS RAKE OF MINE and TEMPTED BY THE NIGHT). Thus fans of the saga will especially appreciate this strong entry as the lead couple has changed especially Dash, but their love remains a constant. This is a superb historical that uses “flashbacks” to the Regency era, but the remarkable feat of this book and the other novels in the series is each story line is fresh and organized differently though the cast is somewhat a constant. Readers will have wonderful memoirs of Elizabeth Boyle’s outstanding Chronicles for years to come.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: