Rake's Ransom
By: Barbara Metzger / Narrated By: Stevie Zimmerman
Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
Engaging story with a heroine who’s as much the bandit as the belle!
Well, here it is. Author Barbara Metzger had me hooked as soon as our young heroine, Jacelyn, upbraids the staid Squire for loving the barbarism of fox hunting as the book opens. She grills him, kinda shrills him, and we see that she’s quite the noble chit, steadfastly holding to her principles, even if that means she’s branded as an incurable hoyden. So when the Squire gets back at her for foiling a much anticipated fox hunt by “kidnapping” her beloved hound, Penn(y), we can see how her mind might work as she devises a plot to get her sweet dog back.
Easiest thing in the world, just “kidnap” right back someone important to the Squire, a gentleman she knew as a child but hasn’t seen for eons. All goes well, right?
Uhm, kinda not really, as Arthur invited a friend to the country house without telling anybody, and THIS gentleman is a noted womanizer, rake extraordinaire, and he’s quite amused when Jacelyn, dressed as a country urchin, waylays him and holds him at pistol-point. When she turns out to be a lovely young woman, when he sees that he’s been ransomed for not gold, silver, various important personages, but a DOG? He knows he’s met a one of a kind lady.
So NATurally there’s a kiss and a compromising situation when the Squire, et al, ride up and discover the two; this after they’ve been in each other’s company, unchaperoned, for FOUR. freaking. hours. >GASP!< There’s only one thing for it, and that’s a marriage between the impoverished and devastatingly handsome Claibourne and Jacelyn… even if it’s all a sham, and the two have no intention of wedding each other.
And so begins a truly charming story of the two getting to know each other, of Claibourne realizing that he CAN be true to one irrepressible young woman whose every emotion plays upon her face (Sooo unlike the other debutantes who practice a sneer of ennui). He follows Jacelyn as she takes London by storm, even as she tries to rescue every little sparrow that needs help, whether it’s taking on young Pinky as her maid, or (unknowingly) aiding Percy, the man who spends the book trying to off Claibourne before he can take a wife and produce heirs.
There’s plenty of intrigue, violence done, scandals started, and scrapes galore that Jacelyn gets into. I liked her because she has such a good heart, and she rather reminded me of Arabella from Georgette Heyer. Arabella, however, was muuuuch more the lady, and Metzger writes less “literature-like” than Heyer and more plain popular fiction, but I liked Rake’s Ransom quite mightily nevertheless. We didn’t do an Animals pick this week of continued Shelter in Place since I’d had to chuck in a Professional Development audiobook I was doing, but I was quite tickled that Penn, JC’s dog, is a much loved character who gets plenty of air time in the story. As things turned out, I wound up with a book that was chockfull of Happily Ever Afters, even for big-hearted, boisterous, ungainly Penn!
The only flaw of the audiobook, and this is a minor quibble, comes from the narration. Don’t get me wrong, seasoned narrator of Regencies, Stevie Zimmerman, does her usual fantastic job with juggling voices, characters, emotions, and drama. It’s just that the whole audiobook sounds like it was recorded in a room with tin can walls. Normally, this would drive me up the wall, but I have to admit that maybe only two walls of the room are tin cans, so it’s not overwhelming, plus the story is just so gosh darned chucklesome with all of the shenanigans and fisticuffs that I soon forgot about the underlying “tinniness” of the production.
Looking for something kinda sorta like Georgette Heyer cuz you’ve run outta Heyer audiobooks to listen to? Give this sweet story a try. It has me chomping at the bit for another Metzger, especially as I see there’s another book she’s written that has a big ol’ doofy dog in it!!!
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.