Series: The Sons of The Revolution (#2)
Genre: Historical
Release Date: October 1, 2010
Pages : 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
I know you should never judge a book by its cover, but while browsing Scribd I clicked on the thumbnail of The Making of a Gentleman because of the romantic colors and pretty font border. The Goodreads synopsis toted it as the story of a governess who is hired to help a man clean up and get ready to participate in high society. I thought it would be a cute and witty reverse My Fair Lady type thing.
Well, I was wrong
Let’s back up a little. The set up of for Galen’s The Sons of The Revolutions series is that 12 years ago during the French revolution (read: not American Revolution, which is what I thought ) three aristocratic brothers are separated when their home is torched during an uprising.
Now they are all being bought back together and finding love.
This is the second book and focuses on the middle brother Armand Valère. Now the reason Armand is in need of a governess to prepare him for society, is because when his family home was torched, he ended up being captured, locked away and tortured in prison as a child. After more than a decade of solitary confinement he is finally rescued; he can’t talk and is pained by human touch. Holy Nightmare Fuel, Galen.
Cue Felicity Bennett. Hired by Armand’s bother to prepare him for society, Armand instantly connects to Felicity through her music. It’s great seeing them interact, there is a bit of humor drawn from having a stubborn adult student like Armand, going up against a teacher he is attracted to.
Armand was a really interesting character. Now that he has come home to a loving and supporting family, he has to reconcile with all “The Rules” that don’t make sense to him while having to talk and find words again.
In the background there is a plotline about how Armand ended up imprisoned and how individuals from his past are coming back to hurt his family. This plot line is mixed with an evil fiance plot line that got a little out of hand with shenanigans that didn’t do it for me.
I haven’t said much about the heroine Felicity Bennett because there isn’t much to say. She was an okay character but not overly memorable. I just didn’t walk away with anything about her sticking out.
I’ve been buffeting romance and often find myself getting bored with the Alpha-Playboy trope. I think what I liked about this book was how Armand was more of a low key Alpha character. Yes, his is strong and overprotective, not wanting to lose his new family and freedom, however, he also has strong vulnerabilities like talking and socializing.
There is a slightly clumsy *wink wink nudge nudge* at what to expect in the third book, so I may check that one out (Because. . . pirates) and then swing back around to read the first one.
A great cast of characters with an unlikely hero.I like what Galen does characters, but the plot sort of tripped over itself at the end. Either way, I’m going to be checking Galen out her backlist.
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