I wanted to like this book so much. Eileen Dreyer is a very good writer, the love scenes in her first book, Barely A Lady, were well done, & I loved the main characters when we met them in that book. The premise of the story is one of my favorite HR setups, they are forced to marry after being accidentally caught in a very compromising position. But the things she made the characters do after that totally turned me off. The title is quite appropriate, because Diccan was NEVER a gentleman throughout the book. He was very selfish and careless with Grace's feelings and well-being; not the actions of a hero. They had some great sexual chemistry, but otherwise I don't know what she saw in him. I don't want to give away the part that I thought was really repulsive, because, spoiler, but suffice it to say that no sane woman would be turned on by it, although we're supposed to believe she is.
I will probably give Dreyer one more chance, but in both books, the hero does horrible cruel things to the heroine and gets forgiven in the end. I'm starting to sense a pattern here. At least in book #1 Jack had to work hard for it. Diccan gets forgiven almost instantly with barely a grovel. Another similarity between the 2 books, the hero's family is hateful and rude to the heroine, if not actively trying to break up their marriage. Reluctantly downgraded to 2 stars for extreme emotional abuse.

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I found this to be a slightly frustrating read. I find the heroine to be a complete pushover, and what made it worse is that she is the daughter of a soldier, who has been to several countries,faced dangerous situations, taken care of soldiers in the battlefield but yet she lets everyone walk all over her and take complete advantage. We are also constantly reminded about how plain and un-pretty she is.

Then there is "The Scene". *Spoiler* Diccan, Grace's husband is cheating on her with his mistress and Grace watches the whole thing through a peephole. If that's not bad enough her reaction was beyond shocking, to sum it up she asked him to do all the things she saw him do to his mistress to her! At that point I was ready to close the book up for good. And if it wasn't for the fact that Eileen Dreyer has such an excellent way with her words I would have. The plot did redeem itself a little in the second half of the book.

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Enjoyed the first in this series, but truly loved this second installment. Excellent plotline, intriguing characters, good chemistry ... I look forward to the next in what I hope continues to be a successful series!

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Very enjoyable read, which I've come to expect from this author. she tends to come up with new story lines instead of just re using the old ones personally I very much appreciate that. I love the idea of having a plain leading lady when everyone else out there thinks she has to be a raving beauty. This was a keeper for me!

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An excellent marriage of convenience story! This is the second book in the series and it makes sense to start with the first (Barely a Lady) so you know what's going on in the spy plot line. You get to see characters from the first book and experience Grace's wonderful fall into love and introduction to pleasure. Heartrending moments also abound and I was moved to tears at times.

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Never a Gentleman by Eileen Dreyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Drake's Rakes are a group of gentlemen in society that are working undercover to protect the Crown, and each has something going on in his personal life that effects his work. In the first book in this series, we meet Jack and Oliva Gracechurch. In reading their story, we were introduced to some friends; Grace Fairchild, Lady Kate, Lady Bea, Diccan Hilliard, Marcus Drake and Harry Lidge just to name a few. In this, the second book in the series, we catch up with Diccan and Grace Fairchild and find them being put to the test!

The story starts right were the first book ends, and find Diccan Hillard doing work for the Drake's Rakes which of course means that he is running afoul of the Lions group who is trying to kill the Duke of Wellington and toppke the crown with their own heir. Since Diccan is trying to out them, they feel the need to silence him, and not just that but to shame him and ruin his credibility, and so they plant a drugged Diccan in the bed of a drugged Grace! Oh the horrors, of the shame!

We start with them waking in the Inn together, completely in shock and it moves as they try to figure out who is pulling the puppet strings behind this sunt, who is part of the Lions and how to keep themselves safe with a man called "The Surgeon" on the lose and itching to destory Diccan and Grace in the process if he has too.

So much history, mystery and intrigue wrapped in one book, all the while, Diccan not wanting to be married is married to Grace, the plainist of all women, or so he thinks, and he is about to find out that the plainness has been a cover all along so that she can hide in the corners of society and not be talked about.

I love the way the author, Eileen Dreyer, makes you feel you are actually there, and this is no chaste 1815's version of life, this is real, they talk about real life and emotions and heroic acts as well as common place life, not the stuffy version of life you hear in history books. I loved the story, I loved the way it all twists and winds and we end up back at the house of Jack and Oliva Gracechurch to wind up this mystery, bringing us back to the first couple was wonderful! It just made it all so much more real and alive, because if these people were friends in real life, they would have been together again and again, and the book puts them together. I love it.

The reason I actually started reading this series was because I got a copy of the third book in the series from First Reads, and I am just that kind of person, but there was no way on earth that I could read book three without having read book one and two, now having said that, it is just me, you could actually read book three or two first and not miss anything in the story, it follows better in order, but you could pick up any book in the series and read it, they stand on their own quite well.

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Great read!

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I litterally burnt this book when I was finished reading it. And I will never, ever, pick up another book by this author.

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