When I came across How to Tame a Modern Rogue by Diana Holquist in a thrift store, I had some concern because it was published in 2009, and a lot of romance novels don't age well. Its blurb caught my eye as a crossover between a modern and historical romance, with the contemporary characters pretending to live in a Regency romance novel, or some such.
I got lucky, because this book was utterly charming. From the dotty grandmother who may or may not be pretending to have had a stroke that makes her think she is a character in a novel, to a man masquerading as a Central Park carriage driver when he is actually -- well, that, but much more, to a run-in with a punk band, this book had great energy.
And the love interests rocked. Ally is a mousy schoolteacher who keeps herself under tight control at all times to avoid being like her irresponsible parents who abandoned her. Sam is -- need I say it? -- impossibly rich, impossibly handsome, irascible, blah blah blah romance hero blah blah blah.
But what I loved about this book is that Ally and Sam seem like grownups. The sex isn't the hottest, but it is very fun and very consensual. They have actual conversations about things that really matter. The conflict in the book isn't that they don't communicate with each other. To the contrary, they show up for each other. That's romance.
The book has some issues. Ally blames her mother for running off with her father, but never really blames her father for running off. And then she sort of forgives her mother because true love is somehow more important than not abandoning your child. Naw. Along the same lines, there is one scene that really needed a good editing in which no one is concerned about a toddler wandering around Central Park with no caretaker in sight.
Those are minor complaints, though. May all your thrift shop finds be as good as How to Tame a Modern Rogue.
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