Charming story. Re-read and still enjoyed it on maybe the second or third read, Rake and the Reformer are the sequel to this. ( )

Al contrario que su hermana Gina, a la que fascinan las fiestas de la alta sociedad londinense y disfruta imaginando a su futuro marido, la joven y tímida Caroline siempre se ha interesado más por la música que por los hombres. Pero su padre, sir Alfred Hanscombe, no está dispuesto a aceptar más negativas. Ya ha perdido buena parte de sus bienes y se ha empobrecido tanto que la única salida es que sus hijas se casen con hombres ricos. Jason Kincaid, barón de Radford, un hombre famoso por su atractivo y su malhumor, ha decidido rendirse a la voluntad de su tía y, como no quiere esforzarse lo más mínimo en encontrar esposa, acepta la sugerencia de un amigo y pone en práctica un descabellado sorteo del que Caroline resulta ganadora. Ha de aceptar la proposición sin ni siquiera saber cómo tratar a su prometido, un completo desconocido para ella... Por si todo esto no fuera suficiente, el irresistible Reggie, Richard Davenport, un oficial de caballería que acaba de descubrir sus orígenes nobiliarios, está a punto de cruzarse en su camino...

The Diabolical Baron was Mary Jo Putney’s debut novel, and it shows. It is slow going in the first part of the story, but once she hit her stride, the characters began to shine. In the end, it is an amusing comedy of errors as two couples find love.

Full review: https://rebeccasreadingcorner.blog/review-mary-jo-putney-the-diabolical-baron/ ( )

This has a convoluted plot that takes a long time to get to the obvious solution. Jason Kincaid picks Caroline Hanscombe's name out of a hat for his wife, but the lady only accepts his proposal due to family circumstances. When he invites her to a house party at his estate, he finds that her aunt/chaperone is his long-lost love, Jessica. Meanwhile, Caroline, who loves music, meets the neighbor whose piano she plays on as often as she can and falls in love with him. Since everyone is obligated to someone different, the situation is awkward and it takes a while for resolution - too long in my opinion. Everyone is longing for someone they can't have when all they need to start the ball rolling is for one person to confess his/her true feelings. ( )

It was very, very difficult for me to get to the 50% point in this book, but then everything with this crazy love quadrangle clicked. That said, there are two love stories, and while I think MJP did a decent job integrating them, it often left me wanting more of one or the other couples. And the end was very enjoyable, it still wasn't enough to save this one for me overall.
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