How to Tame a Modern Rogue

Diana Holquist

Everything is ready and Ally Giordano is ready to leave New York City and move to San Francisco the next day. But something happens. Grandma Donny has taken a strange turn. She believes she lives in an 1812 Regency romance and that Ally is her "virgin 16-year-old" granddaughter. Grandma Donny even rents a New York City horse drawn carriage and picks up an arrogant man who becomes a "duke". Grandma Donny has taken care of Ally since her parents disappeared ten years earlier when she was 15. Ally can't abandon her grandmother now.

When Sam Carson first sees Grandma Donny in her carriage, he is trying to escape an outraged woman. Although he had given her his standard "this is just for fun and we can't be together longer than a month" speech, she's decided she wants a commitment from him. He doesn't commit to any woman - not any more. When Grandma Donny offers him a ride, he grabs it. He realizes he is with a dotty old woman wearing an old fashioned dress, but she seems safe enough. When she calls him a marquis, he denied that title and calls himself Duke Whatthehell. They went to Ally's apartment.

Now Ally realizes that Grandma Donny needs her. Plus Grandma, still living in 1812 London, decides that Duke Whatthehell is perfect for her granddaughter, the young Alexandria - Ally, of course. She is recreating one of her favorite romance novels. Ally delays her trip and takes her grandmother to the doctor. No one knows what is going on with her, but give her medicine and schedule tests.

Meanwhile Grandma Donny wants to go "to the country" - by the horse and carriage. She owned a house on Fire Island. Ally figures it will take four or five days. But her grandmother has to have the Duke with them. Ally approaches the man who has already rankled her to ask him to act for her grandmother while she is delusional. The trip appeals to Sam's whimsy and gets him out of Manhattan and away from angry women. So he joins them on their trip. Meanwhile Ally worries what is going to happen to her grandmother, if she will make it San Francisco, and if she can ignore Sam while her grandmother keeps throwing them together.

How to Tame a Modern Rogue is such a charming, fun romance novel. If someone had tried to explain the story line to me I would have said it would never work. But Diana Holquist makes it believable. Dementia takes people in odd ways, so the belief in 1812 London works. There is one twist regarding Ally's parents that is contrived but otherwise How to Tame a Modern Rogue is an enjoyable romance. Sam's character seems unbelievably callous towards women while vulnerable in other ways. But when his history is revealed the two parts come together.

Diana Holquist's novel is a quick read and will appeal to the romantic's heart. Read this either for a pick-me-up or on that lazy afternoon.

Notice: Strong sexual content

Publicist provided for review

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