REVIEW: The Dare and the Doctor by Kate Noble
Dr. Rhys Gray and Miss Margaret Babcock are friends—strictly friends. But over the course of the year, as they exchange dozens of letters, they share personal details that put them on the path to something more. When Dr. Gray helps Margaret realize her dearest dream and she comes to his defense in the uproar that follows, it seems that their connection cannot be denied. But will their relationship stand the scruples of society and jealous intendeds, or are they destined to be only friends, and nothing more?
Dear Ms. Noble,
I came to this series rather late but I saw this title on sale and after checking other good reviews here for your books, I decided to give it a go. Well, some of it I liked but an equal amount didn’t suit me.
I enjoy epistolary books so when one starts off with an exchange of letters, I am giddy. The start of this book definitely made me giddy. Rhys, the doctor, and Margaret, the tall horticulturist charmed me. Their friendship leaps off the pages. Soon through Rhys’s efforts, Margaret’s astounding cross breeding of a China rose with a hardy English rose has come to the attention of the Royal Horticultural Society who wants to see what Margaret has accomplished. So it’s off to London for her, in the company of some of the MCs of an earlier book, where she’ll stay with other MCs from an earlier book in this series. Sigh, I can’t complain about the abundance of characters as I knew I was starting with book three.
Margaret and Rhys are introverts who are happiest in a garden (her) or a medical office (him) but for once Margaret decides to take a chance and venture out into London society while Rhys is faced with the fallout of his (what a shit) father’s actions from ten years ago in the form of an engagement to a neighbor’s daughter. Rhys proceeds to bury his head in the sand about this for most of the book, putting off making any decision so he can spend more time with Margaret who is just a friend.
Upon her arrival, Margaret takes over her hostess’s greenhouse and back garden, initially disrupting the flow of the household (she’s lived in the country and loves her roses like children but she ought to know not to have a cook’s dinner put off) before settling in to turn fish heads and fresh horse manure into fertilizer. My question is – shouldn’t that manure be composted first?
With his fluttering yet also calculating (and exhibitionist) mother pushing Rhys to finally propose to the young woman who has been his intended for years and the rest of his boisterous family running wild (except his shit father and also shit older brother), Rhys has his hands full and finds himself attending many of the same society functions as Margaret. But remember, they’re just friends. This is a load of fresh horse manure but they bravely put off their feelings for most of the book until a villain’s actions cause a duel and end up forcing the whole intended marriage thread.
The plot had been getting more twisted in the second half with all kinds of plot threads but it really gets knotted at the end when Truths are revealed – some good and one bad that I didn’t see coming and frankly disliked. I also honestly feel that the statement “there was no whiff of scandal, not one whisper about it” of the resolution is also fresh horse manure. London high society isn’t going to chew on this and speculate like mad? Right/s
But there are other reasons for the grade such as “Try me.” “I’ve had a bit of a day” and other too modern language. And Margaret swears – maybe not like a sailor but definitely not the way I’d expect a twenty year old Regency woman to do – hell and bollocks are used in her speech and thoughts more than once. Rhy’s sister Eloisa also swears freely and Rhys swears before ladies. Period manners get twisted. It doesn’t make it right when some characters then mention how actions are incorrect. Some scenes are overwritten such as when physician Rhys describes – for pages – the possible consequences of a young man being shot in a duel.
On the positive side, other scenes are very visually written – which I like – such as when Rhys’s large family bursts into their London home in a whirlwind of action. As much as Margaret can appear either naive or obtuse about social mores, I do admire her actions in a few scenes such as when she scares off a would be robber at Vauxhall or calls out the caddish conversation of two ton toffs at a ball or stands up for herself and what she’s achieved before the horticultural men who come to ogle her roses. The way that Rhys and Margaret interact is mostly delightful and it’s clear that they are suited and more than just friends.
In the end, Rhys finally stands up for himself though a lot of the impetus to get him to that point is Margaret’s strength. I was delighted that Rhys also firmly reigns in his mother – or does as much as anyone can – and that he shifts the responsibility for his father’s (shitty) actions onto the man himself. The person I feel most sorry for is the father of the intended bride and I hope that man aims a rifle at the (shitty) father should that one ever return from exile and try anything else. So some good and some not so good and a C for the book.
~Jayne
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For a change of scene have you tried Agnes and the Hitman by by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer? It was a hoot!
@Elizabeth: I haven’t but it is on my TBR list. However that list is quite long.