GOVERNESS GONE ROGUE is a cross-dressing romance, which, to me, is fraught with lots of chances for a squicky feel to the story. Jamie St. Clair, the Earl of Kenyon, has a moment when he realizes that he is attracted to his boys' tutor, and then realized, a-ha, she is really a woman! This literary device always feels problematic to me unless it is explicitly made clear that the hero is bi or otherwise not a traditional (read typical Historical Romance Hero TM) character.

Amanda Leighton likewise feels not really real. She's plucky and smart, sure. But she's been ruined by being found in flagrante delicto with a young man, buck naked, in the middle of the school grounds where she was teaching. You can't have me possibly believe that she's ever going to be rehabilitatable in society. The concept of her pulling off acting like a male tutor and being convincing as a hirable person (by an earl, no less!) while masquerading as a very young 17 years old, is just ridiculous as well. The consequences of many of Amanda's numerous poor decisions, both during the story and before the book begins, seem relatively easily overcome. This proves highly unsatisfying to me.

Nothing about this book hangs together well. It's all slightly awkward and very unbelievable. They fall into bed too easily, and I found myself annoyed when they went to bed the first time. I'm pretty sure that's not what the author was going for! Jamie realizes all of a sudden that he's in love with Amanda in what feels like an abrupt manner, rather than a slow slide into love being shown throughout the story. This whole book went back and forth between annoying me and boring me, in turns. The best that can be said is that the earl's twin eight year old sons are not irritating plot moppets, but reasonable well-done children with understandable feelings. Oh and also that the book went fairly quickly so that I didn't have to slog through it rolling my eyes for days at a time.

Guhrke's GOVERNESS GONE ROGUE is not a good representation of the author's skills, and readers new to Guhrke would be better served to read one of her more appealing books, such as SCANDAL OF THE YEAR or AND THEN HE KISSED HER. Fans of Guhrke may choose to look forward to her next offering, which hopefully will be back up to her usual standards.

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