Less Than a Gentleman by Kerrelyn Sparks

Playful, passionate, exciting… regardless of the genre, Kerrelyn Sparks sure can tell a story!

This is such a great historical romance! I love the Colonial America, Revolutionary War backdrop, and the mystery, the intrigue, the battles… everything about this drew me in and kept me turning the pages until the wee hours of the morning.

The story:

The British are gaining ground in South Carolina, and in their bloody attempt to win the war, burning everything in sight. Captain Matthais Murray Thomas is doing everything in his power to stop them, as well as protect the innocent colonists who find themselves at the mercy of the British. Clearly, Matthais has better things to worry about than taking a bride, much to his mother’s frustration, and since he won’t take the need to marry seriously, Jane does everything and anything she can to “help” him in along. And much to Matthais’s annoyance, she’s even stooped to inviting “suitable” women to stay at their plantation, and sleep in Matthais’s bed.


After the British burned down her home, Caroline Munro is a woman with a mission: get her very pregnant sister, and her niece and nephew to safety. Fortunately they find their way to the Loblolly Plantation where they have a safe place to rest awhile. Knowing that Captain Matthais Thomas was away fighting, Caroline didn’t think it was a problem to masquerade as his fiancée, but when Matthais arrives home unexpectedly and realizes that Caroline is not the woman she claims to be, he makes it his mission to learn all he can about this imposter while hiding his own identity from her.

My thoughts:

Kerrelyn Sparks writes exciting, funny, sexy, paranormal romances with her Love at Stake vampire series, and I’m here to tell you that this non-paranormal historical romance is just as exciting, just as funny, and just as sexy! And when I say funny, I mean I snickered, giggled, and even laughed out loud at some of the banter between characters. Matthais’s growing frustration with Caroline’s supposed deceptions and innocent double entendre references to “A small knob? A tiny twig, a wee button, a small prick?” made for some seriously funny reading.

But best of all? With Less Than a Gentleman, Ms. Sparks has proven herself to be one of the rare historical romance authors who can write outside of the same-old, same-old genre offerings - and do it well! There are others in this book who need their stories told, and I hope Ms. Sparks gives them their chance to speak, too. That would make me a very happy lady!

Note: I was excited to learn that this is the sequel to The Forbidden Lady, originally published as For Love or Country. As soon as I found that out, I bought it. That's how much I enjoyed Less Than a Gentleman!

My thanks to Avon Books and Edelweiss for providing me with a copy of this truly awesome story!