Warning! Spoilers ahead! Reforming Lord Ragsdale by Carla Kelly is my most resent book. This was the third time I have read it. It is one of my favorites. A short recap if anyone hasn’t read it:
Its basically about a Lord sometime in the 1800’s near Napoleon’s reign who is extremely wealthy and lives with his mother. He is thirty, has a mistress, and gets drunk often. He recently fired his secretary so his paperwork and bills are a mess and his tendants need help because their houses are falling apart. He also has an eye patch because a mob of Irishmen destroyed his eye along with his father. (You can imagine how he feels about the Irish) One day his cousins from the U.S. come to visit so he may show one of them his old school of Oxford. On the way his cousin, Robert, steals his traveling money and is about to gamble off his Irish servant, Emma, when Lord Ragsdale steps in and buys her off. Now he’s stuck with an indentured servant to whom he hates. He notices, though, she has a regal standing and wonders what she was before a lady’s maid. When they finally get home, Ragsdale gets more drunk than usual. He then tells his newly acquired servant to reform him, not meaning much by it. She then makes him sign a paper agreeing to his reform in exchange for her indenture.
The main plotline is interesting and enticing but that’s not why I love it so much. The characters are both so witty and adorable together. It just makes it such a fun read. The other day I was at a shopping center waiting for my mother and brother to finish, and I took out my book to read. I was laughing out loud and looking really weird smiling and laughing at my kindle in the middle of a shopping center. In the beginning, Lord Ragsdale is annoyed and almost childish. He has mean thoughts about Emma and openly voices them. Emma has a come-back to everything. They are super entertaining together. You’d need to read it to really know.One thing I appreciate about this book is the way the character’s backstories affect their lives and how the reader sees this. In so many books, the author gives a character this crazy tragic backstory but keeps it from the reader and only hints at them that it does exist until it takes a dump near the end. All of the sudden, this completely normal human being has gone through the worst! Sure, we got hints about something bad that happened to them but then they give us this completely new past. It’s like: What the heck?! Where did that come from? Another thing is when the backstory only minimally affects the character. What I liked in this book was the fact that the characters had visible signs of a major turning point in their lives. Emma is clearly one of nobility and doesn’t keep this a secret. She also lets us know her sad recollection on her old life. We know something turned her fate in an instant but we know her general past. As for Lord Ragsdale (Who’s name in john Staples by the way), he has an eye patch and makes it clear why he hates the Irish. We don’t know the full story until later about what happened but we know a mob killed his father and took out his eye. We infer that he blames himself. This isn’t something the author keeps from the reader. We are reminded of it too when he tries to scare his cousin and maid by taking it off. We know that these two are not ordinary people. There has been some real tragedy. One thing I liked about the book was John’s character development. There was such a big change from where he started to the way he became. Nothing was too sudden and he was still his same, fun self. I thought it was fitting that both people should have such tough back rounds and end up together. The girl he was going to marry seemed a bit shallow and insensitive. Part of this was shown, I thought, with Emma’s exchange with her after the engagement. Lord Ragsdale needed someone who understood hardship and something as horrible as losing one’s family or family member. These are only my opinions. I am not saying I am right or wrong. I like how gradual the relationship progressed. In many books, when the two characters don’t like each other at first, they’ll become lovers really quickly. I like how the two of them were able to work through some things before they even turned into friends. It was so sweet when she told him she’d like to be friends.I love John Staples’s mother! she is hilarious. She totally disses him and makes fun of him in a motherly knowing way. It’s so funny. I thought I’d add in some of my favorite quotes from the book:
“Oh, no, Emma,” he replied as he turned the corner into Bailey. “Actually, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to give David Breedlow a piece of my mind.” Are you sure you can spare that much? she thought and smiled in spite of herself. (Emma needs to see John’s old secretary to ask some questions. He’s in prison, though, for stealing a bit of money.)
“Life is suddenly full of exertions.” ~ John Staples (This was the conclusion he came to the morning after Robert’s gambling fiasco and realized he must take charge)
He sighed the martyr again. “Mama, they were prime goers,” he began and then he stopped himself because it sounded like he was whining. “I’m sure they were, my dear, she agreed as she reached out to clasp his hand. “But I want you to tell me something, son.” “What?” he asked in irritation when she continued to look at him. “Tell me if all this will matter in even a week or two.” “Of course it will!” he shot back. “Why?” she asked softly. He had no answer. Of course, it mattered, he wanted to shout, but for the life of him, he couldn’t think why. (When Lord Ragsdale paid for Emma’s indenture, all his money had been taken by Robert so he had to sell his two fine horses to make up for it. He is now complaining to his mother about how upset he is.)
The Bibliophile 