This novel was intriguing in the beginning but slowly dimmed towards the end. I wished Ms Garwood would have brought up a notch the chemistry between the main characters. BRADFORD JERED MARCUS BENTON is as arrogant as he is STIFF! Caroline is, or at least BECAME, nothing but a WIMP pretending to be brave. Overall, a dissatisfying and predictable story.
SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT!

great reads by Ms. Garwood are "Ransom"(the best of all), "heartbreaker," "come the spring," and "mercy"

Having loved The Bride, I had looked forward to giving another Julie Garwood novel a whirl. I have a few of them lined up, most of which are set in Medieval Scotland, so I decided to give one set in late Georgian England a whirl. Rebellious Desires has an interesting story with two compelling protagonists. It also has some wonderful humor that reminded me of Jude Deveraux. However, the hero's infuriating indecisions and the book's lack of historical accuracy kept me from enjoying this one to the full. The year is 1802. Caroline Richmond is the daughter of an English earl that is raised by her aunt and uncle in Boston after tragedy strikes at a very young age. After several summons by her father, she finally decides to visit him in England. The reunion is a poignant one, for instead of getting an aloof, unloving father, the earl adores his daughter. On her way to meet her father, however, she rescues a man who is accosted by bandits. She helps heal the man who seems more concerned about ruining his boots and cravat than of healing his leg wound. And that is where she meets the victim's friend, Jared Marcus Benton, the Duke of Bradford, a brutish and brooding man who intrigues her. Bradford is equally intrigued with the spirited and witty American, but his arrogance and unyielding constitution keeps him from getting too close -- until a common enemy and Caroline's shady past bring these two wary characters together. There are some twists throughout the novel.

As said earlier, I was quite taken with the plot and thought the protagonists were compelling and sympathetic enough. Caroline is especially likeable. She has a strong and determined personality and takes charge when other women would cower away. Jared sounds gorgeous and his arrogance is kind of a turnon at first, but he becomes annoying during the second half of the novel. I don't like his attempts to break Caroline's spirit. I like this kind of storyline though. The intrigue is always strong and it compels me to continue to read. However, the historical errors in this book pulled me out of the story several times. The most glaring inaccuracy is Caroline and Jared dancing the waltz at the Duke of Ashford's ball. Even though the waltz had been popular in France and Italy since the mid 1700s, it hadn't been introduced in England until 1816, during a ball given in London by the Prince Regent. There is nothing I loathe more than to read a Georgian/early Regency book with characters dancing the waltz, cotillions or quadrilles before they were introduced in England. This inaccuracy is especially frustrating to me because simple research in an encyclopedia would suffice. In 1802, Caroline and Jared would be doing a country dance or the minuet. Perhaps Garwood doesn't know much about the Georgian and Regency periods. In that case, she should stick to writing Medieval or Americana. Then again, I've heard she writes contemporaries now. Anyway, Rebellious Desire would have been a better read had the author consulted a fact checker. But I am not giving up on Garwood. I do like her style and wit and I have some of her books on my TBR pile. I hope the next one will be more like The Bride.