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Pegeen MacDougal is the maternal aunt of the Duke of Rawlings, a ten-year boy. His father is dead and his mother is missing, and now the spirited young lad is living with "his Pegeen". Lord Edgar Rawlings, is the second son of a deceased duke and does not want the available duchy; thus, he begins his search for his nephew -- the misplaced Jeremy. Let the games begin . . .

The bantering, back and forth, is lighthearted. Though these two people are usually at odds with one and other, they never get down and dirty. This is uplifting. Cabot pulls out the humor and she charms the reader.

The cast of secondary players lends strength to the storyline. Subsequently, a grave reading disappointment surfaces with the writer's treatment of Edgar's loyal friend, Alistair Cartwright. Cabot relinquished Alistair's amour to a brief skim held during the final pages -- a shame. The author could have pleased her readers, immensely, with a personal Alistair Cartwright novel.

Jeremy Rawlings, the young, vivacious duke, is a lively little boy. I relished the scenes in which he appeared. He was delightful in his attempts to act grown up. My compliments, Patricia Cabot, the intrigue for his story is well done. I will track down "Portrait of My Heart" to find out what happens to Jeremy Rawlings.

What was wrong with this novel? Pegeen's dark secret she hides from the world; the drawn out deferral, belonging to this mystery, cause the story to drag.

Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.


An Enjoyable Read   September 4, 2002
This is the second Cabot book that I've read. While I enjoyed it, Pegeen at times irrated me. She was a little to self-righteous. I mean after the second time she reponse to a kiss from Edward you woudl she would get off her soap box. This is the only real criticism I have of the book. I liked Jeremy, he reminds me of my brother and nephew (probably boys in general). I also like that Edward wasn't a so greedy as to take the title of himself. It showed alot of character that Pegeen always seems to overlook. I think most romance readers would enjoy this book.


Her worst effort I've run across   August 24, 2002
I've been on a Patricia Cabot kick recently because she has witty characters with good and sexy interactions. EXCEPT in this book. In Where Roses Grow Wild, the characters are schizophrenic liars who repeatedly say one thing and do another. It is jam packed with Her saying "no" but maybe not meaning it, and Him ignoring her wishes in every possible thing. I do not recommend this book! Read just about anything else she wrote, including the follow up to this, but do not read this one.

If my unsubstaniated opinion isn't enough to dissuade you, here's some more reasons it's a bad book:

The events/stated facts are inconsistent. In the beginning of the story, She has 2 dresses. She wears her weekday dress to an event that smells so bad she vomits. She then runs most of the way home, meets Him within the hour and He thinks She smells sweet. During this time she has not freshened up even a little. My guess was she smelled like sweat, anger, blood, and vomit. Meanwhile, He drinks bottles and bottles of liquor without becoming drunk or smelly.

The book didn't get any more believeable for me. Her character is supposed to be hardworking of rural middle-class birth, but she acts 'to the manner born' without hardly blinking. She goes from being a social worker to someone who no longer thinks of dressing herself without the aid of a maid without any hint of transitional period. She goes from being sole caregiver for her nephew to hardly ever seeing him as he is banished to the nursery with hardly a murmur on her part. It takes time and training to learn those behaviors and she doesn't have either.

Additionally, there is some contrived plot about her having a terrible secret which "of course she can't tell him" but it's not really her secret, but her sister's, and of course he'll find out and not care because it barely even involves her. Give me a break - that's the worst kind of plot device. It doesn't create suspence, just annoyance. There's also supposed to be a secondary romance between Anne and Alistair. I couldn't find it but they wound up married anyway.

This book was just a huge disappointment in every respect, especially considering how good her other efforts are.


++++   August 1, 2002
This was a very good book. I have read only two of Ms. Cabot's books but I have liked both very much. Where I enjoyed Lady of Skye better than this one, Where Roses Grow Wild delivered the humor and witty conversations (not to mention love scenes) I enjoyed with the first book. So much so I know I will be picking up her other books. We can't all have romances where everyone smooches all of the time and never argues. One it would not be true to life and two it would be very boring. This was a very refreshing and enjoyable read for me and I would highly recommend the book and also the author.


Mildly warm...   June 7, 2002
okay, unlike patricia cabot's other books, this book lacks...hmm...passion. i had a hard time trying NOT to skip pages. I know the heroine is a liberal and all liberated, but please couldnt the author made her just a bit more arousing. the book just lacked the "things" that makes a book steam up, in fact the few interactions between the main characters are filled with them FIGHTING!!! It got old the third time the main character started sprouting some feminist viewpoint. Please!!!

Also, what is the deal with the "rake". He was downright boring and well...not very good at seduction. The book just lacked any sort of passion and it was not of the same caliber as her other books..