Title: Noble Destiny (Book 2 of 4)
Author: Katie MacAlister
Publication Date: May 2003/June 2014 (Kindle Version)
Grade: C-
This novel continues in the same universe as Noble Intentions, and focuses on Charlotte, Gillian’s wacky cousin, and Alasdair MacGregor, the Scottish earl seen as a thorn in Noble’s side during the first book. Its been several years, and Noble and Gillian are on the verge of taking a trip to their AMerican plantation when Charlotte shows up, ready to be a part of English society again now that she’s left her late husband’s family and returned home. Only she expected Gillian to help her. With Gillian on vacation, she turns to her best friend Caroline who helps reluctantly hoping this doesn’t all blow up in their faces.
The first third of the book is Charlotte trying to trick Dare, whom she had thought about marrying several years ago before her marriage to an Italian count, into marrying her now. She succeeds, but then trouble finds them as Dare’s cousin long thought lost returns, and potentially ruins everything Charlotte’s been working for.
This novel was not as good as the first one, and I must I found Charlotte’s behavior more annoying than anything else. She seems like a better natured Lydia Bennet in a way. She gets better towards the end, when Dare is almost killed in an explosion while designing a marine engine. She’s forced to reevaluate her decisions on things. She’s still got a level of annoying though. Dare is also not the character I thought he was from reading the first book.
The minor characters still shine in this book, although not many reappear from the first book. Instead we have Dare’s butler who knows how to use sarcasm and overdramatizing (and has his moments of hilarity), and Caroline who wonders half the time why she’s still friends with Caroline.
I did however not find anything particularly horrible about the book, just was disappointed in the characters. That being said, I read it in a day so it wasn’t too bad a read. The mystery was a bit of a non-starter, finished before you realised there was really a mystery (and it turns out not to be the one you thought of.
Had this not been in a series though, I might not have enjoyed it as much.
Sokorra Lewis 