If you have any bias against category novels, I suggest reading this little gem. Ms. Mullany packs quite a punch with a limited page count that is close to perfection.

Dedication begins with Adam Ashworth rushing into London to save his godson Luke from making a scandal of himself. He's under the impression that his godson is living with his mistress, but Luke let's Adam know that Elaine is not his mistress, although he has asked her to marry him. But no, she's only in his house for the light. Adam scoffs at this flimsy excuse but allows Luke to show him Elaine painting in the morning light. And there Adam comes face to face with his past - Fabienne. Twenty years ago, Fabienne and Adam had fallen for each other. But he was engaged to a girl in the country and Adam is under the impression that Fabienne rejected him. And Fabienne meanwhile had something horrible happen to her that led her to believe that Adam had only used and rejected her. Quite the conundrum. Although both have gone onto marry others, there's still an ache there of unresolved business. These two are not finished with each other.

Dedication though is so much more than two lovers being reunited. You see, Adam and Fabienne want nothing to do with each other at first. And this is handled very well by Ms. Mullany's very clever writing. Here's an example of her sly humor:

Adam raised the ax again, the muscles of his back clearly delineated against the damp linen of his shirt. "I sublimate my passions, madam. It is possibly a concept with which you are unfamiliar."
"I see you sublimate your manners, also. Good morning, Mr. Ashworth." She walked away from him. To hell with him if he wished to take out his anger and frustration on her.

Fabienne and Adam are such great characters. Fabienne is a woman who needs no man, she can provide for herself and Adam has kind of turned into a stuffy country gentleman, not the type of man Fabienne enjoys. But Adam is hiding quite the scandalous secret that might shock Fabienne if she knew the truth. She thinks she does...but she's got it all wrong.

On top of all that, this book brought forth a great reaction from me. Fabienne has some pain from her past that she's still trying to deal with - and Adam is kind of threatening her with two new kinds of pain, both to do with love.

Like I said, Janet Mullany packs quite a punch in such a short page count. Dedication gets 4 stars from me and Janet Mullany simply rocks. ( )

This book is not your traditional regency. Not only is this one more sensual, the complex plot was very unusual with many different threads running through it. The hero and heroine are more 'mature' than you'll find in other regencies as well; he is 43 and she is 37. To top it off, he is a grandfather who writes gothic romance novels! Finally a book that shows us that 'mature' does not mean dead.

Everything about the H/H was fresh and original. Fabienne Craigmont is a widow and a former refugee from France who has settled in England. She is now acting as a sponsor of emerging young artistic talent in London. As a naive 17-year-old she met and fell in love with Adam Ashworth who seduced her. After a brief affair he betrayed and abandoned her. Fabienne must marry for the sake of her family. Her husband turns out to be a better lover than Adam was the first time around and they have a wonderful sex life. Due to a Big Misunderstanding Adam also feels betrayed and abandoned and returns home after their affair to marry and surprisingly to him falls deeply in love with his wife. Adam is a now a widower and a gentleman farmer who secretly writes wildly popular novels. Adam and Fabienne meet again when Adam has heard that his young godson, Viscount Tillotson, has taken a mistress who is indiscreetly living in the Viscount's home. He rushes to town to knock some sense into his ward only to discover that the mistress is actually a young female artist, Miss Elaine Twyford, who is using the Viscount as a model in her paintings. Elaine's chaperon living in the house with her is none other than Fabienne, Adam's former lover.

I loved both Fabienne and Adam. Fabienne is unapologetically sexual and takes no crap from Adam. Although Adam is a flawed character and does not always behave as a hero should, his cherished memories and deep love for his late wife won me over. It's so unusual to see dead spouses portrayed so warmly and positively.

All the characters were unique and three-dimensional and the dialogue was sharp with a touch of humor. In several places Adam's thoughts were so typically male and I found them especially funny. The pacing of the book was a little uneven due to the many subplots. I didn't like the huge misunderstanding that takes almost the entire book to work its way out. Plus there were additional misunderstandings that develop regarding the identity of 'Mrs. Ravenswood', Adam's nom de plume. The book could have been longer and the ending was a bit abrupt. I read somewhere that this was originally a longer book but due the the shorter requirements of a Signet regency, Mullany had to cut it down. If that's true, I would have liked to have read the original!

If you are looking for something fresh and unconventional in a typical regency, you'll enjoy this one. Years ago I read hundreds of traditional regency romances but only a few stand out in my mind. So it was very exciting to find something original in this genre. Also, with a few exceptions, I prefer more sex in what I read :) If Signet has decided to market sexier regencies to keep this genre afloat, then I'm going to be reading more of them again.
(Grade: B) ( )