Educating Caroline

Last year taught me that I can depend on Meg Cabot for an entertaining read. Educating Caroline (using the name Patricia Cabot) did nothing to disprove this theory: 4 out of 5.

When Caroline Lindon walks in on her fiance when he's having sex with another woman, she decides to take action. Her mother tells her that men have mistresses, but Caroline wants him to love and want only her. She approaches Braden Granville, a famous womanizer who needs information only she has. Braden will teach her how to keep a man interested, and she will testify about his fiancee's infidelity so he can avoid a breach of promise suit. Neither Caroline nor Braden expects to fall in love with each other.

Caroline is a delightful and refreshing heroine. While innocent, she is also spunky. I like how she decides to take a proactive approach with her problem. In a contemporary romance, she would kick him to the curb. As this is a historical romance, she doesn't take this approach, but this was understandable. There is an interesting moment toward the end of the book when Caroline realizes that she wasn't as upset with her fiance as she should have been because she didn't really love him.

Braden is a type of hero I love. He may start as "a Don Juan," but he falls hard for Caroline. A self-made businessman, Braden is also honorable in ways that Caroline's noble fiance isn't. I like his persistence, too.

There's not as much humor in Educating Caroline as there is in some of Cabot's other books, but there are some funny moments. All in all, this was a worthwhile read.

Alyssa