Reviewed by: Kate Garrabrant
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
3.5  Stars

Ally Giordano is ready to leave New York City and move to San Francisco where she has her dream job teaching English to the tenth-grade at one of the most progressive and successful high schools in the country. The only down side to this is leaving her eighty-four year old grandmother Donny. Ally has always relied on Granny Donny ever since she took Ally in when her parent’s split when she was barely a teenager. But Granny Donny has been acting very strange lately. Granny has dementia and thinks she is living during the regency period in the 19th century. She wants Ally to find a duke and that is where playboy Sam Carson comes into the picture.

Sam is from England and has lived in American ever since he was disowned from his family after he married a woman who was less than ideal. His marriage was very short lived because his wife became sick and died. Sam never wants to get married again and when he meets the very stiff and proper Ally, he knows she is the least likely woman he would ever consider. He goes along with Granny Donny because he doesn’t want to hurt the old lady and enjoys teasing her granddaughter. Ally thinks Sam is a womanizer and would have been perfect living in the regency period as a rake. Granny Donny wants to vacation at her summer home in Long Island and instead of using a car, she decides on a horse and carriage to take her there. Sam feels very protective of Ally and Donny and will join them for the ride even though Ally acts like she can’t stand him.

By accident Sam picks up and reads The Dulcet Duke. This is the book Donny read which made her think she is living as a Lady of the ton. Sam is insulted because after reading this regency romance, he comes to the conclusion that Ally doesn’t like him because he is so much like the rakish hero in the book. Sam will act like the Duke and treat Ally like the heroine Veronica. Ally at first finds it disturbing that Sam is play acting, but she can’t help but get swept off her feet by Sam’s undertones, which lead to some interested bed play between the two.

Soon Sam and Ally become close and Sam wants Ally to remain in his life and allow herself to love him. But Ally is afraid to love someone like Sam who she thinks goes through women like Kleenex. It is up to Sam to show Ally that he may be a cad in spirit but he is really her prince charming she has always been waiting for.

How To Tame a Modern Rogue is a light and fluffy romance that will bring forth the laughs. Sam is delightful and a wonderful man who is caring and sweet, but a bit of a rogue in the sense that he thinks he has so much to offer women. He gets flustered because he can’t understand why Ally won’t fall into his arms. He has to work hard at gaining her respect. Because Ally has been hurt in the past, mainly because of her parents, she is wary of allowing Sam into her life. He acts too smooth for her tastes but she changes her opinion when she sees how respectful he is towards her grandmother.

Diana Holoquist builds the attraction between Sam and Ally to the point you can’t wait for them to act on it even if they are playing roles. The love scenes are spicy because Sam pretends to be a duke who has seduced Veronica. And because Ally has some reservations because of the person she is, allowing herself to have a bit of fun with Sam was pleasant to read.

Granny Donny is a hoot and her horse and carriage driver, Mateo has some great insight on what Sam and Ally are experiencing. The journey from Manhattan to Long Island makes for great reading. I found myself chuckling a few times.

How To Tame A Modern Rogue is perfect for Summer reading or a trip to the beach.