Category: Review

Review: The Belle of Winchester by Christina Dudley (2022)

Posted January 21, 2023 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

The only thing better than a Christina Dudley book is another Christina Dudley book, and for the first time in my life, I marked the release date of this book in my calendar so I’d remember to download it straight away. I thought Tempted By Folly was superb, but this second book in the series is just as good, lacking only the element of surprise at the endearingly oddball Ellsworth family. With practical Florence safely married off, it’s sparky sister Lily next up, and she’s already decided who she’s going to marry – Mr Gilbert Wright, handsome, rich and dashing. He’s not very bright, but that just means he’ll be easier to manage. But she certainly doesn’t want to tie herself down just yet, because now that Florence is gone and Lily is the Miss Ellsworth and no longer in mourning for their last-but-one stepmother, she’s absolutely ready to have a good time and flirt outrageously and be courted by all the young men of the district.

Except there’s one who isn’t interested at all. Simon Kenner, the new curate of St Eadburh’s, is as clever as his cousin Gilbert Wright is dim, and sparks immediately fly between him and Lily. For those who like a lot of banter between the romantic leads, this may be right up your alley, because these two are sparring almost from the off. They’re both sharp-tongued, but Simon, at least, is usually more circumspect with his ripostes. He can’t quite understand why Lily Ellsworth somehow brings out the worst in him, horrifying his nice sister, Sophie, and causing him to repeatedly bend his steps towards Hollowgate to apologise to Lily, only to fall into another spat with her. Lily, meanwhile, is very put out to find that the annoying curate is capable of tying her in all sorts of knots, when she’s normally so much in command.

And now you would probably be thinking – I know how this is going to go, but you’d be wrong. This is a Christina Dudley book, which means that nothing happens quite the way you’d expect. I love the way she gradually ties the characters into more and more tangled knots, only to spring them free at the very last moment with a seemingly impossible twist. I’m not going to spoil the surprise by telling you anything more about it, but both Lily and Simon have to make some adjustments and grow up (yes, and suffer a bit!) before they get to their happy ever after.

I liked that the new stepmother is sensible enough to offer some wisdom to Lily, unlike some of Mr Ellsworth’s previous choices, and I was happy to see that nice Sophie is too smart to have her heart broken. It was also fun to have a little glimpse into the clerical world of Winchester Cathedral (with its echoes of Barchester Chronicles). A wonderful, intelligent and very funny read, with the inevitable five stars.

And I absolutely cannot wait to read Minta’s story. Another one to mark on the calendar.

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Review: Lovers’ Quarrels by Joan Smith (1975)

Posted January 21, 2023 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

This is one of those rollicking, lighthearted Regency romps that requires the reader to leave absolutely all rational thought in a cupboard somewhere and simply roll with it. Sometimes, if the characters are charming enough I can do that, but there was just too much unlikability here for me to manage it.

Here’s the premise: Jane Halsey and sister Belle are living in near destitution with an aunt in an obscure corner of London. The only way to rescue themselves from ever-worsening poverty is for one of them to marry a rich husband, but how can they ever meet a likely candidate, when they know no one and go nowhere? But one day, they have a stroke of luck – they attract the attention of bonkers Lord Romeo, the younger son of a duke, who’s grown up in Greece and become enamoured of all things Greek. He spies Jane and immediately recognises her as Athene, and wants to paint her, naked if possible, and then marry her.

Jane has no interest in Romeo for herself, but he’d suit Belle perfectly, so the sisters fall in with Romeo’s plans. But along with Romeo comes his big brother, the Marquis of Renfrew and heir to the dukedom, who thinks clever, managing Jane is just the wife to keep Romeo under control. He tags along to encourage Romeo’s suit, but ends up attracting the attention of Jane herself, who thinks he’s pursuing her.

Now, this is where I lost patience with our heroine. Jane’s supposed to be a smart cookie, but why on earth does she imagine for one moment that she, the daughter of a mere baronet, currently homeless and virtually dowerless, would be the object of a future duke? She casually calls him Renfrew, as if she’d known him all her life, assuming he’ll dance with her and being thoroughly presumptuous and encroaching and obnoxious. Knowing that Romeo has set his sights on her, she must surely see that his brother can hardly be courting her as well. So I disliked her pretty thoroughly at this point, and cringed every time she made another assumption.

As for Renfrew, even though he suspects that she’s forming an attachment to him, he does nothing about it, and certainly fails to convey to her that his only interest is in fostering Romeo’s suit. He convinces himself he’s mistaken, and carries on quietly falling in love with her himself. And then things get even sillier, and build to one of the most ridiculous finales I’ve ever read.

Now, this wasn’t a bad read, exactly. It’s as well written as Joan Smith’s books always are, and there are certainly moments of laugh-out-loud fun. But the oddball charm of Romeo in Babe palls in its repetition here, where his oblivious straightforwardness turns into something much more devious, the main pairing of Jane and Renfrew entirely lack charm, the humour of comedy sidekick Munch fell flat and the ending was just too unbelievable. Joan Smith is always a bit hit or miss for me, and this one was definitely a miss. Not unreadable, but only three stars. If you like the sound of Romeo, read Babe instead, a much more fun book.

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Review: Babe by Joan Smith (1980)

Posted January 21, 2023 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

This was a lot of fun, in a riotously confrontational sort of way. The heroine is spirited in the way of children who only have to be told not to do something but they instantly start working out ways to do it anyway. So there are plenty of scrapes to be wriggled out of, and a hero who veers between being furiously angry with her and actively condoning her wilfulness.

Here’s the premise: Lady Barbara Manfred (or Babe to her close friends) has been on the town for six years, and has sailed perilously close to the wind in that time. Her reputation is tarnished, but her impeccable bloodline and fortune still make her acceptable to society, if only just. But the relation she’s been living with is too rackety by half, and is about to remarry and bolt for the continent, so it’s time for the more respectable side of the family to take her in hand and save her from ruining her reputation altogether. Lord Clivedon decides he’ll be the one to do it, with the aid of some of his starchy female relations. The first placement is with the strict and religious aunt, and it isn’t long before Babe is kicking against the traces and getting herself into hot water. But it isn’t until the arrival of the gloriously bonkers Lord Romeo that things go really off the rails…

One of the great mantras for authors is: there must be conflict. That’s true, because when there’s too little conflict, the story becomes boring. But too much conflict can be almost as bad. Both Babe and Lord Clivedon are flighty and volatile, and there’s just no knowing how they will react to any given situation. But gradually, as the story progresses, it begins to become clear that Babe wants to spark a reaction in Lord Clivedon, and he, for his part, is perfectly amenable to her high jinks, and even encourages her, when he’s involved. There’s a wonderful scene when they are stranded at a country inn after a carriage malfunction, happily drinking champagne and playing piquet and smoking cigars (yes, even Babe!), and obviously perfectly suited to each other. Naturally, there are plenty more scrapes to be sorted out before they reach their happy ever after, and most of them involve Lord Romeo.

He’s the sort of brilliantly-conceived side character that readers remember long after the main story has sunk into the darker recesses of memory. He’s a duke’s younger son who was prone to illness as a child, so was sent to Greece to live in healthy sunshine. Whilst there, he’s imbibed a lot of classical aesthetics, a taste for ouzo and a wildly self-centred and child-like view of the world that can’t be diverted. He sees in Babe a Greek goddess of old, decides to paint her, and then that he loves her and will marry her. No matter how many times she tells him this isn’t going to happen, he persists in the idea and nothing, absolutely nothing deters him. I’m not going to spoil the surprise by saying any more about that. Suffice to say, there are some wonderfully funny moments in the latter part of the book. I particularly liked Lord Clivedon’s dealings with his long-suffering secretary.

There are a few anachronisms in the book – words like girlfriend, for instance, and week-end, which are very not-Regency. There’s also the issue of guardianship for Babe. Given that she’s twenty-three and therefore of age, she doesn’t even need a guardian, only trustees to manage her fortune until she’s allowed to have control of it (twenty-five, in this case). Even if she had still needed a guardian, only a father can specify one in his will, and the role can’t be transferred or inherited or changed in any way. If the appointed guardian dies or walks away, someone else could apply to the Court of Chancery to be appointed, but in this case, none of that was necessary. However, the whole premise of the book is that Lord Clivedon becomes Babe’s guardian and takes charge of her life, so there’s not much point in quibbling.

Otherwise, the writing is as competent as usual with Joan Smith. This is a light, fairly frivolous story which I enjoyed very much. Only the guardianship issue keeps it to four stars.

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Review: A Conformable Wife by Alice Chetwynd Ley (1975)

Posted January 12, 2023 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

A nice traditional read, and mostly set in Bath, which is always fun. Very redolent of Georgette Heyer, but that’s not at all a bad thing.

Here’s the premise: Julian Aldwyn is the heir to an earldom, and after a sudden illness in his father, he’s realised it’s time for him to marry and secure the succession. The trouble is, a disastrous and humiliating love affair before he was even of age has made him wary of women. He wants a restful marriage with the conformable wife of the title, based on compatibility not romantic foolishness. His sister suggests the perfect candidate – Henrietta (Hetty) Melville, very much on the shelf after devoting herself to her family, but very capable. So Julian gets to know her, and although she’s a terrible dowd, he sees enough in her to make her an offer – which she refuses, because she’s still hoping for a love match.

He’s piqued by her refusal, but she’s a bit put out, too, by his unemotional proposal. When an opportunity arises for her to go to Bath to stay with an old friend and have a bit of a girly good time, away she goes, happy to leave the annoying Mr Aldwyn behind. In Bath, she has the makeover so beloved of Regencies, emerging as a beautiful and fashionable woman, and attracting a whole host of admirers. So when Mr Aldwyn finally gets up the gumption to follow her to Bath, to see if maybe he can’t persuade her to change her mind, he finds the dull and dowdy spinster has become a social butterfly, amusing herself with flirtations with her many admirers.

I do dislike the idea that a woman has only to put on a pretty gown and have a new hairdo to become beautiful. Her face and figure haven’t changed, after all, and a plain woman can’t be made less plain by dressing differently, especially not in an era when make-up was little worn. And if a so-called hero *thinks* she’s become beautiful because of some new frocks, he doesn’t deserve her.

I won’t go into the details of all Hetty’s admirers. There were far too many characters in this book, by the time all her friends and relations are taken into account, and most of them were unnecessary and only served to make the book longer and more complicated than it needed to be. There’s a villain, needless to say, with whom Hetty behaves very stupidly and puts herself at obvious risk, and there’s a not-very-challenging mystery to resolve, and a happy ending for one of the minor characters, when an obstacle is rather predictably removed at the last minute.

Some reviews are quite hard on Hetty and Julian, but I rather liked both of them. They both had some baggage to dispose of before they could commit to marriage, she to spread her wings a little after so many years playing the dutiful daughter and sister, and he to realise that not all women are deceitful hussies and that it’s possible to fall in love twice. As for the romance, again, some reviews are negative, saying it comes out of nowhere. Well, it’s not a full-on angsty and over emotional affair, that’s true, but that wasn’t the norm for this era – it’s getting on for fifty years old, after all. But there are clues all the way through that both the protagonists are regretting their initial haste, he to rush to propose without trying to win her over, and she to reject him out of hand. In particular, their behaviour in Bath shows very clearly what’s going on – his obvious jealousy, and her determination to flirt and encourage the most unsuitable men equally suggest more going on beneath the surface. It’s perhaps more subtle than modern audiences are used to, but I liked watching out for these delicate little signs.

The writing is literate and the created Regency world is perfectly believable. It’s one of those books where it’s possible to sink into the story without fear of being jolted back to reality by an infelicitous phrase or a wandering anachronism. I enjoyed it very much, and only the excessive number of characters to keep track of made it sag a little in places. Four stars.

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Review: The Tenant of Chesdene Manor by Alice Chetwynd Ley (1974)

Posted January 12, 2023 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

I loved this book. Yes, it’s old fashioned and short and ends abruptly, but none of that is a problem for me. I loved both the main characters, the villainy was unexpectedly believable and the plot just rolled along seamlessly, without a single jarring moment. I’m on something of a binge-read with this author. She’s no longer around so the catalogue is limited, but I’m delighted that her family is making them available again for those of us who appreciate the traditional Regency style.

Here’s the premise: Diana Chalfont and her mother have been left almost destitute after Diana’s father, Sir Peter Chalfont, gambled away most of his fortune. Only the estate remains, and the dilapidated manor house, Chesdene Manor. The ladies live in the more modern wing, still reasonably habitable, while the main part of the house slowly decays. The new owner, Sir Sidney Chalfont, is a distant cousin, since the only other male heir, Robert, was drowned on a voyage to India many years ago. He’s a gambler, too, and has no interest in the estate, allowing the ladies to stay on there, and even giving permission for them to find a tenant for the dilapidated part of the building.

Astonishingly, one day a stranger turns up wanting to rent it, and even sets about repairing it. Christopher Richmond is an odd, uncommunicative man, but Diana’s not inclined to turn away anyone who’ll pay rent. He goes up to London while the repairs are under way, and by the sort of strange coincidence with which Regencies are littered, Diana is also going there with a friend, and there is much riding in Hyde Park, a ball or two, and an outing to Richmond. No, this book is not exactly treading new ground, but it’s none the worse for that.

There really isn’t much more to say about this. The mystery of Mr Richmond was blindingly obvious from about page 3, Sir Sidney’s activities were easily understood, and there were two side romances which were uncomplicated and (frankly) rather forgettable. I was a bit puzzled by why there was no mention of the income from the Chesdene estate – there should have been tenant farmers and the like providing some income for Sir Sidney. I also wasn’t sure why he was awarded his baronetcy when there was still a remote possibility an heir with a better claim might yet turn up. The powers that be in these cases generally wait a long time before they pass over ‘missing’ heirs. He might have gained control of the estate, but certainly not the title. But it’s a trivial point.

I have to say that part of the reason I enjoyed this book so much is because of the two main characters. Mr Richmond is the strong, silent type, who’s also extremely competent in business, and even a little domineering (which was the norm for books of this age). He also has a rather quirky sense of humour, which I loved. I think he was meant to be slightly spooky in a sort of Gothic way, but Diana doesn’t see him that way, and neither did I. As for Diana, she works rather well for modern audiences, I think. She’s feisty and independent-minded, good at everything and kind to everyone – that makes her sound like a bit of a Mary Sue, but she has a lot of self-deprecating charm. As for Sir Sidney – yes, he’s a bit of a buffoon, but he’s foolish rather than wicked, and I like to think that he’ll reform and live a blameless life henceforth.

This is a short and sweet read, clearly influenced by Georgette Heyer but none the worse for that. A lovely, easy read with a pleasant hero and heroine. I’d have liked a bit more emphasis on the romance, but it’s typical of the era, so I won’t criticise it for that. Five stars.

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Review: The Jewelled Snuff Box by Alice Chetwynd Ley (1959)

Posted January 12, 2023 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

This book was first published in 1959, more than sixty years ago – a very different era. It’s wordy in places, there’s a fair amount of head-hopping (jumping from one character’s internal thoughts to another’s without a signal) and the plot veers between implausible and outright incredible, and yet I found it a whole heap of fun. I liked the two main characters, the difficulties between them were believable and the romance was low-key but rather sweet. For modern readers, it might be jarring but for anyone weaned on Georgette Heyer, this is a nice, light read.

Here’s the premise: Jane Spencer is travelling to London to take up a position as a companion after several years as a governess. Her stage coach is caught in snow, and the passengers are forced to walk up a hill to spare the horses. During the walk, Jane finds a man lying unconscious in a ditch, possibly set upon by highwaymen. Under his inert body, she finds a treasure the thieves missed – a valuable jewelled snuff box. The stage coach passengers and the injured man are forced to take shelter overnight at a small wayside inn, where Jane discovers that the man has lost his memory.

She looks after him, and they strike up an instant rapport. She rather fancies him, and he trusts her, so when the stagecoach sets off again, she takes him with her to London to meet her lawyer, who she hopes will help him find out who he is. But when she’s concluded her own business with the lawyer and goes to bring in the mysterious stranger, he’s disappeared. Jane’s very disappointed, and a closer look at the snuff box reveals a secret – a hidden letter, making an illicit assignation with a married woman. Now she’s seriously disappointed, and tries to set him out of her mind.

But there’s another shock when she takes up her new position – Celia, the countess she’s to work for, is a girl she knew at school as a bully and a thoroughly unpleasant person. She’s delighted to have the chance to make Jane’s life miserable all over again, and to make matters worse, her husband takes a creepily strong interest in Jane. And when Jane finally discovers the identity of her mystery man, not only has he forgotten her, but it’s Celia he’s been having an affair with…

Now, this is a fairly tangled situation, and it’s a short book, so not everything is resolved satisfactorily, to my mind. In particular, I’d like to know just how Celia’s comeuppance worked, legally. I don’t want to give too much away, but she was just air-brushed away in a page or two, and I’d have liked to know a bit more about it. I also wondered very much just why the earl married her, because he seemed like a sensible guy, much older than her and too smart and experienced to be taken in by Celia’s sickly-sweet public face. I just didn’t believe that he could be so much in love with her that he didn’t see what she was really like.

As I said at the beginning, there’s a lot of implausibility in the plot, particularly in the amnesia business. It’s a very common trope in the genre, and one I try to avoid as much as possible. I see the appeal in it, because what could be more delicious than a character who doesn’t know who he is? So much mystery to unravel, and so much tension – is he rich or poor, a grocer or a marquess? Although in this case, there’s an early discussion of our hero’s expensive clothes and shiny boots, so it’s obvious he’s a gentleman of means, at the very least. But it’s still hard to suspend disbelief. A simple bump on the head, everything’s forgotten, but later the memories will all come back and there’ll be no lasting ill effects. Nope, not believable. But I like to give a book it’s basic premise, however hard to swallow, so I went along with it, and then became thoroughly caught up in the plot.

The story is a bit uneven, and it became hard to remember sometimes just who knew what (or rather, who DIDN’T know what), but there’s one glorious scene in the middle between the earl, Celia, Jane, the hero and Celia’s maid, where everybody knows things are not what they seem, even though nobody quite knows everything, but they all just play along with the hastily improvising Celia as she tries to get them out of a huge mess. It could have been a deeply emotional moment, but the author basically plays it for laughs and it turns into the best part of the book.

As usual with Regencies of this era, the writing is literate and historically accurate, influenced very much by Georgette Heyer (although I rolled my eyes at every ‘pon rep!’). It’s not perfect, and it does require a shed-load of suspension of disbelief, and the ending is extremely abrupt (if you’re a fan of long, syrupy epilogues, this is not the book for you), but I really enjoyed it, quirks and all. Those implausibilities keep it to four stars.

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A Fickle Fortune by Christina Dudley (2022)

Posted December 16, 2022 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

After the slightly flat story of Edith and Lionel in A Purloined Portrait, this is an absolute cracker. Hetty in London is a delight. As is inevitable with any Regency novel set during the London season, there are well-worn paths to tread and over-used tropes to drive the plot, but Hetty and her swain are so gloriously different, and the background characters so fascinating, that it’s easy to overlook.

Here’s the premise: in the last book, Hetty’s machinations secured the engagement of her cousin and brother, but left another cousin, Caroline, without a betrothal. Caroline is to have a season in London, and when Hetty is invited to join her, she sees a way to repay Caroline for her previous bad turn and help her to find a husband. Caroline sets her sights on the season’s glittering prize, Mr St John Rotherwood, newly wealthy and formerly a tutor of Hetty’s brother Lionel at Oxford. Hetty has an instant advantage over every other young lady – she knows the prize already, so she determines to use her advantage to Caroline’s benefit. But Mr Rotherwood is a scientist and intellectual, and Caroline is (frankly) an air-head. Instead, it’s curious, avid reader Hetty who has most to say to Mr Rotherwood.

This doesn’t suit Caroline, but it also doesn’t suit Mr Rotherwood’s mother, Anne, who suffered for years as the outcast of the family for marrying beneath her, and is now determined to resume her place in society and see her son marry as befits his new position. You’d imagine she would be sympathetic to her son’s growing love for Hetty and want him to choose with his heart, as she did, but no. All the resentments of the years, and her pride in being a baronet’s daughter, combine to make her ambitious for her son. A duke’s daughter is perhaps beyond his grasp, but there’s the very beautiful, if vapid, Lady Sylvia, an earl’s daughter…

Poor Mr Rotherwood is caught in the middle of these machinations. He hates the emptiness of the social whirl, and would far rather get to know the intriguing Miss Hetty Hapgood, who at least has a brain in her head, but he also wants to make his mother proud of him. It’s a dilemma. And just at this point, a huge scandal erupts around Hetty, and Mr Rotherwood steps forward to save her from condemnation. And so we get into the very traditional trope of the enforced betrothal, which the two protagonists arrange between themselves rather ingeniously.

This might have been a predictable tale, but Dudley eschews the well-worn paths of innumerable other authors, and imbues her characters with creative minds and real emotions. Hetty, in particular, is a wonderful character, always brimming with original ways to solve problems, her own or other people’s, and I was thrilled to bits when she finally snatched her own happy ending from seeming defeat. Mr Rotherwood makes a terrific hero, too, and even his mother, who seemed to be an obstacle for most of the book, softened considerably in the end.

I am so sorry to reach the end of this glorious series, although happily the author is already writing a new series, with another delightfully quirky family to enjoy. Christina Dudley is one of my absolute favourite authors, without a single dud in her catalogue. This one is another five star read for me, but I commend every one of her books to anyone who wants an original, literate and downright charming Regency.

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The Purloined Portrait by Christina Dudley (2022)

Posted December 16, 2022 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

Well, here’s a thing – a Christina Dudley book that didn’t set me on fire. Was it well written? Yes, of course. Did I enjoy the read? Yes, absolutely. But I felt a little like Hetty, who writes impatiently of Edith’s letters that they were 3/4 art and only 1/4 interesting stuff.

Here’s the premise: Lionel Hapgood has loved his cousin Edith from the moment he set eyes on her, and he’s waited for years for them both to grow up so that he can marry her. But when he finally can’t wait any longer and blurts out his feelings for her, he takes her by surprise. She’s devoted so much thought and energy to her art, that she’s never given a thought to her own feelings, or even begun to think about marriage. She rebuffs him, leaving him in despair. But when she falls victim to an unscrupulous artist, the two are thrown together again in the most dramatic fashion.

This is book 5 of the series, and the pacing is very different form the others. For one thing, it unwinds back to the earliest days of Lionel’s dealings with Edith and her burgeoning artistic talent, so apart from an opening chapter to set up the later story, the pace is slow and the style is more narrative than action. Of course, it’s written with Dudley’s characteristic flair, but I missed the humour of the earlier books and the development of the story felt rather flat. There was a vast amount about Edith’s art, and I felt I could easily have dispensed with quite large chunks of that. It’s not until we get to Lionel’s first, botched, proposal that the pace picks up a little, and towards the end the action becomes almost too breathlessly fast.

Lionel and Edith are both lovely, sweet characters, and all their actions are completely understandable. Edith’s absorption in her art is very believable. Lionel’s devotion to her from such a young age (he was maybe thirteen when they first met?) seems to stretch credibility slightly, but I can easily go along with that. And then we have the vast array of the extended Hapgood family in the background. I don’t recommend reading this as a stand-alone book – it works much better if the whole series is read in sequence.

Now, to the villain(s) of the piece, and this is where things get a bit spoilerish, so skip to the last paragraph if you don’t want to know more. When Edith’s paintings are stolen, it doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone that the villain might be responsible for staging the whole thing. Yet when Edith gets to London and hears that her own painting has been exhibited at the Royal Academy, she immediately assumes that the artist submitting it is the villain. Yet it would have been more logical to assume it’s the (supposed) unknown thief. It would have been more realistic (and dramatic!) for her not to guess he’s known to her until she is brought face to face with him again. And since he clearly stole (or copied) her painting and then falsely submitted it to the RA, surely there would have been legal pressure that could have been brought to bear against him? I found it incredibly frustrating that nothing terrible ever happened to him. And even more so that the painting itself was never recovered. I know that’s more realistic, but as a reader it felt like a very unsatisfactory outcome. It would have been nice to have some acknowledgement of it, perhaps for Edith to say that she doesn’t need the painting any more because she has the real thing instead.

But the romance is glorious, I loved the ingenious Hetty’s efforts to help and although I would have preferred the two to marry at once, I can (again) recognise that the way events actually played out was more realistic. This was a slightly frustrating read for me, but even a slightly flat Dudley book, with too much art and not enough actual romance, is way, way better than 99% of everything else on the market at the moment. Four stars and on to the irrepressible Hetty and the final book of the series.

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Review: Scandal’s Promise by Pamela Gibson (2020)

Posted November 3, 2022 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

This was a book that had so much potential. It could have been full of five-star-awesomeness, but instead a whole heap of little things kept tripping my fuses, which dragged it down a bit. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, because I did, but I was sad that it didn’t quite reach the heights it could have done.

Here’s the premise: Andrew Quimby, newly inheriting the title of Earl of Cardmore, returns to his ancestral seat to find it more or less abandoned, the rooms shut up and most of the servants gone. Andrew isn’t in a much better state himself. Seven years fighting the Napoleonic Wars have left him with an injury that seems to be healed, so why does he suffer from recurring pain? Only laudanum (opium) makes it better, topped up with alcohol.

Lady Emily Sinclair lives next door and seven years ago she was betrothed to Andrew when he inexplicably married another woman. She died in childbirth within the year, but Andrew stayed away from Emily, and she’s not sure she can forgive him for his betrayal. She’s never married, and suspects she never will now, but she’s quite content as a spinster, and is determined to stay away from him… isn’t she?

So we have a second chance romance, and the problem here is the usual one – however plausible the failure on the first go round, there isn’t any real obstacle to a speedy resolution this time. She’s a spinster, he’s a widower, they still love each other, what’s to keep them apart? If the hero had an ounce of common sense, he would go straight to the heroine, explain what happened the first time, tell her he still loves her, and set about courting her with determination. Well, that would be logical, but it wouldn’t make for much of a story, so the author resorts to all sorts of devious schemes to keep the two apart – misunderstandings, miscommunication, mishap, machinations by others and so on.

It has to be said that most of the trouble is my least favourite trope, the misunderstanding. Andrew never properly explains himself to Emily, never shows her that he loves her, never really talks to her, so she finds things out piecemeal and gets hold of the wrong end of the stick entirely several times (understandably, actually). The result is that she is repeatedly dithering between wanting him and deciding she’ll never be able to trust him again. And Andrew, for his part, swivels about between hope and despair, deciding one minute that he’ll win Emily back no matter what and the next that he’s lost her for ever. Inevitably, this is a high-angst book, and it got a tiny bit old towards the end.

I liked both the main characters. Andrew was a deeply flawed character who needed a big redemptive arc, and it took him a long time to get there, but he’d had a rough childhood, so I could give him some leeway. And Emily was a strong character, who may have had passionate feelings but was also well able to keep them under control, like a good Regency lady – most of the time, anyway! I liked Aunt Lily, and would have liked more of her, and Andrew’s friend Ralston had the thankless task, so common in Regencies, of playing a minor role while being a far more worthy character than the hero. Be warned that this is book 3 of a series, and there were characters popping up from earlier books, which is lovely for those who’ve read them, but a bit disconcerting for those who haven’t, although they are explained quite well. Still, it felt a bit as if something was missing.

One of the high points of the book is the way it deals with Andrew’s opium addiction. This must have been a common problem in the era, because laudanum was the only really effective pain relief known, and readily available, but it was highly addictive (and still is, of course). The periods of euphoria interspersed with dark despair, and the steady spiral downwards were brilliantly portrayed. We also saw something of Andrew’s recovery period (although mercifully not much). I wasn’t completely convinced by his relatively rapid return to normality. I don’t know whether that’s accurate, or creative licence to fit the time scale of the book.

What worked less well for me? The drama seemed a bit over the top, and the villain of the piece seemed to come almost out of the blue. There were some clues, and to be honest there weren’t many possible suspects, but at the end it almost seemed as if they compiled a list of suspects and said, well, it must be him. And it was. But maybe I missed some hints, who knows.

One other problem for me (which may not affect other readers) is the relaxed attitude to historical accuracy. This just didn’t feel like an authentic Regency, to me. The book uses a multitude of American expressions, as well as some phrases that were far too modern (the heroine wants closure, for instance). I found these a repeated irritation, but that’s just me; it’s a stylistic choice by the author. One thing she got absolutely right, though, is the legal question of the child, so kudos for that. Also, there’s a fair amount of sex in the book – one actual sex scene and a number of lustful moments, which get anatomical, so if you’re looking for a clean read, best to avoid this one. I don’t mind sex in my Regency reads, but the hero and heroine were a little too ready to fall into passionate embraces (and then immediately decide they shouldn’t do that again). The Regency is all about restraint, after all.

This is a solid read with an interesting plot that I enjoyed a lot, but for me it was let down by the back-and-forth angsting of hero and heroine, too much lusting and all those Americanisms and modern expressions. Four stars.

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Review: The Curlew’s Call by Jayne Davis (2022)

Posted October 20, 2022 by Mary Kingswood in Review / 0 Comments

I’ve been waiting for this to come out because the premise is so intriguing. And even though I knew how it would have to end, the interesting question was how the author would get to that point and make all the characters sympathetic. Be warned, however, that there is one scene of a sexual nature, and the book contains some serious sexual themes, dealt with in a sympathetic but honest way.

Here’s the premise: Ellie Wilson has been married for five years without a hint of a child. But on her way home after a family funeral, a coach accident throws her into a chance meeting with Captain Tom Allerby, who happens to be passing and stops to help as the stranded passengers, some injured, struggle to a nearby inn. An initial spark of shared trouble and friendship deepens over the evening to something more, and the two share one night of passion before separating, not expecting to meet again. But Tom can’t forget the woman he knew so briefly, and Ellie finds herself with a permanent reminder, in the form of a child. And since her husband is more friend than lover, he’ll know it’s not his.

Normally I’d describe something of how the protagonists resolve their problems, but I don’t want to do that here. Suffice to say that there are multiple challenges for our hero and heroine to deal with. Ellie has to own up to what she’s done and her husband has to decide how to cope with the revelation. Martin has problems of his own, too, including a cousin who’s trying to wrest control of his two farms from him. And Tom returns after two years to find Ellie, and is faced with a situation he hadn’t expected. It will not surprise anyone to hear that there is a happy ending to all this trouble, but things get very dramatic along the way.

Davis is a writer whose evocation of the Regency era always feels spot on to me, and this book is particularly enjoyable because it’s far away from the usual themes of balls and Almack’s and rides in the park. These pages are populated by hard-working ordinary folk – doctors and farmers and horse-breeders and attorneys and their women. Their marriages are as likely to be pragmatic as romantic, the misfits are fitted in somewhere, people are accepted for who and what they are, in the main (Ellie’s pious and selfish father excepted). And there are good and bad everywhere. It all feels very real, and there are little vignettes that don’t impact the plot greatly but provide those little flourishes that provide colour and depth (I’m thinking particularly of Kate and Tom’s brother’s wife and the poor, long-suffering magistrate).

If I have a complaint at all, and it’s a very minor and personal one, I’d have liked a bit more passion from Ellie and Tom towards the end. Given that the story kicked off with a night of illicit passion, I thought they were a tad too restrained afterwards. There were some highly emotional moments of terrible fear when the subsequent relief might have swept them into some fervent kissing, at the least. But it didn’t happen and that’s OK too. The author knows her characters best, and perhaps the memory of the time when they didn’t restrain themselves kept them in line later. There, that explains it nicely.

A wonderful, satisfying story, with bittersweet moments but a lot of joy, too. A great read. Five stars.

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