The Story

From the back of the book:

Blooded on the battlefields of Canada, fresh from a winter spent with a voluptuous widow, Jack Absolute has every reason to feel good. And life only gets better when the ship returning him to England takes a rich prize.

But gold is not all Jack collects. Fever nearly kills him, and it is only the skill of his new comrade, Red Hugh McClune, which saves his life. The friendship takes him to convalesce in Bath – and into a passionate liaison with the Irishman’s beautiful cousin. But things are not as they seem, tragedy strikes, and Jack escapes with his life but loses something more important to him: his honour.

From an assassination attempt on King George to espionage at the Jacobite Court in Rome, through betrayal, mutiny, cavalry charges and duels, Jack seeks to restore that honour – with a consequence he could not have foreseen, and a price to be paid in blood…

The Response

It seriously took 2/3rds of the book to actually get interesting.

Here are my issues:

1. I want to read about bromance. Not romance. Jack trying to score is not my idea of what makes awesome books.

2. WHERE is Até?!

And yeah, had those two things been remedied within the first five pages, this could have been awesome. Meanwhile, I didn’t even get a GLIMPSE of Até until the last 5 pages of the book. BOO.

This installment in the series only takes place on North America for two or three chapters. Which normally wouldn’t bother me a bit, but considering that the other two take place predominantly on North America and both focus on things that are pretty important in Canadian history, it was a bit of a disappointment that it was pretty much all in the UK. Not that I don’t enjoy books that take place in the UK, but it wasn’t quite what I expected.

The last third of the book were actually quite good – starting from when Jack was being held prisoner in Rome. I just wish that the last third could’ve been the whole book except longer and expanded on and filled with Até.

Did I mention that I miss Até?

The Bottom Line

The first book, The Blooding of Jack Absolute, is awesome. The last one, Jack Absolute, is okay. This one? Skip it – you won’t be missing too much.

Other Reviews

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The Story

From the back of the book:

A most unusual hero
Freddy is immensely rich, of course, and not bad-looking, but he’s mild-mannered, a bit hapless – not anything like his virile, handsome, rakish cousin Jack…

A heroine in a difficult situation
Young Kitty Charing stands to inherit a vast fortune from her irascible and eccentric guardian – provided she marries one of his great-nephews…

A sham betrothal
No sooner does Kitty arrive in London then the race for her hand begins, but between confirmed rakes and bumbling affections, Kitty needs a daring scheme.

The Response

Read this while in England. Figures that just after having a conversation about how much I loved the fact that Heyer’s heroes all happen to be rakes, as opposed to Austen’s books where the rakes never get the girl, that the hero is this one is most certainly 100% NOT a rake and that the guy who doesn’t get the girl is. But it suited this story oh-so-much!

Best part about this book was by far Kitty’s cousin, Lord Dolphinton. He hid in closets when he thought someone was entering the room that he didn’t like. He hid under tables. He was utterly miserable because he was coerced into courting Kitty (even though Kitty had no desire to marry him). Did I mention that he hid in closets?? (Dolph actually reminded me a little bit, in tone, of the wonderful and hilarious Bertie Wooster. And that is a VERY good thing.)

The blossoming romance and love between Kitty and Freddy is definitely a wonderful addition to this book. (Yes, I realize it’s supposed to be the main story, but, really, Dolphinton stole the show.) It’s cute and unlike some stories where the romance sort of pops out at you at the end of the book, you can really see the development of feelings between Kitty and Freddy. It’s so cute!

The Bottom Line

This one was utterly hilarious – one of the more funny of Heyer’s books that I’ve read so far. I feel like I’ve said this about almost every other one of her books that I’ve read, but this is one of my favourite Heyers so far. Highly recommended.

Other Reviews

Dear Author, Becky’s Book Reviews, Genre Reviews, Sassymonkey Reads, S. Krishna’s Books, A Work in Progress. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

From the back of the book:

Rank, wealth, and elegance are no match for a young lady who writes novels…

Sylvester, Duke of Salford, has exacting requirements for a bride. Then he encounters Phoebe Marlow, a young lady with literary aspirations, and suddenly life becomes very complicated. She meets none of his criteria, and even worse, she has written a novel that is sweeping through the ton and causing all kinds of gossip… and he’s the main character!

The Response

I rather wish that I had read this before Venetia; it was quite hard for anything to live up to the awesomeness of that one. So while I would’ve loved this on it’s own, reading it after Venetia was slightly disappointing… Not that it wasn’t good, because I did enjoy, it wasn’t AWESOME and the main character wasn’t so LOVABLE and the hero wasn’t quite as DASHING.

That, said, though, it was still good and fun and lovely with everything I love about Heyer books. Also, I have to say that it is quite possible that this was one of the funnier of Heyer’s books that I read. Highly amusing, indeed! The conversations had between Phoebe and Sylvester could be utterly hilarious, and left me laughing quite a bit. Huzzah!

The one thing that I didn’t really believe in this book, though, was how much Phoebe managed to change as a character, though. Quivering and terrified in her home, but then as soon as she leaves it, she’s all giggling and outgoing and making jokes with a Duke and all sorts of stuff she never would’ve done before. Would have liked to see her meet up with her family again to see if the change in her manner, her much greater confidence, were to stick around. She was impulsive and witty and I loved her in the last two thirds of the book, but I can’t see that the two sides of her were really even the same person.

The highlight of this book, for me, was little Edmund. I am going to fully believe that it’s not just because he has the same name as my all-time favourite fictional child brat (Edmund Pevensie), but because he called someone a “ridicklus gudgeon!” He was an utter darling and I adored the dynamics between him and whatever adults happened to be around when he graced the pages. Whether he was a troublemaker, or just homesick for his nurse, he was able to reach out of the pages and tug at my heartstrings.

As far as the Phoebe’s book, well, it drove most of the plot – whether we were talking about her feelings about it, or about how it influences others in the ton once it’s been published. Everything about The Lost Heir, with the dashing Sylvester as the main villain, seemed to me to be very much poking a little fun at the popular novels of the time, and I definitely appreciated that. In this sense, it very much reminded me of how Austen makes fun of gothic novels in Northanger Abbey.

The Bottom Line

Definitely required reading for fans of Regency England! It was cute and there were definitely points where it was laugh out loud funny, and although it was no Venetia, it was still highly enjoyable.

Other Responses

Becky’s Book Reviews, Book Magic, A Work in Progress. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

From the back of the book:

Venetia had no guile, and no affectations; she knew the world only by the books she had read; experience had never taught her to doubt the sincerity of anyone who did her a kindness. So when Damerel, seeing the approach of a carriage round a bend in the avenue, strolled out to meet his guest it was neither a wrathful goddess nor a young lady on her dignity who sprang down from the vehicle and gave him both her hands, but a beautiful, ingenuous creature with no consciousness in her frank eyes, but only a glow of warm gratitude…

One of the most beguiling, charming, intelligent, and humorous heroines to grace the Regency period, Venetia ranks among Georgette Heyer’s most unforgettable. Find out for yourself why legions of Heyer fans read the affair of Venetia and the rakish Lord Damerel again and again.

The Response

Oh! This one was wonderful and lovely and perfect! Venetia is one of the most charming characters EVER. She is wonderful and lovely and charming and smart and innocent and hilarious! She’s like a cross between LM Montgomery’s Valancy from The Blue Castle and Anne from Anne of Green Gables. Love love love!

This is the very first of Heyer’s books that have actually made me tear up at one point – I got so sucked into the story that it was impossible not to feel Venetia’s heartbreak when Damerel decided that marrying Venetia would completely ruin her. Oh, it was utterly anguishing.

But thankfully that wasn’t the mood of the entire book. It really was extremely funny! Heyer has some of the wittiest dialogue, and it’s always extremely amusing and diverting to pick up one of her books. Even in the ones that I have found not-as-enjoyable.

And it really wasn’t even just Venetia who is wonderful. All of the characters are amazingly written, even those that make you want to strangle them, like Mr. Yardley. But for the most part, they are all wonderful! I was particularly fond of Venetia’s younger brother, Aubrey, as he was way too involved with his studies to know what on earth was going on most of the time – except when it was obvious to him that Venetia and Damerel were in love and were going to get married.

I have to say, I’m REALLY looking forward to rereading this one again already – is it too soon to do that immediately after finishing it?

The Bottom Line

Loved this one utterly! One of the best of Heyer’s regency books that I’ve read so far! Highly recommended.

Other Reviews

Flight into Fantasy, Becky’s Book Reviews. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

From the Chapters website:

Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.

The Response

There’s a blurb on the back of the book that compares this author to Jane Austen and Edith Wharton. I’ve never read Wharton, so I can’t comment on that comparison… but comparing someone to Austen means this author has some mighty big shoes to fill, and this isn’t doing Goodwin justice. If you go into this book expecting to get some Austen, you’ll be disappointed. If you go into it expecting a light, fluffy summer read, you’ll be very happy with what you get out it.

Because that’s what it is. It’s light and fluffy; it’s feel good fiction.

The premise of the story was what caught my eye – the idea of an American girl marrying a British Duke… why, a Duke could be considered close enough to royalty to be a rather distance echo of the recent marriage of the new Duke & Duchess of Cambridge. And while not many of us can ever hope to attain something like that (even though all girls dream, in childhood, of marrying their prince) reading this is reminiscent of that and a way for us to live vicariously through Cora Cash.

Not that Cora Cash is exactly what you would call a normal girl – she’s the richest girl in America, and one of the most beautiful. Not normally what you would find easily empathizable, but Cora is an exception, especially after her marriage to Ivo, Duke of Wareham, when she finds herself completely out of her league. And it’s the journey of Cora learning to adjust to the unknown world of the upper class British society where things really start to get interesting.

The fact that the story was told from a few different perspectives made the characters feel more three-dimensions – specifically Cora. We got to see how she sees herself, how her maid sees her, and how her friends and family see her – and we get to see how she changes and grows into her new role as a duchess through the eyes of everyone around her. Overall, she had charm – not nearly as spoiled or snooty as one would expect from a person in her position.

The relationship between Cora and her husband was certainly the highlight of the book, though. It’s not often that I actually find a whole lot of interest in books where the main characters are already married before the book is half over. Goodwin is able to create tension between her characters that makes you want to shake them both and give them a good talking to, while at the same time making you want to cheer for them both and hope everything works out wonderfully. The fact that Cora and Ivo don’t know each other well before the wedding, as well as the fact that they both come from completely different worlds (England, where tradition and old money rules, versus America, where modernity and new money rules), makes for very interesting dynamics as they learn about each others’ worlds and how to live in them.

While Goodwin was very good at the development of her characters and how they interacted with each other, I was rather disappointed by the voices of the characters – they didn’t speak as if they were from the right time period. It didn’t feel as authentic as it could have, unfortunately. Once I had gotten about a third of the way into the novel, however, I was so caught up with the story that I wasn’t bothered by the language that was being used anymore.

The Bottom Line

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and will be looking forward to reading other books by the author.

Other Reviews

Unabridged Chick, We Be Reading, BookLust. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.

The Story

From the back of the book:

An impetuous young lady and a fugitive nobleman…

When spirited Eustacie stumbles into a band of smugglers, she is delighted to be having an adventure at last. Their leader, young heir Ludovic Lavenham, is in hiding, falsely accused of murder. Pursued by the law, Eustacie and Ludovic find refuge at an unassuming country inn.

And the delightfully sensible couple who try to keep them out of trouble…

The resourceful Miss Sarah Thane and the clear-thinking Sir Tristram Shield gamely endeavor to prevent Ludovic’s arrest and Eustacie’s ruin as the four conspire to recover the missing talisman ring that will clear Ludovic’s name.

The Response

Oh, this is such fun and has become one of my favourite Heyers! Huzzah huzzah! I’ve read 10 or 11 now of her regency novels now.

I think what I liked best about all of these were all of these hijinks that the characters were involved in – especially the two main females, both of whom were so longing for adventures.

It was a little unusual that two of the characters got hooked up and both realize they are in love half way through the novel, though. I’ve seen where one knows they are in love and the other one doesn’t. And I’ve heard that there are ones where both know they are in love but doesn’t think the other loves them back… But I haven’t seen declarations of love half way through the novels before – does that happen in others of her novels? I do have to admit though, that I much preferred the love story between Shield and Sarah than to the one between Eustacie and Ludovic. I like it when it’s drawn out and the characters don’t know they’re in love until the last few pages of the book.

In all honesty, I didn’t particularly like Eustacie and Ludovic at all actually. She’s a little bit of a flake, and he’s… well, I think they will end up going on lots of exciting adventures, but will need Shield to bail them out constantly. Hmm.

The character growth of Shield though, was wonderful. Oh, he hated women and had very little sense of humour at the beginning, but Sarah’s hijinks and whatnot totally grew on him and made him realize that hijinks are good and wonderful stuff such as that. Oh lovely!

Beau, the villain, was a little disappointing though. Very much a fop, but I just don’t feel like he would be smart enough to be a bad guy. Boo to him!

All in all, though, this was so so so much fun and I loved it and yay I love Shield and now I want to go on an adventure!!

The Bottom Line

So much fun – one of the best of Heyer’s that I’ve read! Love love love love love! Hijinks! Humour! Romance! Adventure! All the best fun! Highly recommended!

Other Reviews

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The Story

When Viscount Desford comes across young Cherry running away from her aunt’s country home, his conscience gives him no choice but to befriend her on her journey to her grandfather’s home in London. Unfortunately for him, this is just the beginning of a number of scrapes and inconvenient circumstances that Desford finds himself in while attempting to help Cherry out. What’s more is that even his oldest friend, Henrietta Silverdale, whom he can always depend upon, has some qualms about his helping out this poor unfortunate girl – but these qualms may stem from the fact that Henrietta has hitherto unknown feelings for Desford…

The Response

Let’s see. Where to start… how about the fact that the title made me think that this story was about Cherry when really she’s not the main love interest at all? On one hand, I felt slightly jipped out of that… but on the other, she would NOT have suited Desford at all. But still, I went in expecting to know how this was going to turn out, and that’s one of the things I love about Heyer’s books, because they’re a COMFORT read when you know what’s going to happen, but not in this case! I still enjoyed it, but was thrown for a bit of a loop (so perhaps didn’t enjoy it as much as others of her books). (But still much better than Faro’s Daughter which I didn’t like at all.)

I think the best part about this novel were the secondary characters – especially the Steane’s (Cherry’s grandfather, her grandfather’s new wife, and her father). They were hilarious! The types that you would hate having to deal with in real life, but a joy to read about – their arrogance, their scheming, their selfishness… oh, it was wonderfully hilarious!

And Desford’s brother Simon is amusing too. Oh, he was scheming too but in the best of ways, in which he awesomely sets up the two main characters, who were in love all along but didn’t really know what to do about it until he makes them pretend they are engaged! Oh lovely!

The two main characters – Desford and Henrietta – worked well together, but they were a little boring on their own. Cherry herself was… well, she reminded me quite a bit of Kitty from Pride & Prejudice – young, silly, but not important enough to think anything more about her.

The plots itself wasn’t really anything special, the best part about this book WAS the characters, so I really don’t have anything much to say about that at all…

The Bottom Line

Not my favourite, but still cute and funny! Recommended to fans of regency books!

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The Story

When Sophy’s father is ordered to South America, he begs a favour from his sister in the form of her taking care of his daughter while he is away. Sophy has decided that, in order to keep herself amused and busy, she would fix everyone’s love lives – include her cousins, and in doing so, manages to fix her own love life as well.

The Response

Okay! So, my continuance of the year of regency Heyer continues! (Of course I don’t expect to get finished all this year, but I most certainly want to make a good dent in the unread ones I have.)

And this was a good one to read. Quite a lot of fun! I hearted it!

And unfortunately I read this about a month ago, and haven’t yet written about it, so things may be a little fuzzy in my brain about it. But I am trying to do my bestest here.

First of all! This book is totally like Jane Austen’s Emma. Like totally and completely. (Side note: are a lot of Heyer’s books like other stories? Because this is like Emma and Heyer’s Arabella is totally a retelling of Cinderella. Does anyone know if she does a lot of other retellings?) In this one, our main character is all matchmaking everyone, seemingly trying to hook them up with people who wouldn’t be good for them. Except, unlike Emma, the main character doesn’t seem so oblivious as to who people actually really have feelings for, and who they would actually make a good couple with. And I can’t tell whether she is in touch with her own feelings, like Emma is, or whether she actually knows what’s going on in her own heart.

See, there is one thing that I have been pondering on, nay, obsessing over, for a long time about this, and I can’t quite get a grasp on it. I cannot for the life of me figure out Sophy’s feelings for Charles. On one hand, we know she wouldn’t not marry for love, as she has previously had many men ask for her to marry them and have turned them all down. On the other hand, she went to stay with her cousins specifically in order to find someone to marry her so that her father could marry his sweetheart – except when we find out that her father no longer wants to marry his fiancee, Sophy still agrees to marry Charles. But throughout the whole book, we don’t really see her feelings change towards Charles – well, except for when she first met him and discovered that what her cousins had told her about him was completely false. We know she flirts with a good many of her male acquaintances, and it seems like she doesn’t treat Charles any different than she does them… she is quite unlike most heroines in Heyer’s books (that I’ve read so far) and I don’t know what to make of her in this circumstance.

Let’s see… um. Oh! The best part of the book? The fact that Sophy’s gift to the family when she arrived was a monkey? It was totally awesomely amazing! That was my favourite part of the whole book! Seriously? How random. The fact that Sophy was raised differently than children with traditional families (where there isn’t only one parent, and that parent doesn’t drag his one child around on all of his military duties with him) and so doesn’t know what is socially acceptable is part of what makes her so charming.

The Bottom Line

Cute! Not the best of Heyer’s books that I’ve read, but definitely so super cute! Would highly recommend to fans of Jane Austen’s Emma

Other Reviews

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The Story

Faro’s Daughter tells the story of Deborah, a woman who works in a gamboling house, and Max Ravenscar who is a gentleman trying to save his young cousin from a most inconvenient marriage to aforementioned woman. Of course, as Deborah really has no intention of marrying Ravenscar’s young cousin, this book is filled with many misconceptions and angry words as Deborah and Ravenscar try to get the other to leave Ravenscar’s cousin alone.

And as per any Heyer novel, we can expect these many misconceptions to somehow turn into love and a happily-ever-after ending.

The Response

Once again, I have done a co-review for this one with the lovely Rachel.

Courtney: I would completely agree with you about this – not nearly as enjoyable as Heyer’s other novels that I’ve read, and it’s all due to the characters. There was so much potential – misunderstanding! an unlikely female heroine! romance between all the wrong people! But it didn’t go as far as it could have because the characters didn’t bring it there. Whereas you enjoyed Lucius, I have to say that I didn’t even like him – or any of the other secondary characters. I thought they all felt very one-dimensional. And this saddens me.

Courtney: Downright mean doesn’t even begin to cover it! He insulted her at every possible chance, she went out of her way to provoke his anger, and then if that wasn’t bad enough she kidnapped him! And while love often grows from hate in books, we don’t see their feels really changing and then all of a sudden when she agrees to marry him, it just feels so out of character for both of them… almost like the characters got away from Heyer and this was her reining them in for the big finish.

One of the things that really frustrated me about this book was the double standard that was presented of what women and men are allowed to do. Men are allowed to frequent gaming halls, but for a woman to run a gaming hall out of her house was one of the biggest taboos that could be done. I know it’s my feminist side coming out there, but it made me quite angry when reading about it.

Courtney: One of the highlights of her other books are the whole cast of characters and this one was lacking, especially in the side-kick point. I have a tendency to love sidekicks more than main characters in most media that I thoroughly enjoy. They can provide insights into the character, or provide comic relief, and are often the vehicle used to get us inside the main characters’ heads and understand what they are feeling and thinking.

Courtney: Kato is adorable! And can kick Britt’s butt but is still so loyal to him that he only does it when Britt needs a SERIOUS butt-kicking. Other than that, he will drop everything to make sure Britt doesn’t get his butt-kicked by anyone else!

Courtney: I think you’ve covered everything that is important about the Britt-Kato bromance, and I don’t know that there’s anything else that needs to be said about it, really. Except that it was really awesome that there wasn’t REALLY any romance in the movie. I mean, they were both in love with the same chick, but she wasn’t interested in either of them. And so the focus was completely on the Britt-Kato dynamics without getting sidetracked and distracted. Not enough stories do this!

The Bottom Line

Hum. The most boring of Heyer’s books that I’ve read so far. So boring that we tangented quite easily.

Other Reviews

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The Story

So. Our lovely hero, Sherry, is “in love” with this beautiful lady. Only she doesn’t love him back. Of course, when he proposes, she turns him down. In order to retaliate (and as a means to getting his hands on his estate, which is being held in trust by his two uncles) he vows to marry the first female he sees – who just happens to be a lovely girl, Hero, who has been in love with Sherry her whole life.

Things start off swimmingly, but when Sherry cannot handle all of the scrapes Hero gets into, and when Hero realizes that Sherry will never love her like she loves him, things that a sudden turn for the worst. Hero runs off to stay with a friend’s grandmother and Sherry begins to realize how much Hero actually means to him, and what he may have lost.

So, Sherry must find his wife, the two must reconcile, and all other lovely things must happen. (This is a regency romance novel, after all.)

The Response

A few weekends ago, Rachel and I spent a lovely Saturday in Toronto doing lovely Christmassy things. On that day, we stopped into 4 or 5 different bookstores. While browsing through one of them, we discovered two copies of Friday’s Child , and scooped them up right away.

We both then started the book immediately and kept sending each other emails and texts about how delicious the story was, about how much we loved the characters, and about how this is one of our favourite Heyer books that we’ve yet read.

And a few weeks after finishing it, I can still say it is positively delightful, the characters are all still wonderful, and this really has become one of my favourite Heyer novels!!

I positively loved the story! It was everything I have come to expect from a Heyer novel. Hijinks and witty dialogue and warm and fuzzy romance at its best! And while the ending was completely predictable, it took a couple of unusual turns in getting to the predicted ending.

But it was definitely the characters that made this book for me – especially Sherry’s friends, Gil, George and Ferdy. I don’t know which I love most, or why, but there was always at least one of them involved in my favourite parts. One scene, that shows exactly what I mean, is where Ferdy keeps talking about this Greek guy he met in college, and this guy creeps up on people at the most inopportune moments. And this guy turns out to be Nemesis. Well! That was one of my most favourite parts!

And the fact that Hero is so lovingly accepted by these guys, and is treated as a dear younger sister – that they become the first people she turns to when things to go rot – the relationship they have is so utterly charming!

Then of course there is the awesome character growth we see Sherry experiencing. At first, Sherry is completely irresponsible. Then he starts realizing he needs to manage his money for himself and Hero. Then comes the moment that he sees he shouldn’t be doing what isn’t right for her to be imitating – like gambling. Then! When he realizes that he actually cares – nah, loves! – her more than just a friend! well! You can see how he grows more and more throughout the whole novel! What a joy to watch!

All-in-all, this was a wonderful book and I loved every moment I spent with it!

The Bottom Line

HIGHLY recommended!! As for myself: I need to read more Heyer! Neeeeeed!

Other Reviews

A Fair Substitute for Heaven, Bookshelves of Doom. Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Let me know and I’ll add your link.