Book: The Grand Sophy
- Mar, 16 2007
- By Belinda
- Book Reviews
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Author: Georgette Heyer
Genre: Regency Romance
Length: 416 pgs
Summary: The Ombersley house is in a turmoil. Cousin Sophy Stanton-Lacy has been left by her father, Sir Horace, to find a husband…the problem is, Sophy cannot do any such thing until the house has been put to rights. After all, cousin Cecilia is in love with a foppish poet who has no concept of reality, cousin Charles is about to marry a prosy prig, and no one is doing anything about it! That is, not until Sophy walked through the door…
Why should you read this book?
For one thing, if you’re a regency romance reader you’re supposed to already know about Georgette Heyer. Shame on you if you don’t. And now comes my shocking admission: this is the first Heyer book I’ve ever read. I hadn’t ever heard of Heyer before I started trolling writing blogs a year or so ago, which is scandalous, I know. Heyer is often described as the new Jane Austen, and I can see the resemblences in the writing tone. The Grand Sophy is fast-paced. So fast-paced that I didn’t find an excerpts to post. This isn’t because I was so drawn in the story, but more…the pace was so fast I would almost feel physically tired and had to put the book down.
The book starts with a very long conversation between Lady Ombersley and her brother, Sir Horace. They talk for almost thirty pages! And while it’s an amusing conversation, and we learn a lot of backstory, I almost put the book down because really, what was going on but two people talking about people I don’t care about yet? This book, I feel, would have started better with the arrival of Sophy. Heyer does a good job of defining the characters, so the immense backstory at the beginning is unnecessary.
So, if you’re going to read Heyer, I’m not sure this is the book to start with. I have another Heyer on my list to read, so hopefully I’ll like that one more. Read this book to see how an author can make a manipulative character the hero, keep the pacing fast, give each character definition, and write a snappy love story where the two main characters don’t fawn over one another (they actually argue the entire book).
Book: The Slightest Provocation
- Dec, 24 2006
- By Belinda
- Book Reviews
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Title: The Slightest Provocation
Author: Pam Rosenthal
Genre: Historical Romance
Length: 352 pgs
Summary: In the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, Mary Penley and Kit Stansell of the Regency feuding Penley and Stansell families elope, after nourishing a secret friendship from their early teens. Their first year of marriage is one long honeymoon night, if you get my drift, but when Kit is teased by his club friends for only lusting after his wife (how provincial!!), he dallies with an actress and catches a disease such that he can’t go to bed with Mary for a year. This doesn’t stop him from going to other actresses, however, and to get back at him, Mary allows Kit’s best friend to seduce her. Of course, Kit walks in on them, and that’s just the backstory.
When the book actually starts, Kit and Mary have been separated for nine years, during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon is finally defeated, and Kit and Mary are returning to England, worried by rumors that there is an insurgency threatening their homeland.
Why should you read this book?
I can see what Rosenthal was trying to do with this book, partially because I read her group blog, History Hoydens. She took an actual event from history, threw in her own fictional characters who would have access to the people involved, and went from there. Rosenthal is completely correct in the debauchery of married Regency couples, so I guess I can’t complain on that aspect, except that, in reading this book, I kind of felt like the plot was completely secondary to Kit and Mary’s lust for one another, which apparently never died even after nine years of separation. Sure, we’re reading about English countryside intrigue, and we’re also learning about Kit and Mary through their memories of one another. Their realization that they got married much too young is apparent, and that they’re trying to work through their history is admirable. I don’t know. I have mixed feelings, but I’m primarily disappointed. The cover is just so pretty, I hoped to read something that would both impress and touch me, but instead, I found myself just making sure I was reading it alone because it felt… naughty haha.
The novel is well-written, but I didn’t read anything that particularly spoke to me, or made me want to write it down as a quote, which is why there aren’t any excerpts with this book. So, I would say this book left me with an “eh” sort of feeling once I finished. Also, why were we paying attention to the lovelife of Mary’s servant? It didn’t really add anything to the story except that it made the character a little more 3D. Take it or leave it, this book probably isn’t meant for my demographic.
