Victoire - Clare Darcy

A Delightfully Impudent Impostor

Sparkling young Victoire Duvernay made her first appearance in Regency England posing as her cousin who had been shamefully wronged by the dashing, devastatingly handsome rake, the Marquis of Tarn. But soon she emerged under her own name as the leading light of the London season, with the hot-blooded, hot-tempered Tarn dancing attendance upon her, and a host of gallants, fortune-hunters, and rogues swarming around her.

Victoire seemed such a defenseless innocent in this sophisticated world of elegant snobbery and cruel deception. But Victoire had no intention of becoming anyone's pawn or prey. Instead this captivating young lady was determined to give the most arrogant gentleman in all the realm an unforgettable lesson in love!

I have been curious about this author ever since Ioanna wrote a review of one of her books. So when I had the opportunity to read one I was quite happy. I did like the book although I felt the type of story asked for more banter, more witty and humorous dialogue to really work out.

Victoire is a french young lady, daughter of an officer in the Napoleon Wars, who, after her father dies and her mother remarries finds herself shipped to England to live with an Irish relative. Unfortunately the relative is not entirely comme i'l faut and leads Victoire to pretend to be her cousin Nancy, recently deceased, so they can blackmail Lord Tarn's relatives by telling he has broken a promise of marriage. The success of such ploy is based on the fact that Tarn is supposed to be out of the country and can't unmask her. But he does unexpectedly return and after a few adventures that include the relative kidnapping Tarn and Victoire saving him, the Marquess of Tarn decides that he owes a debt of gratitude to Victoire and to pay it he offers her marriage.

Now it maybe be because I recently read Heyer's The Convenient Marriage but I did feel that there were some similarities between the two stories - namely the older heroes who let no emotions show and the young and sometimes naive heroines who are constantly getting into trouble.

Being this one a regency romance we know that they are on their way to a happy end, however that path isn't always smooth and in this case several people are interested in breaking them apart. One of Tarn's cousin's and his portuguese mistress who both set different suitors on Victoire just to make trouble. Since Tarn and Victoire both are hot tempered and don't run from a good fight this could have been the perfect opportunity for showing some tension and their emotions towards one another but it is never fully explored. Even when Victoire is kidnapped in the end and Tarn rushes to save her I felt his proposal was a bit bland. I wanted more emotion in their courtship to make me believe that Tarn really had fallen for Victoire. As it was I felt it was a nice story but that it could have been better.

One detail that annoyed me was that Portuguese's mistress had a spanish name and spoke spanish instead of portuguese. Most of you wont probably notice it but for a native portuguese speaker it's totally distracting.

Grade: 3.5/5

Lydia - Clare Darcy

Who but a young lady from America would dare arrive in Regency London at the height of the season - and promptly announce her express intention of marrying for wealth and position?

Who but this outrageous beauty would keep two of the most eligible bachelors in the realm on tenterhooks, while defying the wishes of the arrogant, incomparably attractive, immensely rich Lord Northover himself?

Who is quite the most captivating heroine of this or any other season ? Who else but - Lydia.

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Clare Darcy was an author who wrote Regency Romances in the 70’s, and on the covers of her books are comparisons to Georgette Heyer. I think this might be mostly due to the timing since there were not many authors writing regencies at that time, but I was curious to try her out. So far I had read Eugenia and Victoire which I thought were average, and Regina which I actually liked. But I liked Lydia even better.

Miss Lydia Leyland, her brother Bayard and their grandmother Mrs. Leyland come to London from America. Mrs Leyland is English but after her marriage she and her husband went to America, since her father had lost most of his fortune even had to sell the family country home. Mrs Leyland sister, Letty, dies and leaves some of her jewellery to her sister. These are the only funds the Leylands have, unless and until Lydia can catch a rich husband. Lydia is a very attractive young lady, with elegance, manners, wit, charm and has no difficulty being a hit in society, adroitly managing her many suitors and admirers. She is also energetic and very capable, looking after and managing the problems of her brother (he falls in love) and her grandmother (she looses big sums on cards). She also tries to coax and persuade the very rich Sir Basil (aunt Letty’s widower) to make Bayard his heir, and also has to deal with Mr Pentony, the villain of the book, a great-nephew of Sir Basil’s who would very much like to inherit that fortune himself. Needless to say Lydia is pretty busy! But she does an admirable job on all fronts, and I have to say she is sharp as a needle, one of the cleverest and more intelligent heroines I have met. She is so far removed from the innocent, naïve, shy and helpless miss as possible, a very big plus for me.

The hero Christopher Broome, Viscount Northover was a captain of Dragoon Guards, until he unexpectedly inherited the title from his great uncle. He has a rakish reputation, and is seen as confirmed bachelor. He also very intelligent, quite sarcastic on occasion and derives great amusement watching Lydia making a dash in society. These two were a perfect match for each other, and they were very entertaining. Lydia is without doubt the star of the book but Northover is the perfect partner for her.

The book overall was very enjoyable, the people, atmosphere and language had a real regency feel to them, plus everyone is addressed correctly. It really felt like a ‘proper’ regency romance! As for the comparisons to Georgette Heyer, the style is different but for entertainment value it does very well indeed!

Grade 4/5