The Lady's Companion - Carla Kelly

A Compromising Position


Miss Susan Hampton was a lady born and bred. She never imagined that she would have to make her own way in the world. But that was before her feckless father gamed away the family estate. That was before her odious aunt turned her into an unpaid servant. Now Susan had fled that tyranny--only to wonder if she had leapt out of the frying pan into the fire.

In a remote country manor, Susan took the post of companion to the Dowager Lady Bushnell, whose fiery temper made a dragon seem sweet. But even more dangerous was the dowager's boldly handsome bailiff, David Wiggins, whose blood was red, not blue, and who was everything a man could be except a gentleman. Desperately, Susan told herself that he was totally unsuitable as her suitor--even as this infuriatingly irresistible man awoke her as a woman and made her forget she was a lady...

Carla Kelly is usually a hit and miss author with me but I always grab her books with some expectation. I had no idea what this book was about but I couldn't resist getting it because she usually writes about different characters. This story was no exception...

Susan Hampton is a young lady of a good family. Her father, however, is a gambler of the worst sort and has ruined his family. There is no money for Susan's dowry and eventually they have to go and live with a relative. Seeing as she will be treated has a non paid instead of a family member Susan decides to find a proper job and support herself. That is how she finds herself living in the country with the dowager duchess of Bushnell and her bailiff, Daniel Wiggings among other interesting characters.

Susan is not exactly a success at her new job. She has no experience and Lady Bushnell is a fiercely independent woman who doesn't want the companions her daughter-in-law likes to send her. As soon as they meet Susan is fired but eventually Lady Bushnell gives her another chance and Susan has to find to best way to be useful and keep her job.

What I liked most in this story was how everyone felt so real in their reactions to pain and sorrow. How Lady Bushnell was strong and wanted no pity for the tragedies that she suffered in the past, how she elicited such protective feelings from Daniel and, later, Susan and how. Daniel, bit by bit ends up telling Susan his whole story, how he was a soldier and a thief and was saved, both literally and from a life of crime, by Lady Bushnell and her family. He bears the weight of quite a few secrets and doesn't mind keeping them not to disturb an old lady. And Susan, a special king of courage is needed to break society's barriers. Susan ends up doing it twice, when she leaves her family to find employment and when she accepts Daniel's proposal, and both times she does it with her eyes open. Fully aware that there will be consequences and that she will be made to pay the price. I really couldn't help admiring all of them and loving their story!

Grade: 5/5

The Talisman Ring - Georgette Heyer

'I dare say it will not be so very bad, our marriage, if I can have a house in town, and perhaps a love.' 'Perhaps a WHAT?' demanded Shield, in a voice that made her jump. Neither Sir Tristram Shield nor Eustacie, his young French cousin, share the slightest inclination to marry one another. Yet it is Lord Lavenham's dying wish. For there is no one else to provide for the old man's granddaughter while Ludovic, his heir, remains a fugitive from justice...

I have been a long time fan of Georgette Heyer, I first read some of books while a teenager in translated versions and now, as an adult, I have been collecting them in the original English thanks to Arrow and Sourcebooks who made them readily available everywhere.

The talisman Ring was one of the books that I read more recently. A mixed story, part romance / part mystery, it sees two couples searching around for a family jewel to exonerate one of the heroes from a murder charge. To make a long story short, Sir Tristam Shield and Eustacie de Vauban are ordered by their great granduncle and grandfather respectively to embark on a marriage of convenience to guarantee Eustacie’s well being and status in life after the old man dies. But Eustacie is a lively and romantic girl who finds Sir Tristam a stuffy unromantic old man and decides to run away to become a governess. On the road she finds her cousin Ludovic, her grandfather’s heir who has been on the run for the past two years after having been suspected of murdering a man on the night his favourite jewel – the talisman ring – disappeared. Ludovic is now a free trader, which seems utterly adventurous and romantic to Eustacie, and after an encounter with the excise men he is hurt and they find shelter at a nearby inn. There they find Lady Sarah Thane, a young woman who travels with her brother and seems to have an original sense of humour, and that’s where Sir Tristam eventually finds them. With Eustacie and Ludovic on their way to falling in love the four set out to find the jewel and prove his innocence.

I must admit that this is not one of my favourite Heyers. I think the story, as a mystery, loses pace because of the romance and all those secondary characters – the free traders, the excise men, the Bow Street Runners – and as a romance looses interest because so much time is devoted to finding the jewel. I think I am more used to those Heyer romances where we find sparkling and witty dialogue between the main characters, where the funny coincidences make for laugh out loud moments and where we have closure in the end. Here, although there are some funny moments they are not so sparkling and witty, and while the story ends with one couple engaged, the other doesn’t get the same king of closure, although everything indicates that they will do so too.

I did like Lady Sarah Thane and Sir Tristam Shield very much. To the point where I would have loved to have the book devoted solely to them. In a way, because they are an older couple they reminded me of Abby and Miles from The Black Sheep which I greatly enjoyed. If only we had seen more of them I am sure that we had been gifted with some witty dialogues. Eustacie seemed a bit too young and, well, silly. I have been fond of other young heroines like Horry and Leonie and I have forgiven them their silly naiveté because of their wonderful heroes but here I must confess that Ludovic was not a favourite with me either. He seemed impulsive and extravagant but oh so perfect for Eustacie who only wanted a husband to ride “ventre a terre” to her death bed.

But don’t be discouraged by my review, lots of Heyer fans seem to love this story so my advice to you is try it and see. There are a lot of farcical moments in this story and if nothing else it will definitely put you in a good mood.

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This review was written for the Heyer Celebration at Austenprose in August 2010

The Honorable Miss Clarendon - Margaret Sebastian

Young Miss Cynthia Clarendon may have fallen upon difficult times, but never could she forget the aristocratic heritage of her distinguished family name. Even when she became governess to a family whose wealth could not buy them a title, she refused to bow her lovely head or humble her stubborn pride. Or then could a mere gentleman's servant, no matter how handsome and charming and resourceful, make her heart beat too quickly for comfort, and her mind dance with impossible dreams? As a Clarendon, it was clearly beneath her. As a proper young lady, she refused to let it happen. But as her unsuitable suitor seemed to know all too well, the Honorable Miss Clarendon was also very much a woman.

In previous reviews I have stated my preference for dramatic stories over funny ones but I have to admit that The Honorable Miss Clarendon by new-to-me author Margaret SeBastian was one that I enjoyed.

Miss Clarendon, fallen on hard times after her father's death is forced to accept a position as a governess. When she is stranded after a carriage accident she is helped by a young man that she believes to be a lowly servant - but is instead a duke. Her prides makes her mislead him and tell him that she will be a guest of the family she will be living with. After they part without disclosing their true stations in life the duke decides to look for her but none of the neighbouring families seem to be entertaining a guest. I couldn't help but thinking it was really funny how she kept thinking about him even though she thought he was someone beneath her station. The family with whom she lives also adds to the funny aspect of the story because the mother is quite a character, apparently a light headed woman incapable of two serious thoughts together she manages to manipulate everyone to do what she wants: but of course she is a good soul and treats her new governess as a daughter (implausible but funny).

After some investigative work and some coincidences (of course) - the duke's uncle ends up being Miss Clarendon's godfather - they meet again and the duke proposes. Miss Clarendon's pride (again) doesn't let her accept him after being so deceived and they part angry with each other. Two more stubborn characters is hard to find, with their happiness within reach but too proud, in her case, and too stubborn, in his to grab it. Fortunately for her the godfather and her solicitor will hatch a plan to bring her out in society and, eventually, accept the duke's suit.

I think what made the book work for me was the witty dialogue between the main characters but also the fact that there are so many innocent misunderstandings between them and that most of the secondary characters are a bit eccentric and add to the comic aspect of this plot. It was my first book by this author and I'll be curious to read some more.

Grade: 4/5

An Improper Proposal - Anthea Malcolm

It had only been six weeks since her brother was named the Eighth Marquis of Parminter, but already Rachel's life seemed but a farce played out to please the ton. Suddenly she was Lady Rachel, and her ambitious sister Christine was betrothed to a future duke! And in the midst of it all, their cousin Guy had returned, Guy, whom Rachel secretly loved beyond all reason. Hunted by Bow Street these last two years for a crime he hadn't committed, he had risked imprisonment to prevent his beloved Christine from marrying another. Rachel had to save him-from Christine as well as Bow Street. And what better protection could a Lady offer than the wealth and respectability of an aristocratic marriage?

 

I had heard good things things about Anthea Malcolm and since the traditional regencies are one of my favourite genres I finally decided to pick one up.

 

I was quite surprised by it because there was a lot more to the story than just a romance between two people. In fact, I think An Improper Proposal is mostly a mystery with a strong element of romance. It's also the story of a family - Rachel, Christine and Magnus and their extended family - and I ended up wondering if there were books about the other characters mentioned.

 

When the story opens Rachel has just become a widow and her sister Christine lost her fiancée when both men and some friends died in a fire. Christine accuses their cousin Guy, whom she had a romantic relationship in the past, of being the murderer and he disappears for two years.

 

Guy returns when the three siblings situation was bettered because Magnus has inherited the family's title and Christine is engaged to a duke's son (the brother of her dead fiancé). The Bow Street Runners are still after him becaure of the deaths and when he asks for a month to find out the truth before being arrested, they agree on the condition that Magnus guarantess his good behaviour. seeing her brother is going to reject the request Rachel tells them they are engaged, even though she believes him in love with her sister still.

 

Guy and Rachel eventually decide that the best thing is to actually marry, Rachel will have a father figure for her children and Guy will be free to investigate who actually set fire to the theater. The theather is also an interesting theme in the story because not only Guy is a play writer but Rachel actually owns and manages the theater making her a woman of independent means.

 

Most of the book is devoted to the mystery and I thought that was actually very well done. The men who died were part of a radical group that contested some political actions and while their ideas might have been a motive for murder the author manages to make more intriguing and less obvious than that. I was quite surprised in a good way with the detecting skills of the main characters.

 

What I didn't like was the lack of communication between Rachel and Guy. She spends most of the book, almost to the last page actually, believing that he loves her sister and I thought that was really sad. Since she was the one who suggested their marriage it seemed obvious to me that she loved and that he should be the one to talk about his feelings first. Instead he kept putting up with her sister's demands for attention and leaving Rachel with the impression that he still loved Christine. Not only that but I really disliked his attitude when their mother came to visit, the mother had left them 25 years before and while making the peace was the best thing for all of them he should never have shown all that familiarity with her and seemingly putting himself on her side, against Rachel.

 

In a way, because they talked so little, I found it hard to empathise with Guy and Rachel. I would have been much happier if we had more time devoted to the secondary romance of Magnus and Margaret who seemed nice people who fell for each other when they started getting to know one another better. They were a prime example of a couple that changed for the best by having a relationship. Magnus became less cold and Margaret more self assured. Unfortunately they are not given enough time in the story and my disappointment with the main romance leads me to give this one a lower grade. But I was intrigued enough with the story and the fact that there were so many different plots in it to want to read another Malcolm and see how I like it.

 

Grade: 3.5/5

Come Be My Love - Diana Brown

IMPOSSIBLE ALEXANDRA
Beautiful, brilliant and headstrong Alexandra Cox-Neville was a thoroughly impossible young lady--with an even more impossible dream of love. If she could not wed Darius Wentworth, heir to the neighboring barony of Blandon, she would have no husband at all.
Thus when Darius took another for his wife, there was but one place for Alexandra to go: London, where a woman could make her living with her pen if she did not fear the censure of society and the scandal of being on her own. Unfortunately, Darius soon followed her to that capital of fashion and folly, and--as Alexandra soon found out --where Darius went, trouble was sure to follow. So it shouldn't have been a shock to a young lady who broke all the rules to find there was no escape from the one man who could break her heart....

I'm having a hard time writing a review of this book. It is definitely my least favourite Brown book so far but there were still some good interesting things in it.

I think my first problem is that Alexandra's love for Darius sounds too much like hero worship, she doesn't really know him, since he spends most of his time at school, and he does see her as a sort of younger sister so while I could understand those feelings in a teenager Alexandra I think she should have grown out of it after he married. But she doesn't.

Darius ends up unhappy in his marriage and when his wife dies in child birth leaving an orphan son everyone believes that he doesn't pay attention to the child because he is heartbroken. I immediately guessed where the author was leading us and I wasn't wrong. Alexandra refuses to wed another and fights with her parents about it. She has always been fond of reading and writing and after secretly publishing a book decides to run away to London to avoid marrying the neighbour her father wanted her to. She first attempted to declare her love for Darius and convince him to marry her but, after a mortifying scene he refuses her.

Alexandra writes powerful novels about women's feelings and passions that first make London's society curious and then leads them to condemn her when her poetry becomes too revealing. It seemed to me that it echoed a bit the reaction the Bronte sisters had when their first published their works that also seemed too passionate and coarse to society. But there the similarity ends because Alex, even after warned that she can be disgraced in the eyes of the world, persists in publishing the damaging poetry. This sets in motion a turn of events that could lead to hers and Darius destruction.

But the fact is that Darius never seemed worthy of such love and devotion, and for most of the book he just isn’t interested. And Alex proved to be immature by not measuring the consequences of her actions and in not accepting salvation when it was offered just because of her pride. Where previous books like The Emerald Necklace or St Martin's Summer had poignant moments where the character's misery really touched the reader, here such moments where merely humiliating and miserable for them.

I did feel the story had potential, the idea of a writer heroine was really good, but that the way it was developed wasn't the best one. Not to mention that Alexandra's father was a tyrant and in the end we are supposed to reach the conclusion that he was right after all. Too weird... But I do like Brown's writing, a lot, and I will definitely continue reading her books and see if the rest of her backlist proves to be winners like all the previous ones I read, or so so reads like this one.

Grade: 3.5/5

Regency Rose - Caroline Brooks

THE INFORMAL EARL


The Earl of Llandath seemed intent on thoroughly disrupting young and lovely Miss Kate Vaughn's life. When this dark and handsome nobleman returned from abroad to reclaim his ancestral estate, he raised clouds of speculation about where he had been and what he had done.

Then, most unfortunately, he caused Kate to lose here position in the wealthy Stockwood household and shattered her hopes of finding true love with the gallant and idealistic Stockwood heir. And to add to Kate's distress, as she trudged wearily along the highway toward a fearful future and a quite probably dreadful fate, the earl swept her up into his coach and informed her that he would take charge of her whether she wanted him to or not.

Kate was at the mercy of a lord she had every reason to loathe. And mercy was the one thing that the Earl of Llandath had no intention of offering...

 

I have more than a few doubts on how to review this story. First of all Llandath is not the dark and mysterious man that the blurb seems to suggest and Kate is well able to get herself in trouble without his help.

She is a young lady's companion and fallen in love with the young lady's brother. Her love is reciprocated but you can easily see that the boy is a weakling and that nothing will come of it. When she meets Llandath while walking the fields Kate has no problem is pretending that she is part of the family she serves and making him believe she is a well born lady. Llandath also pretends to be someone else but when later he visits the house expecting to find her the deception is revealed and Kate finds herself out of a job and with no beau because her suitor refuses to stand up to his mother. When Llandath encounters her walking the streets in the rain he decides to help her find a new job. The new job, surprinsingly, is as an actress in a theatre company.

There are several things that I felt could have been better explained, Llandath's past for instance remains a bit too mysterious. It's also obvious from the beginning that he is helping Kate because he is attracted to her but she never seems to see it. Then I'm not sure that just because Kate is good at pretending and imagining stories that she would be a good actress. But she quickly becomes that company's main attraction. She also keeps pining for her lost beau for too much time.

The story does have some attempts at humour. Not enough to make this a funny story though which left me undecided where the author wanted to take this. Especially after Kate's former suitor and his sister both end up in the care of Kate I had my doubts about the plausibility of all this and couldn't help being a bit sorry for Llandath who didn't seem to be any close to getting his HEA.

So, not exactly to my taste I'm afraid and since I wasn't really invested in the characters the whole story dragged a lot in the middle and later parts. People who like to read about theater settings might find this interesting though.

Grade: 2/5

Sylvester - Georgette Heyer

Sylvester, Duke of Salford, seeks with unconscious arrogance a bride worthy of the honour of becoming his Duchess. He journeys to Wiltshire to inspect the Hon Phoebe Marlow, unaware that he has met her before and instantly forgotten the tongue-tied girl without beauty or elegance to recommend her.

One of these days I was looking for something to cheer me up when I found this Heyer novel. And what a delightful book this one was, I laughed out loud at Sylvester and Phoebe's confrontations; they were truly a matching of wits...

Sylvester, the duke of Salford is very much aware of his rank and consequence. When he decides to get married he makes a list of suitable young ladies and goes to his mother for advice on which one to choose. His godmother makes him add one more name to the list, her granddaughter Phoebe Marlow.

Sylvester decides to visit Phoebe's family to see if they might suit but Phoebe is less than thrilled with the prospect of becoming his wife. She briefly met him in town during her first season and having thought him arrogant made him the main character of the novel she was writing. Not realising that there is a smart young woman behind the shy and repressed young lady he meets there Sylvester starts planning how to leave without being rude but the pressure Phoebe's parents put on her finally lead her to run away to London. But on the road her carriage suffers and accident and it's Sylvester which will come to rescue forcing them to spend some days together and actually get to know each other.

Unfortunately Phoebe's book where Sylvester features as the wicked uncle (which the second title of this novel) is about to be published and the ton not only recognises him in the character but starts believing that what is written might be a bit true. Phoebe have a very angry, and public, quarrel over it with her deserting him on the ballroom floor and their relationship will go through quite a few problems before it can be saved.

There is a really interesting and colourful set of secondary characters who add to the appeal of the story. The scenes where Phoebe and her friend Tom end up being kidnapped by Lady Henry and her second husband, who are eloping to France, not to mention the scenes with little Edmund are completely hilarious. The main characters start as a very unlikely couple and it makes for a really funny journey to watch them spar. I liked Sylvester more than Phoebe because he never felt that arrogant to me and he accepts most of her criticism quite charmingly. We don't see what led Phoebe to dislike him so and in fact she gladly accepts that she didn't know him all that well. In the end one can't help but cheer for Sylvester when he finally quite clumsily blurts out his feelings for Phoebe... It was a hard road to happiness for these two but a lovely one for me.

Grade: 4.5/5