Mally - Sandra Heath

HOMECOMING

Mally came to her girlhood castle home in Wales to discover what should become of her as a woman.

With her was Sir Christopher Carlyon. who begged her to be his wife and whose passion was devilishly hard to deny. Missing was her younger sister. Who had vanished with - of all disreputable types of gentlemen - an American.

And making her feel both all-too-comfortable and increasingly uneasy was her extraordinarily charming host. Richard Vallender. who claimed to be Christopher's most loyal friend even as he drew closer and closer to Mally.

The questions of the heart and the seductive lies of love- twin puzzles for a young woman who found that all that was once so safe and familiar was now so menacing and strange....

I am, slowly, getting to the bottom of the TBR pile and this time I found another Sandra Heath book. I have loved a couple of her books and been less sure of other. This one, unfortunately, falls in the second category.

Mally is a young widow, she has a beau in Sir Christopher Carlyon but she doesn't seem much interested in him. At the moment she is more worried with her younger sister who has disappeared and she fears she went away to marry someone her family wouldn't approve of.

My main problem is that I never felt I actually knew Mally and what I did know of her wasn't very interesting. I couldn't understand why she kept Carlyon around if she didn't want him; it seemed kinder than leading him on. I didn't feel like I really got to know Carlyon, by the way, but he seemed a lot more involved with her than she was with him.

Then the mystery did get me a bit, or lot actually, confused. First Mally's sister had run away to marry, then it seemed something darker was afoot.. When she meets Vallender she first believes he may be the villain who took her sister or at least know what happened to her and when they all find themselves at his castle she can't help but being attracted to him despite everything.

I suppose the idea is to introduce a bit of a gothic feel in the story - mysterious man, mysterious castle but maybe because I wasn't really invested in Mally as a character it didn't really work for me.

Grade: 2/5

Mannerby's Lady - Sandra Heath

SHE REFUSED TO BE A BARTERED BRIDE--AND BECAME A CAPTIVE IN AN ARISTOCRATIC CAGE


To some, the great manor of Mannerby might have seemed a lovely country retreat. To beautiful Sarah Jane Stratford, it was a hateful prison to which she had been consigned for the crime of spurning the odious boor whom her noble father had ignobly chosen to be her husband.

Always close at hand was her captor, the infuriatingly arrogant Paul Ransome, who clearly believed every scandalous rumor about Sarah Jane. Frustratingly far away was the handsome, gallant Jack Holland, to whom Sarah Jane was eager to give her hand, her good name, and anything else he chose to desire.

Sarah Jane vowed to brook no obstacle of social censure nor pitfall of prudish propriety on her path to true love--only to discover what sinister snares passion could set, and how treacherous a guide the heart could be....

Heath is a hit and miss author for me. I always open her books with a lot of expectation and sometimes they end being a bit a letdown. Fortunately that was not what happened with this one although I did find it to have some problems. The blurb is also a bit misleading as I thought that what happens before Sarah Jane goes to Mannerby is as important as what happens there and Ransome is not exactly a captor.

Sarah Jane is an illegitimate daughter that her father recognised when she was already an adult so that she could marry his heir. Neither Sarah Jane nor her fiancé love want the marriage but she is practical enough to realise that if she refuses she will be condemning herself to a life of poverty. The only person who has been nice to her is a young man and when he proposes to meet her in the woods she accepts despite some misgivings. Her fears were well founded as he proceeds to try to force but she is saved by the appearance of another gentleman, Jack Holland.

Despite having a terrible reputation Holland behaves in an honourable fashion and takes Sara Jane home. However later in the day he hears the other bragging to friends how he succeeded in forcing Sarah Jane and challenges and kills him. To Sarah Jane he becomes a romantic figure, her saviour who promises to return for her. But his actions and her future mother-in-law malicious gossip make everyone believe that she was his lover and her father decides to send to one of his estates in the country - Mannerby.

Throughout all this Sarah Jane behaves in a dignified manner but on her way to Mannerby her strength is once again tested has her maid, indeed her only friend, dies when crossing a river. Paul Ransome, the tenant of Mannerby, believes the worst of her behaviour but always treats her with proper respect; the same cannot be said of his sister who seems to have something against her. At first Sarah Jane believes that Melissa was the woman her fiancé wanted to marry and that is way she dislikes her but soon is apparent that there is something more at stake as Melissa's behaviour turns more secretive.

The problem I had with this story was that it was part romance and part gothic and there seemed to be a bit of hesitation about which should be the stronger element in the story. Sarah Jane finds herself without friends, and indeed almost surrounded by enemies, during her stay in Mannerby and stranger things keep happening has a mysterious man keeps appearing in the woods, a fire is set in a nearby inn and Melissa ends up running away with tragic results.

Ransome eventually discovers that Sarah Jane is not the person he thought but when they start to spend more time together Holland returns. All the feelings that Sarah Jane had for him come rushing back and they eventually admit their love for each other.

I had a feeling from very early about who the bad guy really was and I was proved correct. The convoluted plot that was behind his actions wasn't as easy to guess but I couldn't believe how Sarah Jane couldn't see it as clearly as I did. That detracted a bit from my enjoyment of the mystery plot and the ending came about so abruptly that I felt a bit cheated on the romance part. It was an interesting story but I think it would have felt stronger if it had been entirely a gothic or entirely a romance.

Grade: 4/5

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

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

Bellfield Hall - Anna Dean

1805. An engagement party is taking place for Mr Richard Montague, son of wealthy landowner Sir Edgar Montague, and his fiancee Catherine. During a dance with his beloved, a strange thing happens: a man appears at Richard's shoulder and appears to communicate something to him without saying a word. Instantly breaking off the engagement, he rushes off to speak to his father, never to be seen again. Distraught with worry, Catherine sends for her spinster aunt, Miss Dido Kent, who has a penchant for solving mysteries. Catherine pleads with her to find her fiance and to discover the truth behind his disappearance. It's going to take a lot of logical thinking to untangle the complex threads of this multi-layered mystery, and Miss Dido Kent is just the woman to do it.

Let me start this review by saying that this is a traditional regency mystery and not a traditional regency romance. But I enjoyed it so much that I thought I should share my review with you all...

Miss Dido Kent is a spinster, she never married but she comes from a big family and her brothers occasionally ask for her help when dealing with their children. She has a special fondness for her niece Catherine who lived with her for a while when she was a young child and when she asks for her help Dido runs to her side.

Catherine had just become engaged when, during the celebratory ball at his parent’s estate, Bellfield Hall, the fiancé is approached by a mysterious man who, without a word being spoken, makes him break the betrothal and run away. On the next day the body of a young woman in found murdered in the shrubbery. Although Catherine is more concerned with being reunited with her beau, Dido can't help but think that the two events may well be connected. Is the unwavering faith that Catherine has in Richard well deserved?

I really enjoyed the world that Anna Dean has created; Miss Dido Kent is a very believable maiden aunt, with a great deal of curiosity and a keen eye to observe the world around her. I thought it interesting that part of the story is told through the letters that Dido is writing to her sister relating what happens and how she sees the events. Garnering knowledge not only from the other guests but also from the servants of the house Dido soon realises that all is not as it should be with the family and that some of the guests are not what they appear.

Set in the Regency period Bellfield Hall is a wonderful cosy mystery where an amateur detective has to uncover the truth and find the villain before the house party is over. Dean created a suspenseful plot where the danger increases with each chapter and where the clues are cleverly inserted in the plot in the form of little details... I look forward to revisit Miss Dido Kent and her world in future books of the series.

Grade: 4/5