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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
Sophy is quite grand indeed. She is a thoroughly modern character in an antiquated time when women were not expected to do much other than look pretty and be demure. Having been left to her own devices by her world traveling father, Sophy enters the lives of her London relatives, the Ombersleys and for them, life will never be the same for her meddling.
I enjoyed this fluffy bit of fun very much, following along as I was bounced from one drama in the Ombersley/Rivenhall house to another. Meddlesome, Sophy most definitely is, but never where unwarranted. I very much love a strong female lead and Sophy most definitely did not disappoint in that regard.
This book is defined as a romance but after reading it, I would say that it has been cast in this genre for lack of a better way of classifying it. There is a bit of romance but it is secondary (perhaps even tertiary) to everything else. So if you're looking for a traditional romance, you'll enjoy this book but this likely will annoy you a little as you're reading along. If you're looking for something a little bit more Jane Austen-esque where you get a bit of romance about 10 pages from the end, then this is likely a bit more your style. Though I would only compare it to Jane Austen in this one way.
My only complaints are that there was definitely a lot of Jewish stereotyping that was unnecessary and definitely off putting. In the beginning, I also found it a bit hard to understand. I'm not sure if this is just an issue with the Kindle version where maybe some punctuation was missing and there were a few misspellings, but it took me a few Kindle sized pages to be able to follow and properly understand what the hell was going on as the Lady of the house chatted with her brother (Sophy's father). There also seemed to be a great number of unnecessary twists and turns, particulary at the end with Sophy's final scheme, and it seemed a bit excessive. But I guess I wasn't extremely bothered by it seeing as I stayed up way past my usual bedtime to get to the final resolution. :)
I enjoyed this fluffy bit of fun very much, following along as I was bounced from one drama in the Ombersley/Rivenhall house to another. Meddlesome, Sophy most definitely is, but never where unwarranted. I very much love a strong female lead and Sophy most definitely did not disappoint in that regard.
This book is defined as a romance but after reading it, I would say that it has been cast in this genre for lack of a better way of classifying it. There is a bit of romance but it is secondary (perhaps even tertiary) to everything else. So if you're looking for a traditional romance, you'll enjoy this book but this likely will annoy you a little as you're reading along. If you're looking for something a little bit more Jane Austen-esque where you get a bit of romance about 10 pages from the end, then this is likely a bit more your style. Though I would only compare it to Jane Austen in this one way.
My only complaints are that there was definitely a lot of Jewish stereotyping that was unnecessary and definitely off putting. In the beginning, I also found it a bit hard to understand. I'm not sure if this is just an issue with the Kindle version where maybe some punctuation was missing and there were a few misspellings, but it took me a few Kindle sized pages to be able to follow and properly understand what the hell was going on as the Lady of the house chatted with her brother (Sophy's father). There also seemed to be a great number of unnecessary twists and turns, particulary at the end with Sophy's final scheme, and it seemed a bit excessive. But I guess I wasn't extremely bothered by it seeing as I stayed up way past my usual bedtime to get to the final resolution. :)
Characters are wonderful, the the dialogue is sparkling, the plot is great fun. One of my favorite Heyer's (so far). Sophy is a heroine similar to Selina in "Bath Tangle": young women raised to be competent, semi-independent, good with horses and better with people. Sophy is, in my opinion, far more likable.
Warning: casual antisemitism in several chapters (of its time, but still not comfortable to read.)
Warning: casual antisemitism in several chapters (of its time, but still not comfortable to read.)
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Mostly fun vacation read for fans of BBC historical romance/drama. Modern readers may be unpleasantly surprised by the casual use of anti-Semitic caricatures bandied about by the characters; the book was written half a century ago and I'm not sure whether it's that or Heyer's efforts to be historically accurate which led to these being included, but they do take some of the shine off of the protagonist and her beaux.
Entertaining. There are a lot of characters that are not always easy to memorise (in the audiobook, especially) and it's lively, with a strong ending. Sometimes you don't really understand the characters' motivations very well, due to our different social customs, but that's part of the fun.
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was quite the romp!! I like a lot of Heyer’s middle to late books (the age gaps in the early ones just give me the ick), and this one didn’t disappoint. I liked all the supporting characters and that there was a legitimate second storyline. Sophy is like the OG pick-me girl, but honestly the rest of the characters tone her down a little. I also have to say first cousin marriages also give me the ick, but that’s historic Brits for ya. Maybe Charles is a stepson. I would’ve liked to have seen more interaction between the two of them, but alas, this was more of a family story than a straight romance. All and all, quite fun!
One of my favorite authors recommended Georgette Heyer, so I looked her up and found that The Grand Sophy is typically the recommended starting point. I'm not sure how I feel about that... First of all, from what I've read of reviews, I realized that the audiobook version cut some scenes (I don't know anything about the ducklings people keep chuckling about, for example) and was more abridged than I thought. I had assumed the abridgement was just to clean up an overtly antisemitic scene, but that scene was still quite bad even in this form. It also seemed pretty okay with stereotyping a character from Spain. Aside from the stereotypes and the knowledge that this version may be missing some key parts, this was an okay audiobook. I enjoyed the narration and the different voices the narrator did for each character. I feel like Sophy was a fun heroine, but a little too perfect at her manipulation. I enjoyed her independence and humor though. I didn't really care for Charles as a love interest, since he just seemed like a jerk. Not sure if I'll read another Heyer novel, but if so, maybe I'll try one of her mysteries next time since that's way more my genre than romance.
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced