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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
What a pleasure is to read/listen to Georgette Heyer books. They are even more delicious on a rainy fall day. They are so heartwarming and lovely.
Love Sylvester and Phoebs! not sure that the rest of the rigamarole hits the right note 🥲
It took me awhile to get into this book, but once I was in a few chapters I was swept away! Overall I really enjoyed the book. It was quite entertaining. Edmund, the nephew, was hilarious and I wish he had of been in more of the book! Phoebe and Sylvester were funny and their relationship strange but totally understandable at the same time. I just wish there had have been more romance. But definitely a good one!
Like an 'Entertainment Weekly' version of Pride & Prejudice. The gory details, more intimate, more infamous, adventurous, and convoluted. Very slow start and generally more sombre than her other efforts, but a satisfying 2nd-half and conclusion.
I absolutely loved this. Actually found myself sad it was over :(
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Up until about the two-thirds mark, this was a favorite among the Heyers: the novel-writing heroine, a bit of a geek, Sylvester who looks wicked but isn't, and a host of great side characters.
But it tips over the line (for me) with too much humiliation of the heroine, and too much bitter bickering, something I can get fed up with real fast in what is supposed to be a light romance.
But it tips over the line (for me) with too much humiliation of the heroine, and too much bitter bickering, something I can get fed up with real fast in what is supposed to be a light romance.
Reread Nov 2018! As always, I enjoyed rereading this old favourite!
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Reread Oct 21st to Nov 1st
This is, undoubtedly my all time favourite Georgette Heyer Regency Romance. It was not the first one I read, but it also wasn't the last, yet, it is the one that I love the most. And the one I'd read over and over again, even though I want more than anything, to own nearly all of Heyer's Regency Romances.
Like in Classic Heyer style, Sylvester is a humourous tale of two unlikely people falling in love. (Well in some cases, it's likely, but in the case of Sylvester, much like in Arabella, it's not!) Sylvester, the titular character, and also the Duke of Salford, is the centrepiece of the story, even though the story is told from the varying third person perspective of various main characters. Predominantly though, Phoebe aka Miss Marlow, and Sylvester Rayne aka the Duke of Salford.
The Duke of Salford, in brief has decided to get married and has horrified his mother by listing five eligible ladies of quality who are all pretty and compliant. So in turn, the lovely lady suggests the daughter of a good friend of hers who had passed away a long time ago. This daughter, Phoebe Marlow, happens to also be the granddaughter of Sylvester's godmother. Unfortunately, upon hearing from Lady Ingham, and feeling incensed that the Lady was already eager to push this unknown girl onto him, Sylvester, of course, sets out to first inspect then to decline and manoeuvre his way out of an uncomfortable position without embarrassing anyone if possible.
Phoebe on the other hand, is not eager at all to marry, specially to someone like Salford who she considered incredibly arrogant (after having only danced with him once during her first season and ignored --by accident, for Salford being a Duke and possessing so much consequence, tended to forget his manners even though! even though he is a top knotch gentleman in society), drew him up in her book as a villain. A book which was about to be published for the next season, under an anonymous name....
And from there, it is evident that without knowing it, these two become hopelessly embroiled in an entanglement on what it means to be a man of consequence and a lady of quality! In particular, it focusses on the reclamation of Sylvester's character. Phoebe sends him to hell and back with her hoydenish behaviour, getting into scraps which eventually he rescues her from, and not all of them her fault. For some she had acted to help him. And of course, she is not alone, having her faithful sidekick and best friend, practically adopted brother, Tom Orde, getting caught in all her troubles as well!
Oh yes! Sylvester sure had a hard time with Phoebe, but by the end of it, he, like Mr Darcy, found someone to love. (Yes, I will fangirl over this cuteness, as most of Heyer's work has me doing at the end of every book!)
This book, in many senses, if I were to compare it to other books, would be like a cross between Pride & Prejudice and Northanger Abbey. You have 1 Arrogant Man (this is from P&P mind!), 1 Intelligent not precisely pretty yet sporting a pair of intelligent, charming eyes, and possesses a shocking mouth, and 1 troublesome book (or in the case of Northanger Abbey, a flyaway imagination!). There are, I found some similarities between Sylvester and those two books. A bit more dramatised version of P&P and livelier when it came to the various adventures and well, arguments.
Heyer's work, is as always, delightfully witty, filled with such colourful characters, and while the main characters might be serious or silly or so on, you can count on there being a character whose personality wonderfully breaks up any melodrama or tension! In this case it's Thomas Orde, who is a general light hearted, good boy, who would do anything for Phoebe as an adoptive brother (adoptive in the sense that they are neighbours, and with Tom being the only person nearby close to her age, he often came to visit her). Poor guy, he was pushed about, used abominably, yet amicable with all present characters, and has his head screwed on straight.
All in all, a quick, light and fluffy romance that is a little bit more than silly, and has it's up moments, as much as it's down. (Of course, it didn't like this novel so much I might complain about various things, like how passive Heyer's characters can be sometimes, specially the women, and how high handed the men can be, but really, I think there's little complain about because Heyer writes, I think, perfectly for a historical novel! As it is, a Regency era novel after all!) But the ending is always satisfactory! Suggested to anyone who wants pure romance with humour, set in the regency era and has similar tales like Jane Austen!
I could go on....but then I'd ruin the whole story by repeating everything great and awesome and fabulous! And there's really, a lot more to tell, I mean, there's a wayward nephew, a horrid sea journey, an overly exquisite fool responsibly and regretting helping his wife kidnap her own son, lots and lots of nerves and vapours, delicious ton scenes, and also! Sylvester losing his head and not realising he'd fallen in love with Phoebe in the middle of the ballroom. There are a lot of things I loved about this one, and it's not the first one to sap all the sleep out of me daily, but well! (I really need to sleep properly ....)
--------
Reread Oct 21st to Nov 1st
This is, undoubtedly my all time favourite Georgette Heyer Regency Romance. It was not the first one I read, but it also wasn't the last, yet, it is the one that I love the most. And the one I'd read over and over again, even though I want more than anything, to own nearly all of Heyer's Regency Romances.
Like in Classic Heyer style, Sylvester is a humourous tale of two unlikely people falling in love. (Well in some cases, it's likely, but in the case of Sylvester, much like in Arabella, it's not!) Sylvester, the titular character, and also the Duke of Salford, is the centrepiece of the story, even though the story is told from the varying third person perspective of various main characters. Predominantly though, Phoebe aka Miss Marlow, and Sylvester Rayne aka the Duke of Salford.
The Duke of Salford, in brief has decided to get married and has horrified his mother by listing five eligible ladies of quality who are all pretty and compliant. So in turn, the lovely lady suggests the daughter of a good friend of hers who had passed away a long time ago. This daughter, Phoebe Marlow, happens to also be the granddaughter of Sylvester's godmother. Unfortunately, upon hearing from Lady Ingham, and feeling incensed that the Lady was already eager to push this unknown girl onto him, Sylvester, of course, sets out to first inspect then to decline and manoeuvre his way out of an uncomfortable position without embarrassing anyone if possible.
Phoebe on the other hand, is not eager at all to marry, specially to someone like Salford who she considered incredibly arrogant (after having only danced with him once during her first season and ignored --by accident, for Salford being a Duke and possessing so much consequence, tended to forget his manners even though! even though he is a top knotch gentleman in society), drew him up in her book as a villain. A book which was about to be published for the next season, under an anonymous name....
And from there, it is evident that without knowing it, these two become hopelessly embroiled in an entanglement on what it means to be a man of consequence and a lady of quality! In particular, it focusses on the reclamation of Sylvester's character. Phoebe sends him to hell and back with her hoydenish behaviour, getting into scraps which eventually he rescues her from, and not all of them her fault. For some she had acted to help him. And of course, she is not alone, having her faithful sidekick and best friend, practically adopted brother, Tom Orde, getting caught in all her troubles as well!
"You not only can but must, if I have to drag you to the altar! How else, pray, is my character to be re-established?"
She considered this, and was suddenly struck by an inspiration. She raised her head, and said: "Sylvester! I know the very thing to do! I will write a book about you, making you the hero!"
"No, thank you, darling!" he replied with great firmness.
"Well, how would it be if I wrote a sequel to, 'The Lost Heir,' and made Ugolino become quite steeped in infamy, and end up by perishing on the scaffold?"
"Sparrow, you are, without exception, the most incorrigible little wretch that ever drew breath! No!"
"But then everyone would know he couldn't be you!" she pointed out. "Particularly if I dedicated it to you - which I could do with perfect propriety, you know, if I were just to subscribe myself The Author."
"Now, that is a splendid thought!" he said. "One of those pompous epistles, with my name and style set out in
large print at the head, followed by 'My Lord Duke' - which you are so fond of calling me - and then by several pages interlarded with a great many 'Your Graces,' and such encomiums as may occur to you, and-"
"None would occur to me! I should have to rack my brain for weeks to think of anything to say of you except that you are odiously arrogant, and-"
"Don't you dare to call me arrogant! If ever I had any arrogance at all - which I deny! - how much could I
possibly have left after having been ridden over rough-shod by you and Thomas, do you imagine?"
Oh yes! Sylvester sure had a hard time with Phoebe, but by the end of it, he, like Mr Darcy, found someone to love. (Yes, I will fangirl over this cuteness, as most of Heyer's work has me doing at the end of every book!)
This book, in many senses, if I were to compare it to other books, would be like a cross between Pride & Prejudice and Northanger Abbey. You have 1 Arrogant Man (this is from P&P mind!), 1 Intelligent not precisely pretty yet sporting a pair of intelligent, charming eyes, and possesses a shocking mouth, and 1 troublesome book (or in the case of Northanger Abbey, a flyaway imagination!). There are, I found some similarities between Sylvester and those two books. A bit more dramatised version of P&P and livelier when it came to the various adventures and well, arguments.
Heyer's work, is as always, delightfully witty, filled with such colourful characters, and while the main characters might be serious or silly or so on, you can count on there being a character whose personality wonderfully breaks up any melodrama or tension! In this case it's Thomas Orde, who is a general light hearted, good boy, who would do anything for Phoebe as an adoptive brother (adoptive in the sense that they are neighbours, and with Tom being the only person nearby close to her age, he often came to visit her). Poor guy, he was pushed about, used abominably, yet amicable with all present characters, and has his head screwed on straight.
All in all, a quick, light and fluffy romance that is a little bit more than silly, and has it's up moments, as much as it's down. (Of course, it didn't like this novel so much I might complain about various things, like how passive Heyer's characters can be sometimes, specially the women, and how high handed the men can be, but really, I think there's little complain about because Heyer writes, I think, perfectly for a historical novel! As it is, a Regency era novel after all!) But the ending is always satisfactory! Suggested to anyone who wants pure romance with humour, set in the regency era and has similar tales like Jane Austen!
I could go on....but then I'd ruin the whole story by repeating everything great and awesome and fabulous! And there's really, a lot more to tell, I mean, there's a wayward nephew, a horrid sea journey, an overly exquisite fool responsibly and regretting helping his wife kidnap her own son, lots and lots of nerves and vapours, delicious ton scenes, and also! Sylvester losing his head and not realising he'd fallen in love with Phoebe in the middle of the ballroom. There are a lot of things I loved about this one, and it's not the first one to sap all the sleep out of me daily, but well! (I really need to sleep properly ....)
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes