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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
I was going to rate this 4.5 stars, then I couldn't think of anything I didn't like about it.
Part of Heyer's charm as an author is that her characters have an element of real life to them. They are imperfect, and just as prone to foolishness, vanity, short tempers, and hasty decisions as the rest of us.
Phoebe is young and silly, but witty. This combines in her foolishly writing a melodramatic roman a clef cleverly skewering every notable figure in society that year--including a young man she never thought she'd see again.
Sylvester is also young, a duke, and rather full of his own importance. Being in want of a wife, and pointed in Phoebe's direction by his godmother (her grandmother) their interactions go awry from the start.
This is a hilarious comedy of manners and romance. I was very nearly late to work because I stayed in bed reading in the morning!!
Part of Heyer's charm as an author is that her characters have an element of real life to them. They are imperfect, and just as prone to foolishness, vanity, short tempers, and hasty decisions as the rest of us.
Phoebe is young and silly, but witty. This combines in her foolishly writing a melodramatic roman a clef cleverly skewering every notable figure in society that year--including a young man she never thought she'd see again.
Sylvester is also young, a duke, and rather full of his own importance. Being in want of a wife, and pointed in Phoebe's direction by his godmother (her grandmother) their interactions go awry from the start.
This is a hilarious comedy of manners and romance. I was very nearly late to work because I stayed in bed reading in the morning!!
This has never been one of my favorite Heyer novels, but for some reason on this reading I liked it better. I think it must have been the humor connection between Sylvester and Phoebe. Or maybe it's that Phoebe's tendency to wilt never seemed plausible to me. Well, now as a parent, I have multiple children with that feature/tendency... So I'm now a believer. Oh, and per usual the side characters are delightful (Edmund, Nugent Fotherby, and of course the only mature person in the whole farce—Tom Orde).
So far I've been a lukewarm reader of Georgette Heyer, but this was probably one of the more enjoyable ones I've picked up. Sylvester is a Duke who is determined to finally get married. He is the guardian of his nephew, and this and other reasons convince him that it is time to select a suitable wife. His godmother and mother have picked out a girl for him. Phoebe Marlow. He reluctantly agrees to see her but is not impressed. Neither is she. She runs away from home to avoid a marriage proposal that he had decided never to make! Naturally, snow halts her on her runaway journey, and Sylvester meets up with her on the road to London. These unorthodox circumstances allow Phoebe to speak her mind with more freeness, and she and Sylvester find themselves clashing. And then sharing a sense of humor. From then on it might be typical romantic comedy stuff, but there's another complication: Phoebe is a budding authoress who has just published her first book, and who was her model for a villain? None other than Sylvester! So thinly disguised that anyone could recognize him. Sylvester's pride and Phoebe's mortification set the town talking.
I’ve been entertaining myself during quarantine by re-reading Georgette Heyer. Either I’ve read too many of them in a row, or this one just doesn’t stand up to re-reading. The hero is an arrogant aristocrat with impossibly high standards, not the least for himself. Phoebe is a tomboy who would rather ride a horse than attend a ball, and who has secret aspirations to become a writer. I quail before the task of describing the convoluted plot. There’s an abusive stepmother and a best friend with a broken leg and a blizzard that traps them in a country inn and a publicly humiliating scene at a ball, and that’s before Phoebe and her friend Tom board a boat for a brief errand and accidentally set sail for France. And by then, you’re only at the 70% mark. Phew.
I switched back and forth between the ebook and the version of the audiobook read by Richard Armitage, which is abridged. I enjoyed the abridged version much more than all the details of the unabridged ebook. Not sure what that says. Still, it was entertaining enough to finish, and it does have some amusing moments.
I switched back and forth between the ebook and the version of the audiobook read by Richard Armitage, which is abridged. I enjoyed the abridged version much more than all the details of the unabridged ebook. Not sure what that says. Still, it was entertaining enough to finish, and it does have some amusing moments.
First recorded read 28 September 2011 and again 13 July 2016.
A standalone Regency romance in England with the couple focus on Phoebe Marlow and Sylvester Rayne, Duke of Salford.
My Take
I adore Georgette Heyer's Regency romances. They're funny, passionate [without sex], and clever with a lovely insight into human nature. She also does a lovely job of conveying the manners, mores, and style of the time period. Her characters are so individual, and Heyer makes you care for them. The most impressive part is how well she writes the entire story in the vernacular of the day.
In this story, Phoebe is so cowed by her stepmother that she's almost invisible and didn't do well in her last Season. Our so-very-clever Phoebe is also quite a wit and took advantage of her stay amongst London's polite society and wrote a savage little romance that played off the weaknesses of that same society beginning with the devilish eyebrows of the Duke of Salford.
Heyer uses this tragicomedy to make fun of the self-absorbed Lady Henry and Lord Marlow, the overly pretentious Sir Nugent Fotherby, and demonstrates how arrogance can be cloaked in even the most pleasant-seeming person.
The Story
Horse-intrepid, but people-shy Phoebe Marlow is terrified of her stepmama, and the threat of receiving an offer from the Duke of Salford has her fleeing in the dawn into an oncoming blizzard with childhood friend, Tom Orde. In an unfortunate turn of events, their curricle suffers an accident leaving Tom with a broken leg and both of them prey to recapture.
Fortunately for them, the duke has made his escape from Austerby, Phoebe's home, in time to find and aid them. In a weak moment, Tom lets it slip that Phoebe was actually fleeing him and that puts the light of battle in Sylvester's eye. He fully intends to make Phoebe fall in love with him before he dumps her.
Sylvester, however, hasn't yet met the real Phoebe…
The Cover and Title
Hideous cover. A gilt-framed oval mirror reflects a stoop-shouldered, sleepy-eyed woman who appears to be wearing a sack and a sleep mask while a disapproving man looks over her shoulder. All of which is set on a dressing table littered with flowers, jewelry and boxes against a floral background. I do so prefer her older covers.
The title is too funny as it reflects Edmund's threats to his kidnapper that "Uncle Vester will grind his bones" as well as Phoebe's successful characterization of Sylvester or the Wicked Uncle.
A standalone Regency romance in England with the couple focus on Phoebe Marlow and Sylvester Rayne, Duke of Salford.
My Take
I adore Georgette Heyer's Regency romances. They're funny, passionate [without sex], and clever with a lovely insight into human nature. She also does a lovely job of conveying the manners, mores, and style of the time period. Her characters are so individual, and Heyer makes you care for them. The most impressive part is how well she writes the entire story in the vernacular of the day.
In this story, Phoebe is so cowed by her stepmother that she's almost invisible and didn't do well in her last Season. Our so-very-clever Phoebe is also quite a wit and took advantage of her stay amongst London's polite society and wrote a savage little romance that played off the weaknesses of that same society beginning with the devilish eyebrows of the Duke of Salford.
Heyer uses this tragicomedy to make fun of the self-absorbed Lady Henry and Lord Marlow, the overly pretentious Sir Nugent Fotherby, and demonstrates how arrogance can be cloaked in even the most pleasant-seeming person.
The Story
Horse-intrepid, but people-shy Phoebe Marlow is terrified of her stepmama, and the threat of receiving an offer from the Duke of Salford has her fleeing in the dawn into an oncoming blizzard with childhood friend, Tom Orde. In an unfortunate turn of events, their curricle suffers an accident leaving Tom with a broken leg and both of them prey to recapture.
Fortunately for them, the duke has made his escape from Austerby, Phoebe's home, in time to find and aid them. In a weak moment, Tom lets it slip that Phoebe was actually fleeing him and that puts the light of battle in Sylvester's eye. He fully intends to make Phoebe fall in love with him before he dumps her.
Sylvester, however, hasn't yet met the real Phoebe…
The Cover and Title
Hideous cover. A gilt-framed oval mirror reflects a stoop-shouldered, sleepy-eyed woman who appears to be wearing a sack and a sleep mask while a disapproving man looks over her shoulder. All of which is set on a dressing table littered with flowers, jewelry and boxes against a floral background. I do so prefer her older covers.
The title is too funny as it reflects Edmund's threats to his kidnapper that "Uncle Vester will grind his bones" as well as Phoebe's successful characterization of Sylvester or the Wicked Uncle.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
You can’t go wrong with Hayer. It’s perfect curl up in bed, get lost in time romance. I have read more than I can ever remember. Bliss
Nothing like a little Georgette Heyer in December. Sylvester is clearly in the lane of novels influenced by Pride and Prejudice but the characters are in no way cardboard cutout Darcy and Elizabeth. Terrific story and wonderful minor characters.