A review by bhnmt61
The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

3.0

This was a re-read for me, after having read it and disliked it thoroughly four or five years ago. I kept hearing people say it is their favorite Heyer, their favorite historical romance, their favorite beach read, etc so I decided maybe I should try it again. I did like it much better this time--it is probably the best written of all the Heyers I've read, and it is beautifully plotted and hangs together perfectly. But I dinged it one star for the gratuitously awful Jewish moneylender in the middle (typical of her time, but that doesn't mean I have to like it), and another star because I'm not a fan of farce, and this novel--as well-written and perfectly conceived as it is--never really moves out of the realm of farce. We do get to see Sophy as more than just a mischievous manipulator during the long section where she cares for her seriously ill younger cousin, but other than that, we never see her with her guard lowered in the entire novel. Does she love Charles? Did she just think it would be a lark to marry him? Did she agree to marry him just because she knows she would make a better wife than the odious Eugenia? who knows? Lord knows the Rivenhalls needed their world shaken up, and Sophy is just the person to do it. If you don't mind slapstick/farce, it works just fine--it is fun to read and there are several laugh out loud moments. If it had ended with Sophy just being the crazy cousin who is going to visit for three months every year and throw the house into chaos, it would have been a perfectly valid light-hearted summer read. But in order to really believe these two had fallen in love, I would have needed a bit more vulnerability and honesty between the main characters. Since that seems to be exactly what everyone else loves about this novel, don't mind me, I'm just the curmudgeon in the corner.