Helpful Score: 2
Well-written book, with a different sort of premise not often seen in Regencies. I loved that the dialogue was kept real for the period: very few contractions and modern language left out. YAY!!! I wish more Regency writer would do the same. But I digress....
One of the great plusses of the book is that Celia Delacourt, the main character, has a great deal of backbone--she's no wimp!--but she is never given modern American attitudes of "I can do anything I want, no one can tell me what to do." Instead she shows she has brains and fortitude by making the best of the situation she's in while staying sweet and genteel. Very well-written book!
From the back cover:
After a tragic loss, Celia Delacourt faces the daunting prospect of a lonely life as a governess...or worse. Then the Duchess of Arnsford, her distant cousin, invites Celia to spend Christmas on the family estate. Celia suspects an ulterior motive, but nonetheless decides that there are worse ways to pass the holidays then by spending them in a palace, and with family--however distant.
Jack Delacourt knows his mother is plotting something when he receives a Christmas invitation from her. If his mother plans to bully him into marrying a stranger, Jack is prepared to fight--with a delightfully mischievous plan of his own. Then he meets Celia and discovers she's not what he expected. In fact she's more than he dreamed. Now, instead of playing the fool, he's becoming one--for love.
One of the great plusses of the book is that Celia Delacourt, the main character, has a great deal of backbone--she's no wimp!--but she is never given modern American attitudes of "I can do anything I want, no one can tell me what to do." Instead she shows she has brains and fortitude by making the best of the situation she's in while staying sweet and genteel. Very well-written book!
From the back cover:
After a tragic loss, Celia Delacourt faces the daunting prospect of a lonely life as a governess...or worse. Then the Duchess of Arnsford, her distant cousin, invites Celia to spend Christmas on the family estate. Celia suspects an ulterior motive, but nonetheless decides that there are worse ways to pass the holidays then by spending them in a palace, and with family--however distant.
Jack Delacourt knows his mother is plotting something when he receives a Christmas invitation from her. If his mother plans to bully him into marrying a stranger, Jack is prepared to fight--with a delightfully mischievous plan of his own. Then he meets Celia and discovers she's not what he expected. In fact she's more than he dreamed. Now, instead of playing the fool, he's becoming one--for love.
Helpful Score: 2
Celia Delacourt, a poor vicar's daughter and now an orphan after the deaths of her entire family, receives a surprising offer from the matriarch of the same family that disowned her grandfather--a home with the Delacourts. Wondering at the motivation behind this offer from a stranger but with no other option available to her, Celia moves to Delacourt Hall where she finds herself an unwilling part of the Duchess of Arnsford's plan to force her marriage to the heir to the dukedom, Lord Lynden. Wise to his mother's plots, Lord Lynden schemes to discourage Celia in this by pretending to be mad--with comical results. This is a light read with some serious overtones in the character of the Duchess. A secondary romance is handled quite realistically. Ms. Farr develops each of the main characters skillfully, letting their actions tell more about them than their words. True to a traditional Regency read, nothing more than kisses are exchanged. All in all, a sweet story.
Really sweet story, plus I loved the hero's cat! His manipulative mother, not so much, although you really had to pity her by the end.
