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This is one of her Regency romance novels, long out of print, borrowed from the library. I’ve read and liked several of her other works (her mysteries and some of her fantasy), including one of her other romances (also from the library), and wanted to like this one, but could not finish it. I like her writing, was interested in the characters, and was curious how everyone would get their happy endings, but did not like and could not get past most of the characters’ attitudes towards Lady Juliette (the lead). I’ve already returned it, so will have to be vague with names.
Lady Juliette is an only child of a wealthy man; her mother died when she was very young, and her father essentially raised her as his estate agent. She planned to go to London for the Season under the sponsorship of family friends, but they could not go for some reason. She ended up hiring a companion and going anyway, but was not particularly successful despite her fortune; this was probably due to a combination of her hired companion, her personality (very managing), and her clothes. Her maid was her mother’s, and she took her advice on the matter of fashion, resulting in an extremely out-of-date wardrobe in unflattering colors. This was actually my first stumbling block; she does not see much difference between what she wears and what everyone else is wearing, despite the fact that her styles are much more ornate and the colors much brighter. I could accept not caring, but not seeing is a different matter.
The story begins after the Season; Juliette is attending house-parties in an effort to avoid a summons to her great-aunt’s house. The current house has a marriageable son and a hopeful mother, though Juliette and the son are aware of his mother’s hopes but are not interested in each other. The son is very easygoing and not particularly discriminating about his friends; one of his friends (invited to the party) is someone with a deservedly bad reputation (was disowned and decided to ruin himself further). Among the other house-guests are Juliette’s friend Althea, her sister Isobel and their family; Juliette’s cousin Anthony arrives later with instructions to take Juliette to her aunt. The rake meets Juliette while she is out riding, and kisses her; they are surprised to meet again as fellow house-guests. He was not planning on staying more than a night, but decides to stay longer because of her. Complications ensue, mostly due to money and expectations of money and relationships forming occasionally because of those expectations, but mostly despite them.
I was interested in the plot; at the point where I stopped, I didn’t see how any of the projected couples could have ended up with a happy ending. Everyone’s thoughts of Juliette include mention of how ridiculous her wardrobe is or how badly she interacts with people or other negative thoughts (varying from mild to scornful); this was the reason I could not continue. I cannot read or watch things where everyone is mocking the lead behind their back. If it hadn’t been overdue, I might have kept at it longer (a chapter here and there), but I didn’t care enough to renew it. I might try it again some other time, though.
I picked up a ton of late 70s/early 80s historical romances (mostly Signet/Fawcett/Coventry series titles, mostly regency) from a used bookstore’s clearance; I read lots of these when I was much younger (they were often .25-.50 not-for-trade at the nearby used bookstore) and wanted to replace a few that were falling apart or that I’d gotten rid of but wanted to reread; the clearance was $5 for a grocery-bag full, so I filled a bag (more than once). Either I had better luck with my selections or I had a higher tolerance for mediocre writing and excessively spunky heroines when I was younger; I couldn’t read several of these for various reasons, and want to keep track of which ones I liked and which ones I hated and why. The dislikes are getting longer comments than the likes; also, this is the result of a few different attempts at the pile of books over about a year, so I don’t remember some of them very well, and the negative is easier to remember than the positive.
Liked
Horatia, Mary Ann Gibbs
The heiress Horatia flees her wicked uncle and becomes a stableboy.
The Reluctant Adventuress, Silvia Thorpe
Katharine was supposed to be a governess; her uncle and his wife invite her to live with them instead. They have ulterior motives.
Rogues’ Covenant, Silvia Thorpe
The mysterious Philip Digby comes to the neighborhood and attracts attention from all sorts of people; he claims to be the friend of the heir to a local estate. It’s told from the hero’s point of view; the heroine is described as “a headstrong girl” at one point (and is a few steps past that into spoiled and reckless). It has more action than many; I’m starting to wonder if that’s a side effect of being categorized as “Georgian”.
Eleanor and the Marquis, Jane Wilby (Harlequin Historical 1)
Beatrix falls in love with someone unsuitable and is shipped off to London for her Season ahead of schedule; her impoverished cousin Eleanor accompanies her. The aunt in charge (with the aid of her nephew, the marquis) decides to make Eleanor the rage of the season instead of Beatrix (Beatrix is blonde and blondes were in; she should have been a success). This one is nostalgic; it was one of the first of these I read, though that copy is long gone. I don’t know if I’d like it as much otherwise.
Lucetta, Audrey Blanshard
Lord Wintringham is extremely eccentric; his daughter Lucetta is a beautiful spitfire. Lord Wintringham suggests to a houseguest that he marry Lucetta; the houseguest leaves abruptly. A large number of misunderstandings ensue. I’d actually read this one at some point before.
Lord Fairchild’s Daughter, Maggie MacKeever
Lord Fairchild wagered his daughter Loveday’s virtue and lost; she, with the help of her half-brother, ran away from the winner to a distant relative to stay until she comes of age in the near future (she’s an heiress, of course). This is actually a bit gothic in tone; there are murders in the past (which Loveday witnessed but does not remember), attempts on her life, a crazy girl, a rake who wants to marry her (and who is rumored to have killed a governess), ghosts, and an oubliette. I had a hard time with some of the names, especially the housekeeper’s: Mrs. Snugglebutt.
The Misses Millikin, Maggie MacKeever (Coventry Romances 55)
Angelica lives with her stepmother and her numerous (and extremely attractive and extremely lacking in common-sense) half-siblings; she promised her father on his deathbed that she’d look after them. Rosemary, the oldest of her half-sisters (20 at most; Angelica is 27), married Lord Chalmers for his money; Angelica, Lily (the next sister), and Fennel (the oldest half-brother) go to London so Lily can have her chance. Rosemary, Lily, and Fennel have their share of problems, which they expect Angelica to solve; Angelica has days of wishing she could give up her responsibilities and be as frivolous as the rest of them. This was a rebuy; I adore it, and my copy was falling to pieces.
Indifferent
A Keeper for Lord Linford, Margaret SeBastian (Coventry Romances 170)
Lady Gordon, her daughter Ancilla, and two other girls are inexplicabley vacationing in the Lake District and meet the socially-inept Lord Linford and the rascally and dashing Captain Wildish. I don’t know why I finished this; I didn’t like any of the characters, events happened randomly, and I felt the hero and heroine were on a first-name basis too soon. One of the other girls speaks with italics, which got really annoying really fast.
Disliked
The Tulip Tree, Mary Ann Gibbs
The blurb is misleading; it says Allegra Lakesby had to leave her ancestral home (after her father died) to become a governess due to her irresponsible father. Instead, she, her mother, and an aunt have to leave their home for a smaller one nearby due to her father’s heir moving into the home; they are on friendly terms with him and he gives them things. Allegra is a spoiled brat and hates the smaller home and decides being a governess would be preferable to having come down in status, much to her family’s dismay. She leaves with their knowledge and blessing (they don’t think she’ll last a week), and that’s where I stopped. She also is excessively romantic and hopes that the eligible son of the family will fall in love with her. I may try this again at some point (through the initial governess-ing, at least); I’ve liked other books by the author.
The Random Gentleman, Elizabeth Chater (Coventry Romances 139)
Belinda Sayre finds out she has been betrothed to the Duke of Romsdale since birth; she is excessively spunky and he is self-centered, so they have bad impressions of each other without actually meeting; he is late for a party, and she leaves early in a huff; both say things they shouldn’t which get repeated to the other. She runs away; he wanders off in search of her and falls in with some gypsies. I stopped after they actually meet; he assumes she’s much younger and lower class, and she wonders if he’s really a gypsy. I didn’t care about either of them; I hate excessively spoiled and spunky heroines.
Babe, Joan Smith (Coventry Romances 22)
The notorious Lady Barbara never had an awkward teen stage and always looked like a woman; she didn’t care for any of her suitors until she met Lord Clivedon, who became her guardian and attempted to get her to behave properly. She is beyond spunky and into completely obnoxious; I did not like her and don’t want to read about her. I love other books by the author, but did not like this one and will not give it another chance.
A Sanditon Quadrille, Rebecca Baldwin (Coventry Romances 118)
Spirited Miranda Brandywine knows there is no reason for her father to stop her marriage to the poet Charles Hartley; gentle Emily Rockhall doesn’t want to marry the impetuous Lord Marle, even though her mother wants her to marry him. The author admits to borrowing the town of Sanditon from Jane Austen; she does not admit to borrowing various other characters and plots from Austen and Heyer (Bath Tangle, especially).
These are essentially one book in two parts; they are romance in a fantasy setting instead of fantasy with a romantic subplot. I read these because Lois McMaster Bujold is one of my favorite authors; however, I waited for paperback for the first one and have the second one from the library (they had issues for a while and never had the first one). I did not find the various descriptions of Beguilement very appealing; this is the description from its back cover:
Troubled young Fawn Bluefield seeks a life beyond her family’s farm. But en route to the city, she encounters a patrol of Lakewalkers, nomadic soldier–sorcerers from the northern woodlands. Feared necromancers armed with mysterious knives made of human bone, they wage a secret, ongoing war against the scourge of the “malices,” immortal entities that draw the life out of their victims, enslaving human and animal alike.
It is Dag—a Lakewalker patroller weighed down by past sorrows and onerous present responsibilities—who must come to Fawn’s aid when she is taken captive by a malice. They prevail at a devastating cost—unexpectedly binding their fates as they embark upon a remarkable journey into danger and delight, prejudice and partnership . . . and perhaps even love.
There are some inaccuracies in this but it does give a good indication of what it will be like. Beguilement has the descriptions of the world and the way it works: there are farmers and Lakewalkers; the Lakewalkers have groundsense, which allows them to have a feeling about their general area and the people and other beings in it; some can use it to make things (coats that will repel water, ropes that won’t break, etc.), and they mostly consider the farmers as lesser beings. The Lakewalkers call everyone else farmers; farmers discourage relationships with Lakewalkers, and Lakewalkers forbid outside relationships. It starts with Fawn and Dag meeting and the encounter with the malice, the incident with the knife of the title, and continues through the beginning of their relationship and Fawn’s return home. Legacy finds Dag and Fawn returning to Dag’s home and the problems they face there.
I liked Beguilement well enough; I tend to like the getting-together portions of romances best, and it was interesting learning about the world itself. Even though it is really only half a book, it was a satisfying read on its own, and had a decent ending; the significance of the knife and the reaction of Dag’s people to the relationship were the only bits left hanging. I didn’t like Legacy that much; I wanted to smack some sense into both Fawn and Dag (and occasionally Dag’s family) and found myself wondering if Fawn was Dag’s midlife crisis. Most of Dag’s family was (deliberately) unlikeable, and the Lakewalker society as a whole seemed annoying and hard-headed and prejudiced. There was far too much of Fawn worrying about fitting in and trying to be accepted; I don’t really want to read about people becoming accustomed to a different culture. She also seemed a bit too impulsive and hard-headed (typical teenage girl); I didn’t mind this in the first, but in the second it became annoying.
I don’t really like large age differences, though it’s not an automatic no for me; if it’s presented as normal in the society, it doesn’t bother me as much, but there was opposition on the basis of Dag’s age as well as his being a Lakewalker. Also, the mental ages are more important to me than the physical ages, but Fawn seemed very young, and Dag seemed much, much, much older (18-55 seems about right); the Lakewalkers do seem to age a little bit more slowly than the farmers, but even 18 to 40 (what Fawn first thought Dag’s age was) is a little too much for me. I also don’t like love-at-first-sight or short-but-fast-moving type relationships, especially when there are very good reasons against the relationship (age, farmer vs. Lakewalker). I can overlook some of these things in the hands of a good author (and Bujold is a good author), but I didn’t find the speed of the relationship very convincing, especially since Fawn’s previous attempt at a relationship ended badly (rebound+experimentation?). The bit with the knife in the title seemed like it was only really important as an excuse for Fawn and Dag to be together; it was useful but did not seem to have any real meaning.
I liked the setting, and wouldn’t mind reading other books in this world; I don’t want to read any more about Fawn and Dag, even though the ending left the possibility of other stories about them. I wanted to like these books; I have read most of Bujold’s works and count several of them among my favorites (including the ones with strong romantic subplots), but these had several romance tropes that I personally don’t like, and they were enough to make me dislike Legacy. I will probably buy Legacy in paperback, eventually, though, and read any further books (even if they include Fawn and Dag).
