Review: Cotillion

July now over, I realize I spent most of it time traveling in the Regency. Seven out of the thirteen books I read were set during that period--two Jane Austen, three Emma-related, and two Georgette Heyer. I'm curious to find out where I'll be traveling during August.

My second Georgette Heyer, Cotillion, has quite a different set of characters from Black Sheep. Kitty Charing is the orphaned ward of old, irritable, eccentric Matthew Penicuik, who will leave his inheritance to her if only she will marry one of his great-nephews. She won't marry Hugh, she won't marry Lord Dolphinton, and Jack doesn't turn up to ask her, but she agrees to marry Freddy--or at least, she pretends to do so. Freddy Standen is mild and cheerful, not especially clever or dashing, and not interested in marriage, so it takes some convincing to get him to agree to a sham betrothal, so that Kitty can go to London for the first time in her life.

Cotillion was not so wonderfully funny as Black Sheep was, and it took me longer to get fully drawn in. I didn't take to any of the characters as I took to certain characters in Black Sheep, though I certainly grew to like Kitty and Freddy very much. Cotillion did have a more complicated plot, though, and some of the conflicts I can imagine took some thinking to solve. Kitty has her own problems, but it's so much simpler to try and fix other people's, and much of the book is taken up with that. This was a very satisfactory book, if not brilliant, and very good for a bit of cheerful romantic comedy.

Celebrating Georgette Heyer

August is Georgette Heyer month over at Austenprose, and as I've just discovered Georgette Heyer I think the timing is rather good. There are reviews, giveaways, and interviews all month. As for me, I'm reading Cotillion.

Review: Black Sheep

I wanted a novel I could breeze through and have fun with, and Black Sheep fit the bill perfectly. Georgette Heyer shows up on a lot of the book blogs I read, and I've been meaning to give her a try. There's something to be said, sometimes, for a romance novel that's well written and fairly respectable, especially one with lots of great historical detail. Georgette Heyer's regency romances are perfect for this, and she wrote a lot of them. Black Sheep was a good introduction, though as I hear they're all rather alike, maybe that could be said of any one.

Abigail Wendover is 28, maiden aunt of Fanny, living in bath with her older sister. Her mission is to keep Fanny from marrying Stacy Calverleigh, the caddish fortune-hunting fellow Fanny is in love with. Abby attempts to get Miles Calverleigh, Stacy's uncle and the black sheep of the Calverleigh clan, to help her prevent the marriage, but Miles is uncooperative and not very fond of social conventions--and his sense of humour is a lot like Abby's.

The book had me giggling hysterically, especially at the conversations between Abby and Miles, which were witty and delightfully absurd. The historical detail, both in surroundings and speech, was pervasive but not excessive or heavy-handed. I'd forgotten what it was like to fly through a book that is pure fun, but I think I need such books once in a while. It's good to know that there are so many more Georgette Heyer novels to read, as they're a sure bet for a bit of cheerful romance.

Library adventures

It's been quite a while since I went to the library and brought home a stack of books to read. After finishing The Post-Office Girl, though, I was a bit at a loss, and felt the need for a novel to just sit down and read through. Most of the books on my to-read stack at home are nonfiction, somehow. Whenever I go to the library without a specific book in mind, I like to pick several, on the theory that at least one will catch my immediate fancy.I wanted a novel that wouldn't be a lot of work, maybe with a bit of romance. I have a vague notion that The China Garden, by Liz Berry, was on my to-read list, but it doesn't appear to be there. It's about an old English country estate, which seems exactly the thing to suit my present tastes. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor, is one I've been meaning to read since I saw the film, and though it's not quite the kind of book I want at the moment, it's the kind of book I may well want once I've satisfied my desire for fluff (respectable, well-written fluff, but still fluff). I've been meaning to read Georgette Heyer for a while, and her Regency settings fit well into my recent Jane Austen kick. Black Sheep, which is the book I settled on to begin reading, is perfectly lovely, and exactly what I want at the moment. And then I thought I'd like to read some more Neil Gaiman, so I found Interworld, which was co-written with Michael Reaves, as it was the only one to be immediately had.

There's something so satisfying about about a stack of library books.