Rating: 
Summary: The cream of the Regency crop
Review: No one does Regency romance like Georgette Heyer. Her dialogue is so witty and her characters so well-developed that the readers finds themselves enchanted by the end of the first few pages. Although the novel is definitely a romance, the characters behave perfectly in keeping with the time period and the society of those days. The details that she adds of this fascinating era provide education along with entertainment. No other author in the Regency genre can match Heyer's level of quality in authenticity. The plot twists in this particular novel are so cleverly done that one almost cannot stop reading until the ending comes and "they all live happily ever after." I read this book in bed, in my car, waiting in line, in the tub and everywhere else. If you intend to read only one Georgette Heyer, make it this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: On the whole I enjoy this story, although I can see why some readers have a hard time with Serena and Rotherham. I can take them because they are both decent people at heart, in spite of their faults. And their clashes of temper can be fun to watch! The one thing I find really unacceptable is the scene where Serena berates Emily. If you've read the book, you know the scene I mean. (Rotherham also berates Gerard, but he has a purpose. Serena means it.)I also like the romance that blossoms between Fanny and the man she least expects. Heyer makes one of her favorite points with both couples, one that is probably snobbish but has some truth to it, about the importance of similar "background" (class). Serena and Rotherham were both born to the ruling class. Through the story the reader sees that Serena will never be happy outside that world. It's too much a part of who she is. Hector, Serena's old flame, was born to the more modest rank of "landed gentry" and doesn't want her life. Neither does Fanny, Serena's friend. The life Hector can give her is exactly the kind that makes her happy. In Heyer's eyes, it is this clash of background and values that makes Hector and Serena wrong for each other. It is the similarity of background/ values that makes both couples right for each other. The study of Regency manners here is rewarding if you pay attention. Serena and her Aunt Teresa are a portrait of aristocratic ladies: how they spoke, thought, and gossiped, and what they gossiped about. Fanny, Hector and his mother show the manners and values of the landed middle class, Jane Austen's level of society. Mrs. Floore and Ned Goring represent the up-and-coming merchant class (though Mrs. Floore is really more caricature.) One problem is that GH makes many elliptical references to political events of the time. Her original readers probably knew what she meant. For the modern reader it's frustrating--she tells just enough to make you curious. It needs footnotes. The story is well written and plotted. Though it is complicated, everything is kept tangled until the end. Not as easy to do as it seems. It's worth reading for the portrait of Regency life, and several vivid characters, even if you don't like Serena and Rotherham.
| 
