Rating: 
Summary: A very civil romance
Review: This has become one of my favorite Heyer novels, despite the fact that you start out believing in the wrong heroine. This is one of the few romances I've read where the hero ends up loving the plain woman he's forced to marry rather than persevering in his infatuation with the beautiful woman he had to give up. The humor is more subdued than usual for Heyer but it is still there and she even adds a little excitement related to the results of the Battle of Waterloo. If you want a good, quiet, rainy day read, this is probably the best from Georgette Heyer.
Rating: 
Summary: Reality strikes
Review: This is not a typical Georgette Heyer novel. It is neither an eighteenth century tale of intrigue nor a Regency comedy. I think it is best described as a relationship novel that happens to be set in the Regency period.
Captain Adam Deveril becomes Viscount Lynton on the sudden death of his extravagant, debt-ridden father. Finding himself facing financial ruin, he faces the prospect of losing both his ancestral lands and the woman he loves, the beautiful and romantic Julia Oversley. Lord Oversley, seeking a way to help Adam out, puts him in touch with Jonathon Chawley, a vulgar but immensely rich merchant. Chawleigh's only child is Jenny, a plain and definitely unromantic friend of Julia's, and her father is seeking a marriage into the nobility for her. By marrying Jenny, Adam manages to fend off one disaster and retains his ancestral lands. But how will he recover from his broken heart? What will become of Julia? And how will Jenny cope with marriage to a man that does not love her and that takes her outside the world she is familiar with?
There is a lot to like in this book. The characters are very well delineated, the historical and period detail grounds the story effortlessly, and the story never drags, despite the essential mundanity of its events. Mundanity is really the key here, and I don't mean that as a disparagement, for "A Civil Contract" is all about the little things in life: home, family, and how people get along together.
Where this book falls down for me is character. I just don't find anything much to like in Adam. He thinks to himself at one point, "I take everything and give nothing", and that sums him up pretty well. His thoughts about his own nobility as compared to Chawleigh's vulgarity are pretty grating too, considering his father-in-law's kind heart and great achievements (unlike Adam, he was born with nothing). Julia inspired me with nothing but the desire to give her a good slap, and even Jenny herself is not especially interesting (though again, this is the point of the story - her ordinariness). The supporting characters are more fun, from the dragon Lady Nassington, to Dowager Lady Lynton, always ready to inspire guilt in those around her, the fun-loving Lydia, and the Marquis of Rockhill, a peculiar mix of tenderness and sarcasm.
Don't expect great excitment from this book. This is a quiet tale of domesticity and the trials of life as its two protaganists grow together. Very readable.
Rating: 
Summary: Writing From Another Time
Review: This is such a refreshing romance - for once, the plain girl triumphs over the beauty, and a marriage is portrayed as one of loving, ever deepening friendship rather than one of constant burning desire. Everyone, even the hero and heroine, has their wonderful points and their ridiculous quirks. And in the end, everyone ends up happy. Truly satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Writing From Another Time
Review: This is the first book by Georgette Heyer I've read. She pretty much founded the Regency genre; both the short ones and the historicals owe a lot to her. The other reviewers have helpfully discussed the book's merits. I would simply add that, while I enjoyed this classic marriage-of-convenience story, I found the writing far more distant than what one might be accustomed to from today's authors. I always knew I was reading. I never felt like I was there inside the story with the characters. She uses a lot of historically accurate terms and cant, which is interesting but does take you out of the story somewhat. The meaning is obvious from the context, but you have to think about it all the same. I plan to read a number of her other books, and I look forward to learning from her, but I'll be curious to see if I can feel more connected to the characters and the story as I go along.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing change of pace
Review: This was not only my first Heyer novel, but my first romance novel, and I was vastly relieved to discover that romances were not invariably silly. The last two or three pages are perhaps a bit too commonsensical, but I enjoyed the way the story developed. One of Heyer's great talents is taking a character who would normally be detestable -- like the extremely vulgar and bossy Mr. Chawleigh -- and make him not just human, but even sympathetic. Mr. Chawleigh is the bane of Adam, Lord Lynton, who succeeds to his father's title only to discover his financial situation is quite precarious. Instead of marrying his beloved, the ethereal Julia, he resigns himself to an arrangement with Chawleigh's plain but sensible daughter, Jenny. Since Chawleigh doesn't seem to do anything by half measures, Lynton is soon struggling to maintain his independence and self-respect, while Jenny is left to mediate between her father's generous impulses and her husband's lingering reserve. In a way, this almost isn't a romance: it's not about the heady thrill of falling in love, but the quiet satisfaction of domesticity. Adam and Jenny are both such nice people that you can't help but want them to be happy, and the supporting cast of characters invigorate the story with Heyer's usual humor and wit. So why only four stars? In part because I got tired of hearing about Jenny's physical shortcomings, and in part because the last two or three pages felt like a kind of cop-out. But there are a few hundred pages before that which are quite enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Refreshing change of pace
Review: This was not only my first Heyer novel, but my first romance novel, and I was vastly relieved to discover that romances were not invariably silly. The last two or three pages are perhaps a bit too commonsensical, but I enjoyed the way the story developed. One of Heyer's great talents is taking a character who would normally be detestable -- like the extremely vulgar and bossy Mr. Chawleigh -- and make him not just human, but even sympathetic. Mr. Chawleigh is the bane of Adam, Lord Lynton, who succeeds to his father's title only to discover his financial situation is quite precarious. Instead of marrying his beloved, the ethereal Julia, he resigns himself to an arrangement with Chawleigh's plain but sensible daughter, Jenny. Since Chawleigh doesn't seem to do anything by half measures, Lynton is soon struggling to maintain his independence and self-respect, while Jenny is left to mediate between her father's generous impulses and her husband's lingering reserve. In a way, this almost isn't a romance: it's not about the heady thrill of falling in love, but the quiet satisfaction of domesticity. Adam and Jenny are both such nice people that you can't help but want them to be happy, and the supporting cast of characters invigorate the story with Heyer's usual humor and wit. So why only four stars? In part because I got tired of hearing about Jenny's physical shortcomings, and in part because the last two or three pages felt like a kind of cop-out. But there are a few hundred pages before that which are quite enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Reality and the Regency Novel
Review: We have all read Regencies in which the destitute hero marries for money and finds true love as well. "A Civil Contract" is not one of these stories. Adam Deveril is one of Georgette Heyer's quiet gentlemen: handsome, honorable, and brave. He needs a great deal of bravery when his father dies. That death shatters Adam's life. He has a career in the army; he must sell out. He loves the fairy-tale beauty Julia and she loves him; a man in debt to his neck cannot afford a merely respectable portion, nor can the lover honorably ask her to join him in grinding poverty. He does what his honor insists that he do. None of the things which he has lost could help him . He needs to marry money, in the form of the plump and plain daughter of a domineering and vulgar man--a very wealthy man, who is willing to take on Adam's debts to marry his daughter to a nobleman. But Jenny loves Adam, and has loved him ever since she, as Julia's companion, watched the golden pair fall in love. Jenny can marry him and rescue him financially, which Julia can't; she can be the wife of the man she loves, knowing that he still loves Julia; she can fulfill her father's dreams for her. And she does. Surely this must have happened in life. Not every merchant's daughter would turn out to be beautiful. Not every wealthy merchant would turn out to be a man of sensitivity and charm. Not every marriage made for money could turn out to be a marriage for love. The novel begins with Adam, his problem, his terrible losses, his quietly heroic determination to do both the honorable thing and the sensible thing,no matter what his personal desires are. All he has to sell is himself and his title, and he sells them. It is important that we know all this, because only with this knowledge can we see how much this has cost him. Heyer wants us to admire this man, and we do. Of course Jenny loves him, we feel. Who wouldn't? As we come to know Jenny, we see how different she is from both Adam and Julia. Jenny is plain, as they are not. She doesn't have good taste; she allows her father to overdress her plump form and bury her plain features in expensive and tasteless jewelry. These are only surface features; the real difference lies in her practicality. Adam has been harnessed into practicality, Julia will never be practical, but Jenny is naturally practical. She knows that her father's money will enable Adam to restore his estate and care for his family. She is willing to go into a marriage in which the loving is one-sided and unacknowledged, in order to make Adam's life better. This is not a novel about "happy ever after." It may well bring on tears (or at least a little sniffle); it does for me. There are sad moments, but there are also happy ones and humorous ones. This may not be your favorite Heyer, but I think you will find some reality with your fairy tales will make a terrific novel.
Rating:
Summary: Reality and the Regency Novel
Review: We have all read Regencies in which the destitute hero marries for money and finds true love as well. "A Civil Contract" is not one of these stories. Adam Deveril is one of Georgette Heyer's quiet gentlemen: handsome, honorable, and brave. He needs a great deal of bravery when his father dies. That death shatters Adam's life. He has a career in the army; he must sell out. He loves the fairy-tale beauty Julia and she loves him; a man in debt to his neck cannot afford a merely respectable portion, nor can the lover honorably ask her to join him in grinding poverty. He does what his honor insists that he do. None of the things which he has lost could help him . He needs to marry money, in the form of the plump and plain daughter of a domineering and vulgar man--a very wealthy man, who is willing to take on Adam's debts to marry his daughter to a nobleman. But Jenny loves Adam, and has loved him ever since she, as Julia's companion, watched the golden pair fall in love. Jenny can marry him and rescue him financially, which Julia can't; she can be the wife of the man she loves, knowing that he still loves Julia; she can fulfill her father's dreams for her. And she does. Surely this must have happened in life. Not every merchant's daughter would turn out to be beautiful. Not every wealthy merchant would turn out to be a man of sensitivity and charm. Not every marriage made for money could turn out to be a marriage for love. The novel begins with Adam, his problem, his terrible losses, his quietly heroic determination to do both the honorable thing and the sensible thing,no matter what his personal desires are. All he has to sell is himself and his title, and he sells them. It is important that we know all this, because only with this knowledge can we see how much this has cost him. Heyer wants us to admire this man, and we do. Of course Jenny loves him, we feel. Who wouldn't? As we come to know Jenny, we see how different she is from both Adam and Julia. Jenny is plain, as they are not. She doesn't have good taste; she allows her father to overdress her plump form and bury her plain features in expensive and tasteless jewelry. These are only surface features; the real difference lies in her practicality. Adam has been harnessed into practicality, Julia will never be practical, but Jenny is naturally practical. She knows that her father's money will enable Adam to restore his estate and care for his family. She is willing to go into a marriage in which the loving is one-sided and unacknowledged, in order to make Adam's life better. This is not a novel about "happy ever after." It may well bring on tears (or at least a little sniffle); it does for me. There are sad moments, but there are also happy ones and humorous ones. This may not be your favorite Heyer, but I think you will find some reality with your fairy tales will make a terrific novel.
Rating:
Summary: If you find this out-of-print book, buy it!
Review: While I'm a devoted Georgette Heyer reader, the beauty of this particular book continues to haunt me. A destitute lord, a plain heiress, and a fascinating cast of thousands make this an enjoyable romance. But the depth of the characters goes beyond the normal Heyer novel, and I found myself in tears throughout the latter half of the novel, so touched by the character of the heroine that while I haven't read the book in at least 10 years (I can't find it in print anywhere!), I remember the tale as if I'd read it yesterday. Do yourself a favor - find the book!
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