The Convenient Marriage

Rating:
Summary: H-h-humour, H-H-Heyer, and h-h-high spirits
Review: and a stammering heroine! As always, Heyer's dialogue is spot on, her characterisation warm and powerful, and her characters very strongly drawn. The Convenient Marriage is considered in some circles to be one of the finest ever examples of a romance that portrays a flawed and unorthodox heroine, with its portrayal of the stammering, plain Horatia, and her marriage of convenience to the extremely handsome Earl of Rule, thus releasing her sister from any obligation to marry Rule. How Rule discovers the truth of his heart, and that he loves his funny, extravagant little wife, makes for moving reading, whilst Heyer gives us abundant humour in her portrayal of the mincing, petulant dandiprat Crosby Drelincourt; and in the escapades of Horatia. It is all the greatest of great good fun, and one of Heyer's most easily accessible books - its readability, exuberance and humour make it an excellent book for a potential introduction to the world of Georgette Heyer. However, this book is NOT a Regency Romance, but a Georgian Romance, and if you don't think it's as historically accurate as she usually is, consider that it is set in 1770 - about 50 years earlier than usual! It's still a lot of fun.

Rating:
Summary: Georgian Romp with great secondary characters
Review: Before Georgette Heyer found the Regency period she wrote Georgians - and this is one of them. The Conveninent Marriage is set in the last couple of decades of the eighteenth century - when coach roads were still muddy morasses, highwaymen lurked on the outskirts of London, and men and women were corseted, laced, fringed, feathered, bewigged, powdered and patched to within in inch of their lives.

The book starts right into the thick of things - The Earl of Rule is looking for a wife and it looks as though he will offer for society beauty, Lizzie Winwood. Lizzie is not enamoured of this idea - she wants to marry some worthy suitor whom she actually loves. Luckily it is her practical, straight talking younger sister, Horatia (better known as Horry) who steps into the fray instead. The interview in which Horry presents the revised plan to the Earl of Rule is hysterical.

Horry is still rather young, and the Earl (who I instantly fell in love with) finds that he needs to rouse himself out of his usual langour to save her from herself. In the midst of all this there is a fiendish plot afoot to break up the marriage, Horry's well-meaning brother Pelham attempting to help Horry, a spare highwayman or two and some good old fashioned romping.

The characters are generally so likeable and fun. The only problem I had is that Horry has a stutter - and they just don't make good reading (I think). A fun, quick read.

Rating:
Summary: The best of a brilliant bunch!
Review: I have read and re-read all of my Georgette Heyers every few years since 1973,and shall probably continue to do so for the next 30 or more years.Her dry,acerbic heroes,spirited heroines, and the not-too-bright characters who confuse everything and hence contribute to the plots,all add up to a great read.

I have a long list of Heyer favourites,but the Convenient Marriage tops the list.The Earl of Rule is a perfect hero,Horry isn't such a perfect heroine but very likeable all the same,but the stars of the book would have to be Horry's brother Pelham, and his singularly inept friend Sir Roland Pommeroy,who gamely try,and fail,to rescue Horry from her various scrapes.

Highlights for me are the drunken scene in Half-Moon Street and subsequent confusion at Lord Lethbridge's house;also when Pelham,Sir Roland,and Captain Heron take to the high toby,particularly when Sir Roland attempts to buy a horse from a very irate victim;and when Sir Roland invites Rule to a card party.This last is worth a quote:-
(Sir Roland has gone to Rule's house in a desperate bid to keep him away from a party in Vauxhall Gardens,using a card party,for which he needs a fourth player,as his excuse)
'Now don't say you cannot come!Can't play whisk with only three people,my lord.Most awkward situation!'
'I am sure it must be,'agreed his lordship sympathetically.'And I expect you have tried everyone else.'
'Oh everyone!'said Sir Roland."Can't find a fourth at all.Do beg of your lordship not to fail me!'
.....The Earl appeared to meditate.'I am of course very fond of whisk.'
Sir Roland breathed a sigh of relief.'Knew I could count on you!Beg you will dine first-five o'clock.'
'Who are your other guests?'inquired his lordship.
'Well,to tell you the truth-not quite sure yet,'said Sir Roland confidentially.'Bound to find someone glad of a game.Have it all fixed by five o'clock.'

Rating:
Summary: The Convenient Marriage
Review: I have read this book twice. If you love Georgette Heyer you'll love this. It's got all the right ingredients: humour, romance, a dash of mystery, some more humour, and a husband any girl would dream about. And of course, if its an Heyer it's got to have detailed descriptions and characters you can talk to. The title needs no explaination. I'm sure you can guess what the plot revolves round, generally. You've got a heroine who knows what she wants, and a hero who you would want.

Rating:
Summary: A funny, and surprisingly tender, love story.
Review: If you have skipped Georgette Heyer because you find her hard reading, I beg you to read "Convenient Marriage". This is a fun book in every sense of the word; a romp in Regency era (I'm sorry, I stand corrected, it's Georgian). There is not alot of major plot twists or deep character analysis, but plenty of just plain fun that is really very, very funny.

There is the signature Heyer's extreme meticulousness of detail, down to the exact fashion of the year, and there is also her signature dialogue, and humor. But what I loved most of all was the love story between Hory and Lord Rule. It is hard to do seventeen and thirty-two - there is such a disparacy of age, seventeen is really SO young - and most authors who do have this age gap in their protaganists usually simply gloss over it. In the "Convenient Marriage", the age gap is one of the underlying problems which keep husband and wife apart - in a "Convenient Marriage", and it is with great skill, tact and humor that Ms. Heyer brings them together, at last. Everything is done exactly right - Hory (Horatia) acts within character, Lord Rule acts within character - at least the way I think it is realistic, I have never actually seen that kind of marriage up close.

Some reviewers didn't like Horry - give it a break! She's only seventeen! And very spirited for seventeen, too.

But the highlight of the book for me was definitely Lord Rule. He did and said everything just so perfectly, he treats Horry - who is leading him for a merry dance, but is also young enough to be his daughter - exactly the way a hero should! He deals with her gently, but deal with her he does. Although it may seem at times that Horry is coming across the winner in their battle of wits, Lord Rule is always a few steps ahead of her, but, oh, so gently, so cleverly, does he outsmart her! I could not have imagined their interactions any better, at all. Simply, simply perfect.

For all those who complain about all those alpha males in other novels - here is your hero! He is about as un-alpha-male as you can get, yet he does not sacrifice his masculinity in the least! Just for the character of Lord Rule alone it is worth rating this book ten stars!

If you are a romance reader, and have not yet read Georgette Heyer, read this book, you will NOT regret it!

Rating:
Summary: A Convenient marriage can also be a lovematch!
Review: That's what Horry discovers when she offers herself to the Earl of Rule in place of her sister. She is sure he cannot object, because after all, she does have the Winwood nose!

In fact, Rule is most happy to accept the substitution, as he was bowled over the the charmingly innnocent Horry in an instant. But innocence doesn't mean she won't lead him a merry dance...

Heyer never failed to please, and The Convenient Marriage is a perfect example of her ability to spin a delightful tale, whle showing us the heights and pitfalls of a Season in London.

Rating:
Summary: Heyer,Heyer, its laughs all the the way..
Review: There can be no dearth of fun with Heyer books. But this one beats them all for the hilarious set of madcap sidekick charcters that heyer has brought in. There is the insufferable Drelincourt (the hero Lord Rule's cousin) who suffers the igonomy of having his "elegant" hat thrown off his head by y Sir Pelham because Sir P doesnt like it above half. It is the exchanges between the s-s-tammering H-Horry, the heroine, her brother Perlham and his friend Sir G? which is the tops. A highwayman gets thrown in between and they are joined by Horry's brother-in-law, Capt Heron, who jointo retrieve Horry's heirloom brooch. It is three chapters of infinite fun. I cant help putting down (from memory) the following exchanges :

Pelham has picked up a gun prepared to go and shoot the villain of the piece.
Heron interves : Pel, you madcap, dont be ridiculous. Just give the gun to me.
Sir G - Better let Pel handle it you knw .. an expert shot he is ...
:-))))

Pelham : There goes our plan. (to Heron) So what more do you think we can do ?
heron : Well, short of holding him up, we can just go and wait at his home.
Pel : What a delightful idea.. thats what we will do..we will follow ur idea
Heron : Well, waiting at his home is not the greatest idea but..
Pel : Home ? No,no - we shall hold him up !!

HAHAHHAHA

Just the most marvellous of exchanges...

A must read.

Rating:
Summary: Heyer at her worst!
Review: This is not a commendable Heyer "work of art." I wonder at what time in her life was she writing this particular novel...it has a weak plot, weak characters, and a terrible ending. I have read all of Heyer's books and am avid collecter of them but this particular one will not be joining my bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: Not her best, but not bad either
Review: This is one of the earlier Heyer romances and, while it displays many hallmarks of her signature style -- the language, the references to current styles, the immersion in the period -- and begins delightfully, the parts don't quite come together. Lord Rule makes a charming hero but, in the end, Horry is too childish to make a satisfying romantic heroine. The material -- young bride with improvident brother tries to salvage her whirlwind marriage to an older man -- is handled more successfully in April Lady. A more satisfying child bride is Hero Wantage of Friday's Child (a book which boasts one of the great opening scenes of all time, plus a terrific screwball finale). Read this one for the hero, not the heroine.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful!
Review: Yeah! Georgette Heyer is back in print!

I first discovered the Heyer novels over 30 years ago when I was a teenager. A few years ago, I started re-reading the ones I had stashed in my mother's closet and was just as enchanted as the first time I read them. I immediately started haunting bookstores (including Amazon.Com) trying to find the rest of them, but alas, most of them were out of print.

I was delighted to see that they are being re-released. Unlike some of the reviewers, I found the antics of Pelham and his friends to be one of the highlights of the book. It was laugh out loud hilarious.

It is a little ridiculous that we never know if the marriage was consummated or not and I agree that Horry is not the most sympathetic of heroines after her marriage. But it is definitely one of the funniest Heyer novels and thoroughly enjoyable.

I eagerly await the re-release of all of the Heyer canon, especially These Old Shades, The Devil's Cub, and An Infamous Army.