Friday's Child

Rating:
Summary: Delightful Read
Review: I have not yet been disappointed with a Georgette Heyer novel. The conversations between her characters are brilliant. You discover almost everything by how they address each other! She also has the most uniquely named people in her books.

To see both characters in this book mature and evolve is wonderful. Sherry (Lord Sherington) calls Hero (his wife) "Kitten" and indeed he treats her like a pampered pet. But trouble brews for these newlyweds with gambling and other mischief afoot. Both main characters have a long way to go before becoming proper! The journey will keep you interested beginning to end with all the other characters just as interesting and amusing.

Superb romance with substance.

Rating:
Summary: Audio Recording review
Review: I loved this BOOK and would give it 5 stars.

The audio book, though, is very disappointing. The reader uses voices for the characters that are silly. The voice she uses for Hero Wantage, the woman protagonist, is high and squeaky, and the voice she uses for the male protagonist, Lord Sherringham, is loud and affected. Also, the narration bits are rather low volume, where the conversational bits are very loud. It's hard to get the volume set right to get both parts without getting a headache.

Too bad the Audio Edition is so poor, since it's a wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: gentle and fun favourite
Review: I read my first "regency romance" from Ms. Heyer at the age of 13, and a few decades later still go back to my favourites. This story is definately one of them.

For anyone who isn't already a fan of Georgette Heyer's largest group of books, this wonderful lady, writing in early and mid 20th-century England, produced a glorious collection of romances set in Regency England,(while all the time despising these best-selling books that took her away from the straight historical books she really wanted to write, but wrote more slowly.) (Oh yes, she also wrote some pretty good murder mysteries too, but this isn't one of them.)
Her many fans are really pleased she did have these economic needs, because we find her romantic novels enjoyable again and again, and don't care about a few (paltry) flaws.
Georgette Heyer's romances stand out from all others, to me anyway, because of the great sense of humour and wit that makes all of the books great fun, the easy to read style that never becomes banal, and plots which, although always happy-ending and sometimes rather similar, are never, ever, boring. If you like romances that are well-written, without taking themselves too seriously, and you're happy to know the right guy will always get the (sometimes wrong, but always feisty, and never insipid) heroine, try her books. You'll likely get hooked, and then be delighted to find there's plenty more (though not always in print).

I probably call this book 'gentle' because the hero isn't apparently hateful, or offensive or caustic, just very likeable and somewhat thoughtless. There is one truly bad guy, whose inner wickedness is revealed gradually, and that anyone familiar with Heyer's books will pleasantly anticipate eventually getting his due, and there's an unpleasant (and very silly) mother-in-law, but this book has much less black/white stereotyping than some of Ms.Heyer's other books.

What keeps me enjoying "Friday's Child" again and again is the broad range of characters included in the tale. With the hero's three friends, all very clearly different, playing their own parts in the twists and turns of the plot and general misunderstandings, plus various relatives contributing their own little cameos, there's plenty of variety in the story. After reading this book I always feel that I've met (or meet again) a nice assortment of different characters, none of them perfect, but most very likeable, with a few wonderfully unlikeable for contrast.

Like all of Georgette Heyer's Regency stories you get a great (and well-researched) trip back into Society life during the Regency period, but this typically-Heyer gem gives you more. There's the wonderful range of characters you are shown, plus more enjoyment of the of the secondary personalities . In this picture of Regency England you learn more than the all-important niceties of "good ton" and "NOT good ton", you are introduced to some varied aspects of society. The nobility you meet include the honest and the phony, the noble-but-nasty and the basically-decent, the thoughtful and impulsive, sensible and silly, and you also glimpse characters from the rest of society, living in a version of England that's very different from that of the main protagonists.

All in all, this is another glorious read from the much loved Georgette Heyer. If you've read her other books, be prepared for some delightful hours, and if this is a more mellow read than some, with a bit less life-and-death drama, the pleasure is no less, with lots of fun and variety, and if you roughly guess the ending (pure Heyer) there's a load of very believable ups-and-downs before you get there. If you are new to this author, (and you don't despise happy endings), you're in for much fun.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: I'm not usually a big fan of Heyer regencies that feature younger heroines, but I have to say that this book was an excellent read.

After receiving a vehement refusal to his proposal of marriage from the Incomparable Beauty, Isabella, Lord Sheringham (a.k.a. Sherry) decides to marry the first woman that he meets. Added to the set-down dealt to his pride is the fact that he can't get his hands on his inheritance from his greedy, spendthrift uncle until he reaches the age of 25, or until he marries (whichever is sooner). The first woman he sees happens to be Hero Wantage, a young woman who used to tag along after Sherry when she was a little girl. Hero is an orphan living in the home of her aunt and cousins, who treat her abominably. She's nearly 17 years old, and her aunt plans to ship her off to a school for governesses as soon as possible. Sherry decides to solve both their problems by proposing marriage to Hero, an offer she readily accepts from a man she idolizes. What follows is a humorous tale about Hero learning the ins and outs of high society, and a sweet romance about the couple finding love with each other.

Hero, also dubbed Kitten by Sherry, is a heroine that is innocent and sweet. She loves Sherry unconditionally and finds no fault in him, often following advice literally, which makes for a very amusing story. She has enough spirit so she's not meek, yet enough restraint that she's not too outrageous or grating. I found her to be a very likable character, unlike the immature vacuity of Leonie from "These Old Shades."

Sherry, likewise, was also very likable. He's a serious, yet good-humored gentleman. In terms of Heyer's other books, he reminds me of Freddy from "Cotillion," who was sober yet possessed an unconcerned, almost "spacy" air. Sherry's friends, Ferdy and Gil, also put me in mind of "Cotillion;" they end up being dragged into the couple's hilarious misunderstandings and schemes.

I heartily recommend "Friday's Child" to anyone that enjoys a Regency romance with a good dose of comedy. If you enjoyed "Cotillion," you'll love this! I prefer Heyer's older heroines, but Hero possesses enough common sense and decorum so she's not flighty or a complete hoyden, and enough sweetness and grace to be absolutely adorable.

Rating:
Summary: Friday's Child is loving and giving
Review: The opening scene of Sherry trying to propose to the Toast of London is a grabber, and the story goes charging off from there. Scorned and needing a wife to gain control of his finances, Sherry vows to marry the first woman he meets. That turns out to be Hero Wantage, the neglected poor relation of his neighbors who tagged after him as a child and still gives him devoted loyalty. She is thrilled to be a London lady, although she hasn't the least idea how to go about it. Although this looks like a romance, this is really the story of a young man learning to grow up. Sherry is essentially good-hearted but selfish; he doesn't want the responsibility of looking after a wife. This would be fine if he married a woman who was up to snuff, but his Kitten is decidely not. While Sherry's friends (a superb collection of supporting characters) look out for her as best they can, eventually it's time for Sherry to do the job himself. The finale, with various plot threads coming together with screwball abandon, is a triumph.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful Read
Review: This book's hero is quite different from the bored, sophisticated older man that Heyer usually casts in that role. Instead, "Sherry" is a gentleman in his early twenties who must marry to take control of his fortune from his unscrupulous uncle. When his current infatuation rejects his proposal, Sherry, miffed, finds a childhood friend in the village (Hero Wantage, "not quite seventeen") and marries her instead. Sherry's close friends all play a major role in the story and are admirably drawn, as are the hero and heroine. There are plenty of comic moments, the romance is quite believably developed, and I found myself laughing aloud more than once at the scrapes Hero keeps getting herself into. This is Ms. Heyer at her very best, and an excellent first-time pick for those Regency readers who wonder what all the fuss is about this grande dame of period romance.

Rating:
Summary: Great fun
Review: This is a great story. It's light-hearted and full of fun, but has its serious side and some truly touching moments as well.
Sherry (Viscount Sheringham) has just has his proposal of marriage spurned by the Incomparable Isabella. Further put out of temper by his dreadful mother and uncle, he storms back to London, vowing to marry the first woman he sees. That happens to be Hero, a sixteen-year-old orphaned neighbour who has been devoted to him ever since they were children. Both are happy with his plan, Sherry because it will put him in control of his fortune and Hero because it gives her an escape from the tyranny of the cousins she lives with. But Sherry, who is both wild and irresponsible, does not find it as easy to have a wife as he thought it would be, while Hero, who was never trained for the position she now holds, finds herself falling into one disaster after another. She finds her position growing ever more difficult, especially when she comes to realise that she loves Sherry, but he does not seem to love her. When yet another social faux pas seems like the final straw for her and Sherry's marriage, she takes desperate action that might save the day . . . or will it?
Sherry and Hero are great characters, and make a lovely couple. Both are kind-hearted, irresponsible, hedonistic and hot-tempered. I also love this book for Sherry's friends. Gil is the token sensible person, Ferdy is well-mannered but thick, and George is a highly romantic figure, desperately in love with Isabella and forever trying to pick fights. The back-and-forth between Hero, Isabella, and Sherry and his friends is what really makes this book. Heyer displays her talent for comedy and for choosing exactly the right word to perfection.
Does everything turn out well in the end? Of course it does - but not in the way you might expect. Keep an eye out for the pickpocket turned groom.

Rating:
Summary: Fun jaunt with naive heroine learning London Ways
Review: This is one of Heyer's longer books and it is packed full of wonderful characters as only Heyer can write them. The Heroine is the impetuous Sherry, who when rejected by the 'love' of his life Isabella, vows to marry the first woman he sees. This happens to be his young playmate, Hero Wantage. She is a bit younger than Sherry (who is already rather young himself) and both are rather naive about life in general.

Sherry and Sherry's friends believe they can just carry with their lives as things were even though Sherry is married and Hero is quite happy for that to happen too - only as it turns out London is a lot bigger and a lot less easy for her to navigate in her usual good natured way. She gets fleeced by card sharps and has to be rescued from any number of scrapes by an increasingly worried and agitated and finally angry Sherry.

What makes this such a good read is that the humour running through it - Hero is a great character, and Sherry's friends are also fun - but underneath it is a very good story about growing up - becoming responsible and facing up to your responsibilities. It also has a complex mix of characters who keep stumbling over one anotherand interfering with each other's plans - and Heyer does this so well.

If you like Friday's Child you will probably also enjoy Cotillion and Convenient Marriage also by Heyer.