A Diamond in the Rough

Rating:
Summary: Refreshing
Review: As Adrian Linsley, Viscount Marquand, prepared for his impending marriage to Honoria Dunster, he'd also considered a trip to St. Andrews to accomplish his higher goal of keeping Woolsey House, his family residence. Things took a more intriguing turn when he learned the honored game of golf from a young Derrien Edwards. Adrian thought his instructor to be an accomplished young man, but when he found Derrien to be Miss Derrien Edwards, golf took on a whole new meaning for the viscount. The game of golf is a metaphor for the game of life here, and Andrea Pickens has depicted it well. The traditions are preserved, and the romance within the traditions is very interesting indeed. It's refreshing to see romance at the very beginning, with twists and turns all the way to the end just like a well designed golf course.

Rating:
Summary: I'll bet Tiger would score this an ACE!
Review: If you like to know the history of things, you'll truly appreciate this story in which an unusual wager is settled by a game of golf. The historic Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland is credited with being the birthplace of that revered game, and one can only applaud Andrea Pickens for have done her homework so well.

Adrian Lindley, the Viscount Marquand, determined early in his life that he would not follow in the footsteps of either of his parents, known to society for their unconventional ways. For the Earl of Chittenden not only had a fondness for drinking but was also a gambler, unable to help himself in spite of numerous promises to his son that he would give it up. It took one final disastrous wager with the Marquess of Hertford to bring matters to a head. The Earl had done the one thing he'd promised his son he'd never do--wager Woolsey Hall, the last unencumbered property and the one closest to the heart of the Viscount.

Having experienced the residual effects of an overiding passion only too well, the Viscount had determined never to succumb to such lures for himself. He would be stable, and steady and dull, if that's what it took. That was why he'd proposed marriage to (and been accepted by) the beautiful Honoria Dunster. The blonde and beautiful young woman was considered a chunk of ice by many of the young men in London because of her lack of emotion. Adrian thought her exactly what he wanted and needed.

Of course, he was also a young man of his time, well up on shooting and riding and all the other manly activities. But the men of London seldom engaged in golf. So it was off to Scotland for Adrian to take a crash course in the game, as the only way to prevent the loss of his favorite estate, even if it meant nearly jeopardizing his true first love-- landscape design. A commission he desperately wants is about to be awarded, and time is short. But yet--there is Woolsey Hall to be considered.

To his great surprise, the game turned out to be far more complicated than he'd originally thought, and while Hugh Philp, the acknowledged master of St. Andrews promised to help Adrian in his quest, it was the young caddie Dirty Derry, who became his teacher.

Along with learning about the game, Adrian learns about himself, about Derry and about Honoria. For Derry isn't a lad, but an impetuous young woman, Derrien Edwards, who not only shares Adrian's great passion--landscape design--but has a prodigious knowledge of the game of golf--forbidden, of course, to females. Secrets unfold, while others are maintained, and tensions rise while waiting for the climactic game.

It's amazing how much story is stuffed into these 229 pages. Not one word too many is utilized in the setting forth of this story. It's simply marvelous! Worthy of the Masters, in fact!

Rating:
Summary: Some historical issues, but well-done nonetheless
Review: In the realm of series romances, Andrea Pickens is one of the top authors. Although the reviewer who lamented the historical errors makes valid points, including the shallowly drawn villain, the book as a whole is far beyond most of the offerings in series romances.

The hero and heroine are likeable, unique, and well-developed. The plot rarely hangs, keeping the reader interested throughout. There is a bare hint of passion, keeping this book from being too sweet (or, for that matter, too raunchy as some series romances are). The rather detailed picture of the early days of golf is intriguing as is the athletic hero's struggle to master the sport. He also battles the social stigma of having a trade, an interest he discovers that he shares with the heroine (who herself is frowned upon by society for her abilties and desire to use them).

Filled with the realistic developmentment of a romantic relationship, a couple with sufficiently unique characters, and a fresh approach to an old plot (rescuing the family fortunes).

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful love story!
Review: Lady Honoria Dunster had just snagged a marriage proposal from Adrian Linsley, Viscount Marquand, when it all began. Adrian's father, the Earl of Chittenden, had lost all he owned while gambling with Lord Hertford. The only thing the Earl had left was Woolsey Hall. In a desperate chance to win it all back, the Earl agreed to Lord Hertford's offer of an all-or-nothing wager on a round of golf.

Adrian had no choice but to honor his father's wager to play against Hertford even though he knew nothing about golf. He went to Scotland to be tutored in the game. He and his caddy, Derry, clashed on sight. It did not help matters that Lady Honoria and her parents decided to arrive either.

Miss Derrien Edwards had her own reasons not to trust Englishmen, especially ones with titles. Yet she hated Lord Hertford enough to let Hugh talk her into helping tudor the Viscount. Only Hugh knew the caddy, Derry, was really her. Botany and golf were not normal for a female to study, hence the Derry disguise as she grew up. She also did not want to like the "bloodless" Viscount. Yet the longer the two were together, the more they found in common.

**** This story has a strange twist to the normal stereotype of Regency Romances! Golf! I had no idea there was so much strategy involved in hitting the little ball. Geez! A wonderful love story that is well written and flows very smoothly! ****

Rating:
Summary: A gem of a tale!
Review: The life of Adrian Linsley, Viscount Marquand is proceeding according to plan...until his father loses everything except Woolsey Hall in a card game. Even that has been wagered, in the hope of regaining all the rest, on a game of skill between the earl's opponent and his son. The fate of the Linsley family home rests on a round of golf -- and Adrian has never played golf! He agrees to honor his father's wager, but the timing couldn't be worse. Adrian has just become engaged to a cool, poised Society beauty and won an important architectural commission. On the advice of a friend who knows the sport, Adrian travels to St. Andrews, armed with an introduction to Hugh Philps, the best clubmaker in the land and an excellent teacher. Adrian hopes the man is as good as his reputation -- he has a month in which to learn the game of golf whilst coming up with a design for the duke's commission.

Miss Derrien Edwards has two passions in life, gardens and golf. Although she can openly indulge the former, she must disguise herself as a boy to enjoy the latter. Derry is the best caddie in the city, thanks to her mentor, Hugh Philps. When the kindly old man requests a favor, she cannot deny him, despite her aversion to titled Englishmen. She agrees to teach the viscount, but all her lessons might not concern the game of golf!

DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH is a gem of a tale! Readers will adore Adrian and Derry, two intellectuals who find there is much to be said for love...and passions. The interactions between these two complex characters -- in both Derry's personas -- are realistic, but intriguingly unpredictable. The dialogue is crisp and witty and the plot evolves at a brisk pace.

Ms. Pickens's knowledge and love of golf is evident throughout but does not overwhelm the story, allowing readers who have never played the game to thoroughly enjoy the book whilst learning a bit about the sport. Avid Regency fans may find the errors in titles and forms of address mildly disconcerting, but overall will thoroughly enjoy this delightful tale.

If you're in the mood for a refreshingly different romance, with marvelous characters, wit, and charm, I highly recommend DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH.

Rating:
Summary: Promising, but some dropped plot lines...
Review: The love story (the romance between the hero and the heroine) is great, as is the secondary (but more intriguing) story of Lady Honoria Dunster and a young Scottish professor. For the gist of the plot, I suggest that you read the other reviews.

Why then did I rate this book at only 3 stars? Well, because the first chapter goes nowhere, and is full of errors and dropped plot lines. For one, the hero's fiancee is called by three different titles or styles within the first two pages. She is Lady Honoria Dunster, but she is called Lady Dunster and Miss Dunster by the author almost immediately. For another, there is no development of Hertford's motivation - as to why he is out to ruin Chittenden (the hero's father), or why he wants to humiliate the hero.

This is a major problem, almost as much as why the heroine hates Hertford. The author has created a stock villain here - someone who is simply hateful and hated, without any history and motivation of his own. [Incidentally, the Marquess of Hertford was a real-life peer, although I am not sure if the 2nd or 3rd Marquess would have been the peer at the time this book is set - there is no precise dating here. I am not sure that either Marquess was out to cheat and ruin peers for the heck of it, although the 3rd Marquess was quite a character by all accounts].

The best part of this story is the skilful interweaving of how a sportsman-hero learns to play golf (which he has believed to be like cricket, but his friend more wisely compares to battlefield strategy) with the romance. The hero is helped in his quest by a young and impudent caddy, who is actually a young woman disguised as a caddy. [She loves golf, but women are not allowed in the sport]. Some of the craftsmen and golfers mentioned in the story are real, and St Andrews is indeed the mecca of golf. Those who play golf or have golf-loving relatives and friends will find this story particularly interesting.

I should add that I wish the author had been as careful in her historical research and in her development of her villain as in her golf research. For one, her villain is such a cardboard character that he is hard to believe in. For another, her villain is given the name of a real peer (or two real peers). Even more embarrassingly, an octogenarian Duke and his infant (or unborn) son and heir are made keen golfers in the story. A little bit of research on these points and on proper styles for the daughter of a peer would have created a better impression on this reviewer.

Rating:
Summary: A Diamond In The Rough
Review: The strangest thing happened while I was reading "A Diamond In The Rough" by Andrea Pickens. I found myself being more intrigued and interested in a secondary character in this novel, Lady Honoria Dunster, than I was in the two 'romantic' leads, Viscount Marquand and Derrien Edwards. Andrea Pickens had textured this rather complex character in such a way that she completely captured my attention and sympathies, and I found myself (unfairly perhaps) skimming pages until I got to the parts that dealt with Lady Honoria.

But to get back to the plot of this interesting novel: Adrian Linsley, Viscount Marquand, is not a typical pink of the ton. The son of an intemperate drunk and gambler, he has learnt to master his emotions and passions, and has worked hard at earning a reputation for moderate behaviour and paying off his father's debts. And just when he thinks he has finally reached the pinnacle of satisfaction (he has successfully gotten himself engaged to the very proper Lady Honoria Dunster), he learns that his father has staked the ancestral home on the outcome of a game of golf! Marquand is horrified -- he really loves his home but he knows next to nothing about golf. And so he finds himself on his way to Scotland to master the game. Once there, he is paired up with a very insolent young caddie named Derry. Derry is the very best there is to be had, however his insolence and sneers grate on Marquand's nerves. Will Marquand be able to put up with Derry's incivility in order to learn how to play golf?

Derry is actually Miss Derrien Edwards, and she hates the English with a passion: she is the by-product of her mother's unfortunate seduction by an English officer. Because of her circumstances, she's had a rather unusual upbringing, and her two passions are landscape gardening and golf. And in order to help out her mentor who nutured her love of golf, she agrees to work with Marquand, in spite of her great dislike of English lords. But Marquand proves to be not exactly what she expected. True, he is as arrogant as she expected, but his restraint in the face of her disdainful manner, gives her pause. Surely she could not be finding herself susceptible to Marquand, could she?

"A Diamond In The Rough" is a well written novel, and gives you a glimpse of what the game of golf was like during the Regency period. The novel possesses three storylines: the Marquand-Derry/Derrien-golf/gardening subplotplot; the subplot involving Lady Honoria; and the subplot involving the Lord Hertford, the gambler who maneuvers Marquand's father into staking the Linley ancestral home on the outcome of the golf match. The first two subplots are well thought out and depicted. The Lord Hertford subplot, however left me with a few unanswered questions: why did he so desperately want to ruin Marquand's father. And why did Derrien hate him so? From the manner in which things were developing in the first chapter, I expected a rather dark story involving Hertford to materialize. This however did not happen.

All in all however, "A Diamond In the Rough" is a rather enjoyable read (although the were a few editorial mistakes that apparently no one caught. Lady Honoria Dunster for example is referred to as Lady Honoria in the first half of the book, and Miss Honoria in the later half). The story unfolded at a brisk pace and Andrea Pickens has portrayed all the characters in this novel rather well -- both Marquand and Derrien were well depicted, as was the romance between them. The only reason I can come up with as to why I enjoyed reading more about Lady Honoria was that her's was the only really textured character. With the others, what you 'saw' was what you got; but with Lady Honoria, you knew almost at once that there was a whole lot more waiting to be revealed. And I'm really glad that Andrea Pickens gave this character the prominence that she deserved.

Rating:
Summary: Exceptionally well-written!
Review: This was my first book by Andrea Pickens, and, if this book is any indication, she is so good that I would easily buy any of her books, sight unseen.

The book is so well written, her language is so appropriate and elegant, that I found myself reading it slowly simply to savor the sentences, the word structure, and the beautiful word play. (Andrea Pickens tends to do a lot of *play on words*, and I found myself looking out for these - is it puns? I don't know the exact English term, but it was something I've never seen before in a novel.)

The Viscount Marquand is as different from his parents as could be. Having grown up with their excesses in everything - drinking and gambling,etc - and watching the effects of their loose lifestyle on themselves, on those around them, and especially, on the family's coffers, the Viscount has determined that only by acting exactly the opposite of his parents in every way, will he have a happy and well-ordered life. So the beginning of this book finds the Viscount on the verge of becoming fianceed to the perfect bride - one whom he has decided will suit him from every angle - on paper. But his well-ordered life is about to come crashing down on his head when he finds that his father has done something exceptionally foolish, something he has promised his son he would never do, and now it is up to the Viscount to save his ancestral home with - of all things - a game of chance. The game being golf. So off the Viscount goes to Scotland, to ace this sport as easily has he done everything else - after all, how hard can it be to strike a ball - a *stationary* ball? But of course nothing goes as planned, as he finds that neat columns on paper and neat columns in real life are two separate things. . .

The characters, both the central ones and the background characters, were very well drawn and I found myself liking all of them (except for the villain, of course). Even the Earl of Chittendom, Marquand's father, was really a likeable, if weak fellow. I found myself feeling for Marquand (our hero), when, even when he feels satisfied that everything was planned to perfection, is left with a niggling feeling that perhaps his plan has a hole in it? Perhaps what he thinks is the correct course is really not? And I did not think that the villain is too one-dimensional. To be honest, a villain, to be a real villain, must of necessity be quite shallow - are there any redeeming qualities to [...]? To Stalin? Or to any other blood-thirsty dictators or serial murderers that history has encountered? Truthfully, if there were any good sides to any of these people, I for one would not want to know about it. He killed and tortured and maimed thousands of people yet he's a kind man because he once fed a hungry dog? Please. In my opinion, at least, it is actually the regular people who are multi-dimensional, who try to do the right thing, at least some of the time, who succeed sometimes, sometimes not. So, I for one am all for one-dimensional villains. Sometimes people kill just because, or rob just because, and as hard as it is for decent people to understand this - ask a serial killer why he has twenty bodies stuffed in his basement - what did these people do to him? Society calls him mad, because we can't fathom this, but is he mad, or does he just like to kill? (As some people like eating chocolate ice-cream, for instance). In any case, I seem to have gone way off topic, I think Andrea Pickens has written a very fine book, exceptionally well-written, with well-drawn, and likeable characters.

So why the four stars? Since most of the book is about golf, the game, the strategy, and the origins thereof, and I don't play golf (never did, and probably never will), I found myself somewhat bored by the extremely detailed descriptions of the game. I certainly did get a bit of an education, never mind, but having had no first hand knowledge of the game handicapped me somewhat, so to speak. Also, maybe it was just me, but I found the story a bit slow paced - not much plot, once you get past the first few chapters, but a very enjoyable read nevertheless.

Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys exceptional quality writing, and a sweet happily-ever-after for all the character involved (except the villain, of course).

Rating:
Summary: A Diamond of a Novel
Review: With its likeable characters and entertaining plot, A Diamond in the Rough is an intelligent and charming novel. And it pays an added dividend to anyone interested in the golfing technique and gardening design of the early 1800's.

Miss Derrien Edwards, a feisty and highly intelligent Scottish lass, disguises herself as a male caddie to be able to play her favorite game, golf, at St. Andrew's Old Course. She's equally wild about designing gardens and has just covertly received her first landscaping design commission.

The last thing she wants is to caddie for an apparently gambling English Lord, Adrian Linsley, Viscount Marquand (such a man ruined her mother many years before and resulted in her birth). But she owes her golf instructor Hugh Phelps, the Stradivarius of club design (and a real person), this favor and also despises Marquand's golf opponent, the dissolute Lord Hertford, even more than she does Marquand.

During the month before the competition (which Marquand must win to save his ancestral estate from his father's gambling), Derrien (as herself) enthusiastically discusses gardening with the annoyingly attractive Marquand, who is engage to marry an English beauty. And, disguised as the male caddy Derry, she teaches him the intricacies of golf. His intelligence, determination, surprisingly high character and fascinating garden designs win Derrien's regard against her will.

And what is the honorable Marquand to do when he falls head over heels for the pert Derrien when he's already pledged to another?

A Diamond in the Rough wins the reader with its amusing dialogue, exciting events and enjoyable characters. It's a top quality Regency that I heartily recommend.