My Lady Valiant (Zebra Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: A spunky miss plots revenge on behalf of her cousin
Review: The Earl of Staverton, nicknamed The Infidel, has the habit of playing up to young girls until they have visions of matrimony, then heartlessly breaking it off. Anne Delamere has heard of his cruel games from three of her cousins who were his victims. In the case of the most recent incident in which her cousin Cassie was left heartbroken, Anne decides to stop him once and for all--by kidnapping the cruel earl and forcing him to marry her cousin over the anvil in Gretna Green.

Now, this is where the author loses credibility. A regency heroine kidnapping an earl is a reach, but the scene prior to that where Anne casually informs her father that he should not worry if she were to disappear for a week or two, and he responds with a sigh and comment that his little girl is growing up is simply ludicrous! Add to that the fact that she didn't take a maid, didn't think about the fact that her own reputation would be ruined (a much more serious situation than Cassie's), and when reminded of it, insisted that she didn't care about society's opinion.

It turns out that the heartless earl is after a French spy, so, in the name of God and country, Anne agrees to "postpone" the kidnapping and sets off with the earl to complete his mission. At this point, the earl and Anne are drawn to each other and the whole thing turns into an adventure where they travel together, stay in various inns, and are generally taken for lovers. Anne takes him to task for his behavior with her cousins, and learns his side of the story--that the girls in question were after his money and title and deserved what they got. Although admitting some mitigating circumstances, Anne points out that his behavior was less than honorable, and he agrees.

After the mission is completed, Anne and the earl are head over heels in love, but Anne still insists that the earl make an offer of marriage to her cousin. Even though Anne's reputation is now in shreds and the only remedy is marriage to the earl. Even though both Anne and the earl want to marry each other. Is this an over-developed sense of honor or simply stupidity?

You know, I was going to give this one four stars because I enjoyed the adventure and Anne is one great independent young lady. But although the earl may have had some provocation for his cruelty to young girls, I just couldn't like him. In those days when engaged couples were allowed occasional kisses, he went around kissing and flattering young girls in a deliberate attempt to mislead them. Not my idea of an honorable hero. And then he nearly breaks Anne's heart by pretending to be engaged to Cassie.

Seriously flawed, but still an enjoyable read for diehard Regency fans!

Rating:
Summary: not a very probable plot premise...
Review: The previous reviewer has done an excellent job of summarising the plot premise of this novel as well critiquing what irked. However, I feel as I NEED to add my two cents's worth. So here goes: The trouble with "My Lady Valiant" is that it reads more like a modern day romance which simply got transplanted to Regency England with the appropriate change of costumes but little else. How else to explain how a young woman (Anne Delamere) could calmly inform her father that she was going on a mysterious trip (without her maid or a chaperone) to goodness knows where, all he says is, "My dear, you are three and twenty. You may go into the world with my blessing. If you should loose your fortune, remember, you can always live in the poorhouse and I will you books on occasion." Perhaps the authour was trying to emulate Mr. Bennett's tone of wry humour (Austen's Pride and Prejudice") but I felt as if the attempt fell short completely. I racked my memory to try and come up with an instance in early 19th century English novels where a heroine behaved thus, and could only remember the ones in which the young woman concerned always came to a sticky end, and nothing ended happily. Female independence was prized but not foolish behaviour.

That as you may guess is my first criticism of this novel. My second criticism is connected to the first, in that I found it totally unlikely that a spy for the Crown would allow a young lady to tag along on a dangerous mission just because she calmly announces that she must! I know that the plot allows for this to occur, but I found this to be a plot development that was just too contrived and improbable. I know all this is just fiction and fantasy, but there has to be a dollop of reality in these novels. Having Anne tag along while Staverton hunts for the French spy, was really not very likely at all.

My last criticism deals with the erstwhile hero of this romance, the Earl of Staverton. What a spoilt, conceited booby! So the first woman he feel in love with was only after his wealth and title. However, I did feel that he treated every other woman since then badly. He explains away his bad behaviour to Anne, and she understands and forgives all -- except his bad behaviour of her sweet cousin, of course. I, however, was not willing to let him off the hook so quickly, as I thought he treated all the women (except perhaps the first one) horribly. In the second instance, Staverton and a young lady (Prudence) are trapped in a boathouse during a downpour. He kisses her, and contemplates proposing marriage when Prudence demands that he marry her so that her reputation not suffer. Staverton is outraged, refuses and leaves. The situation is not a pretty one, but unfortunately, Prudence was right. Her reputation would have suffered -- she was alone in a boathouse with a man who is a notorious flirt. How on earth Anne could concede that Staverton was in the right and that Prudence had behaved foolishly in this instance left me flabbergasted. And anyway, nothing justifies cutting a swarth in society, flirting and kissing young ladies, raising their hopes and expectations, and then cruelly dashing them in order to prove some kind of point!

I was really surprised that Valerie King had written a Regency novel that was so many improbable flaws. Ms King has been writing historical romance novels for many years now, and I've enjoyed a great many of them. Either I've become super critical with old age, or this is a one off. "My Lady Valiant" would really work a lot better as a modern day romance -- as a Regency, the element of fun and escapism got lost as I found myself getting bogged down with all the improbabilities.