True Colours

Rating:
Summary: Traditional Regency
Review: Harlequin / Mills and Boon have some gems in their backlist and this is one of them.

From the back cover of the Mills and Boon large print edition:

They shared a past... The first person the Marquis of Mullineaux meets upon his return to England is the very last person he wants to see - Lady Carberry, the woman who scandalised the haute ton by breaking off their engagement. She is just as displeased to meet the man who sacrificed her reputation to save his pride. Thrown together by circumstance, Alicia and James find themselves constantly at war with one another. James is determined to discover the truth about their past and only then does he also discover that behind their anger lies a passion that has never died.

Glittering Seasons... country estates Matchmaking mamas...a Regency delight!

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS DEFINITELY A KEEPER!
Review: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED -- Don't pass up this book or any other by this author -- the stories are so refreshing and a delightful change from the contemporaries.
You will thoroughly enjoy these characters and their story.
Find out the truth behind the troubles and confrontations of James and Alicia and how the resolved them.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing prequel to LARKSWOOD LEGACY
Review: I have been reading more of Nicola Cornick's books, after finding and loving her LARKSWOOD LEGACY (published by Harlequin recently). TRUE COLORS is the prequel to that story - the story of Alicia, sister of the heroine Annabella, and how she became estranged from her sister Annabella. Unfortunately, this story is a disappointment. [As are the other books by Cornick I have read recently].

Why? The story begins very promisingly - Cornick's stories are all very promising. A stagecoach accident leads to the unexpected meeting of a young marquess with the lady who apparently jilted him seven years ago. She chose instead to marry a wealthy old man, recently knighted, and is now a wealthy widow. This sounded quite promising, especially when you realize that in Regency England, a marquess ranked much higher in the social scale than did a mere City knight. Furthermore, this marquess is apparently a courtesy marquess only, as the heir apparent of an elderly Duke.

It turns out that the story of the estranged ex-lovers is far more complicated than simple greed (with the lady choosing immediate wealth over the promise of a great title and wealth in the future). There is a scoundrelly father, a rapscallion cousin, and a sinister suitor of the lady. Not to mention accidents happening to persons around the lady. And yes, there is Annabella, the flighty spoiled younger sister, who is delighted to have caught her baronet's heir who is clearly a scoundrel himself.

Unfortunately, while Alicia is made to look quite sympathetic, much of her past actions - and those of her father - make little sense. Why should the daughter of a merchant (albeit maternally the granddaughter of a late earl) pass up the chance to become a duchess? Why should she believe that her father has the chance to ruin her young lover? Why should her father be able to more successfully coerce virtuous Alicia than flighty Annabella? These and other questions kept racing through my mind. And as in LARKSWOOD LEGACY, I was distracted by a more attractive young couple - Marcus and Caroline (although they are more interesting the later book).

The book simply degenerated into melodrama for me by the middle. It was not that anything particularly unnatural happened to the heroine, but there were far too many stock characters and very little made of the supposed estrangement between the sisters that so troubles Annabella in LARKSWOOD LEGACY. And the actions of the hero and heroine made little sense for much of the novel.

Rating for the book - 3.4 (corrected December 18, 2001)

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Debut Regency
Review: This a stylish and enjoyable debut Regency. I have read all Ms. Cornick's books and what I like about them is their originality in such a popular genre. Perhaps TRUE COLOURS a little over-written in places - every noun seems to have at least one accompanying adjective - but this could be put down to the author's inexperience. The plot is exciting and the characters engaging. Ms Cornick is a fresh and welcome addition to the Regency writing scene.