Pamela's Second Season

Rating:
Summary: a enjoyable and satisfying read
Review: From the title I thought that this novel was going to be all about balls and gowns and lessons on how to get a husband. I couldn't have been more wrong. "Pamela's Second Season" is a sequel to "A Country Courtship" and while it does focus on Pamela Neville (the younger of Gerriant Neville's, the hero of "A Country Courtship," two sisters) second attempt at a London Season, the novel also deals with a whole lot more.

High-spirited and plucky Pamela Neville believes herself to be in love with her neighbour and close family friend, Colin Varens. Unfortunately, Colin's in love with her more beautiful and much more ladylike elder sister, Rachel; and he still treats Pamela like a favourite younger sister instead of the eligible young lady she believes herself to be. Of course part of the problem may be that Pamela seems to possess hardly any "refined" ladylike qualities at all, and that she is quite the hoyden. And that's where her grandmother steps in. The Dowager Lady Haven agrees to tutor Pamela in the fine art of being an accomplished young lady of the ton if Pamela will agree to go to London with the rest of the family. The last thing that Pamela expected was that this London trip would cause her to question her ambition to bring Colin up to scratch. For she soon meets the handsome and compelling Earl of Strongwycke, Malcolm Bercombe, who makes her wonder about her feelings about Colin. Is she in love with Colin or isn't she? For surely she wouldn't be feeling the way she does about Malcolm if she's in love with Colin, would she?

What I liked most about this novel was that it dealt with other issues aside from the 'what/who does Pamela want' storyline. The novel also dealt with certain tensions in Gerriant's relationship with his fiancee, Jane Dresden (the hero & heroine of "A Country Courtship"), and even dealt with the tentative reformation of Rachel's character and outlook (she was a rather unlikeable character in "A Country Courtship" and is to be the heroine in the upcoming novel "Rachel's Change of Heart"). And while I'm not much of an advocate of books that deal with certain ideas/storylines tentatively, and that hint that you should want to read the next book to see how things turn out, I'll freely admit that I'm eagerly looking forward to Rachel's story.

But to get back to "Pamela's Second Season," I really liked the manner in which Donna Simpson handled the different subplots here -- from showing us how Pamela matures during the Season so that she's more than ready for a mature and adult relationship with the gentleman of her choice (also nicely done was the manner in which the authour portrayed Pamela's confused feelings for both Colin and Malcolm); to showing us how Gerraint finally realises that keeping his fiancee happy was really more important than having his own way; to showing us that there is a lot more to Rachel than meets the eye -- the authour does a wonderful job of melding all these storylines together so that you get an amalgamous whole about the trials and tribulations of one family during a London Season. So that for me, "Pamela's Second Season" was quite the prefect read.

Rating:
Summary: a enjoyable and satisfying read
Review: From the title I thought that this novel was going to be all about balls and gowns and lessons on how to get a husband. I couldn't have been more wrong. "Pamela's Second Season" is a sequel to "A Country Courtship" and while it does focus on Pamela Neville (the younger of Gerriant Neville's, the hero of "A Country Courtship," two sisters) second attempt at a London Season, the novel also deals with a whole lot more.

High-spirited and plucky Pamela Neville believes herself to be in love with her neighbour and close family friend, Colin Varens. Unfortunately, Colin's in love with her more beautiful and much more ladylike elder sister, Rachel; and he still treats Pamela like a favourite younger sister instead of the eligible young lady she believes herself to be. Of course part of the problem may be that Pamela seems to possess hardly any "refined" ladylike qualities at all, and that she is quite the hoyden. And that's where her grandmother steps in. The Dowager Lady Haven agrees to tutor Pamela in the fine art of being an accomplished young lady of the ton if Pamela will agree to go to London with the rest of the family. The last thing that Pamela expected was that this London trip would cause her to question her ambition to bring Colin up to scratch. For she soon meets the handsome and compelling Earl of Strongwycke, Malcolm Bercombe, who makes her wonder about her feelings about Colin. Is she in love with Colin or isn't she? For surely she wouldn't be feeling the way she does about Malcolm if she's in love with Colin, would she?

What I liked most about this novel was that it dealt with other issues aside from the 'what/who does Pamela want' storyline. The novel also dealt with certain tensions in Gerriant's relationship with his fiancee, Jane Dresden (the hero & heroine of "A Country Courtship"), and even dealt with the tentative reformation of Rachel's character and outlook (she was a rather unlikeable character in "A Country Courtship" and is to be the heroine in the upcoming novel "Rachel's Change of Heart"). And while I'm not much of an advocate of books that deal with certain ideas/storylines tentatively, and that hint that you should want to read the next book to see how things turn out, I'll freely admit that I'm eagerly looking forward to Rachel's story.

But to get back to "Pamela's Second Season," I really liked the manner in which Donna Simpson handled the different subplots here -- from showing us how Pamela matures during the Season so that she's more than ready for a mature and adult relationship with the gentleman of her choice (also nicely done was the manner in which the authour portrayed Pamela's confused feelings for both Colin and Malcolm); to showing us how Gerraint finally realises that keeping his fiancee happy was really more important than having his own way; to showing us that there is a lot more to Rachel than meets the eye -- the authour does a wonderful job of melding all these storylines together so that you get an amalgamous whole about the trials and tribulations of one family during a London Season. So that for me, "Pamela's Second Season" was quite the prefect read.