A Family for Gillian (Zebra Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: a nice read but...
Review: "A Family For Gillian" by Catherine Blair is not (thank goodness)the typical Regency romance novel. Our heroine, Gillian, marries Viscount Prescott, an Irish landowner, a widower with 3 young children. Gilly had set out to ruin herself in London to bypass her Mother's plans for a great marriage. While she was indeed "ruined", after recieving a note from Prescott asking her to marry him, sight unseen, she decides to marry him as she senses his loneliness from the letter. Prescott wants to marry again for the sake of his children. Poor Gilly seems to spend her time trying to live up to the memory of the near perfect first wife, Elizabeth. The story focus's in on Gilly's attempts to be good mother to the children (who are not pleased by her presence, except for the youngest, handicapped daughter), and a mate to her husband. Unfortunately Avery (Viscount Prescott)is still in love with his wife and has no intention of consummating the marriage; he thinks Gilly is ruined thereby he is not denying her the chance at the physical side of romance. But she is innocent and does eventually admit that to her husband. He does feel guilty, then, about the sort of odd marriage. But why such an unnatural marriage? A bit too extreme.

What I liked about the story was it was different. Back in that time of history, it was pretty normal for women to marry men not only to give birth to the prescribed heir but also, since women died in childbirth, to become mothers to the widowers children. Regency romances shy away from that. It was not all shy maidens and great matches back then. I was also pleased that Gilly and her husband do sleep together. That was interesting, their relationship before and after. Did he still mourn his first wife after Gilly and he slept together? As in the traditional regency romance, sex is not described at all thereby still being "sweet". Perhaps a detail or two would not have been awful, but you get the sense that Gilly is a normal, desiring woman and her husband realizes this. But he is pretty cool to her and so is Jane, the oldest daughter. In one scene, Gilly is so depressed and lonely she writes to her Mother asking to come home (a letter she throws out). Later, that same day after a fight, Prescott comes to her room and finds the letter he wrote Gilly asking to marry him. It would be have made more sense for him to find the letter Gilly wrote to her Mom. Gilly was so sad. She loved Prescott, and says this horrible cliche, that she loves him and is unhappy but would also be unhappy not to see him so might as well be unhappy with him. Seems so pathetic and out of character for a woman like Gilly who was a rather proactive person. At least Avery would read how sad she was and mabye get off his behind and stop being a jerk. Avery tells Gilly he does not want anymore children. Well, he does sleep with her. She never gets pregnant so he, what, pulls out or something? Did he really not want more children ever and that is fine with Gilly? The story begins with the marraige and ends exactly one year later. And no baby. It would have been nice for the story to end with a possible baby. The baby issue bothered me as well as Gilly sitting around and being so unhappy. And her husband was Irish. Did he have an accent? You would never know it.

Rating:
Summary: It made me laugh! It made me cry!
Review: "A Family For Gillian" by Catherine Blair is not (thank goodness)the typical Regency romance novel. Our heroine, Gillian, marries Viscount Prescott, an Irish landowner, a widower with 3 young children. Gilly had set out to ruin herself in London to bypass her Mother's plans for a great marriage. While she was indeed "ruined", after recieving a note from Prescott asking her to marry him, sight unseen, she decides to marry him as she senses his loneliness from the letter. Prescott wants to marry again for the sake of his children. Poor Gilly seems to spend her time trying to live up to the memory of the near perfect first wife, Elizabeth. The story focus's in on Gilly's attempts to be good mother to the children (who are not pleased by her presence, except for the youngest, handicapped daughter), and a mate to her husband. Unfortunately Avery (Viscount Prescott)is still in love with his wife and has no intention of consummating the marriage; he thinks Gilly is ruined thereby he is not denying her the chance at the physical side of romance. But she is innocent and does eventually admit that to her husband. He does feel guilty, then, about the sort of odd marriage. But why such an unnatural marriage? A bit too extreme.

What I liked about the story was it was different. Back in that time of history, it was pretty normal for women to marry men not only to give birth to the prescribed heir but also, since women died in childbirth, to become mothers to the widowers children. Regency romances shy away from that. It was not all shy maidens and great matches back then. I was also pleased that Gilly and her husband do sleep together. That was interesting, their relationship before and after. Did he still mourn his first wife after Gilly and he slept together? As in the traditional regency romance, sex is not described at all thereby still being "sweet". Perhaps a detail or two would not have been awful, but you get the sense that Gilly is a normal, desiring woman and her husband realizes this. But he is pretty cool to her and so is Jane, the oldest daughter. In one scene, Gilly is so depressed and lonely she writes to her Mother asking to come home (a letter she throws out). Later, that same day after a fight, Prescott comes to her room and finds the letter he wrote Gilly asking to marry him. It would be have made more sense for him to find the letter Gilly wrote to her Mom. Gilly was so sad. She loved Prescott, and says this horrible cliche, that she loves him and is unhappy but would also be unhappy not to see him so might as well be unhappy with him. Seems so pathetic and out of character for a woman like Gilly who was a rather proactive person. At least Avery would read how sad she was and mabye get off his behind and stop being a jerk. Avery tells Gilly he does not want anymore children. Well, he does sleep with her. She never gets pregnant so he, what, pulls out or something? Did he really not want more children ever and that is fine with Gilly? The story begins with the marraige and ends exactly one year later. And no baby. It would have been nice for the story to end with a possible baby. The baby issue bothered me as well as Gilly sitting around and being so unhappy. And her husband was Irish. Did he have an accent? You would never know it.

Rating:
Summary: not the usual fare, but enjoyable nevertheless
Review: If you think that "A Family For Gillian" by Catherine Blair is the usual run of the mill Regency romance novel in which a badly scarred widower marries again for the sake of his children, and where the new wife spends all her time trying to live up to the memory of the near perfect first wife, and where the dead first wife is finally proved to be a real shrew, think again. "A Family For Gillian" is unique in that while Viscount Prescott Avery does indeed marry again in order to provide his three children with a mother, and the romance novel does focus on Gillian's attempts to be good mother to the children and a helpmate to her husband, the whole 'the-first-wife-was-a-real-witch' motif is refreshingly absent.

Gillian Hartwell has decided that the mother's idea of the 'right' husband and her own are vastly different. And so she sets out to ruin herself (a little) socially. Unfortunately, her plan works only all too well, and she is completely ruined. And so Gillian has little choice but to accept the marriage proposal that Viscount Prescott Avery makes via a letter. His loneliness and his obvious need of a wife and mother moves Gillian, and she hopefully sets off for Ireland to start her new life. Unfortunately (again) there were several things that Avery left out in his letter -- the fact that he was very much in love with his wife, has yet to get over her death, and that he has no immediate intention of consummating the marriage; and that his children are incredibly hostile to the notion of their father marrying again. Definitely, Gillian has her work cut out for her. But with patience, kindness and compassion, Gillian sets out to win the hearts of her new family. It proves to be hard going, but she has hopes of succeeding with the children at least. Now, if she can only convince their father that he needs her tender care as well...

The novel takes place over the space of a year; and the pacing of the novel is as careful and as restrained as is Gillian's handling of her highly fractious family. Catherine Blair does a wonderful job of portraying Gillian's determination to win her new family's acceptance, the setbacks she suffers, and her uncertainty in wondering if she is doing the right thing. Blair also does a wonderful job of portraying the guilt that Avery feels because he is beginning to appreciate Gillian and all she has to offer; and all the emotional upheaval these disloyal thoughts are causing him. And while this is a romance novel that deals with the love that blossoms between Gillian and Avery, the focus of this novel is more that of family -- the healing of the wound that death causes, and the forging of a new ties and relationships.

"A Family For Gillian" is not quite the usual Regency fare, but I found myself enjoying this somewhat grown-up book, that didn't deal with the usual Regency preoccupations of a London Season, dresses, and beaux; and I found myself completely empathising with Gillian, and rooting for her to succeed in her quest to win her new family's collective hearts. And I definitely approved of the fact that Blair allowed for Avery to appreciate the differences between Gillian and his first wife, Elizabeth, without the usual trashing of Elizabeth's character. That was a definite twist for the better.

If you're looking for something a little different from the usual, "A Family For Gillian" should definitely satisfy.

Rating:
Summary: Her Best Yet!
Review: Loved the story and especially how Gillian related to the children and always keeps their welfare in good focus! Although sometimes Prescott seems to doubt this.
It is a delight to find a man portrayed with an interest in his children for this time period and not as a lecher or a rake [although there is a fascination in taming a dangerous and unpredictable man]
I have always wondered how a story could be handled with a woman taking over the care of another woman's children in this time frame.
I really enjoy using a good Regency to take away the sour taste sometimes left by the contemporary novels and do recommend this as a very enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Her Best Yet!
Review: Ms Blair's latest work "A Family for Gillian" is truly her best yet! She beautifully develops the personalities of the children and their complex interactions with Gillian. Blair's characters' dialogues- which are always outstanding -are magnificent in this work. The book has some surprises too.

Rating:
Summary: Three stars may be a little generous so I'm giving it two
Review: Other reviewers have summed up the plot for this novel and, if better handled, it could have been a wonderful story. My problem with this book was that the characters were two dimensional, somewhat over-drawn and the hero was so spineless that I wanted to cringe. Here we have a wealthy aristocrat who seems unable to make any sort of realistic parenting decisions. Therefore, his children are spoilt, ill-behaved and rude (in an era when children were "seen and not heard") and yet he seems to be unwilling or unable to deal with the problem. So Viscount Avery marries our heroine, Gillian, to provide his children with a mother and then refuses to allow her to do her "job". Avery seemed to me to be an unattractive sort of person with a weak personality and no real sexual pull.

I have some quarrels with the fact that the author gets titles wrong - eg. "Lord Prescott Avery" instead of Prescott, Viscount Avery. Also, the author makes a big scene out of Gillian cooking the Christmas pudding. Sorry, a wealthy viscountess would never even enter the kitchen let alone cook something. When Lord Avery considers taking up once more his political career, he is said to be going to the Parliament Houses. Really? It's "the House of Lords" or "the Lords". It was just silly little things like that I found annoying. Gillian's mother was another unlikely character who was very ill-conceived. A harridian to be sure but certainly not the sort of person you would expect to be presented as the wife of a younger son of a duke or marquess (based on the title she was given).

I felt this story showed a lack of any background research and the author showed an inability to develop sympathetic, credulous, rounded characters. I thought the idea for the plot was good but many other writers in this genre have done it and done it much better. All in all a disappointment and this one goes to the church fete bookstall.

Rating:
Summary: An Unusual Setting for a Wonderful Story
Review: This Regency Romance is refreshing in that it is set in rural Ireland, as apposed to the more usual Bath or London, and Catherine Blair does a wonderful job of portraying country life in Regency Ireland without resorting to sterotype. Even without the benefit of an interesting setting, it is a wonderful story. The characters are very real and refuse to adhere to the common character-types that can be found in lesser works. This is Blair's best work by far. The children in the story are cute, but not too cute and the developing romance between Prescott and Gillian grows very naturally. This book is definitely a keeper and I am already eagerly awaiting Catherine's next novel!!!!

Rating:
Summary: It made me laugh! It made me cry!
Review: Wonderful and touching. I loved how we dropped right in the middle-just one week before "ruined" Gillian is to wed Prescott. Every person is well portrayed, warts and all.

The children act real and "not perfect," though near the end, the three year old seems too advanced. Prescott is reserved but only "just so," while still having an adult relationship with his wife. They have lively quarrels. Everyone acts mature, still having fun but not silly as in many Regencies. The extended family members, such as the overbearing mother and sister-in-law, add a superb dimension!

For laughs, wait until you read the Christmas pudding scene! A "not-to-miss" enjoyable read.