A Country Courtship (Zebra Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: sympathetic hero & heroine make this a worthwhile read
Review: He thinks that the woman he's enchanted with is a servant; while she thinks that the rugged farmer she's fallen for is a farm manager. Of course neither of them is who they claim to be, and they both have far more in common with each other than they would have thought possible. But will they be able to look past all the lies and evasions in order to realise this once the truth is out?

Miss Jane Dresden is being pressured by her mother and aunt to accept a proposal of marriage from Lord Geraint Haven, the Viscount Haven. Now Jane is not your typical Regency miss: her dearest dream is to live quietly in the country, far from the maddening fashionable fribbles that make up 'good' society. Unfortunately, both her mother and her aunt are bent on marrying her off credibly. And they want Jane to make a journey into the wilds of Yorkshire, in order to meet this viscount. Jane is aghast at the thought of having to marry a man whom rumour has it, is a cold and bumbling clod, and who appears too high in the instep to find a wife for himself. Desperate but determined, Jane manages to wring a promise from her mother that if after a few weeks of getting to know the viscount, if Jane is still of a mind to refuse the gentleman, she will be allowed to come home unengaged. However, she never makes it to the viscount's estate...

In the meantime, Gerry, Viscount Haven, is having his fair share of the blues. He is a rather serious minded and gruff gentleman, who is happiest when he is walking about and managing his estate and farms. He would like to marry for love, but despairs of ever finding a young lady who would share his love for the country, and who is not a superficial phony either. The constant nagging of his mother and grandmother has made him agree to meet Jane Dresden, but he has no real hopes of anything materialising there. And now the silly twit has disappeared! However, while Gerry is trying to discover what could have happened to Jane, he meets Jennie, a servant from London, who is visiting relatives in the area. Gerry is struck dumb. Here, is the very embodiment of all he ever hoped his future wife would be. Desiring to spend more time with Jennie, Gerry passes himself off as his own farm manager, and soon finds himself falling hopelessly in love with Jennie. But what a coil: the woman of his dreams is a servant! Add to that the headache that he has still not found Jane Dresden!

Things are no better at Jane's end either. Because of a series of misadventures, Jane finds herself at the viscount's backdoor, where she manages to pass herself off as the visiting Jennie (we know this from the synopsis at the back of the book). Jane soon finds herself falling in love with Gerry. But he is just a humble farm manager (or so she thinks) and whether she likes it or not, she will have to revert back to being Miss Jane Dresden again soon, and face the music. What then will happen then to her romance with Gerry?

With all these lies and evasions, I fully expected to be clicking my tongue in exasperation through out the novel. And so was rather agreeably surprised to find myself being pulled into this saga of masquerades and prevarication instead. Donna Simpson has written a tale in with two exceptionally sympathetic characters, so that it was easy to empathise and understand why Jane and Gerry behave as they do (the manner in which Jane allows the viscount to assume almost ogreish proportions in her imagination, was really nicely done). I esp liked the brilliant manner in which the authour slowly makes Jane realise how her dream of a quiet, simple country life was a pipe dream at best. There were a couple of things though that made this novel not such smooth reading. 1) the reasons why Jane behaves the way she does (running away, pretending to be a servant) is staggered out over a few chapters. I think that it would have made much smoother reading if the authour had revealed all in one go. 2) the fate of some characters are left up in the air. In particular the triangle involving Gerry's two sisters and his neighbour. And 3) Jane's initial refusal to listen to Gerry once she realises who he is. It felt almost petty, as if she was punishing him because HE discovered who she was before she learned everything herself. I'll admit to being a tad disappointed with Jane over this issue.

All in all however, "A Country Courtship" was a rather fun read. Both Gerry and Jane are not your usual type of Regency hero & heroine -- loving the country and disliking tonnish society as much as they did. And that made for a really nice change of pace. A really good read.