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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is Georgette Heyer's first pancake. She wrote it as a teen. It's a cliche later silver fork novel with an adventure overlay, showing heavy influence of Orczy and Jeffrey Farnol in particular--but she seems to have discovered that she really liked writing the rakish villain. Because, though this one has the proper ending, the villain is the best character, and she knows it . . . so she rewrote it with the very same sort of villain, but makes him the hero, in These Old Shades. She had also discovered humor and wit by then. This one is really only worth reading as a curiosity, imo.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Utterly enchanting. When I say that I like historical romance, this is exactly what I mean. “ historical fiction “written by modern authors, always smacks of modern ideals. If you’re going to get a good regency error, novel, that is true to form, you must read one that was written before feminism took over the mindset. Otherwise, you lose all the magic of chivalry. The ladies in this book are headstrong, but they are written to be as headstrong as a 17-year-old growing up in the early 1900s could imagine a woman to be. I am more partial to what I would call femininity then feminism; this book was adventurous, swashbuckling, and the romance was certainly swoon worthy.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
slow-paced
This is early Heyer - and it shows. The book takes a loooooong time to get started, and even then, keeps switching its focus to other people. Not enough witty banter between our hero and heroine, which is really honestly what I read Heyer for. Just all right.
3.5 stars
I reread [b:These Old Shades|311182|These Old Shades (Alastair-Audley, #1)|Georgette Heyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386920834l/311182._SY75_.jpg|2682162] recently and in the backnotes read that it was originally designed as a sequel to TBM, and while names and characters were eventually modified to an independent story, the roots are still very much obvious (once you know to look for them). With that information I simply had to reread TBM.
I enjoyed it so much more with the idea of the Duke of Andover being the Duke of Avon (These Old Shades). Frank Fortescue must be Hugh Davenant, of course. Lavinia is Fanny, but the Cartares brothers are the ones that really don't fit into These Old Shades (although Lavinia's and Dicky's dynamic maps very well with Fanny's and Edward's). Andrew is Rupert... and I imagine the Merivales must be the heirs of Diana and Jack.
Anyway, it was fun to revisit it with a little more context. Still not my favorite of Heyer's but still great, especially considering it was her first!
I reread [b:These Old Shades|311182|These Old Shades (Alastair-Audley, #1)|Georgette Heyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386920834l/311182._SY75_.jpg|2682162] recently and in the backnotes read that it was originally designed as a sequel to TBM, and while names and characters were eventually modified to an independent story, the roots are still very much obvious (once you know to look for them). With that information I simply had to reread TBM.
I enjoyed it so much more with the idea of the Duke of Andover being the Duke of Avon (These Old Shades). Frank Fortescue must be Hugh Davenant, of course. Lavinia is Fanny, but the Cartares brothers are the ones that really don't fit into These Old Shades (although Lavinia's and Dicky's dynamic maps very well with Fanny's and Edward's). Andrew is Rupert... and I imagine the Merivales must be the heirs of Diana and Jack.
Anyway, it was fun to revisit it with a little more context. Still not my favorite of Heyer's but still great, especially considering it was her first!