CBR2 Book 46: "Friday's Child" by Georgette Heyer

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Page count: 432 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Date begun: April 21st, 2010
Date finished: April 25th, 2010

Vicount Sheringham, known affectionately to everyone in his acquaintance as Sherry, proposes to the Incomparable of the season, the lovely Miss Isabella Milborne, and is summarily rejected. As his inheritance is in a trust until he turns 25, or he marries, and he is in rather dire financial straits, he needs a wife quickly, and after running into Miss Hero Wantage, a kindly orphan girl who has adored him all his life, he decides to run off with her and make her his wife.

Sherry's friends are rather surprised by his impetuous marriage, but the lovely Hero, who is young and inexperienced, but also very generous, charms them all, and they are soon determined to protect and take care of her. Having grown up the penniless relative at a cousin's, facing a future as a governess, Sherry's offer of marriage to Hero is a dream come true. She is only 17, however, and not used to either the polite or impolite society of London. The rather hard-living Viscount and his many friends are also not the best role models a young lady could have. Hero, very swiftly nicknamed Kitten, and subsequently called this by nearly everyone for the rest of the book, keeps getting into embarrassing situations, the young couple both run up rather a lot of debt and while fond of his pretty little wife, Sheringham does not seem to actually know her very well.

I absolutely adore some of Heyer's books, she writes so very well, and I have previously mentioned the debt modern romance writers everywhere owe to her. According to Wikipedia, Friday's Child was Heyer's own favourite. I'm sorry to say I can't share her sentiment. While amusing and charming, like all her books, I had a bit of trouble actually engaging with the characters. Hero absolutely adores her husband, and can't very well speak out against him, since he rescued her from a life of servitude as a governess, but her blind worship of him gets a bit tiresome. Even more so, Sherry's absolute selfishness and failure to realize both that his young wife hangs on his every word, both for good or ill, and that once he's married he needs to mature and embrace his responsibilities. He does eventually clue in to the fact that he's an idiot, but it takes a bit too long for my tastes.

What saves the book for me is in large part Sherry's various friends and cronies, who are all amusing and colourful. Especially amusing is Lord George Wrotham, a rival of Sherry's for Miss Milborne's affections, who broods and pines and challenges other men to duels for the slightest perceived offence to him. Who the Incomparable Miss Milborne eventually chooses is a subplot in the book which also takes its time coming to a satisfying resolution. In comparison to so many other of Heyer's books that held vivid characters and engaging stories, this one just failed to deliver to the same degree.

CBR2 Book 7: "Bath Tangle" by Georgette Heyer

Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd.
Page count: 320 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars
Date begun: November 26th, 2009
Date finished: November 27th, 2009

For those who may not have heard of her, Georgette Heyer was a British novelist who in her long career wrote 30 historical romance novels and 12 crime thrillers. She was greatly inspired by Jane Austen, and is probably the reason why Regency romance is now a genre onto itself. Heyer's romances, unlike today's modern, quite often very raunchy stories, are more in the vein of Austen, in that the characters are created with wit and charm, and the dialogue sparkles. The hero and heroine may kiss at the end, but there is nothing even vaguely like sex scenes in them.
Bath Tangle was written in the latter half of her career, and features, not at all unusual for a romance novel, a redheaded, fiery-tempered heroine, and a dark, swarthy, rich and arrogant hero. 25-year-old Lady Serena Carlow has just lost her father, the Earl of Spenborough. Her cousin inherits the estate, as her father left no sons, just a widow younger than his fiesty and strong-willed daughter. Lady Serena is shocked to realize, that her father has placed all her inheritance in trust, and her former fiancée Ivo Barrasford, the Marquis of Rotherham, is to be her guardian. She will only gain control of her fortune once she is married, and Rotherham has to consent to the union before such an event can occur.

Serena was engaged to Rotherham years previously, but broke it off with him a month before the wedding, because all they did was quarrel. She has known him all her life, and has great affection for him, but every time they are in the same room, sparks fly. This is partly due to the fact that Rotherham does not let Serena boss him around, as she is wont to do everyone else. He is greatly amused by the Earl's will and testament, but promises Serena he will be a sensible guardian to her.

After living with her young and lovely step-mother Fanny in the dower-house on the estate, the two young women realize that they are both bored to death, and decide to move to Bath, where there is more of a varied society, and Serena does not need to annoy herself over every change her cousin, the new Earl, is making to her former home. In Bath, Serena soon meets up with the only man she claims to have ever loved, a young army officer who after seven years has become a Major. Major Kirkby is stunned to have met his former love again, and seems just as much in love with her as before, only now their stations are not quite as far removed from each other as they once were. He becomes secretly engaged to Serena, who is quite happy with the idea of becoming his wife, until she discovers that Rotherham is engaged to a 17-year-old debutante.

Unusually in a romance, the hero does not feature all that prominently in the story at all. As in most romances, it is obvious from the start that Rotherham and Serena are meant to be, no two people argue that vehemently and passionately in romance without getting together at the end. Bath Tangle also explores a common fate of many women in Regency society - having to marry a much older man because family and society expects you to make a good match, no matter how big the age difference. Fanny keeps assuring Serena and everyone else that Spenborough was a most considerate husband, but she is clearly very distressed at the thought of an innocent 17-year-old marrying the much older Rotherham, obviously not out of love, but because of her ambitious mama's wishes. Serena's grief at her father's passing, and having to move out of the home she grew up in, simply because she is unmarried and her father did not provide male heirs, is also well written.

Bath Tangle will not go down as one of my favourite Heyer novels, but it was a quick and enjoyable read, as always.