Customer Reviews

April Lady

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Contrary to another reviewer, I absolutely enjoyed this book (then again, it is a Heyer novel). Because of its light-hearted romantic approach in the midst of "the devil's own scrape," this is one of my first recommendations to readers who I am introducing to Heyer.

Poor Cardross is in love with his wife, but doesn't know how to show it so very well. To make things worse, it's just not the thing to sit in your wife's pocket, and the servants always seem to walk in whenever he wants to display affection.

Nellie, always aware of the fact the she had to marry Cardross/his money since her family didn't have a feather to fly with, finds herself equally attached to her husband, but wondering how she can show him that it's not his money she loves (her pockets-to-let spending isn't very convincing). Due to well-meaning but careless comments from his younger sister, Nellie is aware of his past "liaisons", and figures that his current reserve may very well be due to the same.

The difference in the ages ( 30's vs. 19) accounts for much of the misunderstanding. He's a Man of the Town and she's still a bit of a green girl. She is not the cleverest of heroine's but very likable. He is not the completely rakish fellow one loves to laugh at, but the reader feels that he is indeed the strong and wise hero able to smooth over all the heroine's mistakes.

Her unwise choices create many doubts in her husband's mind that he is trying to overlook. His overlooking makes him reserved, causing Nellie to fear his final rejection. Her foolish but generous use of money has created a bit of tension, and sets them up for an amusing conflict that is carried through the book, with laughable little twists-and-turns until the end.

Also, the secondary characters - Cardross's friend and younger sister - add tons of color and wit to the story.

Once again, Georgette Heyer takes the reader on a rambuncious ride with laughs and surpises at every twist and turn and doesn't stop until the very last page. This is a great novel for first-time readers of Regency stories, as the plot and character descriptions sweep you away even as you acclimate yourself to the idioms, mannerisms and delightful dialogue of the English Ton. One of Heyer's more outlandishly comedic novels, you will find yourself laughing at Nell's antics as she tries to settle her debts, which in and of themselves do not seem terribly outrageous but taken in the context of the time period are undoubtably hilarious. I challenge you to be able to put this one down once you realize Nell's predictament -- and wonder how it will resolve.

If this were anyone but Heyer, I'd probably give it 3 stars. Her ability to write vivid characters, and her sense of fun, earn this one an extra star.

I haven't checked, but I'm sure this must be one of her earlier Regencies. You can see her experimenting with characters who become archetypes, like the gamester brother, or the perfect gentleman friend who supports the heroine in her trials.

She includes some details that don't appear in later novels, hinting at the darker side of Regency society.

My biggest problem is the hero, Lord Cardross. Her heroes often have a harsh streak, but he comes across as too harsh and cold, without the humor that usually softens her heroes. He and Nell are at outs for most of the story, which doesn't help.

He's a man in his thirties, while Nell is barely nineteen, and that makes them an uneven match. And he has an unkind and ungracious habit of baiting Nell for marrying him for his money. Since she came from a noble but bankrupt family, the rules of their world dictated she didn't have a choice. He knows that as well as she does. It's unpleasant to watch him holding it over her head.

Since Cardross isn't the most sympathetic hero, it's hard to identify with Nell's love for him. She can seem like a bit of a twit. That's especially true since she's got a debt she won't tell her husband about, and all kinds of silly, frustrating scruples about how to get the money to pay it back. She's not all bad, but she reminds me of the kind of female Heyer satirized in later books.

Also strange is that we are asked to believe they both fell in love at first site, and that neither one of them has even suspected it, even though the marriage has been consummated for several months. Possible, I suppose, but not pleasant to think about.

What saves this story for me is the tempestuous Letty, Cardross' half sister and ward. She's more of a risk taker than Heyer's later young ladies. Of course she is head over heels in love with an unsuitable young man. Letty's attempts to get her own way and marry him before he sails abroad are very entertaining. The lover himself is certainly not what you'd expect.

In short, this is not Heyer at the top of her form. For the true fan it is worth collecting, and certainly worth re-reading, but not as often as her best.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
I did not enjoy reading about the heroine Nell. She did too many stupid things. She was not honest with Giles her husband which resulted in inaccurate assumptions by both of them. They each thought the other didn't care, so they acted in stand-offish ways, which reinforced the beliefs that the other didn't care. How did this start? Nell's mother was ignorant and told a lie. The mother told Nell that Giles only married her for convenience, would never love her, would always have a mistress, and Nell should not show her true feelings or any insecurities. From the stupidity of youth Nell believed her and felt she could not go to Giles with her problems, and she never let him know that she loved him. Nell avoided being with Giles for various reasons. In one scene, Giles wanted Nell to stay home with him, but Nell said she wanted to go to a play with Letty. She really didn't want to go, but she chose to go because she feared Letty might argue with Giles if they stayed home. This was not following Nell's feelings, and it was a stupid reason (IMO). Another problem was Nell frequently acting afraid of Giles, and he saw this. Giles loved Nell, but he never told her. He believed she married him only for his money which was not true. The plot starts with Nell telling a lie to Giles. Then she had to keep making up more lies to cover previous lies which snowballed into a mess by the end of the book. At one point Giles was angry at Nell believing she stole something which was not true, but she didn't deny it which was another lie. This did not work for me. I was more annoyed than enjoyed.

Another example of stupidity: midway in the story Felix offered to loan Nell the money, and she said no. I'm shaking my head - what? She was desperate and that would have solved her problem.

On my profile page, I have a list of pet peeves. This story used three of them: (1) conflicts due to vague communication and inaccurate assumptions (2) lying with does not fit with one's feelings and motivations and (3) heroine doing stupid things. Sometimes a small amount of these can work, but this story had too much.

I loved the narrator, Eve Matheson. She spoke slowly, was easy to understand, and had such a pleasant, lovely voice. She's my favorite female narrator so far.

STORY BRIEF:
Nell's brother Dysart is an irresponsible gambler. He borrows 300 pounds from Nell which means she can't pay her clothing bills. She doesn't tell Giles that Dysart borrowed from her. She doesn't tell Giles she has an unpaid bill of 300 pounds. She goes to Dysart for help, and they consider and attempt various schemes to get the money.

A second story is about Giles' half-sister Letty who is 17 and wants to marry Jeremy who has no money. Giles is against the marriage at this time due to Letty's age. But he will support it in a couple of years. This is unacceptable to Letty who is furious and plans her own schemes. Letty is selfish, foolish, and very stupid.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook length: 9 hours. Narrator: Eve Matheson. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: 1813 England. Book Published: 1957. Genre: regency romance.

This is one of the lesser visited plots where the main characters are already married and we follow the story as they fall in love.

At times I wanted to shake the heroine for being such an idiot and the hero for being so reserved. If they had just opened up to each other and talked everything out, there would have been no problems. Of course, there would have been no story, either.

That said, I usually don't care for these misunderstanding-based plots but, somehow, my irritation was overruled by my enjoyment of the story.