Belle's Beau (Signet Regency Romance) [Paperback]

Gayle Buck (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signet Regency Romance | Publication Date: December 12, 2000

Miss Annabelle Weatherstone is making her first foray into the gaiety of the London Season-taking the place of her twin, Cassandra. Before long, Belle catches the eye of Lord Adam Ashdon-but her resemblance to her sister sparks a case of mistaken identity that may throw the lord for a loop!

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Of all the talents in the genre, none sparkle more brightly." -- Romantic Times

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Signet (December 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451201973
• ISBN-13: 978-0451201973
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 3.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,964,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good sequel, December 20, 2000

By 

[e-mail] (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Belle's Beau (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

This is the sequel to "Cassandra's Deception", the story of twins who, upon discovering each other's existence, switch places. In that book Cassandra finds love, in this one Miss Annabelle Weatherstone travels to London to enjoy the season that her twin has decided to forego in light of her recent engagement.

Adam Ashdon, conscious that he is the last of his line, has returned to London to find a bride before war breaks out again on the continent. On convalescent leave a year ago in Bath he met a young lady whose image has stayed before him in the intervening months. He intends to leave London for Bath to meet her again and further his suit. To his surprise, he finds her galloping her gelding across Hyde Park one morning. Delighted to renew the acquaintance, he begins to court her, much to her delight. He never imagines, of course, that it was her twin sister Cassandra he conversed with in Bath, and Belle, our heroine, never dreams that he does not know she has a twin.

Such is the big misunderstanding that drives the plot. As misunderstandings go, it is a realistic one, and is quite well handled by the author - there is never a point at which the characters appear stupid for not realising what is going on, but rather the misunderstanding continues because all parties believe the obvious rather than searching for explanations. One does wish that the hero would make more inquiries when he finds himself puzzled by Belle's seeming memory lapse of their time in Bath, but that he doesn't is quite understandable.

Ms Buck's style is clear and competent, though there are patches where the reader feels she is treading water to fill space. Belle's inferiority complex, which is based on her perception of her sister's perfection and her treatment by their aunt and uncle, is never resolved or even confronted, which is a disturbing factor in the book, realistic though it might be. Overall, Ms Buck has created a very young, very insecure heroine here, which is refreshing in light of all the feisty bluestockings Regency readers have had of late. Our hero is less well-developed - the plot causes him to disappear from the narrative for some pages, which hampers our understanding of his character.

"Belle's Beau" is very much a 3 star book - well worth reading if you like Ms Buck's work, but by no means her best effort. It is a lighter Regency, and a very good sequel to "Cassandra's Deception".

3.0 out of 5 stars A "Regency Romance", November 12, 2003

By 

"adamsmts2" (Northeast USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Belle's Beau (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

If you read the definition of the Regency Romance, it will say that the book tells the story of a young girl's introduction into society which ends in marriage. Every now and then, I come across a Regency Romance which is just that.

This romance has no dastardly villians, no spies, no magic or time travel, no murders or thefts, and not even an elopement. The hero and heroine are utterly conventional, well bred, and not witty. That being said, I have to admire Ms. Buck for taking on such a task as writing a book in which so little happens and making it pleasing and a least somewhat plausible.

2.0 out of 5 stars Yet another mistaken identity/twin plot - yawn!, July 29, 2003

By 

Dr W. Richards "wmr-uk" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Belle's Beau (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

This book is the sequel to one called Cassandra's Deception and, while it might be helpful to have read that before this one, I had no trouble working out the plot of the earlier book. It's summarised several times before the half-way mark of Belle's Beau.

Belle and Cassandra are identical twins who were separated as infants (in what seems to be quite an incredible set of circumstances). Belle was brought up by her reclusive grandfather, and Cassandra by an aunt and uncle who live mainly in London. On meeting again, the twins performed a switch, which eventually resulted in Belle's being invited to London to be launched for a Season. And this is the story of this book.

At the same time as Belle arrives in London, Lord Ashton (*not* Lord Adam Ashton!), a viscount, arrives home from the wars determined to marry. He remembers a young lady whom he talked to while recuperating in Bath the previous year, and he wants to meet her again with a view to marrying her. Unfortunately for him, that was Cassandra. And when he sees Belle, of course he thinks that she is that lady...

So he pursues Belle in the belief that she's the one he spent hours with the previous year and should have proposed to. And the big misunderstanding of the story is based around the fact that, since Belle never refers to Bath and looks bemused when he mentions the city, Ashton must have meant nothing to her.

There is an unsatisfactory sub-plot based around Belle feeling that she never quite manages to match up to Cassandra, but this is never resolved; in fact, a pivotal scene is broken off part-way through and we are never shown the resolution.

And even when all the mistaken identity stuff is finally sorted out and it looks as if all is well, Buck throws another very silly spanner in the works. By that stage, I was rolling my eyes in disbelief.

The other question is: just which twin is Ashton in love with? Cassandra is the one he really knows, and for most of their courtship he thinks that Belle is Cassandra. They may both enjoy riding, but I never got the impression that they had much in common otherwise.

Irritating elements: Buck's continual use of `misses' when `young lady' would be the appropriate term, and her very, very repetitive prose, telling us again and again things we already know. She mentions something in narrative, then says it again, and then - in case we still haven't got the message - a character says it in dialogue. That just got tedious.

A one-time skim-read only.

wmr-uk