Customer Reviews

Miss Billings Treads the Boards (Signet Regency Romance)

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I had a different take on this than previous reviewers. I am currently reading older Carla Kelly novels as I came to this author late. This novel is the happiest Kelly novel I've read so far, with nice people and no real villains. I liked the hero, and felt he was giving Kate Billings a chance to gain self confidence, to learn that she was a capable and competent woman who didn't need him to rescue her, just as her experience with the Bladesworth troupe of actors allowed her to shed some of her own prejudices about class. Miss Billings Treads the Boards is a fun read, well worth tracking down.

The review below from bookjunkies encapsulates the very mixed feelings I have about this book. It's very readable, and I enjoyed it while I was reading; I liked Kate Billings and the troupe of actors very much. Hal Hampton, aka the Marquess of Graydon (not Everdon) was in some respects amusing, and even solicitous. But I am in complete agreement with the other reviewer: his reason for not helping Kate and the troupe out of their mess was not at all convincing. It seemed like a very convenient plot device for dragging out the story, and no more than that. I'm not at all surprised that Kate gave Hal a black eye when she discovered that he'd lied about the threat to his life!

Other aspects of the plot, such as the marriage certificate, were extremely predictable; it was simply a matter of counting the pages until they happened.

All in all, if you want to read a *really* good Carla Kelly, find Reforming Lord Ragsdale or Mrs Drew Plays Her Hand!

I have mixed feelings about any Carla Kelly book that I do not quite like. While the heroine Miss Katherine Billings and her predicament are delightfully and sympathetically portrayed, and the acting troupe and family that Miss Billings falls in with are believable and all-too-human secondary characters, the hero a Marquess is a real disappointment.

Warning - spoilers ahead.

The problem I have with this book is that the hero acts selfishly throughout the book, and justifies his actions late into the story by claiming that he wants to test her mettle before marrying her. At that point, I could have slapped him cheerfully, and wished that Katherine Billings had up-ended him (again) for another suitor. Alas, unlike in LIBBY'S LONDON MERCHANT there was no other suitor in the offing, not for Miss Billings anyway.

The book starts out with a bored and overweight Marquess escaping town to avoid criticism by his sister and others (including his valet who irritates him, and me as the reader). Ah yes, the Marquess also has his sister's son as the heir [note to author: Dear Miss Kelly, this rather spoils your plot, even worse than in MISS MILTON SPEAKS HER MIND]. Since his journey up North and the exact route he takes is supposedly a secret, it is a shock to him (and to me) when he is attacked by pretend-highwaymen who are in reality his disinherited sister's son (aforesaid nephew who is heir to the Marquessate and the fortune) and his dismissed valet. Now you would think that the reasons for this attack are quite reasonable, wouldn't you? But no, the nephew and the valet want the Marquess to be grateful to them and by staging a mock-attack, they hope to win back his favor. Duh! And they leave said Marquess bleeding to death (or nearly so) in a country lane, while they get hopelessly lost looking for a doctor.

The Marquess then staggers into a barn, where it turns out that the lady he is looking for, Miss Katherine Billings has been pressed into service with an acting troupe. [To cut a long story short, she got off at the wrong stop and mistook the waiting carriage for that of her lecherous would-be employer; the actor waiting at that stop mistook her for an actress. She prefers to remain with the troupe temporarily rather than go to her employers, since she has been warned on the stagecoach trip that the husband is a notorious lecher. Miss Billings, you see, is penniless and homeless]. I won't tell you why the Marquess would be looking for Miss Billings, but that is clear from the first chapter.

Ah well. The Marquess's identity is revealed to the troupe, although he will go by the name of Hal Hampton. He pretends to be in fear of his life, from his villainous nephew and ex-valet; they undertake to care for him and to restore him to health, and carry him off up North. In the meantime, a hue-and-cry has been raised for the missing Marquess. The Marquess, now Hal Hampton, is pretending to be the husband of Miss Billings (now temporarily Miss Hampton) and having a fine time getting into shape with the troupe. Enter a Bow Street Runner, who is not deceived by the act, and whose purposes are uncertain to the troupe. Has he been employed by the Marquess's solicitors and the estate trustees? Or has he been employed by the Marquess's would-be killers? They take no chances and protect Hal Hampton from discovery, even when offered a magnificent reward.

The theatrical scenes are well-done, showing the progress of a small-time troupe with genuine talent through the North and their disastrous ending in town. Until they are saved by their own hard work, coupled with Miss Billings's own decision to help out. [How? Read the book]. Everything, or almost everything, ends happily for the actors, with the arrival of two great Regency names - Kemble and Kean.

But I digress from the love story, such as it is, between Hal Hampton (aka Henry Tewkesbury-Hampton, Marquess of Everdon) and his mock-wife Miss Katherine Billings. Is it really love when the hero acts selfishly almost through the entire novel? It is true that he helps out nobly with the troupe in staging their brilliant production, but he does so because it will be "fun" (and incidentally, help him get into shape). Not because he really wants to help out. His argument at the end of the book is that he wanted to see the troupe and Miss Billings win their way out of disaster through their own efforts. Not bad - except that his own example has hardly been one to inspire anyone.

My summary at the end of the book was that this story had a great heroine, a memorable set of secondary characters (with two romances among troup members thrown in) - and an unlikeable hero with some appalling friends and relatives. Even the valet comes across as rather more decent. The plot lines involving the Marquess's disappearance from society and his attackers make little or no sense. It might make more sense to someone less critical than me.

Rating = 3.7 [upgraded to a 4]
P.S. This is so far the lowest rating I have assigned to any Kelly book.

I just finished reading this and really liked it. Kelly continues to employ her wonderful characterization and relationship development in this novel, as with all the other Kelly novels I've read. I do agree that there was a major flaw in the book when Hal could have easily solved the problem. I felt like the reason he gave - wanting everyone to be able to stand on their own two feet didn't work well in this novel, and I agree that it probably WAS used because the book needed to be longer, plus there needed to be more conflict between the H and h. As another reviewer mentioned, Kelly uses that same device again in With This Ring, but it works there, because it comes from a hero who has spent years working really hard - in addition, that hero is unwell (and therefore insensible) and can't fix the problem immediately like Hal can. But the thing is, I still like Hal, and I really like Hal and Kate together. I can forgive the flaw in the plot because Hal at least recognizes his own flaws and does genuinely love Kate. I also agree with the reviewer who pointed out that this likely IS Kelly's happiest book. I think it's the first one I've read that contains a former soldier who doesn't have PTSD. I enjoy Kelly's depth and the fact that she doesn't shy away from writing honest reactions to life, but it's nice to have a novel that's a bit fluffier, too, once in awhile. Because it's decent fluff - not brainless fluff. I think I'd put this on par with Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career. In my opinion, any "lousy" book of Carla Kelly's is still so much better than 95% of the romance novels out there.

Now, who else was bothered by the inaccurate depiction of the hero on the cover? I guess pudgy, balding guys don't sell books.

Miss Billings Treads the Boards is a frothy delight. Mrs. Kelly has a gift for creating unlikely settings and characters for her stories, rich character development, and protagonists who are kind-hearted, decent, and all-too-human. She also tends to bring together couples who are made for one another and gives them the time, trials, and plot twists they need in order to mature and cement their relational bonds.

Although I like Miss Billings Treads the Boards, I do not think it is one of Kelly's best. I agree with other reviewers who are bothered by the nonsensical holdup, and by Hal Hampton's decision not to help when he could easily do so. For the purposes of a strong plot I see why it was handled this way, but it did create a problem in other ways. In Miss Billings, I see the beginnings of With This Ring (Regency Romance, Signet), which Kelly published in 1997, four years after Miss Billings. In With This Ring, a few of the themes and situations used in Miss Billings reappear, fully realized. With This Ring is one of my favorite Regency era novels.

Miss Billings Treads the Boards has what it takes for an enjoyable read, and even though he was remarkably selfish, I found a male lead who was overweight and on the path to going bald refreshing!