Captain Cupid Calls the Shots (Signet Regency Romance) [Mass Market Paperback]

Elisabeth Fairchild (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signet Regency Romance | Publication Date: December 1, 2000

Captain Alexander Shelbourne was known as Cupid to his friends for his uncanny marksmanship in battle. But upon meeting Miss Penny Foster, he soon knew how it felt to be struck by his namesake's arrow....

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An outstanding talent." -- Romantic Times

About the Author

Elisabeth Fairchild is half English and considers the British Isles her second home. With a degree in advertising from North Texas State University, Fairchild worked for ten years in advertising before writing full-time. She lives just outside Dallas with her best friend and husband, George, and their two dogs.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Signet (December 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451201981
• ISBN-13: 978-0451201980
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #297,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best of 2000, December 30, 2000

By 

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

This review is from: Captain Cupid Calls the Shots (Signet Regency Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)

Two warnings for potential readers:

1) Ms Fairchild's style is very distinct, and not to everyone's taste

2) This is a very sad book - deeply emotional and heavy with issues

The other reviewers have described the plot well, so I won't rehash it.

In terms of style, Ms Fairchild's work is either love it or hate it. Readers need to be patient, and need to be willing to succumb to its rich and elaborate phrasing. Ms Fairchild makes the reader work for the story, never overstating or over-explaining. I like this but I know some people find it difficult.

The landscape - Cumbria - is brilliantly rendered. It's wet, it's cold, it's rugged, it's beautiful. Without it the book would not have such an emotional pull.

"Captain Cupid Calls the Shots" is probably the most compelling rendition of shell-shock and the effects of war on soldiers that I have read in the genre. We have lots of stories of heroes returned from the Peninsula, some of them traumatised, some not, but this one makes the point well, poignantly and without undue angst.

As in "The Silent Suitor", there are some very sexy bits in here. Without the h/h engaging in anything more physical than caresses and kisses there are some very sensual moments. Sexiness in a book is all in the timing and the description, rather than in what is actually done. Ms Fairchild has complete command of this technique.

The heroine has an abiding devotion for a historical figure named Lady Anne. The interest is, as the hero suspects, unwholesome, and this is never resolved. It makes her, as heroines go, a bit weird, but probably harmless for all that. While off-putting, this is a very, very small concern.

Captain Cupid is one of the best heroes I've read in a long time. He's manly and yet sensitive, and not quick to judge others, even when the circumstantial evidence seems conclusive. He clearly loves Penny from early in the book and one senses that his devotion will not wane.

The ending, as one other reviewer pointed out, is troublesome. Not, for me, because it's badly written or orchestrated, but because it doesn't give quite the solid resolution and happy aura we expect from romances. Without giving spoilers I can't say more than that while the h/h are sorted out, the other issues in the book are not satisfactorily resolved.

Don't be fooled by the frothy title. This is a substantial book. One of the best Regencies of 2000.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent. Moving and thought provoking., April 9, 2001

By 

Susan Smith (A small rural village in the English Midlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Captain Cupid Calls the Shots (Signet Regency Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)

The other reviewers have made valid and careful comments and summed up the plot. I would only add that I found this book to be very moving and it raised some uncomfortable issues which were very well handled. I have read the "masculine" regencies, eg Cornwell, Kent, Mallinson et al, and felt that the author portrayed her two main male characters very well, particularly with respect to their experiences and feelings about their actions in the Peninsular campaign. I work with the suicidal through a well-known charity so found Val an especially poignant character who fully deserves to have his own tale told to see if he is able to redeem himself and come to terms with his experiences thereby moving on to accpetance of himself and, hopefully, ultimate happiness.

Well done, Ms Fairchild and thank you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ignore the ridiculous title & cover art, January 23, 2005

By 

S. Reader "scibarfan" (Franklin, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Captain Cupid Calls the Shots (Signet Regency Romance) (Mass Market Paperback)

The only thing the title has to do with the story is the hero's nickname, Cupid, earned for his astounding marksmanship. And the cover art is insipid, whereas the story is decidedly substantial.

Although criticisms of the heroine's near worship of Lady Anne have some foundation, the criticisms of her attachment to the child do not (or very little at least). Penny has raised the child from birth, after all. But Penny is a very interesting heroine nonetheless, and "Cupid" is a compelling hero.

The story has some very dark elements, including the effect of war upon soldiers, the way suspicion and unfounded prejudices can destroy lives, alcoholism, disease, and more. There is a wide variety of great emotional depth here, as well as romance and passion. Fairchild's descriptions created a realism to the setting that is rarely seen.

Those unhappy with the book's ending -- one that blended both realism and hope -- should read the next book in the series: Valentine's Change of Heart.

A superb book.