Customer Reviews

Commercial Enterprise

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

 

 

In September, 1984, when this book was first published, the selling price was $2.50 US. The author, Sandra Heath, had already seen at least seven Regency novels published by Signet prior to this book. In her native England, there had been six or seven traditional historical novels published as well. Sixteen years later, I believe her to be the only author who has consistently published top-notch, traditional Regency novels, three or four of them a year, and all for the same publisher, during the intervening years.

The only surprising thing about that prior statement is that no other publisher has grabbed her away, for there can be few authors writing today with such an astonishing command of her craft. Her research is impeccable: if a person or place or event is mentioned, you may be sure it might have happened in real life exactly as she has written it. Her characters are true to their time and place, and anachronisms do NOT fly from their mouths with reckless abandon.

Perhaps the secret is in the details. Living in England certainly helps, but it also takes a vast array of books, contemporary to the time being written about, to provide the minutiae of every day life with which her books are imbued. One is never left unsatisfied at the conclusion of a book by Sandra Heath. Styles have changed in publishing over the years, and she has changed with the times; yet she's never lowered her exceedingly high standards.

A Commercial Enterprise centers around a celebratory banquet honoring the Duke of Wellington, in the spring of 1818. There are other sub-plots, as well, in addition to the main romance. It's a lovely, long, satisfying book, 286 pages, to be exact, with little more than a kiss or two between the hero and heroine, and yet, I found it very hard to put down. Sandra Heath--I salute you, as a true exponent of the Regency Romance. I hope you produce another 50 books for us to read and savor.

Like the other reviewer, I also would like to salute Ms. Heath for her job well done. This was an incredible story telling a country miss tried to fulfill her bequeath and became a successful business woman in the ton. There were tender loves from two heroes for our entrepreneur lady heroine. There were magnificently written wedding banquet, heroic welcoming dinner, twist and turns of jealousies, and conspiracies. Ms. Heath has obviously done a tremendous amount of research especially on the operation of the hotel enterprise in the 17th century. Everything sounded so real, believable, and wonderful. The only minor bone to pick was that Duke Wellington was so quick to judge it made this national hero sound a bit irrational. Nonetheless, it was a engrossing read. I highly recommended.