Customer Reviews

The Courtesan's Daughter (The Courtesan Series)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a fun and bawdy ride! Be aware that it is also not a typical romance. Acerbic wit and sly machinations abound. The Courtesan's daughter is a typically waffling 17 year old, at once enjoying her role as a debutante and rebelling against it, but Sophia, the courtesan herself, is the true centerpiece of the book. I found Sophia and her counterparts utterly fascinating. They are smart and sneaky a la Dangerous Liasons. I was thrilled to find that the unique structure of the book promises much more of Sophia and her friends and family in the future.

NOT your traditional romance! The true heroine of the story is Sophia, a femme fatale of almost mythic reputation in Regency England. Turns out they are not myths!
Courtisan's Daughter had me laughing out loud on (almost)every page! Think romantic comedy meets historical romance. The dialogue is absolutely brilliant. This book is driven by the characters, and so the plot twists are completely unexpected, but make perfect sense. This was a really fun ride! Thank you, Claudia Dain, for the most fun I've ever had reading a romance! I hope this is the first in a long, long series.

I heard the author refer to this book as a "romp," and I couldn't agree more. The playful, fast-paced back and forth between the large cast of characters will keep you turning pages and laughing as you go. Enjoyable read, well done, and lots of fun!

I absolutely loved this book! It was given to me by a friend who insisted I read Claudia Dain and that I start "in order" so she sent me The Courtesan's Daughter and I was hooked. It took me a few pages since I don't normally want to read about a courtesan but once I got to page ten....I couldn't put the book down. Claudia Dain is brilliant and clever and has greated an equally compelling world. Smart, smart writing. Witty dialogue. Fresh, strong, fascinating characters. I love how she's woven story threads together. I adore the plot lines. Love the way she can take a seemingly shallow, self-indulgent heroine and turn her inside out so that she becomes winning and lovely and heroic. If you love Jane Austen and cherish your Georgette Heyers, read Claudia Dain. She won't disappoint!

In this first book of a series, Claudia Dain masterfully introduces a small village of characters while delineating their individual virtues and flaws with a fine brush.

Ex-courtesan, widow, and diligent mother, Sophia, countess Dalby, is doing what she does best--engaging in the art of chicanery to get what she wants from a man--in this case, a husband for her daughter.

Seventeen year old daughter, Caroline, worries she lacks her mother's ability to attract men, but Caroline has been an apt student of her mother's practiced wiles and engages in her own acts of chicanery to snare the man she wishes to marry.

Any reader who enjoys wry humor will love this book written by a skilled writer who writes outside the lines.

Lady Caroline is of an age where it is time for all good little Victorian era girls with a proper upbringing, an impressive lineage and a spotless reputation to be thinking of marriage. But that impressive lineage is exactly the problem. Her late father was the Earl of Dalby. Very respected, very admired and that should have made her very marriageable. But then there was her mother. The Countess Sophia Dalby was impressive, she was admired and she was even grudgingly respected. But she had also begun her life in London as a courtesan, and the most successful and exclusive of courtesans. In the end the Earl had been so swept away he married her despite the ton's disapproval and forced her down their throats.

Caroline despairs finding a suitable husband, but Sophia is more practical. She simply buys her one. Lord Ashdon has a rather impressive pile of gambling debts and Sophia pays them off as long as he agrees to marry her daughter. Seemingly caught, he agrees. Caroline does not. She rejects him declaring she'd rather be a courtesan but later discovers that may not have been a good idea. Maybe the life of a prostitute isn't as glamorous and as easy as she thought it would be. So with her mother's advice she sets out to make him want to win her, and willing to defy his family to do it.

The book has a fair voice. The storytelling is mildly engaging and the way the story is woven makes you want to continue reading, provided you don't have anything better to do. The characters however, are tiresom and at times down right annoying. Caroline especially is trying to the patience. She does not come off as naïve and innocent, but as rather stupid and whiney. It is she who should be smacked with the silver candlestick and not Lord Ashdon. Then later the calculated way in which she is guided by Sophia to manipulate Lord Ashdon is not made up for by the simple speech he gives after they are married that a man may be cornered but he decides if he will allow himself to be caught. These machinations work for Sophia because of who she is, was and how she had been self made, they do not work for her pampered, cosseted daughter. There is little about Caroline to recommend her at all to the reader or to a suitor. Ashdon we discover to be a fairly worthy man, but even he comes out trite and tired in the end.

Oh, and the fight to prove himself worthy with her uncle was probably intended to be proof that Lord Ashdon really did want her, but simply came off ridiculous.

I personally wanted to warn Lord Ashdon only a chapter or two in to run and run fast.

Could use less wit and meandering conversation and more substance. Different from other Regency era romances but not really in a good way. I could not keep my attention on the page. I could have read Jane Austen while watching Cinemax and the effect would have been much the same.

Sophia is food for the soul. The Courtesan's Daughter has been a prize birthday present for several of my friends - and they all loved Sophia as much as I do. Ms. Dain is a polished writer with a delightful voice. I can't recommend this series highly enough.

lucie j. charles

Impetuous Lady Caroline has found herself in quite the dilemma. Having reached the age where most young ladies of her station are being courted, and likely have been offered for already, her mother's torrid past as a courtesan before marrying into nobility has greatly hindered the beautiful Caro's matrimonial prospects.

It's a good thing Caro's notorious mother has a plan. Lady Sophia has found the perfect husband for her precious daughter, and spared no expense in paying Lord Ashdon's numerous debts in order to secure his participation in her matchmaking scheme.

But Caro doesn't want a man who had to be bought for her. She wants to marry for love or not at all. When it seems to her that she's out of options, she decides to follow in her mother's scandalous footsteps. It seems like the perfect course for her - until she meets the frustrating and tempting Lord Ashdon...

Lord Ashdon can't believe the little spitfire would rather become a courtesan than his wife! Insulted beyond measure, he is determined to have her - one way or the other.

I was completely captivated by the entire cast of characters in Claudia Dain's newest release, The Courtesan's Daughter! In addition to very compelling romantic leads, Dain rounds out the cast with a bevy of intriguing supporting characters that add to the story without detracting from Caro and Ashdon's romance at all. In fact, the author very deftly created a craving in this reviewer for sequels starring several of them.

Caro's irrepressible nature is absolutely divine! This heroine definitely knows how to keep her hero on his toes - aided by her mother's expert tutelage, of course. Watching the beautiful and charming Caro make Ashdon's head spin time after time made for riveting romance.

Ashdon is an interesting hero - he has his fair share of issues, but when push comes to shove, he can be counted on to do what is right, proving he is a fitting husband for Caro.

Throughout the story, the Lady Sophia's machinations are the spoon that stirs the pot. As the tale progresses, it becomes apparent that every step of this unconventional courtship has been by Caro's mother's ingenious design. I cannot help but believe this master plotter will figure greatly in any sequels published to The Courtesan's Daughter.

In fact, I heard straight from Dain herself that she is presently working on the sequel to The Courtesan's Daughter, which I am definitely looking forward to! I've not read any of Claudia Dain's work before this book, but I can guarantee this will not be the last time I read this author. Lucky for me, she has a number of other books I can content myself with while awaiting the next in this series.

For lovers of traditional Regency, this book may be hard to understand. It is not a typical romance. The structure of the story is quite complex, with plots and twists right up to the last page. In fact, the romance isn't the main thing here. The romance concocted between Lady Caroline and Lord Ashdon is only one ring of this three-ring circus. The main show belongs to Sophia, the courtesan of the title and Lady Caroline's mother.

Sophia is a consummate manipulator, one who enjoys playing puppetmaster to all those around her. Her machinations would make Machiavelli proud. The unexpected characters that show up near the end of the book are part of Sophia's back story and I cannot wait to learn more about her, how she came to be the woman she is, and what in the world she will get up to next. This is a tale that will, I'm sure, unfold over many books and take us on a wild Regency ride!

If you are willing to take a chance and shake up your reading, there is no better way to do so than to read "The Courtesan's Daughter". I can't wait for the next one!