Customer Reviews

The Courtship

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

In 1811 London, Spenser Heatherington, Lord Beecham, overhears two ladies discussing discipline. One is Alexandra Sherbrooke, but her unknown companion intrigues the infamous rake even though he has no idea what she looks like. Later on, Spenser meets the source of disciplinary wisdom, Lady Helen Mayberry, a beautiful amazon, who runs a tavern.

Though he thinks she wants to make love with him, she needs him to be her partner. Still, as the duo exchanges opinions on discipline, they fall in love. Spenser asks Helen to marry him, but she tearfully refuses because she is already married to a spouse who has disappeared. There is also a mystery involving a lamp that he tries to help Helen find. This keeps the pair working together and in close proximity, creating a situation where neither adult has the discipline to keep their hands off the other.

Catherine Coulter has written her best novel in several years as she takes a satirical poke at her own Regency books. Using two secondary characters from previous tales, Ms. Coulter writes a witty, humorous story filled with odd characters whose eccentricities will charm the audience. The lead couple is an endearing pair that will garner much empathy with their constant battle of the sexes. Ms. Coulter makes the Regency fun with this clever and ironic tale.

Harriet Klausner

I have read every book by Coulter. I thought they couldn't get any worse than Mad Jack, but I was wrong. I have been trying to read this book for 2 weeks, and I finally made it to page 73 before I gave up. It rambles on and on with no sense of purpose. I definitely will read reviews before I buy another Coulter book. I was very disappointed with this one.

I LOVED this book! It was hilarious -- I found myself laughing out loud quite often. The storyline is delightfully refreshing, loaded with splendid sexual innuendos which kept me in stitches, and of course Coulter is a master at dialogue and characters' interactions. This book is NOT TO BE MISSED. Two thumbs up!

I am a long-time fan of Catherine Coulter. Her "Impulse" was the first romance novel I ever read and I was hooked immediately. I've read every book she's ever written and she made me interested in the genre. With this in mind, I'd like to say I loved this book.

When I was about half-way through with this book, I could see that the only problem a person could have with it is the amount of sex in it. There was a great deal. But if you don't like sex, or are disturbed by it, you shouldn't be reading romance novels. That said, it was a charming novel.

Unlike previous reviewers, I found the characters and the plot to be very well drawn. Helen Mayberry and Lord Spenser Beecham are the protagonists, introduced in Mad Jack and The Sherbrooke Bride respectively. Helen is a self-proclaimed spinster and Spenser a womanizer.

The premise--Lord Beecham overhears Helen talking about "domination"--making a man worship the ground she walks on-- and instantly wants her as a lover, believing her to be a woman married to an old English lord, with a slew of lovers. The wordplay between the two characters is the most entertaining part about it. Unlike other books, Beecham isn't the only one thinking about sex and Helen doesn't instantly swoon when Beecham talks to her. Helen is a very strong woman, she runs her own inn and no one will persuade her from her purpose--recovering an ancient lamp.

When he tries to seduce her, instead of being shocked and appalled, she shocks him by seducing him right back. She's not coy at all, rather she's straightforward, independent, and delightfully refreshing. He seems like a rake at first, but turns out to be amazingly intelligent.

Ms. Coulter also brings back Alexandra and Douglass Sherbrooke whose antics would amuse anyone. Although this novel is not her best, it's wonderfully entertaining and a great read.

I was disappointed in this Coulter book. Genrally I really like her current fiction. This book though seemed like some of her early fiction, very light plot just jazzed up with highly erotic scenes. In fact it was more sensual than some of the supposed erotica that I have read. I would rate this a 4-star for erotica but for a Coulter fan only a 2-star.

When you find yourself double-checking the bookjacket to see if the author you have enjoyed in the past could really have written this, it is not a good sign. I can't even get into the book. I have read Catherine Coulter before, and while she isn't my favorite romance novelist, I have had only enjoyable experiences thus far. That ended when I picked up this book from the library.

The dialogue is awful. There is no flow, they just randomly say things out of their mouths. There is no context for it either, no reason given for anything they say. And since what they say is so unbelievably corny, trite, or odd, you really need some kind of frame to put it in for it to have any meaning. I gather from the reviews that this contains characters from her other books, so maybe the context is there.

The whole conversation about discipline in the beginning pages also has no context. I found myself trying to picture this and trying to figure out what in the heck she really meant by discipline. Did it mean what I think it meant? Or something else? It wasn't super clear.

The man's character gives you nothing to work with. He's a womanizer and yet, he spills out a story about avenging his housemaid's demise. Then he immediately blurts out "Why did I say that?" Why indeed? When he is questioning it, I know I'm in trouble.

And what is up with the whole "big girl" repetition? First, a big girl in my mind is someone with larger proportions--not necessarily someone tall. The "big girl" is gorgeous, but we have no idea why because the descriptions he pants about her don't describe anything. Just picture a goddess. There ya go. Got it? Good.

Unfortunately I'm not going to make it to the whole "point" of this book, something about a treasure. I cannot, simply cannot get past these pages.

In The Courtship, Mrs. Coulter revisits many of her characters. It is a romance between Spenser Heatherington, from The Sherbrooke Bride, and Helen Mayberry, from Mad Jack. Sit back and enjoy the romance between these two unlikely characters as they discuss "discipline" and King Edward's Lamp. Of course there are cameos by the Sherbrookes, getting involved in the treasure hunt. For all the nay-sayers, you get a big frown from me! Mrs. Coulter shows that even way back when, it is possible that people talked openly with each other about sex. Maybe not an accurate account, but a new refreshing outlook. I found this one to be funny and interesting. A simple combination of "discipline" and a mystery that will leave you stumped.

While some readers have found the 'domination conversations' not to their liking, I thought it added to the overall humor of the story. So what if in regency times you might not have found that an acceptable topic! Delightfully humorous. Nice to see a 'big girl' get a rogue all hot and bothered! I always look forward to Catherine Coulter's stories.

I have been reading Catherine Coulter for 15 years and have always at least liked her stories but I threw this one in the trash can when I finished it because it's not even worth storing in a box in the attic! The dialogue was stilted and unbelievable. The story line was only slightly better. I was put off by the hero's constant referral to the heroine as his "big girl". I think someone else wrote this and put Coulter's name on it!

I was looking forward to reading Catherine Coulter's latest historical novel. Now I wonder why I bothered. The initial setup, with the overheard conversation about "discipline", held some promise for interesting plot twists. However, the resultant twists and turns were quite pedestrian and predictable. The love scenes were rather disappointing. Although they were plentiful and somewhat explicit, I found them more mechanical and sordid than romantic and enticing. Is drugging someone and tying them up without their consent and knowledge really romantic? (it is the hero in this novel, not the villain, who does this to the heroine!) The addition of characters from her previous novels was mildly interesting - it was fun to "catch up" with them, but their participation in the plot was rather gratuitous. As for the lamp - it seems like the author couldn't really figure out what to do with it or how to resolve this plot twist in the end. After raising out interest once it is discovered and glows mysteriously, it is rather quickly gotten rid of without tidying up the questions raised earlier in the novel. These questions are just as hastily buried and ignored at the end of the book. So, if you want a good romance fix and to spend some time in the company of her previous characters, dig out one of Coulter's older novels and give this one a miss.