Imprudent Lady [Import] [Hardcover]

Joan Smith (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd; New Ed edition (March 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 070906585X
• ISBN-13: 978-0709065852
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Prudent Purchase, July 17, 2007

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Bookcat "Cat" (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Imprudent Lady (Hardcover)

Joan Smith is one of the great writers of Regency Romance, and this book is a classic and a keeper. I bought it in hardcover because my paperback edition is falling apart after being read many times. In one of Ms. Smith's best efforts, colorful, 3-dimensional characters abound, the plot flows, and romance slowly blooms between two writers, Prudence Mallow and Lord Dammler. Prudence, shy and inexperienced, is at first overawed by the brilliant, rakish Dammler, already a famous poet, and he barely notices her. But her writing soon earns his respect, and their professional friendship deepens as he discovers that beneath Prudence's wide-eyed innocence is a keen mind, literary talent and a strong character. Despite her hilarious missteps in London society and his efforts to protect and guide her, Dammler begins to realize that perhaps he has as much to learn from Prudence as she does from him. If you enjoy witty, sparkling dialogue, droll characters, and depth of detail on Polite Society, don't miss Imprudent Lady. They don't write them like this anymore. A charming, refreshing Jane-Austen-meets-Lord-Byron romp.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If I could give it more stars I would, April 27, 2011

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Elly of Adelaide - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Imprudent Lady (Kindle Edition)

This is a sparkling Regency romance that I took up as a wind-down to sleep but was unable to put down until it was completed in the wee hours of the morning. The witty interactions between the uncut-gem heroine, Prudence, and the Byronic Lord Dammler are entertaining and engaging. It is a joy to see their relationship deepen and progress beyond friendship, and witness their gradual realisation of their feelings. It makes quite a refreshing contrast with the many romances - Regency and otherwise - where there is that grating instant and inexplicable passion between an otherwise unsuited pairing, without any trouble taken by authors to explain how this came to be.

I first read the works of Jane Austen (bound in one huge book) when I was 15, and was both thrilled at the discovery and devastated that they were such a finite resource. It wasn't until some 15 years later that I found solace in the works of Georgette Heyer. I exhausted these within a few months, and am now so delighted to have stumbled upon a prolific treasure-trove like Joan Smith. This example of her work is an absolute gem.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Next best thing to a Georgette Heyer romance., August 16, 2011

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Old Latin teacher (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Imprudent Lady (Kindle Edition)

What a friend we romance lovers of a certain age have in Kindle. Can you believe that several Heyer novels are being offered right now at $1.99? And there's this great selection of Joan Smith books at $4.00 apiece. The Heyers are obviously the better bargain, but Joan Smith romances are not easy to come by in hard copy so I'm snapping up the Kindle versions.

English romance novelist Georgette Heyer wrote most of her Georgians and Regencies in the 1930s, 40s and 50s with a handful in the 60s and pretty much set the standard. Canadian Joan Smith wrote most of hers in the 1970s and 80s in a similar but not exactly imitative style. Both authors are probably my 2 favorite Regency romance novelists.

Well, that's all neither here nor there. The point is that if you're a Georgette Heyer fan but have never read Joan Smith, you might want to try her out. This one, IMPRUDENT LADY, is a great starting point. It was written in 1978 and is considered to be one of her best.

When you read Joan Smith, be expecting lots of character-driven plot, period information and really great dialogue. If, on the other hand, you consider Lisa Kleypas, Julia Quinn et al to be the epitome of Regency and historical romance, you might not like Joan Smith. Smith's books, like Heyer's, may have a kiss or two to express the love between H and h, but nothing at all explicit and definitely no "all-the-way" intimacy. Yet I find them more romantic and satisfying than the recent historical romances with hot passion throughout the book. (Am I showing my age? Thought so.)