15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
country girl visits city, slays hearts, December 9, 2005
The only reason to read "Isabella" is if you're a big enough Loretta Chase fan that you want to go through her backlog all the way to the beginning. Frankly, what I enjoyed most about the book was trying to compare the Loretta Chase of 'Lord of Scoundrels' or 'Mr Impossible' to the Loretta Chase of 'Isabella' - and wondering exactly how it came about that she wrote this particular story.
It's more or less a prim-and-proper regency, with more or less prim-and-proper characters. Isabella is a country girl who comes to town to help her nieces marry; she is accompanied by her mother, in many ways my favorite character in the novel, a languid woman with a surprisingly sharp mind. She meets the Earl of Heartleigh and his cousin, Basil Trevelyan, the one an arrogant but good-hearted aristocrat, the other a seductive yet selfish fortune-hunter. Both pursue her; she finds herself attracted to both. She is not confident enough to believe in the earl's regard, yet she is sharply aware of the duplicity in Trevelyan's interest. Her responses to both men are very believable. The plot unfurls in drawing rooms and ballrooms, and there's a good treatment of class conflict concerning Isabella's merchant ancestry.
There are signs of the racier, more original authoress to come: her description of Isabella's looks is amazingly sexy, a girl who is plain unless she is 'excited' and has an alarmingly sensual laugh...and Isabella's easy ability to 'put things right' also has a familiar ring to it.
Chase's plot development is fairly inept - she's always cramming backstory awkwardly into conversations and follows a 'tell don't show' policy with the characters' feelings and intentions. But the plot itself is quite excellent - well-crafted, nicely supplied with intrigue and meddling aunts.
In any case, it's short, so it doesn't take very long to read.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful book, December 26, 2007
If hot sex and 20th century language and attitudes are what you are looking for in a historical, you won't like this book: if delightful characters, a wonderful plot, wit and a genuine 19th century period understanding are what you want, you cannot, even with the author's wonderful books, beat this book.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Glad to have had access to it, October 8, 2011
While this lacked the polish of more recent Loretta Chase books, it was still one heck of an enjoyable story. The biggest problem was a Kindle formatting issue. This book changes POV very frequently; the original paper version must have had additional space or a line to indicate the switch that is missing in the Kindle edition. The lack of delineation caused some confusion at times. Even with the formatting issues, though, snap it up. An occasionally confusing Loretta Chase book is still well worth your time.
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