Customer Reviews

Isabella (Regency Romance Large Print Series)

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

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Not at all like the others of her books available in Kincle format which I read first. This book fails on a number of fronts. The Earl of Hartleigh is like a paper cut out of the handsome hero, the only male character of any depth is his cousin Basil. Isabella is in theory my favourite heroine type - an older, more sensible female- but she fails to come alive for me. The romance does not work. I felt no connection. The book has glimmers of the wit that is in others the author has written but fails to deliver. The lack of steamy sex scenes is not a problem here given the lack of chemistry between the lovers. A penny dreadful - Please do not take this as a epresentative sample of Ms Chase's work, you will miss out on some wonderful stories if you do. If this is your first Chase book to consider buying please move on!

When I read Lord of Scoundrels years ago I fell in love with Loretta Chase. Since then I've made it a point to read everything of hers albeit slowly because her backlist is not as extensive as I wish.

Isabella. I find this is not Chase at her best. The story is very superficial, the conflicts are contrived and not very satisfactory. It doesn't really feel like the Earl and Isabella really fall in love. Basil, the principal antagonist and obstacle to the couple's HEA is really likable and attractive but as a villain falls flat on his face. His antics are child's play and as superficial as the story. Everything could be straightened out so easily it's ridiculous. And Isabella disappoints because after being unbelievably (seriously, it's not believable)smart and level headed through most of the book she gets a bad case of Stupid toward the end. The whole thing about her wanting to keep her word because she learned everything she knows from her uncle was annoying. I'll admit I found Isabella's mother enchanting for most of the book but in the end she faltered as well. All in all, this book is still superior to most in its own category. It was funny here and there but lacked the toe curling and giggling satisfying romances seem to bring on for me. However I think it's enjoyable.

Below are the Loretta Chase books I've read, I've included it in my review to so that you can gauge my taste against your own and make the best decision for yourself.

Lord of Scoundrels FIVE STARS
Mr. Impossible FIVE STARS
Miss Wonderful FIVE STARS
The Devil's Delilah FIVE STARs <<<CLEAN

Lord Perfect FOUR STARS

Not Quite a Lady THREE STARS
Viscount Vagabond THREE STARS <<<CLEAN
Isabella THREE STARS <<<CLEAN
The English Witch THREE STARS <<<CLEAN

Captives of the Night TWO STARS
Last Night's Scandal TWO STARS

The Last Hellion ONE STAR

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Please don't buy this book if you're expecting the hot and steamy action found in "Lord of Scoundrels" by the same author, which is still my top pick for best romance of all time (please go read that if you're looking for something titillating). Everything is quite tame regarding matters of the down below parts, but for matters of the heart, this book is still worth reading. The plot is rather more like Georgette Heyer than what I'm used to from Loretta Chase--plain but full of character, Isabella is devotedly overseeing her cousins' debut in London, while pledging that she's too old for marriage herself (at the ripe old age of 26). Of course she's not destined to remain a spinster for long, as suitors, two in particular, start making claims on her heart. You can't help sympathizing with the villain of the piece, and although predictable, the happy ending still elicits an aww of satisfaction.

this is my first book by Ms. Chase. I was quite looking forward due to reviews of her newer books. Sadly, this book, in my opinion, is sore lacking in entertainment value. The main problems were, 1)-not enough quality interactions between the hero/heroine, and WAY to many scenes were they begin to like each other, but, of course, a "misunderstanding" occurs to quickly pull them apart again. 2)-the annoying Basil-he should have been taken out of the book early on. 3)-the introduction of so many side characters as to make the story very hard to follow.

All, in all, sadly, I'd say skip this book.
2.5 stars.