The Lady and the Cit (Signet Regency Romance) [Paperback]

Blair Bancroft (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005 | Series: Signet Regency Romance

In order to properly own her beloved lands, Miss Aurelia Trevor needs a husband. Offering her hand to the infamous businessman Thomas Lanning presents him with the opportunity to advance himself toward a seat in Parliament. But soon, this marriage of convenience turns to one of true love.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Signet (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451214323
• ISBN-13: 978-0451214324
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #740,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Blair Bancroft recalls receiving odd looks from adults as she walked home from school at age six, her lips moving as she told herself stories. And there was never a night she didn't entertain herself with her own bedtime stories. But it was only after a variety of other careers that she turned to serious writing. Blair has been a music teacher, professional singer, non-fiction editor, costume designer, and real estate agent. She has traveled from Bratsk, Siberia, to Machu Picchu, Peru, and made numerous visits to Britain and Ireland. Recent trips took her along an English canal at 3mph, through Portugal and Spain, and, via the Chunnel, from France to Switzerland to Venice. She is now attempting to incorporate all these varied experiences into her writing.

Blair's first book, TARLETON'S WIFE, won RWA's Golden Heart for Long Historical and the Best Romance award from the Florida Writers' Association. Her contemporary suspense novel, SHADOWED PARADISE, and her Medieval Young Adult, ROSES IN THE MIST, were finalists for an EPPIE, the "Oscar" of the e-book industry. Blair's Signet Regency, THE INDIFFERENT EARL was chosen as Best Regency by Romantic Times magazine and was a finalist for RWA's RITA award. ROSES IN THE MIST is now available on Kindle as THE CAPTIVE HEIRESS. And THE INDIFFERENT EARL has been reincarnated as THE COURTESAN'S LETTERS. Blair's longest book--and personal favorite--is the Regency Historical Romance, THE SOMETIME BRIDE, now available for Kindle and Kindle Select.

If your interest is contemporary, I have begun uploading a series of books set in the very real, but fictionally named, Gulf Coast town of Golden Beach, Florida. Currently available are SHADOWED PARADISE, PARADISE BURNING, AND ORANGE BLOSSOMS & MAYHEM. (More to follow.) And if you love Cape Cod, Massachusetts, or have a yen for seafront communities in general, please check out LOVE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Coming soon: O'ROURKE'S HEIRESS, a Regency Historical featuring several characters from TARLETON'S WIFE and THE SOMETIME BRIDE.

Thanks for stopping by! Blair

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Regency electioneering --, August 14, 2005

By 

kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lady and the Cit (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

This is my very favorite type of book - one that tells a realistic, sensible story based on solid research, about charming endearing *human* characters, and the whole is encased in marvelous writing. Truly, I don't know what more one could wish for, unless it be more pages to the story than the prescribed format allows.

By-elections in the countryside of Regency England-Kent, for example-are not a common base for a Regency novel, and the details presented in this engaging story are fascinating. Kudos to Ms. Bancroft and her library for allowing the rest of us to know them, as well.

Aurelia Trevor is an only child, nearing her majority when the guardian of her family property dies, leaving her at the mercy of another, rather unsavory uncle. But there is no mercy forthcoming, merely the prospect of a forced marriage to Auuelia's cousin. Drastic measures are needed to maintain her hold on the family estate Pevensey Park, so with the connivance of her long-time governess and now friend, the two women head for London to search out a husband.

The chosen candidate is Thomas Lanning, an unmarried financier, but otherwise not someone Aurelia would have been likely to encounter in her life. The two engage in a `Taming of the Shrew' sort of married life, effectively stopping the efforts of her uncle and cousin to gain the property and the heiress for their own purposes.

Thomas has an agenda of his own which is a major factor in his decision to marry Aurelia. He wants to enter politics, and sees the seat at Lower Peven as the ideal place to start. Along the way, he is forced to face up to his own family responsibilities, adding a half-brother and sister to the mix at the Park, along with a new steward and other retainers. Sparks fly as old and new customs are blended together to match this new blended family.

In the end, everything works out splendidly, and the journey to get there is a most enjoyable one. It's fun to watch Aurelia and Thomas battle their way to a new understanding of each other and themselves in the process. Any reader who loves to read and savor words will greatly enjoy this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming Conflict, July 26, 2008

By 

C. J. Gillis (Fitchburg, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lady and the Cit (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

"Cits" were merchants, traders, financiers, bankers, inventors, businessmen, builders and engineers who, as early as the 12th Century and throughout the history of the British Isles, were loyal only to the City of London, and to any English, later British, king or queen who won the periodic wars of succession fought by the aristocracy.

"The Lady and the Cit" by Blair Bancroft, is a charming little romance offering a gently amused look at a political campaign seeking the votes of one borough's freemen just before the British Reform Act of 1833 wiped out "rotten boroughs" and many strange political customs and anachronistic, aristocratic privileges.

At the time of this story, "Cits" had been helping to rebuild the British economy which had been ruined by a 22-year Napoleonic war and depressions and uproars which followed it, setting the stage for the vigorous Victorian era that began in 1837.

Aristocrats and members of the landed gentry were restricted by social ostracism from participating in "trade", (business), or in any useful occupation outside of the military or the Church of England, and were trained from birth to have contempt for Cits.

Women of the aristocracy were trained to avoid Cits, for by marrying one they would lose their position in society, as would their children, unless the men that they married were very special, and the woman had property of her own.

Warning: This is not a bodice-ripper! It is a tale of quiet heroism, stubborn attention to duty, intelligent kindness, three romances, a child saved, and bullies thwarted. These are the conflicts which made this tale enjoyable to me.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very Little Romance, February 23, 2005

By 

M. Rondeau (West Springfield, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Lady and the Cit (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

Miss Aurelia Trevor of Pevensey Park, Kent was up in arms over the fact that her steward was totally ignoring her directives in maintaining the estate that was left to her by her father. Unfortunately, the two executors that had been named in her father's will had both passed on leaving her Uncle Huburt as her guardian until she attained the age of five and twenty, or until she married. Aurelia, at twenty-one, even though the estate was hers, could not control it until she attained the age of twenty-five, or married.

With the threat of being forced to marry or be compromised by her odious cousin, the Terrible Twyford, Aurelia and her former governess and companion devised a scheme to find a suitable husband - one that could be persuaded to marry yet leave the running of Pevensey to her. With the war going on and most eligible sons away fighting Bonaparte, the pickings were slim, therefore she enlisted the help of a solicitor in London to find a man, who would marry her under her conditions. Aurelia couldn't believe that she would ever consider a Cit, (a man who worked for a living or was in trade) rather than a gentleman from the nobility, but from the moment she saw the very handsome `cit' she was most definitely attracted.

Thomas Lanning, had no need of an heiress having amassed a fortune of his own, but the bonus of a political power base that offered itself along with Pevensey park, was something he truly couldn't turn down. Aside from that, Miss Aurelia Trevor, the arrogant little minx, was certainly attractive enough. Coming from different worlds, these two individuals - just might make a match made in heaven but it would be doubtful when Thomas put her in her place for `hiring' a cit for a husband with the comment "... you may annoy me at times, but you don't disgust me..." !!!

*** Blair Bancroft certainly writes with an admirable knowledge of the regency era with an ability to transport her readers with the sights, sounds, language and mannerisms of that period. Although the modern woman could feel sorry for the heroine's plight, it would be extremely hard to feel any warmth towards Aurelia's arrogance and her obvious distaste towards a `cit', especially when one considers that SHE was the one that had sought him out. She obviously felt attracted to Thomas, yet having been brought up in the ranks of the nobility, and as an only child, it was difficult for her to show any kind of emotion or warmth - attraction or not! It was only from observing the interactions of Thomas and his younger siblings that she loosened up at all. While I found this to be an extremely well researched and interesting read, those looking for romance will have to wait it out until the very last couple of pages. --- Marilyn, for www.romancedesigns.com ---