Customer Reviews

The Lady in Gray (Signet Regency Romance)

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

 

 

I am a big fan of Patricia Oliver's, but this book didn't please me as much as her others. Maybe it was the over-the-top rudeness of Nicholas, the main male character, when we are first introduced to him. Maybe it was that Sylvia had lots of social interaction in the neighborhood, even though she was "disgraced." Maybe it was the irritating love affair between her aunt and her aunt's paramour. I almost put the book away twice unfinished. However, Patricia Oliver is an excellent writer, and I will continue to read her books.

I bought this book because I'd loved everything else I've read by Patricia Oliver. Her series of linked books, using recurring characters, is entertaining and very enjoyable and I had initially hoped that this book would be another in the series. It isn't, unfortunately.

It was well written, certainly, but the plot unfortunately did not grip me in the way her other books did. That's not to say it isn't a good and well-plotted book, just that for me it doesn't come up to the standard of 'An Unsuitable Match,' or 'Lord Gresham's Lady'.

This is the lowest rating I've given any book by Patricia Oliver; I normally rate her books at five stars, with one or two at four stars. For some reason, this book didn't grip me at all, and I found parts of it boring. The characters were not as interesting, and the plot not as entertaining, as her other books.

The sub-plot with the painting, and the mystery about the Earl's past and his dead first wife, just didn't appeal to me, and when, close to the end, the heroine's life was at risk I wasn't remotely gripped by any sense of danger. The hero and heroine's antagonism didn't seem to ring true for me either.

Not sure why... but this wasn't up to Oliver's usual standards as far as I was concerned. Still way ahead of many other authors in this genre, though!

I read a lot of regencies because they calm my world. Yes, most are predictable and all reflect a time very unlike our own. This book is very poorly written and is one of the few books I didn't bother finishing. What a waste of time. It is very jumbled, repetitive, predictable and disjointed. In my opinion. I just skimmed the last 100 pages of the book and found that almost painful.

Lord Nicholas Morley made a disastrous marriage in 1804. He brought his dazzling, and possibly nymphomaniac, bride to his estate in Cornwall where they lived only a few months before she died under mysterious circumstances. He took his mother and aunt and boarded a ship for India where they lived for the next 10 years.

At about the same time in 1804, Lady Sylvia Sutherland, a headstrong young woman, stymied the marriage plans her father had arranged by running away with another beau whom she loved and found both handsome, and charming. Two weeks later when she was retrieved by her father she discovered her marriage lines were phony, her "husband" had deserted her, and she was irretrievably ruined. She was shipped off to an isolated estate in Cornwall to live with a flamboyant, unconventional, artistic aunt who had lived unmarried with her Italian lover for 10 years. For the next 10 years Lady Sylvia poured all of her passion and energy into her art, becoming a professional-grade artist.

Nicholas and Sylvia meet shortly after the Morley family returns to their estate in Cornwall, and re-enter the social round (which rather amazingly includes the unmarried aunt, her paramour, and the ruined Lady Sylvia). At this point the story develops into a who-done-it mystery around the death of Nicholas's wife 10 years earlier.

There are a number of lost opportunities in this story. For example, Sylvia's aunt and her paramour are an undeveloped secondary romance. After a 20-year love affair which still sizzles after-all-these-years (we are never told why they never married), we are told several times that the Italian lover wants to marry Sylvia's aunt. She refuses but we are never really told why, and her continued refusal appears to cause no strain in their relationship. In another vein, Lady Sylvia always wear gray. Why? This idiosyncrasy is never addressed, though Nicholas near the end has a vision of her by the entry door of his castle wearing a green dress. Perhaps gray was for half-mourning--though it had usually been trimmed with pink--and green for new life).

Finally, Lord Nicholas was thoroughly humiliated by his late wife (so much so that he moved to India for 10 years and only returned to Cornwall due to concerns about his mother's health), and yet Lady Sylvia is offended by his pride and feels he needs to be taken down a couple of notches. I thought it a shame that Nicholas fell in love with Sylvia.

This is my first story from Patricia Oliver. I read reviews of several of her books here and so went to my public library to find one of her works. The Lady in Gray was a disappointment. Cousin Kate, or The Quiet Gentleman by Georgette Heyer are along the same lines, but much better written.

I was stuck re-reading some Regency novels at a relative's house - ones I had loaned them and had already read before. I picked up The Lady in Gray and remembered it as one I enjoyed before. As I write my review, I am surprised by the other reviews. I found the characters interesting and the plot different than most other Regency novels. The mystery surrounding the former Lady Longueville's death and her rather risque behavior was very unusual. There are few books that show what happens to a woman after her fall from grace. Sylvia was sent to a loving relative's home and seemed to be well treated - I am sure that was NOT the outcome for most disgraced girls. The flashbacks from the Earl's point of view about his marriage to Angelica added very positively to the storyline. He did seem to change his tune very quickly from wanting Sylvia to be his mistress to wanting her as his wife. I am not sure the story showed the emotional connection to have pulled that off as quickly as it did. But this book held my attention and I was happy to have spent an afternoon reading it again.