22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent early efforts by a great writer, May 22, 2008
This review is from: Lovers and Ladies (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a reprint of two early novellas by Jo Beverley. I can recommend this compilation very highly.
'The Fortune Hunter' is a sweet story about a girl cursed with astonishing beauty who has to go looking for a rich husband to save her family and their ancestral home from ruin. The 'astonishing beauty' thing is well written and it really does come off as a curse. I liked the hero and his friends and and on the whole the story was very entertaining.
'Deirdre and Don Juan' is a story of a man who needs to find a wife so he betroths himself to his mother's plain young friend. I won't say more because there are a couple of surprises. It won a RITA award. I will say that Beverley accomplished with a plain heroine in this one what she sort of missed with 'An Unwilling Bride' and 'Tempting Fortune'. The girl is not shrewish but she's spirited and smart and inspires a great deal of empathy. I can see why the much more attractive hero falls in love with her and why she's afraid of falling for him. It's a beautiful, unforgettable love story.
I really enjoyed this compilation. The romance is very well done.
And another thing -- no sex. Only some disheveling. So those readers who are looking for straight-ahead romance with no overt scenes of sex will enjoy this very much.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reissue of two Jo Beverley novels, April 22, 2008
This review is from: Lovers and Ladies (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a newly-published collection of two of Jo Beverley's novels from the early 1990s, "The Fortune Hunter" and "Deirdre and Don Juan". The two stories include some of the same characters and in some ways have a similar theme (that of love being found in unexpected places) although their two heroines are very different, one being stunningly beautiful, the other rather plain. They are short and sweet stories with an enjoyable Regency setting and some good side characters.
The Fortune Hunter
Amy de Lacy and her brothers and sisters face poverty - but it's Amy's face that could rescue them from that. A beautiful woman, Amy rarely lacks for suitors - only she knows that in order to rescue her family from penury she needs to find a rich suitor. She has the face for it, but does she have the stomach for it?
Amy's plans go awry right from the beginning when she bumps into Harry Crisp, a handsome and charming young stranger. Unfortunately Harry won't really do as he's not rich enough and Amy has to reject him. Harry, bruised and angry, can't quite get Amy out of his mind - and when she arrives in London for a season it's up to both of them to decide whether love is more important than duty.
This was a good story although Amy wasn't always a sympathetic character and some of her choices seemed rather suspect, even when we were given her reasoning behind them. The setting is interesting, including details of a Season in London and of the Melton hunting world, but somehow the story seemed to lack a little of the depth more apparent in Beverley's later novels.
Deirdre and Don Juan
"Don Juan" is the rakish Earl of Everdon, a man whose wife left him ten years before. Since that time Everdon is known for his liaisons with ladies, safe in the knowledge that matchmaking mamas will give him a wide berth for their daughters as he's already married. When he discovers that his wife has died he is concerned that he will be hunted for his marriage prospects and so decides to take another wife as soon as possible - one who will be quiet and no trouble and who no other man will try to steal.
Everdon chooses his mother's young friend, Lady Deirdre Stowe. Deirdre, however, is unwilling to be his bride as she is already privately betrothed to a local mathematician, Howard. And thus begins Everdon's plan to draw Deirdre away from Howard and for her to decide to marry him - although he has no idea the effect it will have on his own feelings towards her.
This was another good read although Deirdre's behaviour throughout was a bit annoying. It's clear to the reader - and everyone in the story - that Howard isn't suitable for Deirdre and that Everdon is a far better choice, and yet she hangs on to her feelings for Howard. Howard himself was a rather unbelievable character, his constant preoccupation with maths seeming rather cartoonish rather than real. I wasn't entirely sure quite why Everdon fell so hard for Deirdre but it's good to read of a sort-of ugly duckling winning the prize in this story.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, curledup.com © 2008 Helen Hancox
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