Customer Reviews

Lady Merry's Dashing Champion (Signet Eclipse)

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I bought this book online and now wish that I had not spent the money.

The problem isn't with the characters or with the adventure. They were enjoyable.

No. It's with the misrepresentation of the English legal system in Chapter 23. Westin writes: "There would be no acceptance in all the land of a marriage between low commoner and peer of the realm, with a title as ancient as any in england. All their children would be counted base-born bastards."

That simply is not true. If the Earl of Warborough married Meriel St. Thomas, their children would be legitimate under the English common law, not base-born bastards. Since the inheritance of English titles depended on the father, their sons would have been entitled to inherit both the title and the lands.

English common law did not have the provision that existed in the German principalities of the time that the husband and wife had to be of equal rank for the children to inherit. It simply did not. The marriage might have brought social ostracism (though it was much less likely to in the 17th century than in the 19th century), but it would not have been illegal in any way. It is not difficult to discover this. The author did not need this element and it destroys the whole book.

In 1667, the Cheatham family visits Whitehall Palace along with the servants. Meriel St. Thomas works as a maid to Lady Judith Cheatham so is at the palace when the King's spymaster William Chiffinch mistakes her for Lady Felice, wife of the Earl of Warborough and a traitor to England; Felice has abetted England's adversary the Dutch.

Once he realizes his mistake, William drafts Merry to pose as Felice so that the English can pass false messages through her to the Dutch. Felicity's spouse Giles Harringdon feels like an idiot as he finds himself still desiring his seditious wife; not understanding she is actually Merry. Finally needing to be alone with her, he abducts his spouse. Merry falls in love with Giles and he reciprocates until he learns the truth; but with London in danger there is no time to explore their feelings.

This is an exhilarating seventeenth century espionage romance that uses real persona and events to anchor the period, but belongs to the lead pair. Merry is a terrific protagonist who perhaps too easily converts from serving to being served. However, it is Giles who is the more fascinating character as he feels like the world's biggest fool for falling in love with his traitorous wife a second time. Fans will enjoy this action-packed historical tale that never slows down from the moment William assumes that Merry is Felice on a tryst until the final confrontation with London at stake.

Harriet Klausner

Westin is like Rice a bit in that while reading her book you feel a part of the time period. It feels she's really done her research - while giving you some fantastical kicks.

This romance was a great disappointment.
As a reader, I can become immersed in a well written Romance. That was not the case with this novel.
It had no historical depth. It was essentially a wallpaper historical.
The characters were Twenty-First Century escapee's in costume tramping and frolicking about Merrie Old England. Having adventures and affairs with the locals.
The dialogue was colloquial to our times. It stopped the narrative dead in it's tracks.
The novel soon lost it's credibility as a reasonably historic fiction. I soon lost interest in the characters and their travails.
The bookcover was attractive.
If you must read it, check it out of the library.