A Model Debutante (Historical Romance S.) [Import] [Paperback]

Louise Allen (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Harlequin Mills & Boon; New Ed edition (2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026384367X
• ISBN-13: 978-0263843675
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,084,908 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Louise Allen is the author of over twenty five Regency romances, published by Harlequin and Mills & Boon.

The Regency is her passion, an endlessly fascinating era full of contrast and change, danger and elegance, luxury and squalor. Women had freedoms that would shock their Victorian granddaughters, yet lived within social codes that both intrigue and appal us now. Men in Society could win fortunes at the turn of a card and lose their lives in the hazard of a duel all in the space of twenty four hours. It is all so different, with the glamour of the past gilding it - and yet the characters seem to reach out and touch us now.

She lives in England in a village in Bedfordshire with her husband. He is not sure whether to be flattered or alarmed to be told he is the inspiration for all her romantic heroes! Whenever possible they escape to their cottage on the North Norfolk coast or to London, exploring the streets with an 1808 guidebook in hand.

Every time Louise starts on a new plot she resolves to plan it carefully, make copious notes first and write lots of drafts in a disciplined and orderly manner. What inevitably happens is that the story starts to write itself in her head until it gets completely out of control - meanwhile the study floor becomes a sea of open books, prints and maps and she can be found sitting in the car at traffic lights, muttering dialogue. At that point she has to start writing, knowing full well that the hero and heroine are going to take over and sabotage all her attempts at discipline. It is, after all, their story.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining if nonsensical "Regency Romance",, May 12, 2010

By 

Marshall Lord (Whitehaven, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: A Model Debutante (Harlequin Historical - Large Print) (Hardcover)

If you're looking for a great work of literature, an accurate portrayal of the Ton, (as Regency high society was known in 1816 London), scintillating writing, or spine-tingling romance, you should probably look elsewhere. Jane Austen or even Georgette Heyer this is not.

However, if you're looking for a mildly entertaining and amusing Regency romantic farce with which to relax for a couple of hours making minimal demands on your cerebral capacity, this is actually quite good fun.

A few years before the start of the book the heroine, Miss Talitha Grey, had been left alone and almost penniless by the deaths of her parents. With little money and no prospects, she had to look for one of the few options to earn an honest living which were available to a gently bred young lady. Being a governess or companion did not appeal, but by fortunate chance Talitha (Tallie to her friends) had a genius for designing and making hats, and she was able to obtain a position as a milliner.

This brought in almost, but not quite, enough money to pay the gap between the miniscule private income her parents had left Tallie and the bills she needed to pay, so Tallie found a third source of income by posing incognito as an artist's model for a famous portrait painter.

But when a curious set of chances restores Talitha to the status of eligible young lady, this becomes a guilty secret. A society matron, Lady Parry, takes Talitha under her wing. Lady Parry is kindness himself, but her handsome nephew, Lord Arndale, is convinced that Tallie is hiding something. Is her newly recovered place in respectable society about to be destroyed?

Very anachronistic and silly in places, but I did find this book both funny and entertaining, and I was able to empathise with the hero and heroine even though I found the events which knocked her down and built her up again quite unbelievable. As long as you don't take it too seriously this book is good fun.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Model Debutante by Louise Allen (Large Print Regency Romance), December 21, 2006

By 

Ketzel (Vera Cruz, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Model Debutante (Harlequin Historical - Large Print) (Hardcover)

The story begins in February, 1816 ...

Description from the book back cover:

She'd just inherited a fortune - and now she would go to the ball! Before, Miss Talitha Grey had been penniless and without marriage prospects. But now that she'd inherited a fortune, and thanks to Lady Parry, she was to be launched into society! Tallie vowed to make Lady Parry proud by being the model debutante ... But Tallie was besieged by guilt. She was harbouring a shameful secret that would ruin both herself and the Parry household if it were to be discovered. To earn some much needed money, Tallie had modelled for an artist - in the nude! And Lady Parry's nephew - the gorgeous, dashing, suspicious Lord Arndale - knew far too much. After all, hadn't he once almost caught Tallie in the act ...?