Customer Reviews

My Lord Footman

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

 

 

This is one of those fun books that reads quickly. The heroine finds herself attracted to a forbidden lover, her footman! There is a good secondary romance between her blind sister, Rissa, and Sebastian, a character from Charity's Gambit(we also get to meet up again with the heroine and hero from that book as well). I'm not sure about the believability of a lord who hires himself out as a private investigator, but if you can suspend your doubts, it makes for an interesting plot. I was a bit disappointed that the "scottish" footman didn't act or sound more scottish, but all in all it was a cute read, and one that I put on my keeper shelf.

Lady Druscilla Selby is very protective of beautiful sister Clarissa. Dru blames herself for not being w/ Rissa when she was kidnapped and held for ransom a year ago. Although Rissa was recovered, she suffered permanent injury and her life would never be the same again. A pall was cast over both sisters, and even the formerly carefree Dru is often short-tempered and critical.

Dru's disposition is not improved by the new footman hired by her father. Duncan doesn't behave like a proper footman--he is far too forward and irrepressible, but Dru finds herself drawn to him amid her annoyance. To make matters worse, she is often in his company as her father appears to have appointed Duncan as her protector.

Since Rissa's kidnapper was never apprehended, and his identity and true motive never uncovered, the threat to Dru and Rissa apparently still exists. Even so, the sisters and their father, the earl of Cathburn, still go out into society and live their lives w/ some semblance of normality. At one outing, Dru meets the handsome and charming Viscount Sebastian Montgomery, who becomes a regular caller at Lord Cathburn's home and has every appearance of soon making an offer for Dru. For his part, Lord Cathburn keeps company w/ the widowed Mrs. Tweetle and likewise hopes to make the arrangement more permanent when and if he is able to resolve the situation w/ his girls and see them settled. Even Rissa resumes more of a social life under the guidance of family, friends, and Duncan.

While the romantic issues are being played out (Will Sebastian offer for Dru? Will Dru accept, or do her interests lie in Duncan's direction? How could the daughter of an earl love a footman? Will Lord Cathburn marry Mrs. Tweetle?), the danger to Dru and Rissa becomes very real once again and suspicions abound. Of course, the identity of the villain is glaringly obvious to the reader, if not to the characters, but there is some interest in discovering the motive and seeing how everything will be resolved.

Initially, I didn't much like Dru. She was often peevish, childish, and controlling, but then would be almost sickeningly self-sacrificing concerning Rissa. And she certainly wasn't very kind to Duncan. She went out of her way to be critical, mocked his claims of being an educated man, accused him of wanting to hurt Rissa, etc. I never fully understood what Duncan saw in her.

Duncan was a more engaging character--the handsome, intelligent, mysterious footman--but I did find it disingenuous and unrealistic on his part to expect the daughter of an earl to easily cast aside the firmly embedded strictures of her class and openly declare her love for a footman. In this regard, I found Dru's behavior to be more believable than Duncan's inability to forgive her shortcoming.

Needless to say, the villain of the story is unmasked and the romantic dilemmas are all happily resolved in the end, even if not how the parties involved initially expected. I think the premise of the book had more potential than was actually delivered, but it's still a good, fast read.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book! First, I thought it would be boring, but as soon as I read the first few pages, I was interested to see how Lady Druscilla and the footman find each other - what a delightful couple! It is a heartwarming, humorous story - one where you can just lean back, enjoy, and forget everything around you. The chemistry between the two main characters, as well as their tenderness and humanity made me fall in love with them. The hero is a darling, but still an alpha hero with a strong personality. When he lapses into scottish(only during intimate moments with the heroine), he is just adorable! My only critique is that the ending was a bit abrupt - it ends with the couple's engagement. And, unfortunately, too much time was devoted to the secondary characters. I wish there had been more interactions between the hero and the heroine. They were charming and hilarious! A nice, clean read with no sex scenes. Since a good, old-fashioned romance is so rare in this day and age, "My Lord Footman" can definitely be classified as a very special, unforgettable story. I have read countless regency romances over the years and seldom have I enjoyed a story as much as this one.