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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
very pleasant traditional regency with a slight twist,
By IRRS (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Notorious Lady (Zebra Regency Romance) (Paperback)
Here is a slightly different traditional regency from Zebra. Our heroine, the widowed Lady Eleanor, is indeed a woman with a past. Stifled in an arranged marriage, she dared to take a chance at love and was abandoned by the father of her child. She fled to a small town outside Cambridge and even though her husband claimed the child as his own, she has lived a secluded life with her son trying to live down her notorious past. John Caldwell is a sweet Beta guy. He's puzzled as to why this Lady is so cold towards him initially but since he's not a member of the ton, he doesn't know of her past. As John is a self made man and has to watch his step in Trinity College society, he soon learns that his growing friendship with the reclusive widow and her son could cost him dearly. Catherine Blair has written a sweet, gentle character centered love story. Since it's set outside of London and the Season, we get a refreshingly different look at regency society and a reminder that those who fell from grace did indeed have to worry about "what society would say." The main characters are people I felt happy spending more time with and for whom I rooted all the way. Especially nice is the relationship between John and Eleanor's son William who truly does act like an eight year old boy. The pace of the romance is slow and steady and never gave me the feeling I was watching 21st century people playing at dress-up. If I have a qualm, it is in how Eleanor is suddenly accepted by a large section of the female society around Cambridge and in her small village after having spent eight years there feeling as if she would be shunned if she dared poke her head outside. The resolution of the outside conflict also felt a bit fairy tale like, even if it was nice to see the minor villain get his comeuppance.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great one for Blair,
This review is from: A Notorious Lady (Zebra Regency Romance) (Paperback)
This was the first book I read by Blair and I loved it. She is very creative and keeps the story interesting. I loved the personalities of both Lady Eleanor and John Caldwell. I always like it when a child is involved too. This was another one I could not put down and handed around to a lot of friends to read. They loved it too!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a good, out-of-the-ordinary 3 1/2 star read,
By tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Notorious Lady (Zebra Regency Romance) (Paperback)
Catherine Blair's latest Regency-era is not your usual fare: it features a nobly born heroine with a scandalous past and a humbly born hero who also happens to have a chip on his shoulders. Tied to a previous novel "A Scholarly Gentleman," "A Notorious Lady" focuses on the story of the scandalous Lady Eleanor Whitcombe, whose painful and colourful past, affected the lives of both the hero and heroine of "A Scholarly Gentleman." This is Lady Eleanor's tale.
After her "fall from grace," beautiful Lady Eleanor Whitcombe retired to Potton (a small village near Cambridge University) in order to raise her son, William. In Potton, Lady Eleanor hoped to live down her notorious reputation and to be left in peace. She has only one friend, Jordan Blakley DeVaux, who knows the most intimate details of her past, but who, nevertheless, has stood a friend, helping her move to Potton and helping her raise William. And for years, he has been urging Lady Eleanor to shed her quiet life and to socialize more; and for years Lady Eleanor has turned a deaf ear to his pleas, until now. A chance meeting with a colleague of DeVaux's raises all kinds of feelings in Lady Eleanor that she had thought dead: anger, disdain and attraction. Professor John Caldwell, Lady Eleanor discovers, just happens to be a totally aggravating, judgemental and sinfully attractive man, whom she quickly realizes, is attracted to her in spite of himself. Should she unbend and allow the man to become a friend? Years of being judged, insulted, cut and propositioned has taught Lady Eleanor caution. But would any harm come from allowing John Caldwell to become a friend, especially since William likes him so? And what to do about her conflicting feelings for John Caldwell? Will he be satisfied with a respectable friendship? Would she? Suddenly Lady Eleanor is confronted with decisions and choices long closed to her... "A Notorious Lady" was a very well written book, that made for some sobering reading. Catherine Blair did a magnificent and unsentimental job of painting Lady Eleanor's plight. Not many Regency-era romance novels possess heroines who are fallen women, and the author's stark rendering of what Lady Eleanor's life has been like since her move from London, raised the level of this particular novel above most others, I thought. It was truly easy to empathize and sympathize with Lady Eleanor. John Caldwell, on the other hand, was a little more difficult to relate to, mainly because he keeps failing to come up to snuff when he's obviously supposed to! But even that quibble fades away since he behaves satisfactorily in the end, when it really counts. However, while this is a well written, nicely pace, out-of-the-ordinary novel, I did feel that more could have been made of the romance between Lady Eleanor and John. Somehow the story of Lady Eleanor's sobering circumstances somewhat eclipsed the romance angle of the story. However, this quibble aside, "A Notorious Lady" is still worth recommending as a good, worthwhile read.
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