Customer Reviews

Once Upon A Sofa (Zebra Regency Romance)

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

 

 

Major Sidney Chamberlayne is at loose ends now that the war is over, unsure what to do with his life. But he has no problem knowing what to do when a voluptuous woman kisses him in a darkened library. When they are discovered, they are thoroughly compromised and quickly married, though they remain strangers.

The widowed Isabel Ashby thought she was kissing (and purposely compromising) an earl she had picked out as her next husband, but instead finds herself wed to a half-pay soldier with no fortune and no prospects - not at all what she had in mind and not likely to give her the sense of security she desperately craves. So Sidney and Isabel are forced together and find love where neither expected - or wanted - to find it.

Isabel has the greatest growth arc in this Regency Romance. She begins the novel a selfish and spoiled woman, but one who is insecure and vulnerable beneath her bluster. We watch her fall in love and discover that it changes all her priorities. If you're tired of perfect, virginal heroines, Isabel is right up your alley. Sidney is a delight - about as Beta as a soldier can get - and as honorable as they come. As Sidney struggles with what to do with his life - and his wife - you can't help but fall for him. At least I did!

When I read a romance, I look for good characters first and foremost. Next I look for a good plot. This book had both. Both Sidney and Isabel make the best of the situation in which they find themselves, and they grow as a result of their experiences. The major plot developments were not obvious, which is a blessing in a period romance, and it all came together in a satisfying way. What more could you want?

By the way, don't believe everything you read in a back cover blurb. This one gets it all wrong.

I've read many regency novels and can recognize formulaic writing a mile off, as most frequent readers of any genre can. Once Upon a Sofa is in a class by itself! Read this novel and see what first-class writing is all about! I can't wait to read the next one.

This is a thin, disappointing book. Then again, I'm not a reader of romantic fiction, but I did expect at least a plot or a bit of humor. I'm not sure how this got published in the first place.

A rich young widow, Lady Isabel Ashby, has decided that this time she will choose the husband she wants, and that he should have the social standing she desires as well as wealth. Her chosen quarry is the Earl of Caenby. But Caenby is refusing to cooperate, blithely ignoring all her hints and overtures. And so Lady Isabel decides to help her cause along by compromising the earl. Except that things go spectacularly wrong, and she ends up compromising the earl's best friend, Major Sidney Chamberlayne (a younger son and one who is not rich) instead. Now, instead of pulling off the social coup of the Season, Isabel must marry Sidney Chamberlayne in order to repair her tarnished reputation. Was ever a lady so badly thwarted? But Lady Isabel soon discovers that her unwanted marriage has its benefits in the form of her good looking and morally upright husband. Could she be falling in love with her new husband? Is it possible that she is finding in this marriage all the things she had dreamt of as a young girl? But there are those in Sidney's family who don't approve of her, and when someone from her past insinuates himself into her new life, Lady Isabel realises that she may be in danger of losing everything she has come to hold dear...

"Once Upon a Sofa" possesses a good story even if the plot premise is an oft used one and the manner at which the story unfolded a little choppy as quite a bit occurs "off stage" as it were. It was, also, a tad difficult to take the heroine of the book, Lady Isabel, to heart for the first third of the book not because she had planned on entrapping the Earl of Caenby into marriage, but because she spent pages sulking when her plans went haywire and then because she spent another few chapters behaving like a brat once she's married to Sidney. Fortunately, she soon came to see that she'd received an unlooked for break when she ended up with Sidney, and the pair soon settled down to making their marriage work. Along the way, the author cleverly threw in a few spokes to all this potential marital bliss by having Sidney's elder brother openly show his disdain for Lady Isabel, Sidney's frustrating attempts to settle into life outside the army and having Lady Isabel's less reputable friends suddenly insert themselves in her life. And if the author had stuck with these, "Once upon a Sofa" would have been more of a stellar read for me because the novel really was at its strongest when it concentrated on Lady Isabel and Sidney. As it is she added an unwanted (in my opinion) subplot involving Sidney's young sister's infatuation with a cad, and Lady Isabel's attempts to make her see sense to give the book some conflict. I, unfortunately, found this subplot heavy going and a little uninteresting. All in all, however, "Once Upon a Sofa" was an enjoyably good read, and I would definitely look out for Myretta Robens' next novel.