Customer Reviews

An Outrageous Proposal (Signet Regency Romance)

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This is the weakest of the six-book series about the Westcott sisters and their governess; it reeks so strongly of Kihlstrom running out of steam that I actually suspect this may have been written after 'Miss Tibbles' Folly.' Penelope and Talbot are very thinly drawn, and as a result I found both to be unsympathetic characters. Talbot, who is at the start of the book set up as a man with a genuine understanding of women and of Lady Penelope's situation in particular, part-way through turns into a complete idiot who wants to act like a domestic dictator. And Penelope, the supposedly highly intelligent and independent young lady, is suddenly missish and quite silly.

The book begins with a half-way decent plot in which Geoffrey tries to get to know Penelope without making her think he presents a threat to her desire not to marry. However, Kihlstrom rushes on to the mock/real betrothal very quickly, and the remainder of the book is taken up with a series of extremely thin roadblocks which suggested to me that the author was desperately reaching for any device, however poor, to pad out the book for the requisitve 200+ pages. The scene close to the end, with the multiple Mrs Talbots, was by far the worst example of this: it was simply ludicrous and at that stage Kihlstrom's plotting skills lost all credibility. This was a pity, since the other books in this series have generally been entertaining reads.

Ms Kihlstrom also makes errors in relation to titles here: Penelope is an earl's daughter and therefore entitled to the title of 'Lady'. This title remains with her when she marries, unless her husband's title carries greater significance. Thus it is Lady Penelope Talbot and Lady Rebecca Rowland (from the fourth book), not Mrs Talbot and Mrs Rowland. In contrast, Diana (from the first book) becomes the Duchess of Berenford since her husband's title is superior. The occasional Americanism in disalogue also grates - while I expect Americanisms in narrative, the dialogue should be accurate for the country and the period. Thus I would not expect to see Regency ladies and gentlemen use 'gotten' or 'the both of us' (which is in any case grammatically inaccurate).

Not a book I shall be keeping to re-read; I think this book, more than any of her others, demonstrates that Kihlstrom is not a Mary Balogh, an Emma Lange or a Carla Lane.

I enjoyed reading this book but I did not get engrossed in it deeply. It starts quite nicely but thins out towards the end.