Customer Reviews

Passing Fancies

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

 

 

If you are tired of the regencies that go on and on and on about nothing...you will enjoy this book. Pippa is a gentle-hearted young lady who thinks herself in love with the rather self-centered eldest son of the family who has "raised" her since she was 12. She is mostly attracted to his handsome face...as she realizes the more time she spends with Simon, the second son. He is the one with true character. To me, Simon is the reason I enjoy this book. Elizabeth Mansfield lets you see inside of his heart throughout the book and he is an endearing character. Someone else mentioned in a review that you don't even know what he looked like. I don't agree. The point was that he had beauty inside and the outside was not as important. Pippa realized that in time, thank goodness. You certainly have the idea that he is attractive, just in a quieter way.

I also enjoyed this book because these characters appear in some of Ms. Manfield's other books. In A Counterfeit Husband, Pippa's mother finds romance. You should read that book before Passing Fancies. It has its fair share of danger and intrigue, love and romance with the hero eluding a press gang and masquerading as a servant in the heroine's emply so that he won't be wrongly accused of murder. You also find out why Pippa is the way she is...why she lets Sybil lead her into adventures. Sybil is another name you'll find repeated in other books by Ms. Mansfield.

I highly recommend Ms. Mansfield as an author. When my roommate and I discovered her books we were immediately charmed. When you read her books you will feel like you know the characters personally...and she usually has a secondary romance going on in the story that adds extra interest.

I have collected almost all of the Elizabeth Mansfield regencies over the years and have enjoyed them, but this one, I think, is her best. It has a sweet poignancy to it that gets me every time. Simon, with his gentle, scholarly ways, is one of my all-time favorite romance heroes. If you liked this one, be sure to check out Regency Sting and The Phantom Lover.

This is a marvelous sweet story! Pippa finds unexpected love in a man she always called "brother," but then she has to convince him that she really loves him and not his rival! Delightful writing and character building. I'd recommend Elisabeth Mansfield to anyone :)

For those readers unfamiliar with Ms. Mansfield's work, let me start out by saying that she does not include the danger and intrigue in her novels that many other Regency authors do. I enjoy those authors too, but Elizabeth Mansfield is a pleasant change from the norm. She uses as her model Jane Austen's character-driven stories. This is one case where that model works extremely well. I won't bother to summarize the plot, as that's been done. Pippa is an endearing heroine, if a bit too willing to sacrifice herself for others' well-being. Her confusion about where her heart truly lies is well-written, and the conclusion of the book is extremely satisfying and heartwarming. If you are looking for a good story with realistic characters and a gentle mood, this is the place to go.

I absolutely love this book!!! I can reread it anytime. I love everything I've read by Elizabeth Mansfield (a wonderful author), but this is my favorite! I enjoy it so much. It is refreshing not to have the "hero" the sterotypical romance hero. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves romance!

Synopsis: Lovely Lady Philippa Wyckfield gets drawn into any number of unfortunate situations due to her generous nature. Staying with friends she'd known since childhood, she manages to catch the eye of two of the brothers. One wrestles with his disgust of her supposed madcap nature while the other wrestles with his invisibility.

What I liked: I loved the characters with their varied idiosyncrasies. There is Lady Philippa (Pippa), whose generous nature lands her in more trouble than any normal human can handle; William, the stiffly proper head of the Sturtevant household and oldest child of Lady Georgina; Lady Georgina, air-headed, well-meaning mother and lady of the house; Simon, a scientist whose head is more often cloudy with his work than not; Sybil, only daughter and incorrigible madcap; and Dolly, the youngest son whose madness for horseflesh leads to at least one of the unfortunate situations I mentioned earlier. These characters are fleshed-out rather well despite the shortness of this book. Even the Oxbroughs, the lady and her son who are more or less the antagonists of the tale, have their quirks, making them more believable.

There was something I noticed with this book that struck me as interesting. It is written in third person omniscient. Perhaps this POV was more acceptable in 1983 when this book was written. From the research I've done in regard to publishing houses, this POV is not acceptable now. However, I feel Elizabeth Mansfield pulled it off rather well. While reading, I knew what was happening in each character's head, the POV switches were graceful and hardly noticeable. Considering this book is not a mystery in any way, I see no reason why we should not know what everyone is thinking.

The story was entertaining, light and fun. Love scenes were limited to kissing and even those were few and far between. I laughed more than once and at one point I thought I might cry. All that aside, this book is a good choice if you want a delightful, light read.

Pippa, our female lead, is blamed for all sorts of events that take place in the home she is visiting, which all turn out badly and wreck her promising relationship with the head of that family, William. Pippa, as our lead female character, I found to be either very stupid or a door mat. She takes the blame for everything! That is not endearing. It is not funny. She steals, gets engaged and spends lots of money for members of a family that are not a) hers or b) appreciative. Sybil, her friend and daughter of this family who invited her to visit, is so self-centered that as a reader I found her behavior towards a friend positively unredeemable. Pippa needs to get some backbone. It is not "madcap" to steal, gamble, etc. I mean, to get engaged to prevent Sybil from getting into trouble? Isn't that a bit silly? And the man she ends up with, the second brother, Simon, well, what did he even look like? Besides looking disheveled and with dark red hair always falling in his face? Who knew! This book was tedious. Smart female characters are not to be found in this book. It is not even vaguely funny.