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Perfecting Fiona

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This book is the second in Marion Chesney's fantastic "School for Manners" series. Set in the Regency era, the premise involves two spinster ladies, twins, who are in their fifties. Miss Amy and Miss Effy Tribble are desperately poor, but have in their favor their excellent address (on Holles Street) and good family name. Unable to make ends meet, they despair of ever being warm again. Their salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Haddon, a friend from long ago who returns from India a very wealthy man. Shrewd Mr. Haddon, knowing the sisters will never accept the financial help he is longing to give, suggests the girls go into genteel business for themselves, presenting difficult young misses into society, ensuring good marriages. _Perfecting Fiona_ is about Fiona, a girl from a strict Scottish family who is an heiress. She has almost received numerous proposals, but each time the prospective bridegroom goes into the drawing room to ask her to marry him, he exits as if shot from a cannon, babbling to her chaperones that he only meant to get a recipe for mincemeat pie, or something equally silly. Her aunt and uncle, in despair of ever getting their niece off their hands, turn her over to the Tribble sisters, and that's when the real fun begins. Can Effy and Amy discover the truth behind Fiona's determination not to marry? Will Fiona ever find true love? What about the rakish Lord Peter Havard, who seems too interested in a girl from the gentry to suit his haughty duke and duchess parents? And will Mr. Haddon *ever* realize Amy's affection for him is more than platonic? This is a rollicking good time from one of the masters of the Regency genre.

This is part of a series by Marion Chesney. Her series on Hannah Pym,a matchmaking stagecoach traveler/one time housekeeper, is SO much better---similar story lines, but the matchmaker is a lovely person, cheerful, competent, smart. The story here is a typical regency, but the disgraceful behavior of the two main characters, sisters, left me disgusted with the book. I won't be reading any more of the series due to the horribly mean things the sisters say to each other, they actually hit and bruise each other, torment each other by attacking each other's "sore spot", and one of them uses foul language that would never be used by a "gentlewoman" hoping to cater to wealthy people needing a professional matchmaker in Regency England. These are the two main characters of this series and apparently we are to see all of this as part of their "quirky" personalities. Other readers may enjoy them, but I can't imagine why.

The main character in this story is a beauty named Fiona, who attracts marriage offers, but at the time the offer is made, the groom-to-be mysteriously withdraws the proposal each time, or claims that none was made---and Fiona is not in the least disappointed when this occurs, which is even more surprising---but her guardians most certainly are. Her guardians, wealthy merchants who have a strong work ethic yet no real love for Fiona, want to marry her to a respectable merchant.

The guardians bring her to the already described 2 sisters who have just embarked on a new career---professional matchmakers---and promise them financial reward if the sisters can bring about a marriage, as long as it is not to the aristocracy. Unlike most parents looking for a "match", they forbid any alliance with a Lord or any member of the aristocracy, believing he aristocracy to be comprised of drunken, gambling, purposeless, shallow, morally bankrupt men and vapid, fashion focused women. They point out a particular Lord that they happen to have come across while traveling to the matchmaker's home as a perfect example of what they do NOT want

The plot then develops....why does Fiona seem to attract offers of marriage that evaporate upon being uttered? Why isn't she disappointed by this situation? Who is she holding out for? Of course....you know there most definitely will be a member of the aristocracy that figures in the story line. The romance is a good one, however, it is wasted by the crass behavior and language of the sisters that unfortunately come into each chapter.

Perfecting Fiona - 2nd of the 6 book The School of Manners series.

Fiona Macleod is a Scottish heiress (from trade no less) who is sent by her desperate uncle and aunt to spend a London season with the professional chaperones Tribble spinsters. At 19, Fiona is a beautiful and wealthy, yet for some mysterious reason, her several marriage proposals over the past few years have all fallen though at the last moment. When she arrives in London, she shocks the sisters by her demure and perfect behaviour. But again another proposal of marriage bites the dust. Desperate, the Tribble sisters with the help of Mr Harrod try to uncover the mystery behind Fiona's refusal to marry. But sparks fly when Fiona meets Lord Peter Havard. Not to be intimidated, she gives him set-down after set-down. The infuriated lord decides to ignore her but finds that he is quite unable to. When Fiona finally relents to marriage, she agrees only to do so with Lord Peter! This throws the sisters in for a loop since Fiona's guardians have specifically forbidden any match to the season's most unattainable rake. The road to matrimony prove very challenging indeed for Fiona and Lord Havard who not only have to fight through the meddling spinsters, but a past lie that threatens their future happiness.

Fiona - intelligent, witty, fearless and passionate
Lord Peter - Sexy, passionate and honourable.
Lots of sexual tension!

Favourite scene:
Fiona was wearing violet. Her eyes were violet too, he noticed despite his fury. He turned to walk away, and yet something made him turn back and continue to walk beside her. He remembered the party at the opera. What an orgy of champagne and breasts and thighs and dissipation! What would Miss Macleod think of him if she knew of his licentious behavious?
"No," said Fiona, seemingly apropos of nothing, "I do not approve of rakes."
"Why?" he demanded, although he had received a sharp shock and wondered whether she was a mind-reader.
"Well, it sounds all right," said Fiona. "You know, dashing and dangerous. Understandable and forgivable in a very young man, but in an older man, say in his thirties, rather sad and immature."
Lord Peter Havard was thirty-three and he felt his feelings at that moment could only be relieved by slapping her hard.