Selfless Sister (Signet Regency Romance) [Paperback]

Shirley Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signet Regency Romance | Publication Date: August 8, 2000

Lucinda Linley faces spinsterhood after putting her younger sisters' marriage prospects ahead of her own. Then she finds true love with the Lord of Ravensbrook-but will a long-standing family feud impede their future happiness?

"Shirley Kennedy's Regencies are a delight."-Debbie Macomber

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Signet (August 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451201388
• ISBN-13: 978-0451201386
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,573,158 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born and raised in Fresno, California, where I graduated from Fresno High School. I lived in Canada for many years, enjoying skiing and riding horses, and am a graduate of the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada with a B.S. in Computer Science.

I've had many jobs in my lifetime, including working for several years as a computer programmer/analyst. However, my true passion has always been writing. Even as a little girl I could always be found in a corner reading a book. Finally I took a big risk and decided to devote myself to writing full time. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. Now, after writing and publishing several traditional Regencies, I have switched genres and am currently working on another western romance as well as a longer Regency historical.

I have two daughters, Dianne and Lindy, and am forever proud of their accomplishments--and grateful, too, that both are the kind of loving, supportive daughters every mother hopes she'll have. I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, where I belong to the Las Vegas chapter of Romance Writers of America.

I love hearing from my readers and can be reached at mailto:[e-mail]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Patchy, but intriguing, September 15, 2000

By 

"[e-mail]" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selfless Sister (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

Ms Kennedy has here produced a disquieting, serious book. Our on-the-shelf heroine leaves her home to care for an aged relative, and stumbles on a years-old mystery involving a missing child and the repercussions for the family of the alleged murderer. The mystery is skilfully plotted, the minor characters well-drawn and used, but the hero and heroine never quite emerge from their respective roles in the plot - the romance is relegated to the backseat while the hero deals with his social alienation and the heroine solves the mystery.

The mystery is absolutely compelling, however, and Ms Kennedy, despite this somewhat patchy effort, remains one of the better writers in the genre.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Selfless Sister, August 20, 2000

By 

Affaire de Coeur - See all my reviews

This review is from: Selfless Sister (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

Douglas Wyndham, outcast Lord of Ravencroft, has no desire to wed due to a twenty-five-year old tragedy. He meets Lucinda Linley and knows she is all a man could ask for in a woman. Unfortunately she is visiting at her cousin's home, and that family is part of the family tradedy. Lucinda has found no reason to wed; so she has allowed her sisters to be brought out and wed before her. Now her father with only enough dowry for one daughter gives Lucinda an ultimatum to wed. Again she refuses. Her sister must wed, and Lucinda will take her place as companion to her dreaded aunt. This selfless act brings her to Southfield and under her beastly cousin's roof. The family's tragedy seems to be at the center of Southfield's unhappiness, and the enmity against the Wyndham's is a living thing. Lucinda questions the events while losing her heart to Douglas. There are impediments to their wedding--the lack of a dowry and the old tragedy. Family secrets of both the Linleys and Wyndham also stand in the way. A lovely tale with good twists and bends on the road to romance. The Selfless Sister revolves around love and sacrifice. Shirley Kennedy writes a convoluted tale of the selflessness of love and lovers. An enjoyable romance. I look forward to reading other books by Ms. Kennedy.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Murder, pregnancy, elopement, everything but the kitchen sink., December 14, 2008

By 

Zou Zou (cape cod,ma) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Selfless Sister (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

Overwrought, underwritten, middling romance.
Twenty-six year old Lucinda wants to marry for love or not at all. So she declines all offers and intends to live with her parents 'til she finds true love.
Her parents decide that she must marry. They have improvished themselves providing good dowries for their daughters. They intend to split the last of the dowry money between Lucinda and youngest daughter, Henrietta. The reader never discovers how large any of the dowries have been so the penury premise seems weak.
Selfless Lucinda rejects the halved dowry and finds employment as Companion to her Aunt Pernelia Linley. Twenty-five years ago, poor Aunt Pernelia suffered the tragic, mysterious loss of her daughter, Marianne.
Marianne, reportedly, was last seen being led on a pony ride with neighbor Gregory Wyndham. The tragedy still divides the two families.
**Spoilers**
This novel has numerous plot threads. There is the forbidden love between two couples; Alex Wyndham and Alethea Linley and Douglas, Lord Ravensbrook and Lucinda Linley. The unchecked tyranny of Aunt Pernelia's son, Edgerton. The mystery of Gregory's supposed suicide and the unsolved disappearance of young Marianne.
There is premarital sex, an illicit pregnancy and an underage elopement to Gretna Green. The author has tossed everything but the kitchen sink into the mix.
With the exception of Lucinda and Alethea, the women are all spineless ninnies. Edgerton is a one-note, pathological liar. He rules the women in his family with threats and punishments. Angst-ridden, despairing Douglas considers Ravensbrook Manor to be cursed and dishonoured by the tragedy.
Spunky Lucinda intends to solve the mystery and get her man. She is more heroic than the moping Douglas.
The resolution of the mystery was no surprise. The final disposition of the villian and his crime was mild and anticlimactic. Did the author forget about the unfortunate Marianne?
The characterizations of the protagonists were simplistic. The language and dialogue was 21st century colloquial. Lucinda's attitudes and actions make Mary Wollstonecraft look conservative.
Not recommended.