Customer Reviews

Lord Stanhope's Proposal (Zebra Regency Romance)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is what people are talking about when they say "a Regency romp!" Jessica Benson has penned an *amazingly* good first novel with "Lord Stanhope's Proposal". The writing is excellent, the characters delightful and the plot an intricately woven comedy of manners (and errors!) The book reads like a cross between Georgette Heyer and Julia Quinn--and I mean that as high praise!

The heroine of the story, Miss Calista Ashton, is a 24 year old spinster and blue-stocking with a sharp wit, good heart and terrible clothes sense. She is the sister of a brandy-swilling vicar in a small village. When the Hon. Oswald Cravanndish (Ossie) is ordered by his formidable mother to rusticate and find a suitable bride (following an ignominious dive into Sally Jersey's punchbowl), he and his equally frivolous friends, Nev and Squibby, cook up a plan to travel to their friend, Elmo Lyttworth's, village and pretend to court the village spinster (Calista). Unfortunately, this plan is accompanied by bets being placed in the books at their club regarding the odds of Ossie's courtship meeting with success. Recognizing that his foolish cousin has endangered the reputation of an innocent lady, Tristan Rutherford-Hayes, Lord Stanhope, travels to the village as well in an attempt to defuse the situation and rescue the lady's reputation. And that is only the beginning of an extremely complicated and amusing plot....

Tristan, the Earl of Stanhope, is a marvelous hero--jaw-droppingly handsome, fabulously wealthy, intelligent, charming, honorable and sexy. Bored with his string of vacuous mistresses and empty-headed society debutantes, he is challenged by Calista's wit and charmed by her lack of artifice. Calista, for her part, cannot believe that such a gorgeous paragon would really be interested in her. But the two are seldom left to ponder their blossoming love in peace, as alternative suitors and interfering chaperones pop in and out of the story at a delicious pace.

The story does follow the plot of Georgette Heyer's "The Nonesuch" in general terms--a Corinthian, a paragon of society, and a confirmed bachelor, visits a small provincial village (that goes ga-ga over having such an august presence in their midst!) and ends up falling in love with the local spinster. Tristan is even referred to as "the Nonesuch" in this story and some of the dialogue is pure Heyer. To my mind, Jessica Benson has *improved* on the story since I always have thought that the hero and heroine in "The Nonesuch" were rather bland and uninteresting (and Tristan and Calista are definitely not that!) The secondary characters in "Lord Stanhope's Proposal" are also wonderfully well-drawn (although there is no one character to equal the pure brilliance of "The Nonesuch"'s beautiful, self-absorbed schemer, Tiffany Wield!)

In summary, this is a charming, delightful romance that lovers of the Regency sub-genre should *adore*.

Highly recommended!

I have been reading regencies for years, and as far as category regencies go - this is without question the best one ever written. I don't give 5 stars very easily, but if I could I would give this one 10. This book is actually on a par with some of the best Georgette Heyer - no, I am not exaggerating! Let's start with our heroine, Calista. She is perfect - a genuine bluestocking, who purposely dresses down, spends her time doing good works, is marvelously intelligent, and yet has a wonderfully witty, dry sense of humor, even when it comes to herself! No silly, stupid snits and juvenile quarrels, no idiotically outraged miffs - she is wonderful. On to our hero, Stanhope. He is perfect - handsome, intelligent, a Corinthian, rich, titled, a sense of humor that matches Calista's, and the discernment to recognize in Calista the embodiment of his dreams. The secondary characters are brilliantly written, and the plot is intricately woven and amazingly fresh. I've purchased about twenty Lord Stanhope's Proposals for friends and family, and they all loved it. Please buy this book. I absolutely guarantee you will not regret it. My only regret is that I can't read it for the first time, but it's on my keeper shelf, and I do re-read it every couple months and still enjoy it every time.

I have read tons of Regencies and have to say that Jessica Benson's Lord Stanhope's Proposal was a joy. Right from the clever prologue, I almost felt as if I were reading a Georgette Heyer. Miss Benson, like Heyer, assembled the most vivid cast of characters to people her novel, somehow having them all play their parts to bring the book to its satisfying ending. Stanhope was a dream and Calista a very appealing heroine. If you like Regencies, you'll LOVE Lord Stanhope's Proposal.

I found this book utterly charming. As I got further into the book and the plot thickened, and I do mean thickened - with so many delightful subplots - I found that I carried the book with me everywhere to steal a few more reading minutes at any oppportunity. The dialog is so good that as times I chuckled out loud. At one point there is a potential disaster about to befall Lord Stanhope, which could destroy his ability to pursue Miss Ashton further and I found myself gasping and giggling as I realized how it was going to play out in his favor. I highly recommend this book. It's lots of fun and I was so sorry when it ended.

Although the cast of characters will be familiar to Regency-era romance readers, Benson makes them her own with her sparkling dialogue and telltale details. It's a terrific book, and for a debut, it's spectacular. My only reason for giving it less than 5 stars is that I prefer my romances to have a strong emotional thread in them (other than humor). If you want to be touched by the book rather than just having your funny bone tickled, you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for a good time, this book is, in a word, fun.

I found this book a delightful surprise - well drawn characters, good story lines and lots of fun. I found myself laughing out loud at the antics and the conversations. Something I haven't done since Georgette Heyer. I will definitely be on the lookout for more books by Ms Benson.

This book was not written in a few weeks or a month, either, trust me on this. THIS book was lovingly labored over by its author, and it shows!

Trying to describe the complex plot would take up more words than are allowed in a review, (and truth be told, I'm not sure I could make sense out it, either) but the author never loses any of the multiple threads, nor allows the reader to become confused by any of her large, but delightful cast of characters.

The first five pages of Chapter Eighteen in which the hero explains his current rather complicated romantic situation to a friend is worth the price of the entire book. Just those five pages! But every page is marvelous. All of your emotions will be engaged; you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll laugh again at the struggles of the formerly rakish earl as he tries to convince his bluestocking sweetheart that he really does want her. And need her. In spite of all the other efforts being made to convince her otherwise. But indeed, if all's well that end's well, this book ends just as it should, and you'll be well pleased by it.

This author has the requisite wit and wordsmith skills to be a major force in the Regency world. If only we can keep her there. The scary part is--if her first book is THIS good, what will her tenth book be like? The twentieth?

This is a great little book! So many regencies written today are pretty mundane, but this is a happy exception. I read lots of regencies and this is the best I've read in a long time. It's a little gem! I highly recommend it.

I feel that Jessica Benson has crafted rather than written this book. Although in the dedication she mentions having access to the collected works of Georgette Heyer and the OED this book you are quite aware that you are not reading a rehashed Georgette Heyer. The quality of writing is exceptionally good, especially for a first novel, there is the same sense of fun as some of the light hearted Georgette Heyers. The characters and conversations breathe life and are an essential part of the book. The Reverend Adolphus Ashton for example ?Truly inspirational, as usual,? applauded Lady Lyttworth,??Thank the Lord! Thank your betters! Thank the fourteen-hour workday! For they keep you from sin.?

The Calista is very much a true bluestocking. I very much enjoyed the way that both Lord Stanhope and Calista narrowly manage to avoid one matrimonial trap after another. Some well intentioned others not quite so well intentioned. I was quite certain the author was going to come unstuck a number of times but she deftly managed to extract her characters, often in a very amusing manner. This really is Regency Romance at its best.

From the back of the Zebra paperback edition?

THE TON?S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR...

A true gentleman and handsome too, Lord Stanhope was the toast of the ton But at the height of the Season he was rusticating to Sussex. Calista Ashton, an ?elderly dried up spinster,? had become the subject of a wager placed by his own foppish cousin. Now it was up to Stanhope to rescue the innocent Calista.

THE VICAR?S MOST UNMARRIAGEABLE SISTER...

The vicar?s sister at four and twenty didn?t care a fig for fashion?or amour. Instead, Calista Ashton loved racing fine steeds, reading scandalous books, and embracing an independent life. Now a group of visiting London bachelors has arrived at a neighboring estate. And much to Galista?s dismay, she soon finds herself being courted by not one, but two noblemen! Unused to the ton?s

flirtations her head was turned by the dashing Lord Stanhope who kissed divinely Kissed? What was happening amid the lush country meadows ? sweet seduction... or true love?

?Devilish good fun. LORD STANHOPE?S PROPOSAL is regency romance at its best.?

?Julia Quinn, author of The Duke and I

This was my very first novel by Jessica Benson. From the very first pages of the prologue, so many characters ? and I do mean CHARACTERS - being introduced all at once! I thought I might have to list them in order to keep them straight. Let me say did read this book and found it to be a delightful regency romp that was extremely amusing.

Calista Ashton, the vicar?s sister, was a bit of a blue stocking, an aging spinster at the age of four and twenty who?s main interests were doing fine deeds, reading scandalous books, racing fine steeds, and looking forward to an independent life once she acquired a small inheritance on her next birthday. She had no intentions of marrying and was quite content with her life exactly the way it was!

Now, enter a trio of London fops, Oswald, Neville, and Squibby who head out to visit their friend, Elmo Lyttworth in the country. Believe me when I say this, you could liken this trio to the three stooges. Lord Stanhope?s aunt, has banished his cousin Oswald from the London Season to the country to atone for making a spectacle of himself at Almack?s - this along with the directive that he seek a bride in order to settle himself down. Forever, getting himself involved with one fiasco after another, Oswald, before leaving London, initiates a bet at Whites that he would be engaged to the ?old? spinsterish Calista Ashton, before returning to London.

Now, his cousin Tristan, the Earl of Stanhope, has heard of this latest escapade and feels it his duty to try to extricate his cousin out of this latest scandal before the poor unsuspecting spinster hears of her name being bandied about in White?s or, his Aunt hears of Ossies? latest folly. Using the excuse of buying a filly from Elmo Lyttworth, Tristan dispatches a letter to announce his intention of visiting and acquiring said filly. Lady Lyttworth, interprets the letter to mean that the Earl of Stanhope is going to offer for her daughter ? thinking that his reference to a filly is how ?sportsmen? would refer to a comely girl! And so this story is set in motion and this great comedy of errors begins! This was an absolutely delightful and darling story. I found myself thoroughly enjoying the outrageous dialog between the cast of secondary characters who made me think I was in the middle of a ?Three Stooges Movie?. The dialog was fast, witty and amazingly fresh!

The romance between Tristan, Lord Stanhope, and Calista was refreshing and sweet, laced with just enough double entendres, and snappy comebacks, to give you nice warm fuzzy feelings. This is not to say that this romance ran smoothly, not when you have to include the witchy sister-in-law, matchmaking mama, three London fop bachelors, and a despicable revolting Squire looking to make Calista his wife to care for his seven motherless brats! No, the romance was not without it?s impediments but it was quite satisfying nonetheless! I most definitely recommend this book to lovers of regency romance genre who wish a LARGE sprinkling of humor mixed in with their romance! This is an author to watch ? I feel a new star has been born!