16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXCELLENT - DEFINITELY A KEEPER, July 1, 2005
Been a while since I have enjoyed the Regency Romance.
The Unruly Chaperon helped to get rid of the sour taste left by the contemporary females and their twaddle of equal PMS freedom.
Lady Mathilda Cavendish and her daughter, Anthea travel with her cousin, Amelia Pemberton to the Estate of the Duke of St. Ormond. She is thinking of spiking his proposal of marriage to Amelia, knowing he is a little too worldly for her innocent cousin.
She remembers, not with too much joy, Crispin Malvern from about seven years ago at her own come-out into Society and his slighting remarks. And yet, that wonderful waltz.
Cris is getting up there in age, at 36, a bit long in the tooth for an innocent 17 year old female. Tilda's own marriage was to Jonathan, a man in his fifties. While her marriage had turned out reasonably well, she was convinced that Milly would not deal well with Cris's idea of marriage.
Ah, it gets more interesting when Cris's mother, the Dowager introduces Lady Winter and Milly to her brother-in-law, Lord John Malvern and his son, Guy [27 years old]. Guy instantly starts to flirt lightly with Lady Winter but is attracted to Milly, an attraction that grows.
Then cross-purposes grow between the main characters with the background of each influenceing their perception of each other's attitude to marriage. Cris realizes, a bit late, that Lady Winter's attitude of aloofness hides a vulnerability not visable to others. Tilda's attempt to shock the Duke just strengthens his idea of her widow's position in Society, allowing for a discreet liason
What a lovely, complex bit of romance for the Regency period with a bit of spicey dialog and the same old female surrender but helped along with a wonderful cast of characters to bounce off of.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - m -- well paced story, mixed-up powerful emotions, and lovable characters - surely a keeper!
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9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Quite a disappointment, March 28, 2005
I have read two previous books by this author and can only say I think this novel was a huge step back for her. There is nothing particularly original about the plot or the characters, and the Big Misunderstanding that keeps the Hero & Heroine apart for most of the story is especially dumb.
The hero thinks the heroine has decided to be a loose woman and that she's sleeping with his cousin; the heroine thinks the hero has deeper feelings than she imagined for his fiancee-of-convenience, who happens to be HER cousin. And, although BOTH beliefs are proven false DURING the story (well before the end), neither character let themselves realize/acknowledge that what they believed about the other isn't true.
Then, 1/3 toward the end, the story evolves into the VERY overused, "I-won't-love-him/her-until-he/she-says-I-love-you" formula.
I had enjoyed the author's last book, "The Unexpected Bride", so I really had high hopes for this work. It was doubly disappointing to read this because her last book added quite a bit of freshness to the typicial Regency romance formula. This one definitely does not.
However, I award two stars for the sensual scenes, which are very sensual if you care about that type of thing, and for the fact that the book does move along, and is not exactly boring; it's just unoriginal, and aside from the sensual scenes, somewhat bland, silly really. Very disappointing step backwards, in my opinion, from this author.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Who's loving who, July 1, 2010
This was very good Regency until the author ruined it by letting the misunderstanding between the H/h drag on and on and on. I skimmed read the last few chapters of misunderstanding just to finish the book. I could understand why Tilda thought she was not worthy enough for Crispin due to her background and life while living with her uncle. Even though she was forced into a May/December marriage and was left a wealthy widow it is hard to overcome the abuse in ones youth. So Tilda's lack of confidence was understandable, what was not understandable was how Tilda and Crispin thought the other was in love with someone else. Once it was reveled that Crispin was happy his potential bride was in love with his cousin and he let it be known to all concerned that should have cleared the way for his pursuit of Tilda. He also told Tilda directly why he was thinking about marrying, which should have clearly let her know he was not in love with her cousin. Crispin also was extremely dense regarding Tilda's love or lack thereof for Crispin's cousin when it was finally revealed she did not sleep with him. Don't get me wrong this was a wonderful book and I recommend it just be prepared for a very drawn out misunderstanding.
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