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68 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
MacAlister is Totally Delightful, September 2, 2004
This review is from: The Trouble with Harry (Mass Market Paperback)
Harry, the Marquis Rosse is a 45 year old widower with five precocious and lively children who are rapidly driving him insane. When his 13 year old daughter, Lady India, comes to him demanding an explanation on the reasons behind her bleeding, he knows he is in way over his head and must make the ultimate sacrifice -- find himself a woman to be both wife and mother to his brood of hellions. Having his fill of society females, he placed an ad in the "Rams Bottom Gazette" so that no one would really know that he was a marquis. This way, he would sort out the women looking for rich man and find a woman who liked children (not that he wanted any more) but would also be a bedmate for Harry.
Twenty years ago, Frederica Pelham (Plum) had been married for 6 weeks to a man who neglected to tell her he already had a wife. Upon discovering his deception, his family sent him to the continent, Plum's family disowned her over the `scandal' she caused! Plum's life was ruined, she was disowned with barely enough to live on. With few options left to her, and more than enough unsavory offers of protection, she retired to the country where she penned the highly popular but controversial "Guide to Connubial Calisthenics" under the pen name of Vyvyan La Bleu. The book was so controversial (yet ordered by most of the ton) that it was even banned by the government. Really needing some security, not only for herself but for her orphaned niece, and wanting a child of her own, Plum rationaled that she was not really lying about her past, but just an omitting some of the truths.
This was a hilariously funny tale of two middle-aged people who take their bedsport to a new level. Harry's accident-prone children are a trip whose non-stop antics enliven and grace the pages with joy and laughter! Along with a superb secondary cast of unforgettable characters from the entertaining and irreverent Spanish butler Juan, to Harry's rapscallion brood of hellions - India, Digger, McTavis and twins Andrew and Anne -- who do their best to drive Plum crazy the reader should find themselves howling on the floor with straight from the gut belly laughs. Bottom Line - For outrageous fun in a can't put it down rapid page-turner delight from start to finish - look no further than this gem by Katie Macalister! (...)
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78 of 86 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Katie's back with another witty tale!, July 19, 2004
This review is from: The Trouble with Harry (Mass Market Paperback)
Katie Macalister is one of the most delightful (and prolific) writers in Romance today. She is not Shakespeare, but then I, for one, thank goodness for that! We already have old Will. When I want the Scottish Play, I blow the dust of my very ancient copies and read it. When I want sheer fun, I look to Lynsay Sands and Katie Macalister. I love British humour (works out nice since I am Scot!), but that dry wit is often missing in the works of a lot of American writers. I am not talking about highbrow humour, but that you-can't-help-but-howl-aloud Benny Hill wacko laughs! The kind that has your erupting with buffos, has people looking at you as if you have gone around the bend one too many times, the kind that has your husband exiling you from the living room while he is trying to watch CASI because you are making too much noise. Many writers can provoke a giggle. Few make me laugh so hard I hurt. There is nothing more special a writer can do for you. They leave you feeling good all over. And Trouble With Harry is a sheer delight from page one! One of my favourite Hitchcock movies carries this name. It was deadpan humour that was just so on target, so it's not surprising to find this book is the same. It's a delightful Regency - and from the opening scene where beleaguered Harry is trying to explain the facts of "womanhood" to his eldest daughter - you are already laughing out loud! The Trouble with Harry, 45-years-old- is a father, coming to parenthood late in life. There in little India - no longer the little angel sent to grace her life since she is in urgent need to know about the birds and the bees, the twins trying to "fly" from the barn roof again, Marston - Harry's heir - who thinks he would rather be a blacksmith than the next Marquis Rosse, and MacTavish who presents his father dear with his latest "finds". Harry, left to raise his five hellions...um, precocious darlings on his own, faces the decision he has to remarry, find a good stable woman who can bring some semblance to his chaotic life. Being a smart man, he immediately instructs Templeton, his man of affairs to find him a suitable wife by advertising for one. He would like a companion suited to him, and one who could bring peace to his herd, so he wants Templeton to move quickly before word gets out Lord Harry needs a wife. He dictates he wants a woman between 35-50, who must like children and be possesses a "certain charm to her appearance", though it's not absolutely necessary. While she might not have to be toothsome, he would like to look at her and not think of a bulldog! Enters Plum. She desperately wants a family, would love children, but no man in all of Dorset would accept her "after the scandal" - well, no man except Harry. She was married once, well almost married. Charles her husband, forgot to mention one little thing before their marriage - that he already had a wife! But Plum is understanding and does not judge all men by Charles. Also, she is an author of "The Guide to Connubial Calisthenics" - a book deemed so obscene to be banned by the government. Plum answers the ad in the paper and is shocked to find after answering three questions that Harry and she are engaged to be married the day after tomorrow. And the fun begins. Katie Macalister gives us a wonderful, funny tale of middle-age people who think romance has past them by. Three cheers for Macalister and let's hope she keeps them coming! No one does them quite like her!
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I want more historicals Katie!!!, September 24, 2004
This review is from: The Trouble with Harry (Mass Market Paperback)
Don't get me wrong, I love Katie Macalister's contemporaries but she's a breath of fresh air with her historicals. It's so nice to read a historical with such a great sense of humor and such strong and fiesty female leads.
Harry needs a wife. He's got five out of control children and is in desperate need of a woman to run his household and, er, attend to his needs. Enter Plum, a woman who's been ruined by her first husband over 20 years before. She's also the mysterious author of a very racy sex book. Both the romantic leads are over 40, something that pleased me compared to books with 19 year old women married to 35 year old men.
Of course, this being a Macalister book, silly hijinks ensue, the kids are wild, the household staff are a wild assortment from the lothario butler to the bodyguard footmen and Harry and Plum engage in all manner of bedroom gymnastics with great energy and creativity. Plum is no pushover and even when it becomes obvious that someone is out to harm her new family, she does not waver. You gotta love the heroine who doesn't wilt at the first difficulty. You also have to love Harry for loving Plum so much.
All in all, The Trouble with Harry is an amazingly entertaining read that will supply plenty of laughs and more than a little heat between Plum and Harry.
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