Customer Reviews

The Unofficial Suitor (Signet Regency Romance)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I rather liked this one. Richard is a man who grew up on the streets who isn't in the ton and therefore cannot reasonably expect to have a bonafide "lady" fall for him. However, the old axiom of beggars not being choosers holds true. When the heroine finds herself in a no win situation, the uncouth Richard Hawke is far and away her best option. . . naturally she falls head over heels for him.

I thought the underdog hero was nicely done and was happy to see him win his lady's heart.

I love the way Charlotte Louise Dolan gives us a succinct description of all characters, warts and all. Each person has feelings, secrets and true depth. You come to love, respect and sometimes hate the hero, heroine and assorted secondary characters and villains!

Lady Cassiopeia Anderby is being taken to London to be "sold" to the highest bidder by her spendthrift step-brother. She has been coerced into compliance by the threat of harm to her half-sister. On the trip to London, she meets Richard Hawk, a strange secretive man who both captivates and frightens her. Richard suffers because of all the terrible events that occurred in his youth - he lost his freedom at one point and the love of his life. But upon seeing Cassie's resourcefulness during this trip, he begins to fall in love again. Once in London, he must outsmart and outmaneuver her step-brother and her "official" suitors. He does so with the help of all the secondary characters - all wonderful friends and family who eventually find romance for themselves!

You will particularly enjoy Lady Leticia, a grandmother and matchmaker who works her magic throughout the book! But there is much more in store for her! I enjoyed that once her matchmaking was done when newly married Richard turns to her for advice she informs him she only meddled before the wedding and not after. Some of the romances are more hurried than the main couple's but each is charming! Can Cassie overcome her anger at being "sold" and allow Richard to fully love her? What will become of her step-brother as he attempts to thwart the couple's plans to wed?

Worth obtaining and reading - wonderful storyline that kept me interested until the very end.

I read lots and lots of regency novels like this one because I enjoy the period and I like romances. This novel stood out as one I enjoyed more than most because it flows naturally. The writer can tell a good story in an authentic setting without a contorted plot or stilted anachronisms. It's a story for an enjoyable read. No deep literature here, but it is interesting and better written than many.

I'm on a little mission to read this writer's backlist, having only discovered her in the last few months. This is a most interesting book, with lovely prose and fascinating characters but ..... a little disorganised!

Our hero, Richard Hawke is the archetypal self-made man: from the slums, nameless, lost and obliged to endure unspeakable hardships. Now rich, he yearns for the life of an English gentleman with a country estate. However, we do learn that he can still be very hard and will hit below the belt if necessary in pursuit of his aims yet he has a huge soft spot for close friends and our heroine, Lady Cassiopeia.

Our heroine is most unusual. She is the daughter and sister of an earl yet has been raised in poverty, ignored, emotionally abused and she has struggled to make ends meet. Her brother is a nightmare, almost too much of a villain for me to accept but it is he and his actions that drive the story.

There are a number of secondary characters who all have parts in the narrative of Cassie's journey to happiness. They are all interesting and I particular liked Lady Letitia who, I now understand, appears in an unrelated earlier book by the author. There is the bastard brother to Cassie and the earl who, IMO, deserved his own book. And, therein lies the problem. This book needed better, tigheter editing. The secondary characters are screaming out to have their own stories but instead reach happy conclusions whilst one's back is turned and seemingly out of the main narrative of the novel. That made it a little hard for me to swallow. One outcome in particular came completely out of left field and although it made an extremely poignant epilogue, I had to scratch my head and look back to see how I'd missed it. (I hadn't, actually!)

So, what we have here is a very good story with strong characterisations but a lack of tight focus. There are too many characters with their own stories here and so I sometimes felt that the H/H were shortchanged and didn't have enough attention paid to them and their journey. Indeed, Cassie appears to strongly dislike Richard even after married to him although she gradually realises that her strange feelings are sexual tension. Then she is ready to bed him seemingly after the author realised she had only a few more pages to go to put things right.

I am still impressed by this author and have 3 more in the TBR pile but this one was not a true 5 star effort. Excellent compared to some of the other rubbish out there but not as deeply satisfying as I would have wished.