An Unsuitable Match (Signet Regency Romance) [Paperback]

Patricia Oliver (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signet Regency Romance | Publication Date: March 1, 1997

Serena Millbanks, an innocent country miss, makes her way through the perils of Regency London's high society, where she is pursued by four rakes.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Signet (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451188004
• ISBN-13: 978-0451188007
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #859,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still my very favourite Oliver, April 29, 2000

By 

Dr W. Richards "wmr-uk" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: An Unsuitable Match (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

I always love books with recurring characters, and this series of linked books from Patricia Oliver is one of my favourite of the type. Here, she's surpassed herself with a wonderful, funny and out of the ordinary heroine, and a hero I fell in love with on the first page I encountered him.

Serena is no blushing debutante, and never wanted to go to London and join in the Marriage Mart in the first place. And when she meets Guy Hawkhurst, the Duke of Wolverton, all her prejudices about drunken, idle wastrels are confirmed. And she certainly leaves an impression on him when she gives him a bloody nose!

And yet, from this inauspicious start they become friends. At first their relationship is based on challenges, neither one wanting to back down; Hawk, egged on by his even more cynical friend Monroyal, can't resist baiting Serena. But then Serena's life falls apart around her, and he finds he can't leave her to cope alone....

From there on, the book becomes less of an amusing romp and very much a heartwrenching love story. There are some unforgettable scenes in this book, which I won't spoil for anyone who hasn't read it - buy it and wallow in them yourself!

Patricia Oliver is a master at writing books about men with 'pasts' - they usually have some sort of bad experience in their childhood, or have suffered trauma, and that influences their outlook on life in general, on women and on marriage. This is the case for most of the heroes of her novels, and is certainly true in respect of Hawk. But she is also brilliant at giving her heroes a heroine who can help them to heal and teach them how to love.

I read this book three times within a fortnight of buying it, and still re-read it regularly. It's a classic!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another winner from Patricia Oliver, July 28, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: An Unsuitable Match (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

I've really enjoyed Patricia Oliver's series of linked books, each dealing with one member of a group of rakehells and how they succumb, not altogether willingly, to the joys of romance and marriage.

This one is one of the best. Serena is a perfect heroine: no simpering miss, but a strong-willed woman who is not on the catch for a husband. Nor is she particularly beautiful, and as her father is deeply in debt she's destined to be an ape-leader.

Guy Hawkhurst, the Duke of Wolverton, is a drunken, dissolute aristocrat; the first time he meets Serena she punches his nose! But they become friends of a kind; then a tragic twist in the story brings them closer together.

A must-read for Oliver fans.

Only one question - why has she not revisited this group of friends since she wrote Monroyal's story? There is certainly scope!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well done., November 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: An Unsuitable Match (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

Great cast of characters and entertaining story. "Double Deception" is also a very good read. I'll be on the lookout for the rest of her books.