Tall and sandy haired with golden, feline eyes, Valerie is the perfect model for the heroine in her eccentric aunt’s latest romance novel. But the plot of life quickly proves far richer than fiction. When Valerie arrives at her aunt's country estate, she suddenly finds herself in the midst of society parties and chicanery. Secret passages hide stolen jewels, and money changes hands as fast as Val changes gowns. Distant French cousins and dashingly attractive—if poor—scholars turn out to be as intangible as ghosts and as flimsy as certain fortunes. It all proves to be as illusive as love.
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About the Author
Joan Smith is the author of several romance novels, including Aurora and Delsie.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Valerie is grand,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Valerie (Mass Market Paperback)
I read somewhere recently that Joan Smith is considered the "Canadian Georgette Heyer" -- quite apt. Her regency romances are traditional not erotic, the characters of both the hero and heroine and the supporting characters are unusually well and amusingly depicted. Either the hero or the heroine are slightly conniving (or frequently both), and there is much humor in her novels as well as, usually, a mystery to be solved. I discovered Joan Smith after I ran out of Georgette Heyers. Prior to Amazon selling used novels, I had a hard time finding her older novels (visiting every used bookstore locally as well as any used bookstore found on my vacations). She has written over 100 novels so I still do not have them all and look forward to each new one I acquire.
This is a humorous first person novel told by Valerie Ford, the eldest daughter of a wise country gentleman of modest means. Mr. Ford's sister is Lady Louise Sinclair, widow of Sir Edward Sinclair, otherwise known as Aunt Loo. Aunt Loo comes to visit the Fords, looks over his daughters and selects Valerie to visit her for a month at her estate Troy Fenners. Valerie is most suitable for Aunt Loo's purposes -- to verify the feasibility of certain feats to be performed by the heroine (Gloria) in a gothic novel Aunt Loo is writing. (Climbing a lattice and vine to the second story of the gatehouse with a knife in her mouth, jumping over the tollhouse on a horse, carrying the unconscious body of a man over a meadow.) Valerie is 5'10" in her bare feet, graceful as a cat, with a mane of reddish golden hair and feline topaz eyes. Most people refer to her as a Valkyrie but she prefers to think of herself as a lioness. She is both, besides being quite pretty, forthright, and intelligent. The Troy Fenners estate is Aunt Loo's for life or until she reweds. It belongs to Lord St. Regis who also provides a 10,000 pounds per annum income to Aunt Loo for her use and maintenance of the estate. This a tremendous amount of money, a veritable fortune, back in regency times. When Valerie arrives at the estate, she finds out the servants have not been paid for a year and neither has the vet nor the grocer. The mystery is: what has happened to Aunt Loo's money? She has even taken up writing gothic novels to supplement her income. Also living with Aunt Loo in her home is a cousin of St. Regis, Pierre St. Clair, an exile from France, who speaks imperfect English, mangling idioms (reminiscent of Mrs. Malaprop from Sheridan's play). Pierre is short, walks like a duck, and pursues kisses and embraces from Valerie (which she mostly evades). Living temporarily at the estate gatehouse is another cousin of St. Regis, Wendell Sinclair, obstensively a scholar writing a treatise on ghosts in literature. Wendell is St. Regis's secretary. It is immediately obvious that he has really come to the estate to look into the mystery of the disappearing 10,000 pounds for Lord St. Regis. The novel revolves around ferreting out Aunt Loo's secrets, the enacting of the gothic novel feats, Aunt Loo's obsession with seances, secret passageways in the walls of Troy Fenners, the verbal sparring of Valerie with both Wendell and Pierre, and the romantic pursuit of Valerie by both Wendell and Pierre. "Off stage" looms the dictatorial Lord St. Regis, who arranges marriages of convenience for all his relatives, and pokes his nose into their lives in other ways. It's true as another reviewer says, this is a slow moving novel, but the machinations of Aunt Loo, Valerie, Wendell Sinclair and Pierre are so amusing that it is difficult to put down. I thought about including the very first paragraph from the novel to give other potential readers a sense of humor of the novel and the character of Valerie but decided to leave that pleasure to readers who decide to purchase or borrow the book. While not her absolute best novel, this is very enjoyable from page 1 and a keeper. Definitely way above the average traditional non-Heyer regency.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Valerie (Mass Market Paperback)
This novel is a slow-romance love story, yet very intriguing and with a lot of history bits here and there. A pleasure to read it. Maria Rennard
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another fun read,
By Flower Girl (MN, United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Valerie (Hardcover)
The blurb from 1981 paperback version: Valerie was a lioness! Tall, sandy-haired, with golden feline eyes. What better model could her eccentric aunt find for the heroine of her latest anonymous romance novel? But the plot of life proved far richer than fiction. For when Valerie arrived at her aunt's country estate, she suddenly found herself in the midst of high society seances and chicanery...where secret passages hid stolen jewels, where money changed hands as fast as Val changed gowns. And where distant French cousins and dashingly attractive, if poor, scholars, turned out to be as intangible as ghosts, as flimsy as certain "famous" fortunes, and as illusive and longed for as love...
This was such a funny and fun read, as many other Ms. Smith's books. The story was told as the first person style, it had battle of wits of h/h, eccentric aunt, mystery, sweet romance, lots of clever dialogues, and a laugh out loud enjoyment. Two Thumbs Up!
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