Lady Jane's Nemesis (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Roger Hastings's long-awaited proposal to Lady Jane Sinclair comes at a price: the devious plans of his mistress to destroy their love....

Oliver is the winner of the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Signet; First edition (July 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451200691
• ISBN-13: 978-0451200693
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #816,315 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What on earth has happened to Patricia Oliver?, October 23, 2000

By	Dr W. Richards "wmr-uk" (Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Patricia Oliver has a reputation for writing heartwrenching Regency romances with attractive, rogueish heroes who have damaged pasts, and strong-minded, independent heroines. Her men are often rakes, and even try to carry on being rakes after meeting their destined wives - even try to be rakes *with* their destined wives - but end up making devoted husbands.

Her last three books have marked a shift away from this established and loved pattern; and, frankly, it hasn't worked. The Lady in Grey was tedious. Scandalous Secrets seemed to lack the Oliver spark. And, with Lady Jane's Nemesis, I have finally encountered an Oliver book I don't want to finish. Had it been by any other writer, I'd have junked it after the first three or four chapters; as it is, I'm persevering. I have only three chapters to go, but it's getting harder and harder to continue reading.

It's not the premise: a writer of Oliver's calibre should have been able to write an excellent novel predicated on the story of a woman betrothed from birth to a neighbour's son, secretly in love with him, but who discovers that he's having an affair with the wife of another neighbour. But instead she's produced this book.

I would have had far more respect for Jane had she stuck to her initial resolve not to marry Roger. But she agreed - well, perhaps she had little choice. But two days before the wedding she catches him in _flagrante_ again, yet marries him and goes to bed with him without any attempt to tell him that he must promise never to see her again. She had the upper hand before they were married - he needed her money.

And then when, a month or so into the marriage, she receives evidence that he's seeing his mistress again, does she tax him with it? No; she hides the letter and carries on as before. And then - this I *cannot* believe - knowing the mistress is pregnant with Roger's baby, she nurses the woman through her final illness, and allows her husband to bring his illegitimate child by another woman into her household, seemingly not caring what family, servants and neighbours think of her husband's lack of loyalty. The last straw for me was when Jane actually thinks that the world is a worse place without Maud, the mistress, and contradicts her aunt when that woman refers to Maud as a brazen hussy. Yet that was precisely how Jane thought of her a bare month earlier!

As for Roger, he is a weak, vacillating idiot who can't seem to make up his mind between Jane and Maud, and I can't see why any woman of sense would actually want to be married to him. Maybe, in the mores of the time, Jane had no choice. But as a reader, I have a choice of whether I care about him or not. As it is, I have only contempt for him.

Patricia Oliver used to be the only Regency writer whose books I would pre-order as soon as they were advertised here, before reading any reviews. That has now stopped; until I see evidence that she has returned to her previously excellent standards, as evidenced in Lord Gresham's Lady and An Unsuitable Match, I won't be buying any more of her books. I'm sorry I wasted my money on this one.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't like it very much..., May 25, 2001

By	Beth "classybeth" (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews

At first I thought that it would be amusing reading about two rivals after the same man. I usually like books that involve two women after the heart of one man. However, I found Jane to be a big fool! I disliked the fact that everyone tried to influence her to marry a guy who was obviously lacking in morality (having an affair with a married woman) and sense. He outright lies about his "affair" with Maud to his father and tries to tell Jane that they were just rumors when she knew otherwise. After knowing his relationship with Maud, all Roger has to do is smile and say a few nice things to get Jane to say yes to his proposal. She went on denying that she wanted to marry him after all the "rumors" about his affair. Yet, she says yes after a few minutes. Talk about being dimwitted. Oliver tries to make her out as this bluestocking and goodnatured person but I found her to be too dumb to know any better. She never gave him any challenge. All he had to do was lie some more to her to get her to believe him. I mean, it was obvious from the little "estrangement" between them after she finds out Maud is having his kid could have easily been resolved if he came into her room and lie to her about the baby. Even if he told her the truth, she would have forgiven him after a couple of minutes of ranting. I mean she gets angry and upset but that lasts as long as him coming in and saying a few words. Either this guy could charm a person into murder or the other characters were too stupid to see the truth. I disliked most of the characters in this book. They pretty much say that love isn't what you should strive for in a marriage. Come on, that's ridiculous. It's a romance novel! He should have tried to prove himself first before she gave into his proposal. I didn't understand how that Lady Horton was from the middle/working class when she obviously had some form of education. She can write and read like the upper class women are taught to do. Her cousin was a stable boy and couldn't form a correct sentence at all. The whole book didn't seem to make any sense!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another disappoint from Ms Oliver, July 31, 2000

By A Customer

Being a fan of Ms. Oliver's Regency era novels, I have looked forward to each new book, but unfortunately, her last three novels including the most current,Lady Jane's Nemesis, have fallen far short of her previous works such as The Colonel's Lady, Roses for Harriet, and Miss Drayton's Downfall. Her recent works make for pleasant albeit forgettable reading, and lack the emotional intensity and character development of her earlier novels. I suspect she is rushing her writings and thus, failing to come up to her own standards. Let us hope that this is a temporary fault of a fine writer.