Romance Reviews

Charity Girl

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While this book may start off slow and shaky, by the end Heyer has her footing again and the plot and characters sparkle. In Charity Girl a Viscount named Desford meets a young woman named Charity, “Cherry” for short, hiding away upstairs at a ball. She was foisted off on these relatives by an absent father and is treated more like glorified help then a poor relation in need. Naturally she ends up running away to London in a search for her grandfather. Desford finds her on the road to London and, after hearing her story, decides she would be better off with her grandfather and so gives her a lift. Unfortunately they arrive in London just to discover that her grandfather is out in the country and no one knows where or when he will be back.

Love Begins In Winter

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This turned out to be a wonderful collection of uplifting stories about love, forgiveness, romance, family and hope. Each short story contained a character that had either given up hope or was at a crossroads in their life and had to make a decision or take a leap of faith or sometimes just open their eyes to see the love that was all around them and in some cases had been all along. They were all written wonderfully, very literary and lyrical with wonderful twists and turns that were at once completely surprising and then after some thought completely expected.

New Moon

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After reading Twilight I honestly though the series could not possibly get any worse. We already had anti-feminist and misogynistic overtones, we already had a shallow and petty plot surrounding a shallow and petty character. A mammoth of a book had been built glorifying two teenage lovers utterly convinced that no one had loved as they loved before or would since. The worst is past. I didn’t think it would get better but I didn’t think it could get any worse either. I was wrong.

Warning: Contains Spoilers

Twilight

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I must be the last young woman in the country to read Twilight. I started hearing hype on it years ago when I was moderating a forum that was frequented by several teenage girls and they were going crazy on the book. It was the next Harry Potter, according to them. I really wasn’t all that big on vampire novels and so I decided to wait until the series finished before I gave them a whirl. I recently got loaned all four books by my sister-in-law so now I am finally giving them a try. It wasn’t worth the wait.

Just about everyone knows the premise of Twilight. A teenage girl named Bella Swan moves to Forks, Washington and while there catches the eye of the hottest most mysterious guy in school. He has several secrets and she is determined to find them out and when she does a great love story ensues. She loves him and he loves her back while at the same time wanting to kill her in a horribly bloody way to drink her sweet, sweet blood. It is all very romantic.

The Masqueraders

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Born to a father set on having adventures, Prudence and Robin Tremaine have lived a life on the run. They constantly are moving (often fleeing) from one place to another, and often have to do so in disguise. After Robin and his father take part in the failed Jacobite rebellion they split up and flee into the country side. Robin meets up with his sister, who stayed out of it, and they decide to swap genders to thoroughly hide Robin in the last place anyone will ever look – in a set of petticoats – to prevent him from being hanged. Prudence then becomes Mr Peter Marriot and Robin becomes Miss Kate Marriot.

Together they travel to London and hope to meet up with their father there. That’s when they meet Sir Anthony and Letitia, Letty is currently attempting to elope with a Mr Markham only to find that he is a brute and not worth marrying, her attempt to change his mind on this score proves dangerous though. With the siblings help (a false swoon by “Kate” and a swift uppercut with the hilt of a sword by “Peter”) they rescue Letty and restore her to Sir Anthony, a friend of her father’s. In that meeting “Kate”, er, Robin falls hopelessly in love with Letty and “Peter”, er, Prudence falls hopelessly in love with Sir Anthony. Now, in true Georgette Heyer fashion, the stage is set for a romp unlike any other!