A Book Blogger's Diary

Georgette Heyer From the queen of Regency romance Georgette Heyer, Sylvester: or The Wicked Uncle is an enjoyable and witty story from start to finish. Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, is a man of consequence and ready to marry. He has his pick of eligible London beauties; if only he couldn’t find flaws in them, which he does. Hearing of a girl from his beloved mother, he goes to see her. He’s disappointed to find Phoebe Marlow has neither beauty nor conversation. She also wants nothing more in life than NOT to marry him. He learns this when she runs off to London in harsh winter weather so as to avoid what she believes is an imminent proposal from him.   Sylvester: or The Wicked Uncle by Georgette Heyer When inclement weather and other misfortunes conspire to throw the two together, Phoebe unleashes her wrath on an icily polite Sylvester. With refreshing honesty, she sharply criticizes his arrogant behavior and regularly takes him to task. This novel experience at once angers and ...

Sourcebooks Casablanca, 347p, ISBN: 1402238835 Synopsis - Returning to his family seat from Waterloo, Gervase Frant, seventh Earl of St Erth, could have expected more enthusiasm for his homecoming. His quiet cousin, stepmother, and young half-brother seem openly disappointed that he survived the wars.  And when he begins to fall for his half-brother's sweetheart, his chilly reception goes from unfriendly to positively murderous. Yes, this is a sort of a murder mystery, my dear Heyer fans. Or rather attempted murder, I should say (that's not a spoiler, for I'm sure you guessed the hero can't be murdered - right?). I feel the real mystery lies in the romance part of it, for till the end the reader is left wondering who exactly will end up with whom. Not at all the usual sort of fare we've come to expect from this wonderful romance author of yester years, but one which she writes surprisingly well. Before I explain all that, let me begin by telling you about our ...

Sourcebooks Casablanca, 368p, ISBN:1402238797 To say that the beautiful and tempestuous Lady Serena is highly upset to find that her recently deceased (and highly eccentric) father, the Earl of Spenborough, left the care of her fortune and control over her marriage to her jilted fiancé Ivo Barrasford, the Marquis of Rotherham, is to understate the case. Too much time has elapsed since Serena broke her engagement to her childhood companion, Rotherham, (and that too after the invitations had been sent - such a scandal !) for them to feel anything but discomfort at this bit of posthumous matchmaking on the part of the Earl. Or so they both declare. Used to commanding a large household and having acted as her father's hostess from a young age, energetic and politically-savvy Serena soon finds herself in doldrums when her life is suddenly reduced to a small Dower house with none but her father's young widow, Fanny, for company and a social sphere consisting of occasional visits from...