Lee P. (copiousreader) reviewed on
Helpful Score: 1
This story is an absolute hoot. It has everything. Misunderstood heroine check. Highly intelligent and of an unconventional attractiveness, of course - check. Wicked stepmother check. Fabulously handsome, wealthy and aristocratic love interest check. Initial misunderstanding by chief couple and instant dislike of each other check. Endless complications before true love finds its way check.
Its basically Pride and Prejudice with the added bonus of a botched kidnapping (literally), a surreal trip to France, and horses.
But it is the cast of secondary characters that make this book a truly delightful read. From Phoebes childhood friend, Tom Orde, to her stepmother, Lady Marlow, to Alice, the landladys daughter at an inn (who tells Sylvester that he is more important than a gobblecock), to Sylvesters vain and stupid (but beautiful) widowed sister-in-law, Ianthe (Lady Henry Raine), with her six-year-old son, Master Edmund Raine, who is Sylvesters ward, and her dandified suitor, Sir Nugent Fotherby, every character is well-rendered, memorable, and often very funny.
Its basically Pride and Prejudice with the added bonus of a botched kidnapping (literally), a surreal trip to France, and horses.
But it is the cast of secondary characters that make this book a truly delightful read. From Phoebes childhood friend, Tom Orde, to her stepmother, Lady Marlow, to Alice, the landladys daughter at an inn (who tells Sylvester that he is more important than a gobblecock), to Sylvesters vain and stupid (but beautiful) widowed sister-in-law, Ianthe (Lady Henry Raine), with her six-year-old son, Master Edmund Raine, who is Sylvesters ward, and her dandified suitor, Sir Nugent Fotherby, every character is well-rendered, memorable, and often very funny.
