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critterbee's review
2.0
As a fan of Georgette Heyer, I have grown extremely particular in my tastes regarding historical romances, and Thea's Marquis was simply not the Regency that I was looking for.
More recently, author Carola Dunn writes an outstanding golden-age mystery series featuring the delightful Daisy Dalrymple. Daisy is one of my favorite recurring characters, and I am extremely fond of the series that features her. I also adore almost all of Georgette Heyer's Regency and Georgian historical novels.
This book seemed to be an attempt to combine both writing styles, yet lacked Daisy's quiet confidence, calm good sense and superior understanding, and all of Heyer's wit and balanced storytelling.
Thea's Marquis seemed very reminiscent of two of Heyer's books, Frederica, and Arabella. Almost as if they had been chopped up, sifted for content, and boiled down unenthusiastically into a formulaic, slightly haughty while still feeling overly-familiar, emotionally vapid tale. Many of the characters, situations, and even the dialogue, seemed to be taken directly from Heyer's books, and only sometimes altered. That made for a very disjointed read.
The things that I did appreciate in this book included
- the fierce loyalty among characters
- Dunn's ever-present optimism peeks through at times during the story
- the characters are all basically likable, excepting the villians
I would recommend that Heyer fans avoid this, and Dunn fans to focus their attention on her more excellent work - the Daisy Dalrymple series.
More recently, author Carola Dunn writes an outstanding golden-age mystery series featuring the delightful Daisy Dalrymple. Daisy is one of my favorite recurring characters, and I am extremely fond of the series that features her. I also adore almost all of Georgette Heyer's Regency and Georgian historical novels.
This book seemed to be an attempt to combine both writing styles, yet lacked Daisy's quiet confidence, calm good sense and superior understanding, and all of Heyer's wit and balanced storytelling.
Thea's Marquis seemed very reminiscent of two of Heyer's books, Frederica, and Arabella. Almost as if they had been chopped up, sifted for content, and boiled down unenthusiastically into a formulaic, slightly haughty while still feeling overly-familiar, emotionally vapid tale. Many of the characters, situations, and even the dialogue, seemed to be taken directly from Heyer's books, and only sometimes altered. That made for a very disjointed read.
The things that I did appreciate in this book included
- the fierce loyalty among characters
- Dunn's ever-present optimism peeks through at times during the story
- the characters are all basically likable, excepting the villians
I would recommend that Heyer fans avoid this, and Dunn fans to focus their attention on her more excellent work - the Daisy Dalrymple series.
takethyme's review
2.0
Here was one time when the story started off with some interesting characters and a well-developed storyline. Or so I thought.
Thea Kilmore was 25 years old, naive, shy but kind. The ton might have considered her backwards but when Roderick Devine, Marquis of Hazlewood, met her for the first time he knew he had met an exceptional woman. He was unaware of Thea's cloistered upbringing in the barren far-north of England where she was raised. When he could get her to open up he thought she was refreshing.
Family members on both sidesplagued, pestered, harassed, vexed any sort of relationship the H/h were developing with their own problems. But I could live with that. It was the pacing of the plot that posed some problems. I would be reading something and then there was, for lack of a better word, a skip or hitch. I had to go back and reread the paragraph, then the page, to see if I missed something. But I didn't.
That same storyline that I mentioned earlier began to lose some its steam. Roderick was less likable and continued to see his mistress. Thea, though stronger in some ways, still always required Roderick to help her with any decisions. And, unfortunately, the ending was somewhat silly, a little rushed and not at all what I was hoping for.
Thea Kilmore was 25 years old, naive, shy but kind. The ton might have considered her backwards but when Roderick Devine, Marquis of Hazlewood, met her for the first time he knew he had met an exceptional woman. He was unaware of Thea's cloistered upbringing in the barren far-north of England where she was raised. When he could get her to open up he thought she was refreshing.
Family members on both sides
That same storyline that I mentioned earlier began to lose some its steam. Roderick was less likable and continued to see his mistress. Thea, though stronger in some ways, still always required Roderick to help her with any decisions. And, unfortunately, the ending was somewhat silly, a little rushed and not at all what I was hoping for.
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