books: lady of quality by georgette heyer

Okay, so Georgette Heyer has officially become a hit or miss for me in reading--so far, I've hit three of her books that bored me to tears. Which is so depressing.

Still favorites: The Grand Sophy, Cotillion

Lots of fun: Faro's Daughter, Frederica, The Reluctant Widow

Okay but forgettable: The Nonesuch, The Corinthian

WTF: The Convenient Marriage, A Lady of Quality

Current in WTF: A Lady of Quality - holy God was that boring. I mean, it actually caused me physical pain to continue reading, mostly because I wanted to see if the two secondary characters would get married. Which they did not, but I hope they will; they were the only interesting people. Compared to how well she did Frederica, and Sophy was utterly, utterly brilliant a character, not to mention Cotillion's utter amazingness in breaking a lot of tropes regarding the hero in Regency Romance (Freddy: most awesomely practical, down to earth hero in history, and so well dressed while he did it!).

This is frustrating. Argh. I'm trying to nail down the difference besides characters, but I have a feeling it has a lot to do with the plot she shapes around each character. I can't tell which one she starts with in storytelling, but I have to admit, Lady of Quality doesn't irritate me as much as The Convenient Marriage (shudders) but at least that one was interesting.

I'm going to need to find a supplemental author for light reading--aka, anything I can read in under five hours. *sighs* Dammit.

Note: Georgette Heyer's romance novels contain sexism, classism, some racism, and occasional bouts of anti-Semitism in stereotyped fringe characters (I can remember only once, but it was freaking memorable), so readers be aware. It's historically accurate, but for me it was still really jarring and really unpleasant, even if it wasn't more than a couple of pages devoted to the plotline, it stuck with me.

Comments

[silviakundera.livejournal.com]

They can be hit & miss for me as well. One I enjoyed was "The Quiet Gentlemen", a mystery with a romance subplot. General plot: The eldest son that nobody liked shows up to claim his inheritance-- alarmingly alive after the war that no one thought he'd come back from (how rude!). Stepmother and her son are rather perturbed. A series of accidents keep happening around the eldest. The female guest thinks they're all drama queens. The comedy is more subtle than the wacky pratfalls of some of her other novels, but I was still charmed.

The selling point for me is that the heroine is always the most sensible, level minded person in the room and that's her appeal. She's not flashy like Sophy (who I also adored), but she's just so mature. The "hero" completely dismisses her when they first meet as both plain and dull, and it's not that she suddenly blooms into a swan but that he learns to appreciate a smart, capable women.

[let me know if you need a copy in html]

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I do! Please!

[silviakundera.livejournal.com]

Here it is! hxxp://www.sendspace.com/file/7p164m

[seperis.livejournal.com]

I love you. The mystery was excellent though I guessed who had done it early on, it was neat to see how the other characters figured it out.