There's nothing like a good Regency. Even a Regency that's just OK can really hit the spot when I'm tired of torrid historicals. Unfortunately, there are a lot of blah Regencies out there as well, with plotlines ad characters that just seem like same-old, same-old. It's frustrating, especially since my supply of Regencies continues to dwindle... still hoping there are a few sharp needles in that haystack.
Winter Wonderland by Elizabeth Mansfield
(1993, Regency) 7/15/08
Grade: 3
Eleven years ago, shy 19 year old Barnaby Traherne was ridiculed by young deb Miranda Perdew. Now, Barnaby is more confident and sure of himself, but when he meets Miranda again (now a penniless widow working as a governess) he finds himself still angry - and still attracted. But shouldn’t he marry shy, sweet Livy instead?
As much as I liked the characters in this book, I didn’t find a lot of romance in it. I could believe (barely) that Barnaby fell “in love” with Miranda after such a short time, because he didn’t realize it until near the end of the book after they’d spent a fair amount of time together, but Miranda declares her love for Barnaby in no time at all. A couple of short encounters, a moonlight kiss, and bam, she’s in love. I just didn’t believe it. On the other hand, the author always does a good job in depicting the Regency period, and I liked the close family life shared between Barnaby and his brothers. Overall, not a bad read, but very predictable.
I tried another Elizabeth Mansfield before this one (A Marriage of Inconvenience) and it had the same problems, except worse. Cardboard characters that seemed to fall "in love" for no reason except that the author said so. Just about as bad as the historical heroes and heroines, who seem to think lust equals love. Sigh...
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