The Wooing of Miss Masters by Susan Carroll

I was never a big fan of the comedic Regency. They often end up seeming silly to me. I always take the characters seriously, even when they're supposed to be funny, and I end up feeling sorry for the characters who are being ridiculed, instead of laughing. But one exception is Susan Carroll. Her Regencies were witty, but her humor comes out of the characters. I've always been surprised that her longer historicals don't have the wittiness that was so much a part of her Regencies.

The Wooing of Miss Masters by Susan Carroll
(1991, Regency) 10/23/08
Grade: 3.5

The Duke of Raeburn is looking for a biddable wife, but why does he keep thinking about his spinster neighbor, Miss Audra Masters? She’d rather step on his toes than dance with him, and swears that she will never marry, but Simon would rather have a feisty wife than one who bats her eyes at him and agrees with everything he says.

This was a charming and amusing book that was fun to read, but was somewhat forgettable. I enjoyed the characters, although they were familiar types. There were a few unique touches - the hero’s grief over his brother’s death, the heroine’s frustration with her absent mother - although there wasn’t enough space to really go into them in any detail. But Carroll’s writing was witty and the story enjoyable, even though it was predictable. The only other criticism is that the book ended too quickly, with the hero and heroine only getting together on the last page. But overall, a nice Regency confection.

I hate to see my collection of unread Regencies dwindling. Although I've read historicals that have the sensibility of a Regency, they rarely have the same witty humor that characterized Regencies.