Things are just fine in the Rivenhall residence. Dull perhaps - not particularly pleasant, maybe, but within the bounds of propriety, surely. That is, they were, until their cousin Sophy (who has been traipsing about the continent) comes to stay. Sophy has a habit of shaking things up in a rather alarming fashion and soon Charles, the eldest of the Rivenhall cousins, is quite sure that Sophy will bring them all to ruin.
Sophy! Grand she is. She's a delight in every way. A pot-stirrer to the nth degree but with only the best intentions and quite good results. She wants everyone to be happily in love with the right person and rescued from whatever scrapes they've gotten themselves into. Cool-headed and certainly rash, Sophy's antics kept this book moving right along. I was laughing outloud more than one - the final scene, especially, was funny enough to have me still laughing after I'd shut the book.
I have no complaints about it save one, tiny one: there are a LOT of characters to keep straight. Maybe the problem is just a result of my very full brain. But their abundance was their only flaw - the characters themselves were well-defined and, in some cases, wonderfully and hilariously characterized. The dreamy poet! The hypochondraic nobleman!
Really. I think it's my favorite Heyer I've read. Her female main characters are some of the funnest in historical fiction, hands down.
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4 comments:
I loved this book! I think it is her best!
I definitely love a good pot stirrer! This is one of Heyer's books that I feel I hear about a lot, and always good things. I need to read it.
This is one of my favorite Heyers -- top 10, at least!
I think I need to read this Heyer soon!
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