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When Noreen Hayden, R.N., agreed to act as companion to the aging Miss Crowley, she had no hint of the danger to which her journey would inevitably lead.

Miss Crowley's obsession to find her one remaining relative, a great-nephew she had never seen, brought her and her young nurse to Moorcroft, a great rambling manor in the desolate moors of England. There they were met by Dan Austin and his strangely antagonistic wife.

In an atmosphere of pervading hostility, Noreen became acutely aware of an undercurrent of danger. And there was nowhere to turn, except to the stranger who had captured her heart!

Original Publisher: Ace
Original Year of Publication: 1967
Page Count: 155

Pretty much what it says on the tin: Noreen Hayden is a young, single woman who once worked as a nurse before quitting her job to take care of her grandfather. Once said grandfather dies, she's left at loose ends, and a doctor from her previous position offers her the chance to serve as a nurse/companion to an old lady named Martha Crowley. Miss Crowley is old and curmudgeonly, stubborn to a fault, and suffers from what we now recognize as dementia. Miss Crowley has unexpectedly inherited some money from a long-lost sibling, and has a yearning to visit the one living relative that she's aware of, a grand nephew who lives in England. The doctor and supervisor at the old age home where Miss Crowley resides are reluctant to let her go off on her own, but are persuaded to let Noreen take her because of her nursing background. The doctor that set the whole situation up tells Noreen that he was once penpals with a physician who lives in the part of England they're going to, and suggests she look up a Dr Forrest when they arrive, just so they have someone nearby in the worst case scenario.

Noreen is running from an unwanted suitor, and figures anywhere in the world is better than being trapped by him. So she agrees to accompany Miss Crowley, who has insisted on writing to her relation herself to let him know she's coming. When the pair arrive in England, they are met by a coarse man who introduces himself as Dan Austin, the long-lost nephew. Noreen takes an instant dislike to him, even though he is over-solicitous to Miss Crowley. Dan takes her to Moorcroft Manor where he introduces them to his wife, Rita, a domineering woman who clearly was not expecting the old lady to arrive with a young companion. Nevertheless, they put Noreen and Miss Crowley up in some of the finest rooms in the house and pay special, kind, loving attention to the wealthy old woman. It becomes obvious to Noreen that they are buttering her up so that she'll leave the fortune to them.

The Austins don't bother to hide their dislike and distrust of Noreen from her, accusing her of trying to weasel her way into Miss Crowley's graces so that she can have the money. Noreen makes a point to give them a wide berth - she stays around the manor and goes for long walks, enjoying the pretty scenery. She soon picks up a dog that she names Red, which the Austins reluctantly allow her to keep. She also meets a Dr Forrest when he nearly runs over Red; it's not the one she was expecting to meet, but his son, Tim. Noreen thinks he's exceptionally handsome, and the two develop something of a friendship. She tells him about why she's in England, along with her suspicions that the Austins aren't quite who they seem to be.

Rita is more obviously antagonistic than Dan; she cleverly moves about to sow seeds of distrust about Noreen with the locals, including the physician called to see Miss Crowley after one of her spells of confusion. Noreen can't convince that doctor that she is a competent nurse, so she turns to Dr Forrest instead. Rita and Dan have taken Miss Crowley away from Moorcroft Manor and have summarily dismissed Noreen, which causes her great distress. They also take Red the dog away from her, intending to put him down as an unwanted nuisance.

Noreen soon uncovers that the Austins are grifters who bought the manor from Miss Crowley's real grand nephew, and who decide to take advantage of the situation when the confused letter arrives announcing Miss Crowley's intentions to travel. She tries to tell Dr Forrest but he demurs, telling her that she's basically making wild accusations and maybe she's acting a bit too defensively? Frustrated, she returns to the manor to try to find proof, and goes to the law firm handling the nephew's papers. She tries to get them to understand that Miss Crowley is now missing and perhaps in danger, but they don't take her too seriously, either.

Noreen finally convinces Tim Forrest that she's a competent person with good reason to be worried about Miss Crowley, so they set off in search of her, and actually find her wandering around by an abandoned mineshaft, lost in her own confused memories. They manage to rescue her before she falls, and set the authorities after the Austins. The real grand nephew shows up to meet his relative, and of course he is absolute kindness himself. He invites Miss Crowley to stay in England with him as long as she wants. Tim then confesses to Noreen that he's fallen head over heels for her and asks her to marry him, to which she of course agrees.

This is a slim novel that very much shows its age. It was supremely frustrating to read in parts, because Noreen is not the idiot everyone treats her as, and she really is concerned for her patient's wellbeing. Treating her dog so terribly was pretty awful, too. Tim Forrest was indeed her only friend in this endeavor, but even he doesn't believe her until she tells him of her nursing background; only then does he take her concerns seriously - which, ugh, really?? That's how you treat the woman you proclaim to love, by condescending to her? Yuck. I wouldn't have wanted to marry him.

However, it does move along at a pretty fast clip, and keeps the suspense high as Noreen races to save Miss Crowley. The Austins get their comeuppance, too, so in the end justice is served.

⭐⭐ 1/2

He'd be at least sixteen, old enough to have a driver's license, and he'd have a sense of humor, and he'd be tall...

Fifteen-year-old Jane Purdy dreams of having such a boyfriend but doesn't think it will ever really happen. So when Jane meets Stan Crandall, a newcomer to her town, her luck seems too good to be true. Stan is everything she wants in a boyfriend, and more. But does he like her as much? Does he have a girlfriend back in his old hometown? "It's just not going to work," Jane decides. But every time she decides that, the phone rings. It's Stan...

Original Publisher: Dell
Original Year of Publication: 1960
Page Count: 190

The September 2025 #TBRChallenge is "Friend Squad." This prompt immediately put me in mind of YA, because when are friends more important than when we are young? I decided to reach for a vintage YA novel on Mount TBR, and this really dovetailed nicely into the 2025 nostalgia re-readathon, which also starts this week.

Jane Purdy is a quiet 15-year-old girl who dreams of meeting a handsome boy and having him fall for her. She is not the prettiest or more popular girl in her class; that would be Marcy Stokes, the confident and beautiful blonde who regularly receives rides from upperclassmen in their convertibles. Jane has no such luck, though her dream boyfriend would indeed be old enough to drive and would be able to take her out in style, too.

As the novel opens, Jane is on her way to a baby-sitting job with a notoriously difficult child. The job goes about as well as can be expected, with the kid purposely letting the dog out (after being explicitly told not to), then holding Jane hostage first with an full ashtray and then a bottle of blue ink which is threatened to be poured all over the beige carpet. Jane is pleading with the kid not to dump the ink out when a male voice calls out, and then a handsome boy she's never seen before appears in the doorway. He introduces himself as the delivery boy for a local dog food company, and he helps Jane out of her jam with the child before returning to his route.

He is the most handsome boy Jane has ever clapped eyes on, and he basically saw her at her worst: covered in grass stains and cigarette ash, pleading with an eight-year-old not to turn over a bottle of ink onto the carpet. Jane is embarrassed but also intrigued enough to want to find out more about this boy if she possibly can.

She is stunned when she arrives home after the baby-sitting job and the delivery boy calls her! And even more stunned when he asks her out!! Jane is ecstatic, but knows it will be an uphill battle to be allowed out with a new boy her parents don't know. It is 1960, after all, and good girls from suburbia don't go out with unknown boys.

Jane is allowed to go out on the date, and what unfolds through the rest of the novel is a very lovely little romance. Stan Crandall is the new boy, and he is so handsome and kind to Jane that she wants him all to herself. She fears that once the school year starts and the other kids at school see him, he will be very popular and the other girls - girls like Marcy - will chase him, and perhaps even win him away from her.

We are inside Jane's head as she struggles with her own insecurities (her parents, her social standing, the teasing from her classmates at school, her loyalty to her best friend Julie) as she navigates this unknown territory. It is adorably (and painfully) awkward, as both Jane and Stan bumble around each other, but it is also incredibly sweet, and brought back to me the good feelings of being that young, desperately wanting a boyfriend, and the disbelief that someone you like so much actually likes you back.

This novel was first published in 1960 and is true to its time. Stan is very proud when he saves up his money and buys a Ford Model A, which is not necessarily fashionable, but is by necessity a convertible, and he wants Jane to be the first girl he takes for a ride. The two go to the movies and the local soda fountain, Nibley's, which doubles as the teen hangout. Jane and Julie ponder whether to wear gloves and hats on their dates; they long to receive their sweethearts' ID bracelets as tokens of going steady.

The relationship between Jane and Stan reminded me a lot of the Logan/Mary Anne relationship from the Baby-sitters Club, and I would not be one bit surprised to learn that Ann M Martin read this novel and used it as inspiration for her own great series. So many of the pop culture references in the BSC universe were set during Ann's old childhood in the 60s, so this would slot in perfectly.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lovely Ellen Kellaway knew very little about her past. Orphaned as a child and taken in by her arrogant mean-minded cousin as a "poor relation," she was grateful when the handsome young son of a wealthy family asked for her hand. But mysteriously, the marriage never took place.

Ellen was unexpectedly rescued from a bleak future by a summons from her newly discovered guardian, Jago Kellaway, Lord of the Far Island, off the wild coast of Cornwall.

There, on the special island of the Kellaways, Ellen was drawn deeper and deeper into the secrets of a past as alive and threatening as the present. There the enigmatic Jago Kellaway offered her the fabled Island Necklace worn by the mistress of Kellaway Castle. Was it a promise of happiness - or a dark symbol of death?

Original Publisher: Fawcett
Original Year of Publication: 1975
Page Count: 320

The August 2025 #TBRChallenge is "Do the Hustle." My mind immediately went to the song, which is not exactly conducive to my personal Mount TBR, LOL. So I decided to pick a book from the mountain that was released the same year as the song. I actually had a couple of choices, and settled fairly quickly on this one. Victoria Holt + Cornwall = 1000% my jam!

Ellen Kellaway is a twenty-year-old Poor Relation, and she has never been allowed to forget this fact. Her mother left her father when she was 3 years old, returning to the home of her mother (Ellen's grandmother), and tragically died a few years later. Grandmother wasn't too long for this mortal coil, either, and when she passed away, Ellen passed into the hands of her mother's distant cousin, Agatha. Agatha enjoys doing good works, and being seen doing good works, hence taking the poor orphan child into her home.

Ellen was a companion for Esmerelda, Agatha's only child. Esmerelda, like everyone else in Agatha's vicinity, is cowed by her mother's overbearing dominance. Ellen is the only one who is not intimidated by Agatha, and she grows up to be pretty resilient, considering she is expected to perform gratitude 24/7 to Agatha for the roof over her head, the clothes on her back, and the education she's given by being allowed to share in Esmerelda's lessons.

Agatha has Great Plans for Esmerelda, which basically culminate in wanting her to marry one of the sons of the great Carrington family. The son that is the girls' age, Philip, is introduced to them when they are tweens. Philip takes an immediate dislike to the milquetoast Esmerelda, but Ellen's fiery personality won't let him get the best of her. The three of them grow up together, and Agatha is carefully maneuvering her plans so that at Esmerelda's coming-out ball, it is expected that her engagement to Philip will be announced, thus linking their two families.

Ellen is not given a coming-out ball; in fact, she is given a big push out of the house towards a governess post with Agatha's friend and the equally odious Mrs Oman Lemming. Agatha is desperate for Ellen not to outshine her daughter (though Esmerelda herself wouldn't mind in the least). But it is much to everyone's surprise when, on the night of the ball, Philip proposes to Ellen instead, insisting that he's loved her since they were children and no one would make him happier. Ellen is not in love with Philip, but she certainly can see that marriage to a dear friend would be a much better fate than being a governess for the notoriously awful Mrs Lemming.

So plans are made and are moving smoothly. Philip finds a house he'd like to rent so that when they are married, they have their own place. Ellen does not like the house - she gets a really awful gut feeling and can barely even step foot in the place. She's starting to second-guess her decision to marry so young, to someone equally young, especially knowing her mother's marriage was not happy.

Six days before the wedding, Philip is shot and killed. It is ruled a suicide, but Ellen fervently believes he was murdered.

Her life is now falling apart. Agatha crowing all the while that she knew the marriage would never actually happen; Philip's brother accuses Ellen of being the reason he killed himself; Ellen herself has a horrible fall over Dead Man's Leap (though she is caught on a bush instead of tumbling to her death); and it seems she has no choice but to go with Mrs Lemming after all. Only - she receives a mysterious note in the mail, claiming to be from her long-lost father's family, inviting her to "the far island" to meet her relatives. She immediately decides to do this, even though it means leaving poor Esmerelda and Philip's family behind, and walking into a great unknown.

Ellen has never been told anything about her family of origin, other than her father basically ran her mother off. She travels to Cornwall to await a boat ride to the island a few miles off the coast, and she immediately starts asking questions of the locals. She learns that Jago Kellaway, the head of her family and lord and master of the isle, is feared and respected. Nobody wants to talk about her late father OR her mother, but she is desperate for answers. She gets a nasty surprise when she meets Jago Kellaway for the first time - he is a man she met in London, who claimed to be a "connection" of the Carrington family, who followed her around and even cornered her in the creepy house. Jago explains their (distant) familial relationship and starts pressuring her to forget her past and move forward with her future, there on the island with him.

The island is lovely, and Ellen is able to settle there, but there are lots of mysteries poking at her from the gothic castle interior. What really happened to her mother? Did her father really not care for children? Why did he not seek her out until he was dying? Who is the mysterious "SK", whose journals Ellen finds in her room? And why are the only other female members of the family watching her so closely and jealously guarding their own relationships with people from the mainland?

This is a deliciously gothic story with a refreshingly bright heroine who knows what she's about. She is very resilient and has common sense, enough to know that Philip didn't really commit suicide, and that Jago is not all he appears to be. She knows that he is pressuring her to marry him and stay on the island, but she's not going to give in until she learns the truth about her family - even, and especially, him.

The plot moves at a fairly steady clip throughout. Ellen not only has a powerful gut feeling about places, but she's also had a recurring dream of a certain room since she was a child, and she is more curious than even to discover if its a real place once she lands on the island and starts exploring her mother's history. I pretty much figured out all the links in the chain from the moment "SK" surfaces in the story, but it was still fun to go along for the ride with Ellen as she doggedly pursues her goal.

I was not much of a fan of Jago, unfortunately. He is somehow "only thirty" but grew up with Ellen's father (???) and he has a habit of being melodramatic all the time. He really pushes Ellen to marry him fairly quickly, and when the reasons why surface (she is the actual heiress to her father's estate, not him, which would make her incredibly wealthy and give her control of the island, which he has made known far and wide he considers his own personal kingdom), I liked him even less. Ellen deserved better than him.

Still, this was a good read. If you enjoy Holt's gothics you will gobble this one up.

⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Duel of Hearts

When lovely young Miss Laura Milbanke was asked for her hand in marriage in romantic Venice, the irresistibly handsome Sir Nicholas Grenville was at death's door. He had fought a disastrous duel to defend Laura's honor, and now he would defend her from poverty by leaving her his estate when he died.

But Sir Nicholas did not die. He lived to bring Laura home to King's Cliff manor. Waiting for him was the fabulously beautiful Augustine Townsend, whom Nicholas had long adored and who would be his - if only Laura did not stand in the way.

Should Laura try to fight this ravishing rival? Or should she give her husband his freedom by giving herself to the temptingly attractive Daniel Tregarron, who offered her all the love Sir Nicholas denied her? Never did a young bride find herself in a greater dilemma - as a marriage that broke all the rules threatened to break her heart...

Original Publisher: Signet
Original Year of Publication: 1983
Page Count: 250

The July 2025 #TBRChallenge is “Back in My Day...” and I decided to have a bit of fun with this prompt. Curious as to how many vintage romance novels I own that fall into my birth year, I ran a search on LibraryThing (seriously, LT is an amazing catalog, OMG) and came up with 4 possibilities. This book sounded the most promising, so here it is. This is what was being published the same year I came into existence!

As the book opens, we find Miss Laura Milbanke in the principal bedchamber of the luxurious Hotel Cantorini on the Grand Canal in Venice. Laura awakens in this most extravagant and exclusive suite and we learn her backstory: orphaned as a child, she was sent to live with an aunt who treated her like an unwanted poor relation. She was treated as being somewhere between the gently bred family of her aunt and the servants belowstairs. She was given an education, and basically lived in her uncle's library, but when her aunt died, her cousins turned her out of the house with only the small inheritance she had been bequeathed in her relative's will. She will have to take a job in service, likely as a companion to an odious old spinster, but decides that before she heads for a life of drudgery, she will indulge in a burning dream: to visit this grand hotel in this grand city. She basically blows her money on a month-long stay, living a life amongst the Quality and doing her best to dodge the Austrian army officers who have taken up residence.

She is so immersed in her delight that she steps out onto her balcony in her nightgown to watch the sun rise. She's brought back to herself when she spots a lone gondola in the Canal, with an impossibly handsome passenger. She ducks back into her suite and figures she'll never run into him because she's taking a self-guided tour of the city and it does not involve impossibly handsome men.

This man is Sir Nicholas Grenville, the only other English person staying at her hotel, so she is seated with him for meals. He is less than welcoming, buried in his ledgers, and it basically makes for awkward company. Then an oily creep named Baron Frederick von Marienfeld takes an interest in her and she basically sticks close to Sir Nicholas because even his unpleasant company is better than the Baron's. Nicholas warns Laura against the Baron (as if she needed to be warned) and says that he is the finest duelist on the Continent, having successfully dispatched 11 previous rivals.

The Baron manages to corner Laura one day into a compromising position, and Sir Nicholas sweeps to her rescue, accepting the Baron's hastily offered duel for her honor. Laura is horrified; the man barely knows her and has made it more than clear that he can't stand her, so why in the world would he fight a duel because of her??

Nicholas finally relents, apologies for his atrocious behavior, and tells Laura his own backstory. He has just inherited King's Cliff Manor in Somerset, and the vast property is beyond broke. His father spent far more than the incomed earned off the property, and threw lavish events, including a huge annual hunt that bankrupted the place. He died and left Nicholas to face the music, and Nicholas knows that the only way to save the property is to tighten the belt of the finances, including doing major things like disbanding the hunt, selling extra properly, and draining the marshland. He knows that the estate will be in an uproar about all of the changes, including his father's former ward, the beautiful Augustine Townsend. Nicholas fancies himself in love with Augustine, but openly wonders - basically believes - that she cares more about the house than him, as it was not that long ago that the Grenvilles bought the estate from the Townsends. Augustine and her mother have lived at King's Cliff their entire lives, and it was always assumed Augustine would marry the heir to the estate, thus bringing it back to her family.

Nicholas escaped from England for much the same reason that Laura did: to get away from the drudgery of his life and indulge himself one last time. As they find they have more in common than previously believed, they decide to spend the day before the duel together, exploring the beautiful city.

The duel comes and goes. Nicholas was gravely wounded, but not killed, and the Baron was chased out of the country due to his actions (shooting an unarmed man). Nicholas is brought back to the hotel, and Laura is shocked to learn that he has asked that she basically be his patient advocate with the local doctor. The doctor wants to amputate his arm; Nicholas adamantly refuses to have such a thing done, and it's up to Laura to abide by his wishes. She does so, and the doctor basically tells her that she's signed his death warrant.

But Nicholas lives through the night, and continues to hang on with the bullet still lodged in his arm. After a couple of days, he requests that Laura accept his hand in marriage, thus freeing her from having to take up paying work, even if he dies. They are married in his sick room, and soon make the voyage home, to King's Cliff, taking the sea route instead of overland due to his wound.

The sea journey is horrible and prolonged; by the time they make it to England, Nicholas is sick with ague. He insists on going home and calling in his personal physician; the group is surprised when they are stopped at the gate of King's Cliff because the guard can't believe he's still alive. Apparently word had been sent that he had died in Venice, and the house is appropriately dressed in deepest mourning. The servants are astounded that he has returned, albeit barely alive, and tell Laura they are glad she is there because none of them wanted to serve Augustine as Lady Grenville.

As it turns out, Augustine and her mother are away, having gone off to Grenville cousin the Earl of Langford to attend a big party. An odd thing to do when they are supposed to be in mourning, and indeed, when Laura sees them later as they return to the house, they appear to be drunk in celebration. The news that Nicholas lives is an ugly surprise, indeed!

If, at this point, you have surmised (as I did) that the Earl plotted to have Nicholas killed by the baron in Venice so that he might usurp King's Cliff *and* Augustine, congratulations, you have discovered the big denouement of the third act.

Daniel Tregarron, Nicholas's personal physician and best friend, meets Laura as she arrives with her gravely ill husband. He immediately tends to him, wanting to bring down the fever. He tells Laura that he is aware of a new type of surgery that can be done to remove the bullet from the body without amputation; it is done with sweet vitriol, aka ether as an anesthetic. Daniel tells Laura that it is safe because he has experimented with the sweet vitriol himself, and felt no pain. He wants permission to do the surgery, which Laura as Nicholas's wife can give. She thinks it over very carefully, and assents. They will have to wait until he has recovered from the infection (believed to be malaria) and can be weaned from the laudanum, which is contraindicated to the anesthetic.

Meanwhile, Augustine makes her presence well known. She immediately throws herself by Nicholas's sickbed, weeping with supposed joy at his return and anxiety that he will not live. She pushes Laura completely out, and when not in Nicholas's bedroom, she is a cruel bitch to her. Augustine lords it over Laura that Nicholas intended to marry her upon his return from Venice, and surely when he recovers his senses he will annul his unconsummated marriage, set Laura aside, and marry her. Augustine is proud, vain, and conceited, and she does her best to run roughshod over Laura. She is sure that nothing will change; Nicholas will relent and let her have her way, including her continued lavish lifestyle.

Laura assumes that Augustine is right; after all, Nicholas told her as much in Venice, but she's not going to be set aside quite as easily as that. Daniel Tregarron and the estate agent, Charles Dodswell, want to honor Nicholas's plans for saving the estate, and that will only happen if Nicholas gives Laura power of attorney to act in his stead while he is still ill. There is an urgency to this, because a notorious London loanshark is calling in a debt that cannot otherwise be paid. Nicholas is well enough after being weaned from the laudanum to understand and agree with their plan, so he signs over POA the night before the planned surgery.

This, of course, outrages the Earl of Langford and the Townsends; legally, Laura is the head of the family and they can't cross her, no matter how much they want to. Temporarily thwarted, Augustine decides to put her acid tongue to good use, and starts spreading rumors that Laura is having a passionate affair with Daniel. The two spend a lot of time together, because Daniel is the only person in the house who is civil to her, but once tongues start wagging, things take a turn for the worse.

Daniel successfully operates and removes the bullet from Nicholas's arm. He leaves the house soon after, leaving Laura at the mercy of the nasty Townsend women. Rumors are running wild, and some of the servants have turned against Laura for her perceived betrayal of their master. No one dares tell her what's being said, not even her maid, so she's left to wonder why she's suddenly getting the cold shoulder.

Someone does eventually tell Daniel, and he decides that it's to his advantage to let the rumors swirl. He's fallen in love with Laura and would do anything to break up her marriage to his best friend, up to and including lying about their relationship to said friend. Nicholas inevitably hears the rumors and is deeply hurt, once again turning cold and dour towards Laura.

The misunderstanding is woven fairly deftly into the story, but it goes on way longer than it should have. Laura doesn't know that she's been linked to the doctor, so of course she seeks out his company as a friend; Daniel soon turns on her and tells her that he will pursue her because he can give her the love and affection Nicholas obviously won't; Nicholas forbids her from seeing him because he's angry and jealous, but refuses to tell Laura why. More than once I just wanted to shake him (and her!) and tell them to use their words already! The two are painfully in love, but both believe the other wants out in order to marry someone else.

Things get really ugly at the end, as Nicholas discovers the plot against him, and Augustine continues to spread lies about Laura even on her way out the door. The big conversation that straightens out everyone's feelings literally happens on the next-to-last page. It is a good one, very emotional and tugging at the heartstrings, but MAN does it happen too late to really matter.

I liked Nicholas until he decided to be a Proud Man instead of an understanding one; Daniel's turn to the dark side was unexpected, and mostly done quite nicely until he forgot how to accept "no" as a complete answer. Laura was a bit wishy-washy, but I found it to be mostly understandable; she loves her husband and doesn't want to leave, but doesn't want to commit herself to a life of 1000% misery, either. The villains are appropriately villainous and get their appropriate comeuppance, but I would've liked to enjoyed wallowing in it for a bit longer. They are all so cruel to Laura, right up until the end. She needed more time to feel triumphant, IMO.

All in all, not the best I've read by this author, unfortunately, but it is a strong plot with interesting characters, so worth a read if you are a trad Regency purist.

⭐⭐1/2

The Mouse That Roared

Rosalind Lacey is a woman with a mission. Having sacrificed her youthful opportunities to family obligations, she's ready to make the most of her long-postponed London Season. Unlike most single ladies, Rosalind isn't husband hunting. She intends to enjoy all the attractions of the city - but on her own terms, for her own reasons. And her free-spirited Aunt Fanny is just the woman to show a girl all the nice - and naughty - things London as to offer...

Max Devenant has reached the top of his profession - if rakehood could be considered a calling. But he's grown bored with his dissolute lifestyle. His friend Fanny's niece, Rosalind, seems an unlikely cure for his malaise, as she's certainly the mousiest of women. Only one day after her arrival, however, Rosalind is transformed into the most attractive and vivacious creature Max has ever encountered. He cannot know the cause for the change, but its effect is undeniable...

Original Publisher: Signet
Original Year of Publication: 2001
Page Count: 213

Rosalind Lacey, eldest daughter of Sir Edmund Lacey of Wycombe Hall in Devon, is indeed on a mission. She believes that she has inherited her mother's terminal illness and thus, only has a few months to live. She has taken stock of her life: she is a 26-year-old spinster who stepped into her mother's role at 14 and has pretty much raised her siblings ever since. Her two sisters are married, one brother is off to university and the youngest boys - twins - have been settled at Harrow. It's time for her to have a chance to do something for herself, and she knows just what she wants to do. She wants to go to London, during the Season, and experience all of the sights, sounds, and delights to be had. She wants her father's sister Fanny to accompany her. Fanny has long been the black sheep of the family; she has lived an extroverted, extravagant life as a wealthy widow with a string of titled lovers. If anybody can show Rosie what the Season is all about, it's Aunt Fanny.

Fanny has not been close to her brother since his marriage, and is not looking forward to the arrival of a meek little country mouse. As the novel opens, she is complaining of her plight to her friend Max Devenant, a 36-year-old rakehell who is utterly bored with life. He is so bored, in fact, that he is seriously considering taking the self-same route as his best friend, Freddie Moresby, who killed himself earlier in the year. Max keeps Moresby's suicide note tucked into his waistcoat as a reminder that there is a way out of a life not worth living.

Max is the son of Fanny's one true love, Basil Devenant, and they have known each other for years. Max is a younger son dangling at loose ends. His parents are gone, his siblings are married and/or busy with careers, and he has no especial interest in anything. He supports himself by gambling, and has focused on pleasure for the vast majority of his life.

Neither Fanny nor Max are impressed when Rosie arrives, dressed in dowdy shapeless brown, but Max immediately senses there's something beyond country mouse when he makes an outrageous pass at Rosie and she does not swoon in fear in response. Indeed, after Max leaves, Rosie tells Fanny exactly what her plans are, and that the first thing she wants to do is make herself over.

The transformation is complete in under a week, and Rosie is so pleased and excited with all the possibilities that she considers herself to be playing a role, of the dashing Rosalind, doing all the outrageous, Society-breaking things that prim and proper Rosie would never dare attempt. She is an instant hit, with her scarlet red dresses, fashionably cropped hair, and her will to try absolutely everything in sight. She even has a list of things she wishes to accomplish before she dies, and it includes driving a sporting vehicle, visiting the great museums, attending every kind of event available (both fashionable and not), and being thoroughly kissed by a rake.

Fanny is a proud mother hen as she parades Rosalind all around town, and Max finds himself just as smitten with her as the rest of the population of single men. Rosie throws caution to the wind and makes a spectacle of herself, but she could care less - she's about to die, what good is it to constrain herself to Society's ridiculous rules? And Max is everything she could ever want: kind to her, but handsome and funny as well, with a wicked wit and practiced wiles. After being thoroughly kissed, she decides she wants more - and she gets it, in one perfect evening that she will never, ever forget.

Everything is going so beautifully that not even the appearance of her university-bound brother (or her odious uncle) can stop her momentum. Rosie has told no one of her medical condition, but does consult a London physician when a few troubling symptoms begin to reappear. Only then does she learn that she does not have her mother's fatal illness - that she isn't going to die - and suddenly everything she has done over the last few months comes crashing down around her. If she's going to live, can she live with the idea of thumbing her nose at everything and everyone, of bringing shame upon herself and her family? She decides she can't, and flees back to Devon to confess everything to her father and beg his forgiveness.

Sir Edmund has taken a bit of stock himself since Rosie has been in London, and realizes that he has been a horribly neglectful parent, lost in his own grief for his wife these last twelve years. He's put so much on Rosie that he never meant to, and when Rosie tells him of her fears of dying like her mother did, he feels even worse for keeping his wife's condition a secret from the children. Edmund is a pretty spectacular father here, because he does not shame or scold or do anything other than beg Rosie's forgiveness for his own transgressions, and tells her that she deserved to have the happiness she did in London.

Rosie is beside herself with shame, however, and retreats into her country mouse shell. Even after Max finds out why she left (he was so hurt and upset, thinking it was something he did to drive her away), chases after her, and begs her to marry him, she refuses. She doesn't believe she can be the wild and devil-may-care Rosalind that she was in London, not without the death sentence hanging over her.

Edmund and Fanny conspire to bring Rosalind back to London and reconnect her with Max, believing that if they put the two back in proximity to each other, the rest will fall into place. It is a dangerous plan, but it ultimately works. Remember that suicide note that Max carries around? He accidently drops it, Rosie fears that he is the one who wrote it, and rushes off to stop him from killing himself. If he ever tells her the truth about the note (that it was written by his friend), it happens off page. This was the only bit of the story that I didn't like.

Otherwise, I found this absolutely delightful! Rosie was determined to live every day as if it were her last, and she inspired Max to realize that life could be worth living - with the right person at his side. Even Aunt Fanny seizes the day and consents to marry her own lifelong admirer at the end.

I really enjoyed the way the characters were drawn: bright, vivacious, full of life. Rosalind in London did things and said things that so many others could only dream of doing; she got to see everything she wanted and even though she was not looking for a husband, she managed to find one anyway. Rosie and Max were nicely balanced; even though Rosie was a touch too stubborn, she didn't really spend a lot of time wallowing in her shame on page. Aunt Fanny was an excellent "chaperone" and very interesting in and of herself. Rosie's dash off to London made a lot of people realize a lot of different things, and I liked that the whole family was reconciled at the end.

The prose was airy and light, events moved along at a really nice clip, and the romance was, indeed, very romantic for a trad Regency.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Vintage Romance Reader

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