Lizzie Church

I enjoyed this book and have downloaded to kindle the next two Lizzie Church has written. I don't write romance myself but love the Regency romances when well written. This is what the author calls 'traditional', which I guess means gentle, in the sense of Jane Austen, and not the smouldering, almost bodice rippers, that some authors produce. While not disparaging those, as have read my share, they tend to all blend together after a while. There seems to be better character development, more range of characters, and a more varied storyline in the traditional form, and are generally less fraught.… (más)

After Lydia Barrington is orphaned, she tries to maintain her household but is quickly forced to admit defeat. Her younger sister goes to live with one aunt, and she to another. Although her Aunt Abdale does her best to make Lydia feel the full humiliation of being a poor dependent relation, Lydia manages to make friends and enjoy herself. She even makes a connection to a local gentleman. But the course of love never did run smooth--Lydia's poverty and lack of protection

I was astonished by how much I enjoyed this book. The language is just what I wish for from a regency romance: long sentences with plenty of clauses, reminiscent of the literary style of the 1790s-1820 without sounding forced. The tone is light, but with a dollop of social insight. Lydia herself is a wonderful heroine, with plenty of spirit and wit without ever coming across as anachronistic or waspish. The plot clips along quickly, but there's plenty of time to enjoy the slow build of relationships and yearning tension.… (más)

Good lord was this book overwritten! Well, at least for the first half - the author was clearly trying to affect a Jane Austen-like tone, but failed. So the prose came across as stuffy and just a bit too 'proper', for lack of a better term.

In fact, I found the entire first half of the book hard to read. The story line was a bit boring, and our heroine came off as being something of a namby pamby. So with very little incentive to carry on, I'd start reading, then put it aside... it was only thanks to a forced hotel stay that this got finished.

Happily I stuck with it, as the story does pick up towards the end. Even though the whole intrigue trope has been done many times before, it was the lift this little story needed. Interestingly the overwritten prose gives way with the plot twist - perhaps the author had more fun writing this section? Or perhaps the author cleverly dropped the overdone writing style as yet another way to bring the two main characters together? Whatever the reason I was grateful and was thus able to finish the book.… (más)

As a History fan, this rather sweet novel ticked a few boxes by offering a little slice of Georgian life: the slower pace of day to day living, the social hub of local hotels/inns, and the Christian morals. Furthermore, the author doesn't hold back on showing the reality of a woman's lot two centuries ago.

Ultimately, there is a pay off to the heroine for her pain (and believe me, there is a lot of it to be had by the final chapter) However, even the least intuitive reader is likely to have seen many of the plot twists and devices coming several chapters previously. It began to feel quite hurried by the time we get to the final scenes and although the publishers appear to have touted this as something other than romance, it is what it is.

For me, this is the kind of escapist novel which still allows the reader plenty of room for their own head space. If you are the kind of person who enjoys historical romance with a peppering of grit, or if you generally read heavier subjects but like a light break in between tomes, I recommend this book to you.
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