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Country House Party #1
A Garden Folly
Customers who enjoy the traditional Regency Romances of Georgette Heyer, Barbara Metzger, and Carla Kelly will enjoy this witty Regency romp by New York Times bestselling author Candice Hern. Two sisters on the edge of poverty have a chance to meet wealthy, titled, unmarried gentlemen when they are unexpectedly invited to a month-long house party at a famous country estate owned by the Duke of Carlisle. Plans to find rich husbands fall apart when the beautiful, bubble-headed Susannah falls for the most unsuitable of suitors. Level-headed Catherine must save the family from ruin by securing a more fortunate match. Though courted by a wealthy earl, she finds herself falling for the handsome estate gardener and faced with the choice of marrying for money and security, or following her heart. Set at a grand country house and gardens reminiscent of Chatsworth, this sweet love story will sweep the reader away into a world of early 19th century wealth and aristocratic privilege, and just a bit of folly in the fabulous gardens.
237 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1997
108 people are currently reading
637 people want to read
About the author
Candice Hern
32 books250 followersCandice Hern is the award-winning, bestselling author of historical romance novels set during the English Regency period. Her books have won praise for the "intelligence and elegant romantic sensibility" (Romantic Times) as well as "delicious wit and luscious sensuality (Booklist). Candice's award-winning website (www.candicehern.com) is often cited for its Regency World pages, where readers interested in the era will find an illustrated glossary, a detailed timeline, illustrated digests of Regency people and places, articles on Regency fashion, research links, and much more.
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July 24, 2018
This was a novel that's a bit reminiscent of the traditional regencies. The strength of the storyline rests in the character development and character interaction as well as the setting, dialogue and the author's fine storytelling skills. It's not filled with hot sex but the chemistry between the MC's is palpable throughout. In this novel, it's the little things ( that we often don't find in romance novels ) that help to build the romance between the MC's. It's a whimsical, old fashioned tale of a H who adopts the disguise of a gardener to court the woman with whom he's falling in love. The H is Stephen, the Duke of Carlisle and he's not a rake or a manwhore. Stephen prefers to stay away from the societal demands of the Ton and spend his time working on the management of his many estates. His mother, the dowager duchess, decides to give a month long house party at his favourite country estate Chissingworth and he's unable to leave and go to another of his many estates because he's in the process of supervising the construction of a special conservatory in his garden. At the same time, he is peeved because he disdains having to participate in the house party because all the single women will be running after him and flirting. That's when he decides that he will just stay at Chissingworth but not communicate with the guests; he'll live in another part of the mansion and spend his days hiding out in gardens:
The heroine Catherine, is lucky to get an invitation to the house party because her widowed aunt Hetty is an old friend of the dowager duchess. Catherine, her sister Susannah and her aunt Hetty are close to starving because all their money has almost run out. The heroine, is the only practical member of little family and she thinks that the only solution to all their problems is if she and her sister are able to get rich husbands. This is set in the regency era so women of the heroine's class have little option ( except to take jobs as governesses, mistresses or companions ) but to look to marriage as a solution to abject poverty. Catherine's not a gold digger type of young woman, though. She's just very practical and has a keen need to survive and she has to take care of her sister and her aunt as well since they're not as capable as the heroine. In fact, her sister Susannah is a stupidly delightful character; in other words, Susannah's an airhead with a heart of gold. Lol. Susannah's the older sister but she looks to the heroine for assistance with everything.
The MC's meet in the splendid gardens at Chissingworth and the H is immediately taken with
Catherine because she's everything he ever wanted in his perfect woman:
Stephen's breath was almost knocked out of him as he listened to this extraordinary speech. Here was a very pretty young girl, with dark blond curls spilling out of her bonnet and huge gray eyes peering at him guilelessly, who knew about rare flowers and special hybrids—his favorite subjects—and wasn't fawning all over him.
And she actually had no idea who he was.
It was delicious. It was too perfect. He could not keep from smiling.
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 1027-1034).
Catherine thinks he's just the ordinary head gardener called Stephen Archibald and so she is comfortable around him. She confides in him and tells him everything ! She tells him about her poverty and about how her butler McDougal had managed to used his connections to "borrow" gowns, jewellery and even the carriage that conveyed them to Chissingworth. That was one humorous aspect of the story because McDougal came across as a kind of fairy Godfather since his ability to "borrow" stuff for the heroine and her sister turned these 2 ladies into Cinderellas who were outfitted for the house party. This novel reminded me of a modern Jane Austen story because of the way the plot unfolded. Catherine is falling in love with an impoverished gardener ( or so she thinks ) but she is determined to be practical and wed only a rich man. I felt sorry for Catherine, especially when the wealthy eligible Miles, the Earl of Strickland, started to court her. Miles is a widower with 2 little daughters and he thinks that Catherine will make the perfect wife for him and the ideal stepmother for his girls. Miles ends up getting a novel of his own called The Best Intentions.
The big conflict in this novel is that which occurs within Catherine's heart. She loves Stephen but she's afraid to consign herself to a future filled with poverty. There's a scene where she actually tells Stephen all about her plans to get herself a rich husband and she doesn't realize ( until it's too late, that he's angry and disappointed to hear these revelations )
"Just before the duchess's invitation arrived," she continued, "I was this close to looking for a position as a teacher or governess. But what on earth could Susannah do? She is too pretty and too scatterbrained to be a governess. She is an excellent seamstress, of course, and probably could have found employment with a dressmaker. But that is a difficult life at best. Susannah is much too delicate for that sort of hardship. I cannot even bear to think of it. So," she added in a lighter tone, "here we are at Chissingworth looking for rich husbands."
Stephen was stunned into silence. He would never in a million years have pegged his guileless Miss Forsythe as a fortune hunter. It went against everything he believed about her. He stared at her in painful disbelief. His silence must have alarmed her, for she turned and looked over her shoulder at him.
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 1939-1946).
I felt sorry for both MC's because I understood what each wanted out of life. Stephen wanted someone to love him for himself rather than for his money and title while Catherine was just tired of all the suffering and horrific poverty she'd had to deal with after her father died. I totally understood why Catherine felt she needed a rich husband, especially after her sister Susannah fell in love with Captain Phillips at the house party. This guy was the H's cousin and although he was employed as the steward at Chissingworth, he didn't have the financial resources to help take care of Susannah's sister and elderly aunt. The closer the Earl of Strickland comes to proposing, the more depressed and worried Catherine becomes. The H is aware of the agony that she's feeling and he accelerates his own courtship of her. The heroine is emotionally tortured at this point because she's desperately in love with Stephen and so she lashes out at him:
"How many times do I have to ask you to leave me alone?" she said in a voice that was almost a wail. She launched herself off the bench and stood to face him from a few feet away. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides.
"It is all your fault!" she said., "You are ruining everything!"
"What are you talking about?"
"There is an earl—an earl!—who may want to marry me. And yet you keep pushing yourself on me, ruining everything."
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 3871-3877).
This part of the novel was intensely dramatic and Catherine ended up making the right choice when the Earl proposed. She broke down in a fit of ugly crying and told the Earl that she didn't love him:
"N-n-n-no," she sputtered. "It is j-just. . ." She gave a great choking sob before going on. "You are m-much too n-nice a m-man to be s-s-saddled with m-me."
Lord Strickland gently lifted her chin so that she would look at him. Only she could not bear to look at him.
"Saddled?" he said in a soft, kind voice. His eyes were so full of concern that she began to feel even more wretched. "You know I would not think any such thing. I would not have asked if I had thought marriage with you would be so disagreeable. Come now, Catherine. Tell me the truth. What is it, really, that has upset you so?"
"I c-cannot m-m-marry you, my l-lord." Her voice was choked with tears and she took a deep breath to try to compose herself. She was making such a mess of things.
"Tell me why," he said.
"B-because it would not be f-fair," she blurted. "I do not love you—"
"Oh but, Catherine—"
"—and I only wanted you for your f-fortune even though I I-loved someone else b-but he is not r-rich,"
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 4255-4271).
This was almost as if Catherine had undergone a sort of mini emotional catharsis and it led to the most beautiful denouement ever ! Catherine finally decided that it would be better to take her chances with a man she loved even though he was just an ordinary, poor gardener. She made me feel so ashamed of myself because I would've totally accepted the handsome, kind and rich Earl because I'm lazy and shallow and ... *sob* *sob* and I would've ended up crying well deserved mercenary tears of blood after I realized I'd given up true love with an even richer guy who was a duke. And now all you readers will be shaking your heads and laughing at me...*sob* *sob* but I know I'm not strong enough to say yes to an impoverished gardener. I'm a terrible person ! Lol.
I loved the reconciliation scene between the MC's. It was like something out of a hollywood golden age romance movie:
"I am so s-sorry," she stammered, burrowing her head against his shoulder. She had wept buckets of tears this night and could not seem to stop. "I did not really mean any of those horrible things I said to you before. I was so hateful to you."
"Hush, love. It doesn't matter."
"But you do not understand. I know you must have thought I was heartless and greedy. But I was so scared. I thought it was my last chance. I didn't want to lose everything like my father did."
"Hush, love."
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 4444-4452).
My selfish, mercenary heart almost cried at the pure goodness and wonder of this scene and my dog Harold probably thought I was going mad again. The dialogue that continued was the stuff of great romance:
"Shh. It doesn't matter."
"But I didn't mean it, Stephen! I didn't mean it. You are not an ignorant gardener. How could I ever have said such a thing? You are the most wonderful man in the whole world. And you are not at all ignorant. You know so many things about plants and history and you've been to America and you've taught me so much and you are such fun to be with and you make me laugh and you find me flowers to paint and you look so handsome that you make me weak in the knees and you make me feel tingly all over when you kiss me. Oh, how I wish I had never said those horrid things to you! Can you ever forgive me?"
"It doesn't matter, love. None of that matters anymore." He lifted her chin and kissed her so tenderly she thought her heart would break from the sweetness of it. He pulled back and looked into her eyes.
"I love you, Catherine," he said, and then pulled her close against him once more.
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 4457-4467).
And, the final scene where the dowager duchess announced the MC's engagement was even more dramatic !
This was a feel good type of traditional regency that's very well written with engaging characters and I didn't even get bored for one second. There's no cheating and no OW drama. The heroine is courted by another man but it's purely platonic interaction.
This is the H, Stephen:
This is the heroine, Catherine:
The heroine Catherine, is lucky to get an invitation to the house party because her widowed aunt Hetty is an old friend of the dowager duchess. Catherine, her sister Susannah and her aunt Hetty are close to starving because all their money has almost run out. The heroine, is the only practical member of little family and she thinks that the only solution to all their problems is if she and her sister are able to get rich husbands. This is set in the regency era so women of the heroine's class have little option ( except to take jobs as governesses, mistresses or companions ) but to look to marriage as a solution to abject poverty. Catherine's not a gold digger type of young woman, though. She's just very practical and has a keen need to survive and she has to take care of her sister and her aunt as well since they're not as capable as the heroine. In fact, her sister Susannah is a stupidly delightful character; in other words, Susannah's an airhead with a heart of gold. Lol. Susannah's the older sister but she looks to the heroine for assistance with everything.
The MC's meet in the splendid gardens at Chissingworth and the H is immediately taken with
Catherine because she's everything he ever wanted in his perfect woman:
Stephen's breath was almost knocked out of him as he listened to this extraordinary speech. Here was a very pretty young girl, with dark blond curls spilling out of her bonnet and huge gray eyes peering at him guilelessly, who knew about rare flowers and special hybrids—his favorite subjects—and wasn't fawning all over him.
And she actually had no idea who he was.
It was delicious. It was too perfect. He could not keep from smiling.
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 1027-1034).
Catherine thinks he's just the ordinary head gardener called Stephen Archibald and so she is comfortable around him. She confides in him and tells him everything ! She tells him about her poverty and about how her butler McDougal had managed to used his connections to "borrow" gowns, jewellery and even the carriage that conveyed them to Chissingworth. That was one humorous aspect of the story because McDougal came across as a kind of fairy Godfather since his ability to "borrow" stuff for the heroine and her sister turned these 2 ladies into Cinderellas who were outfitted for the house party. This novel reminded me of a modern Jane Austen story because of the way the plot unfolded. Catherine is falling in love with an impoverished gardener ( or so she thinks ) but she is determined to be practical and wed only a rich man. I felt sorry for Catherine, especially when the wealthy eligible Miles, the Earl of Strickland, started to court her. Miles is a widower with 2 little daughters and he thinks that Catherine will make the perfect wife for him and the ideal stepmother for his girls. Miles ends up getting a novel of his own called The Best Intentions.
The big conflict in this novel is that which occurs within Catherine's heart. She loves Stephen but she's afraid to consign herself to a future filled with poverty. There's a scene where she actually tells Stephen all about her plans to get herself a rich husband and she doesn't realize ( until it's too late, that he's angry and disappointed to hear these revelations )
"Just before the duchess's invitation arrived," she continued, "I was this close to looking for a position as a teacher or governess. But what on earth could Susannah do? She is too pretty and too scatterbrained to be a governess. She is an excellent seamstress, of course, and probably could have found employment with a dressmaker. But that is a difficult life at best. Susannah is much too delicate for that sort of hardship. I cannot even bear to think of it. So," she added in a lighter tone, "here we are at Chissingworth looking for rich husbands."
Stephen was stunned into silence. He would never in a million years have pegged his guileless Miss Forsythe as a fortune hunter. It went against everything he believed about her. He stared at her in painful disbelief. His silence must have alarmed her, for she turned and looked over her shoulder at him.
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 1939-1946).
I felt sorry for both MC's because I understood what each wanted out of life. Stephen wanted someone to love him for himself rather than for his money and title while Catherine was just tired of all the suffering and horrific poverty she'd had to deal with after her father died. I totally understood why Catherine felt she needed a rich husband, especially after her sister Susannah fell in love with Captain Phillips at the house party. This guy was the H's cousin and although he was employed as the steward at Chissingworth, he didn't have the financial resources to help take care of Susannah's sister and elderly aunt. The closer the Earl of Strickland comes to proposing, the more depressed and worried Catherine becomes. The H is aware of the agony that she's feeling and he accelerates his own courtship of her. The heroine is emotionally tortured at this point because she's desperately in love with Stephen and so she lashes out at him:
"How many times do I have to ask you to leave me alone?" she said in a voice that was almost a wail. She launched herself off the bench and stood to face him from a few feet away. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides.
"It is all your fault!" she said., "You are ruining everything!"
"What are you talking about?"
"There is an earl—an earl!—who may want to marry me. And yet you keep pushing yourself on me, ruining everything."
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 3871-3877).
This part of the novel was intensely dramatic and Catherine ended up making the right choice when the Earl proposed. She broke down in a fit of ugly crying and told the Earl that she didn't love him:
"N-n-n-no," she sputtered. "It is j-just. . ." She gave a great choking sob before going on. "You are m-much too n-nice a m-man to be s-s-saddled with m-me."
Lord Strickland gently lifted her chin so that she would look at him. Only she could not bear to look at him.
"Saddled?" he said in a soft, kind voice. His eyes were so full of concern that she began to feel even more wretched. "You know I would not think any such thing. I would not have asked if I had thought marriage with you would be so disagreeable. Come now, Catherine. Tell me the truth. What is it, really, that has upset you so?"
"I c-cannot m-m-marry you, my l-lord." Her voice was choked with tears and she took a deep breath to try to compose herself. She was making such a mess of things.
"Tell me why," he said.
"B-because it would not be f-fair," she blurted. "I do not love you—"
"Oh but, Catherine—"
"—and I only wanted you for your f-fortune even though I I-loved someone else b-but he is not r-rich,"
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 4255-4271).
This was almost as if Catherine had undergone a sort of mini emotional catharsis and it led to the most beautiful denouement ever ! Catherine finally decided that it would be better to take her chances with a man she loved even though he was just an ordinary, poor gardener. She made me feel so ashamed of myself because I would've totally accepted the handsome, kind and rich Earl because I'm lazy and shallow and ... *sob* *sob* and I would've ended up crying well deserved mercenary tears of blood after I realized I'd given up true love with an even richer guy who was a duke. And now all you readers will be shaking your heads and laughing at me...*sob* *sob* but I know I'm not strong enough to say yes to an impoverished gardener. I'm a terrible person ! Lol.
I loved the reconciliation scene between the MC's. It was like something out of a hollywood golden age romance movie:
"I am so s-sorry," she stammered, burrowing her head against his shoulder. She had wept buckets of tears this night and could not seem to stop. "I did not really mean any of those horrible things I said to you before. I was so hateful to you."
"Hush, love. It doesn't matter."
"But you do not understand. I know you must have thought I was heartless and greedy. But I was so scared. I thought it was my last chance. I didn't want to lose everything like my father did."
"Hush, love."
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 4444-4452).
My selfish, mercenary heart almost cried at the pure goodness and wonder of this scene and my dog Harold probably thought I was going mad again. The dialogue that continued was the stuff of great romance:
"Shh. It doesn't matter."
"But I didn't mean it, Stephen! I didn't mean it. You are not an ignorant gardener. How could I ever have said such a thing? You are the most wonderful man in the whole world. And you are not at all ignorant. You know so many things about plants and history and you've been to America and you've taught me so much and you are such fun to be with and you make me laugh and you find me flowers to paint and you look so handsome that you make me weak in the knees and you make me feel tingly all over when you kiss me. Oh, how I wish I had never said those horrid things to you! Can you ever forgive me?"
"It doesn't matter, love. None of that matters anymore." He lifted her chin and kissed her so tenderly she thought her heart would break from the sweetness of it. He pulled back and looked into her eyes.
"I love you, Catherine," he said, and then pulled her close against him once more.
Candice Hern. Garden Folly (Kindle Locations 4457-4467).
And, the final scene where the dowager duchess announced the MC's engagement was even more dramatic !
This was a feel good type of traditional regency that's very well written with engaging characters and I didn't even get bored for one second. There's no cheating and no OW drama. The heroine is courted by another man but it's purely platonic interaction.
This is the H, Stephen:
This is the heroine, Catherine:
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2014
4 stars for enjoyment
3 stars for quality
This Regency romance was very sweet and lovely, and I had a really good time reading it. Our heroine, Miss Catherine Forsythe, is a penniless young woman as stubborn as a mule and determined, I repeat, determined to get out of poverty somehow. And here we're talking about real, actual poverty, as in bread-and-water for dinner and barely any clothes and furniture as possessions. Fortunately though, Aunt Hetty (with whom Catherine lives with her sister Susannah)has a good friend, who decides to invite all three to her annual summer party at her estate. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Chissingworth!
Aunt Hetty's friend is none other than the Duchess of Carlisle. If I would have been Catherine, I would have died of a heart attack right there!!
But our dear Miss Forsythe, although highly impressed and awed by the place and its inhabitants, is thrilled as the prospect of spending a month there, because she sees the invitation as the PERFECT opportunity to find a RICH husband.
Beware, the most determined and professional fortune-hunter has arrived!
Catherine's obsession with marrying a fortune is understandable, given her conditions and the circumstances when rendered her and her family to such a state of poverty. I sympathized whole-heartedly with her. She isn't so silly, however, to arrive at Chissingworth hoping to ensnare the Duke himself, or anyone above her who wouldn't be willing to take her as a wife. She just wants someone rich.
Stephen Manwaring, the Duke of Carlisle, son of the present Duchess, is rumoured to be eccentric and half-witted, avoiding society as much as he can, and spending all his time in his gardens and in his apparently very small office unworthy of a duke, at the back of the house, which probably looks like something like this anyways.
The Duke is in fact simply tired of everyone liking him for the sake of his fortunes, and ardently wishes he could find someone to love him for himself. Very understandable as well, and he also had all my sympathy. He decides to avoid the party and hides in his gardens...but Catherine is also very fond of flowers, and the two collide (literally) and sparks instantly fly, even though Catherine believes the duke is no more than a simple gardener...(this isn't a spoiler as the reader knows within the first few pages)
Let the fun begin!!!!
Stephen and Catherine had good chemistry, but I wish he could have tried harder to persuade her more with words, instead of his tongue. I don't mind a passionate kiss or two, but in this book there were many, and they were a bit more on the steamy side than what I usually go for. I think I would have accepted them better had there been more talk between them. Instead of talking her to reason, he would grab her by the shoulders and kiss her until she melted in his arms, but . And then, at some point when she is trying to explain something to him, he keeps saying "Hush, it doesn't matter. It will be all right." Hush, it doesn't matter????!?!?!? Wadaya mean IT DOESNT MATTER??! Let her explain herself, for God's sake!
That habit of him of not talking/listening about important subjects was very infuriating! And he moreover had a weird obsession with Catherine's eyebrows...he kept noticing them and thinking "those fabulous eyebrows" (I sincerely hope this was a preference only to him and that guys don't actually pay that much attention to eyebrows, because mine are basically never done!).
But then, I remembered that he was a handsome, muscular man with brown hair and green eyes, and that no one had ever really loved him for who he was, and that by spending so much time apart from society he kept to himself a lot, so all was forgotten :)
A Garden Folly was a cute book, but it was pure fluff and is meant to be read for enjoyment's sake only, because there really isn't much literary merit or substance to it and I found the writing style too modern and very repetitive. Good God, it's her! Good Lord, I love him! Damn, what is she doing. Good Lord, I can't marry him. Damnation, why she so stubborn! I don't mind those expressions when they're used moderately, but in this case they were overused. There wasn't enough Regency slang for the period - a few expressions here and there, but the dialogue could well have been between people of our century. The sentences of the narration were also very short, which only further accentuated the modern feel of the book. "She did not know. Not for certain. But was glad to hear it." How about you join those three fragments and make me a pretty sentence?? Sometimes writing short sentences/fragments is a good method to enhance certain emotions, for example with: "She had seemed so perfect. Until today." we get a sort of "dramatic" feel and we sense the character's disappointment. But used throughout the entire novel, it became annoying. And redundant. And difficult to look over. And it lessened my overall enjoyment. And...yeah see? ;)
Moreover, I don't know if it's just my edition, but there were a lot of typos, and my fingers were just itching to grab a pen and start making corrections. I hate when that happens!
Having said that, however, there were aspects of the writing that I really appreciated. Ms. Hern's style is very straightforward-no-ambiguity, and she succeeded in making me feel for and with the characters. Whether someone was sad or happy, I felt the same way, and when the H/h got mad at each other, I could understand and sympathize with both points of view. And most importantly, every single time it was written that someone laughed, I would actually find myself chuckling aloud. When Aunt Hetty starts laughing uncontrollably, near the end, I was laughing as hard as she was! The imagery was so well evoked, too! I could see the mansion, and the gardens, and the beautiful violets (and having Google images helps a lot!). I loved the beauty that emanated from A Garden Folly.
Another good point about this book, was that there were NO annoying characters!!! They were all loveable. The only ones who angered me on a few instances were the H/h, but overall I loved them, so I can forgive those instances. But all the other ones were fabulous! The Duchess was the nicest lady, Aunt Hetty a wonderful aunt (and the two together were priceless), Susannah was such a darling and Lord Strickland was sheer perfection. I loved him as much as the hero, and cannot wait to read his story in The Best Intentions!
3 stars for quality
This Regency romance was very sweet and lovely, and I had a really good time reading it. Our heroine, Miss Catherine Forsythe, is a penniless young woman as stubborn as a mule and determined, I repeat, determined to get out of poverty somehow. And here we're talking about real, actual poverty, as in bread-and-water for dinner and barely any clothes and furniture as possessions. Fortunately though, Aunt Hetty (with whom Catherine lives with her sister Susannah)has a good friend, who decides to invite all three to her annual summer party at her estate. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Chissingworth!
Aunt Hetty's friend is none other than the Duchess of Carlisle. If I would have been Catherine, I would have died of a heart attack right there!!
But our dear Miss Forsythe, although highly impressed and awed by the place and its inhabitants, is thrilled as the prospect of spending a month there, because she sees the invitation as the PERFECT opportunity to find a RICH husband.
Beware, the most determined and professional fortune-hunter has arrived!
Catherine's obsession with marrying a fortune is understandable, given her conditions and the circumstances when rendered her and her family to such a state of poverty. I sympathized whole-heartedly with her. She isn't so silly, however, to arrive at Chissingworth hoping to ensnare the Duke himself, or anyone above her who wouldn't be willing to take her as a wife. She just wants someone rich.
Stephen Manwaring, the Duke of Carlisle, son of the present Duchess, is rumoured to be eccentric and half-witted, avoiding society as much as he can, and spending all his time in his gardens and in his apparently very small office unworthy of a duke, at the back of the house, which probably looks like something like this anyways.
The Duke is in fact simply tired of everyone liking him for the sake of his fortunes, and ardently wishes he could find someone to love him for himself. Very understandable as well, and he also had all my sympathy. He decides to avoid the party and hides in his gardens...but Catherine is also very fond of flowers, and the two collide (literally) and sparks instantly fly, even though Catherine believes the duke is no more than a simple gardener...(this isn't a spoiler as the reader knows within the first few pages)
Let the fun begin!!!!
Stephen and Catherine had good chemistry, but I wish he could have tried harder to persuade her more with words, instead of his tongue. I don't mind a passionate kiss or two, but in this book there were many, and they were a bit more on the steamy side than what I usually go for. I think I would have accepted them better had there been more talk between them. Instead of talking her to reason, he would grab her by the shoulders and kiss her until she melted in his arms, but . And then, at some point when she is trying to explain something to him, he keeps saying "Hush, it doesn't matter. It will be all right." Hush, it doesn't matter????!?!?!? Wadaya mean IT DOESNT MATTER??! Let her explain herself, for God's sake!
That habit of him of not talking/listening about important subjects was very infuriating! And he moreover had a weird obsession with Catherine's eyebrows...he kept noticing them and thinking "those fabulous eyebrows" (I sincerely hope this was a preference only to him and that guys don't actually pay that much attention to eyebrows, because mine are basically never done!).
But then, I remembered that he was a handsome, muscular man with brown hair and green eyes, and that no one had ever really loved him for who he was, and that by spending so much time apart from society he kept to himself a lot, so all was forgotten :)
A Garden Folly was a cute book, but it was pure fluff and is meant to be read for enjoyment's sake only, because there really isn't much literary merit or substance to it and I found the writing style too modern and very repetitive. Good God, it's her! Good Lord, I love him! Damn, what is she doing. Good Lord, I can't marry him. Damnation, why she so stubborn! I don't mind those expressions when they're used moderately, but in this case they were overused. There wasn't enough Regency slang for the period - a few expressions here and there, but the dialogue could well have been between people of our century. The sentences of the narration were also very short, which only further accentuated the modern feel of the book. "She did not know. Not for certain. But was glad to hear it." How about you join those three fragments and make me a pretty sentence?? Sometimes writing short sentences/fragments is a good method to enhance certain emotions, for example with: "She had seemed so perfect. Until today." we get a sort of "dramatic" feel and we sense the character's disappointment. But used throughout the entire novel, it became annoying. And redundant. And difficult to look over. And it lessened my overall enjoyment. And...yeah see? ;)
Moreover, I don't know if it's just my edition, but there were a lot of typos, and my fingers were just itching to grab a pen and start making corrections. I hate when that happens!
Having said that, however, there were aspects of the writing that I really appreciated. Ms. Hern's style is very straightforward-no-ambiguity, and she succeeded in making me feel for and with the characters. Whether someone was sad or happy, I felt the same way, and when the H/h got mad at each other, I could understand and sympathize with both points of view. And most importantly, every single time it was written that someone laughed, I would actually find myself chuckling aloud. When Aunt Hetty starts laughing uncontrollably, near the end, I was laughing as hard as she was! The imagery was so well evoked, too! I could see the mansion, and the gardens, and the beautiful violets (and having Google images helps a lot!). I loved the beauty that emanated from A Garden Folly.
Another good point about this book, was that there were NO annoying characters!!! They were all loveable. The only ones who angered me on a few instances were the H/h, but overall I loved them, so I can forgive those instances. But all the other ones were fabulous! The Duchess was the nicest lady, Aunt Hetty a wonderful aunt (and the two together were priceless), Susannah was such a darling and Lord Strickland was sheer perfection. I loved him as much as the hero, and cannot wait to read his story in The Best Intentions!
November 17, 2025
A duke who is almost a recluse because he's tired of being chased for his money and just wants someone to love him for himself is caught up in a house party hosted by his mother at his own home. He meets a girl in the garden who doesn't realise who he is and so he plays a trick to see if she could be the one.
Another fast easy read and quite enjoyable. At times the story was a bit unbelievable. Catherine was slightly dim not to have guessed the duke's ploy. On the whole I enjoyed it though. Nice way to pass an afternoon.
Another fast easy read and quite enjoyable. At times the story was a bit unbelievable. Catherine was slightly dim not to have guessed the duke's ploy. On the whole I enjoyed it though. Nice way to pass an afternoon.
December 22, 2012
This was the story about a fabulously wealthy duke who was miserable because he couldn't tell if people liked him for who he was, or for his title and money and his relationship with a poor noblewoman whose parents had died, leaving her and her sister virtually penniless and one step out of the poor house years ago. She watched her sister, her aunt, and herself go through horrible circumstances without complaint, and when the chance came for her to marry into money, she decided she would take it so that her children would never know the suffering that she had.
Apparently this made her a Terrible Person.
The other reviewers talk about how it was so sweet that he wanted to be loved for who he was! That he wanted her to pick him even though she thought he was poor as a church mouse, living in a house that did not belong to him, and only on the sufferance of a crazy mad duke. That he lied to her for the entire book, yelled at her for wanting to provide for her family, and then emotionally manipulated her, refused to try to see things from her perspective, and then when she capitulated and told him in tears that everyone was telling her that her life choices were disgraceful and that maybe all you really did need was love, he decided to make tell her in front of everyone that he was the Duke and wasn't she pleased. She fainted, told him she loved him and that was it.
Nothing about how he lied to her for the entirety of their relationship. Nothing about how he should have respected her experiences and given her the benefit of the doubt. Nothing about how his emotional manipulations hurt her. Nothing.
Love Is The Only Thing That Matters And She Was Wrong. The End.
^^Moral of the story. Because wanting your children to never starve is a horrible, horrible ambition and she should be ashamed of herself. *sarcasm*
Apparently this made her a Terrible Person.
The other reviewers talk about how it was so sweet that he wanted to be loved for who he was! That he wanted her to pick him even though she thought he was poor as a church mouse, living in a house that did not belong to him, and only on the sufferance of a crazy mad duke. That he lied to her for the entire book, yelled at her for wanting to provide for her family, and then emotionally manipulated her, refused to try to see things from her perspective, and then when she capitulated and told him in tears that everyone was telling her that her life choices were disgraceful and that maybe all you really did need was love, he decided to make tell her in front of everyone that he was the Duke and wasn't she pleased. She fainted, told him she loved him and that was it.
Nothing about how he lied to her for the entirety of their relationship. Nothing about how he should have respected her experiences and given her the benefit of the doubt. Nothing about how his emotional manipulations hurt her. Nothing.
Love Is The Only Thing That Matters And She Was Wrong. The End.
^^Moral of the story. Because wanting your children to never starve is a horrible, horrible ambition and she should be ashamed of herself. *sarcasm*
November 28, 2016
This was a very sweet read 
about a duke pretending to be a gardener and trying to win the heart of one woman by making her love only him, not his title 
The Duke of Carlisle is rumored to be
...touched in the head
But he is in fact a botanist, often spending his time in his garden and avoiding society as much as he can. Stephen can afford to be excentric of course, being the only eligible duke in the kingdom. His mother organises a country party, but he refuses to attend, forcing her to tell everyone he's not in residence.
Catherine Forsythe is very poor, she and her sister are living with their aunt and barely surviving. So when the invitation for the Carlisle party arrives, it's in the right time, now both sisters can try and find themselves rich husbands :)
It all doesn't go according to plan as you might suppose, Catherine stumbles upon a man in the gardens and thinks he's the head gardener
It's, of course, Stephen. They form a friendship through a mutual love for flowers, they meet in the gardens every day and slowly fall in love
It's all well untill she tells him she's here to catch a rich husband, she doesn't want to be poor anymore. Stephen (being duke almost all his life and hating the fact everyone wants him only for his money) regards her with contempt
as if that wasn't what every single woman in the Marriage Mart had in mind. Gah he really frustrated me there and that's the only reason this is going to be a 4 star read. But still, they work it out in the end (which was hilarious, bad, bad Stephen, I'd kill him if he put me through something like that
)
Anyway, having read all CH's books I have to say I adore her, she really does romance well, I love her style of writing, it seems so authentic
and although she doesn't write extreme hot sex scenes, I don't really mind at all :) The story is great and that's what captures me :)
about a duke pretending to be a gardener and trying to win the heart of one woman by making her love only him, not his title 
The Duke of Carlisle is rumored to be
...touched in the head
But he is in fact a botanist, often spending his time in his garden and avoiding society as much as he can. Stephen can afford to be excentric of course, being the only eligible duke in the kingdom. His mother organises a country party, but he refuses to attend, forcing her to tell everyone he's not in residence.Catherine Forsythe is very poor, she and her sister are living with their aunt and barely surviving. So when the invitation for the Carlisle party arrives, it's in the right time, now both sisters can try and find themselves rich husbands :)
It all doesn't go according to plan as you might suppose, Catherine stumbles upon a man in the gardens and thinks he's the head gardener
It's, of course, Stephen. They form a friendship through a mutual love for flowers, they meet in the gardens every day and slowly fall in love
It's all well untill she tells him she's here to catch a rich husband, she doesn't want to be poor anymore. Stephen (being duke almost all his life and hating the fact everyone wants him only for his money) regards her with contempt
as if that wasn't what every single woman in the Marriage Mart had in mind. Gah he really frustrated me there and that's the only reason this is going to be a 4 star read. But still, they work it out in the end (which was hilarious, bad, bad Stephen, I'd kill him if he put me through something like that
)Anyway, having read all CH's books I have to say I adore her, she really does romance well, I love her style of writing, it seems so authentic
and although she doesn't write extreme hot sex scenes, I don't really mind at all :) The story is great and that's what captures me :) 
March 6, 2017
Catherine Forsythe, along with her sister and Aunt, are invited to spend a month at the Dowager Duchess of Carlisle's house party. Meanwhile her son, the Duke aka Stephen Archibald [...] Manwaring is "not in residence" which is code for UNDERCOVER. As a gardener. So he can built a fancy greenhouse I MEAN MODERN GLASS CONSERVATORY PARDON MY FRENCH. Stephen runs into the beguiling Catherine and finds himself ENTRANCED until she makes plain the fact that she needs to marry for money. Then his warm feelings get hotter in a hate-y sort of way, before skipping right over to lust. HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT, WHERE ARE YOU??
1. This had a few moments of entertainment before the very real DANGER WILL ROBINSON vibes choked out the rest of the story...
2. Entertaining: Undercover dukes! Love in disguise! The question of heart vs. logic! All the maternal figures being in on it! The sister blindly falling for the "wrong man" who turns out to be the exact right man for her! MacDougal as the fairy godmother the girls didn't know they needed!
3. The bad vibes: The fact that Stephen's feelings so clearly fall into the "She's not like other girls!" → "I like her!" → "She is like other girls!" → "I DESPISE HER" → "But I want to kiss her face off." → "So I'm going to kiss her face off and convince her she wants me." → "Oh, yeah, I guess this feeling in my chest (in addition to the despising and lust) is love?" → "Still going to force unwanted physical attentions on her in order to convince her she's into me!!!"
I mean this game of emotional ping pong is literally so gross. His emotional rollercoaster should have been closed: it is a danger to passengers. Stephen is just gross. The whole thing is so gross.
4. Meanwhile, Catherine. I empathized with her a little—OK, a lot—more than I did with the Douche of Carlisle, but she really wasn't that much better. Her problem is a little more straightforward: because her sister is in love with a poor house steward, Catherine needs to marry $$$. So there are no burgeoning feelings for the gardener: she likes chatting to him. She likes seeing him. Then he's kissing her and confusing her. Then she's in love with him.
So the emotional aspect? NOT GREAT. But her reasoning for refusing her acknowledge the potential for a relationship with the gardener? MAKES SOME SENSE.
5. I was frustrated with the fact that Stephen didn't put together the pieces of Catherine's poverty. She literally tells him that she is wearing semi-stolen clothes. And he's like "CAN'T BE THAT BAD". It isn't until his mother shares the whole sordid story of her father's ruination that he's like "OH I GUESS SHE DOESN'T HAVE ANY MONEY???" and even then he doesn't engage with it in a fulfilling way. He doesn't feel remorse for his shitty assumptions; he doesn't understand her overwhelming fear of starvation; he doesn't engage with the reality of a woman in his shitty society falling on hard times. He's got money and can make the decision to wait for ~love, so she should too!!!
6. Stephen's predatory behavior is totally portrayed as A-OK, which it is most definitely NOT. There are several references made to 'stalking' Catherine through the woods or in other forest-y areas so that he can get her alone and assault her. He 'likes' following her this way.
WHAT THE EVER-LIVING NIGHTMARE IS THIS. This is SO EMPHATICALLY SCREWED UP. DON'T ROMANTICIZE IT; DON'T ENCOURAGE IT.
1. This had a few moments of entertainment before the very real DANGER WILL ROBINSON vibes choked out the rest of the story...
2. Entertaining: Undercover dukes! Love in disguise! The question of heart vs. logic! All the maternal figures being in on it! The sister blindly falling for the "wrong man" who turns out to be the exact right man for her! MacDougal as the fairy godmother the girls didn't know they needed!
3. The bad vibes: The fact that Stephen's feelings so clearly fall into the "She's not like other girls!" → "I like her!" → "She is like other girls!" → "I DESPISE HER" → "But I want to kiss her face off." → "So I'm going to kiss her face off and convince her she wants me." → "Oh, yeah, I guess this feeling in my chest (in addition to the despising and lust) is love?" → "Still going to force unwanted physical attentions on her in order to convince her she's into me!!!"
I mean this game of emotional ping pong is literally so gross. His emotional rollercoaster should have been closed: it is a danger to passengers. Stephen is just gross. The whole thing is so gross.
4. Meanwhile, Catherine. I empathized with her a little—OK, a lot—more than I did with the Douche of Carlisle, but she really wasn't that much better. Her problem is a little more straightforward: because her sister is in love with a poor house steward, Catherine needs to marry $$$. So there are no burgeoning feelings for the gardener: she likes chatting to him. She likes seeing him. Then he's kissing her and confusing her. Then she's in love with him.
So the emotional aspect? NOT GREAT. But her reasoning for refusing her acknowledge the potential for a relationship with the gardener? MAKES SOME SENSE.
5. I was frustrated with the fact that Stephen didn't put together the pieces of Catherine's poverty. She literally tells him that she is wearing semi-stolen clothes. And he's like "CAN'T BE THAT BAD". It isn't until his mother shares the whole sordid story of her father's ruination that he's like "OH I GUESS SHE DOESN'T HAVE ANY MONEY???" and even then he doesn't engage with it in a fulfilling way. He doesn't feel remorse for his shitty assumptions; he doesn't understand her overwhelming fear of starvation; he doesn't engage with the reality of a woman in his shitty society falling on hard times. He's got money and can make the decision to wait for ~love, so she should too!!!
6. Stephen's predatory behavior is totally portrayed as A-OK, which it is most definitely NOT. There are several references made to 'stalking' Catherine through the woods or in other forest-y areas so that he can get her alone and assault her. He 'likes' following her this way.
WHAT THE EVER-LIVING NIGHTMARE IS THIS. This is SO EMPHATICALLY SCREWED UP. DON'T ROMANTICIZE IT; DON'T ENCOURAGE IT.
August 20, 2022
I could not get through this.
I liked the concept of this as a more traditional Regency and it really delivered on that score (hence 2 stars instead of one for that execution), but the hero was really tough to like and I just didn't want to read about him anymore.
The hero is a duke, but doesn't trust anyone so when a young woman mistakes him for the duke's gardener he plays along. Only, he gets super mad at the heroine for trying to make a match with a wealthy man because she has been living in poverty and is terrified to return there (or for her sister or aunt to be destitute either), all the while why he commits the worse sin of judging her while he lies to her face about who he is and tries to get her to risk everything for him (including destitution) as the gardener. What a pompous, self righteous, unfeeling idiot. Ug, the guy just made me mad. Heroes that lie are not my favorite. I thought it would start that way and the truth would come out sooner which is why I tried it anyway (and I love gardens!) but the hero lies until the very end and I just didn't like that plot line.
I liked the concept of this as a more traditional Regency and it really delivered on that score (hence 2 stars instead of one for that execution), but the hero was really tough to like and I just didn't want to read about him anymore.
The hero is a duke, but doesn't trust anyone so when a young woman mistakes him for the duke's gardener he plays along. Only, he gets super mad at the heroine for trying to make a match with a wealthy man because she has been living in poverty and is terrified to return there (or for her sister or aunt to be destitute either), all the while why he commits the worse sin of judging her while he lies to her face about who he is and tries to get her to risk everything for him (including destitution) as the gardener. What a pompous, self righteous, unfeeling idiot. Ug, the guy just made me mad. Heroes that lie are not my favorite. I thought it would start that way and the truth would come out sooner which is why I tried it anyway (and I love gardens!) but the hero lies until the very end and I just didn't like that plot line.
June 29, 2025
I have read it very quickly. In addition, almost without unnecessary musings, although maybe there was a little too much about the flowers, and a bit too many repetitions of the characters' thoughts. But generally pleasant reading. In the spirit of Chesney more than of Heyer.
July 9, 2022
This book made me very angry. Ranty review ahoy. And also kind of spoilery, so don’t read it if you don’t want to know anything. It should be said right at the outset that this is no reflection on the author’s writing ability. I’ve read other books of hers and enjoyed them thoroughly, so this is one of those occasional hiccups, where this particular book is an epic fail for me personally, but it’s just a weird clash of my expectations with the particular characters in this particular story.
Here’s the premise: Catherine Forsythe and her beautiful (if slightly dim) elder sister Susannah have been left destitute by their father’s death. They’ve been taken in by their Aunt Hetty, a widow with a small jointure, and for two years the three of them have been living an increasingly hand to mouth existence in a tiny house in Chelsea, such that even the furniture is being slowly sold off and they’re living on onion broth.
Now stop right there for a minute. Selling furniture? And why is it that these two healthy, able-bodied girls are reducing their impoverished aunt to even greater impoverishment, which seems likely to put all of them in the workhouse? Susannah is adept with a needle, so why isn’t she making some money from her stitchery? Catherine is the clever one (supposedly) so why isn’t she a governess or paid companion or a teacher somewhere? Why are they dragging their aunt into the mire, too?
But let that pass. I’ll allow a book its basic premise, however implausible. Anyway, Aunt Hetty happens to bump into an old school friend one day, who happens to be a dowager duchess, who happens to be planning a house party, and who happens to be a charitable soul. She invites Hetty and the two girls to spend a month at the ducal estate, a month of mingling with eligible and rich young gentlemen. Catherine sees the possibilities at once. Susannah, with her looks, will attract a rich suitor and they’ll all be saved. The duke himself won’t be there, as he’s famously reclusive, but there will be fifty or so other guests.
They manage to scrape together enough dresses to pass muster as well as a carriage (more on this later), and off they go, and within no time flat there’s a misunderstanding and the shortsighted Susannah has taken a shine to the wildly ineligible steward of the estate, an ex-soldier with only one arm, instead of all the rich and titled guests. So it’s all down to Catherine to rescue them from starvation.
Meanwhile, Catherine has gone wandering off into the gardens to admire the flowers and trips over a gardener, or rather he trips over her, sending her flying. They have a brief spat, until he discovers she’s knowledgeable about plants and decides he quite likes her after all. And so they fall into a very pleasant guest/gardener relationship. What she doesn’t know (but we do, because it’s never a secret) is that he’s not Stephen Archibald, head gardener, but Stephen, the Duke of Carlisle, skulking about the gardens he loves, because he can’t bear being the focus of attention as the duke. And although he’s thirty-two, and very marriageable, he’s determined never to marry, unless he can find someone to love him for himself, and not be interested in his title and wealth.
Well, we can see where this is going, can’t we? This part of the book is charming, as the two bond over interesting plants. He sends her posies of violets and painting equipment. She paints, and artlessly tells him her plans to marry a rich man so that she’ll never have to live on onion broth again. And her target just happens to be the duke’s best buddy, Miles, the Earl of Strickland. Miles is a widower with two small daughters, and although he doesn’t expect to find love again, he’d like to find someone to mother his girls. It all sounds perfect, and everything is going along swimmingly until Stephen starts to get jealous of his own friend, and ends up kissing Catherine. This is actually a wonderfully romantic scene, perfectly judged, where he basically says: look at him and look at me, and tell me if you don’t, deep down, truly prefer me?
Now, that’s fine, but then Stephen goes completely off the rails and starts (in essence) stalking Catherine, lurking in the shrubbery to entice her away from the other guests she’s supposed to be with, especially from the tempting Miles, and kissing her passionately. Because he just can’t help himself, apparently. She tries to explain her situation, and how horrible it is to be wondering whether you can actually afford food, but he takes no notice. He has to make her love him for himself. He just can’t help himself, you see.
Now I totally get that he wants to be loved for himself, I really do. It’s very understandable, but it kind of goes with the territory of being a duke, and hugely wealthy, that everyone you meet is aware of that, and behaves differently around you. Because, actually, you are different. There’s no way that being raised at that level of society makes a man no different from, say, a plain old gardener. Which is why dukes tend to marry the daughters of other dukes, who just aren’t that dazzled by the vast estates and armies of retainers and whatnot.
But the one thing Regency gentlemen are brought up to have is restraint. Stephen certainly CAN help himself, because losing control is such a breach of etiquette. And then there’s the question of morals and ethics and honour, for heaven’s sake. Catherine has made it very plain that she’s determined to ensure a secure financial future for herself and her family, she only has a month in which to do it and Stephen leaping out of bushes with his smoking hot kisses is an unwelcome distraction, to put it mildly. The problem might be resolved if she could manage to resist him for five seconds, but she can’t help herself either. {Rolls eyes}
There are about a dozen ways Stephen could have addressed the problem honourably, even without telling Catherine the whole truth. He could have told Miles about the situation (and absolutely should have told him that they were both courting the same girl, see point about honour, above). He could have got his mother involved. He could have got Aunt Hetty involved. He could have pointed out that a head gardener on a ducal estate is not exactly penniless, living in a hovel. Or he could have done the decent thing and left Catherine alone (as she repeatedly asked) to follow her own best interests.
Or he could have told her the truth, and let her decide for herself what she wanted to do. You know, treating her with respect as a rational human being. That would have been nice. Not to mention a better foundation for marriage than continuing to trick her, winding her up into such a state of confusion that she spends the last few chapters crying.
But no, what he actually does, after forcing her to decide that she’d rather live in poverty with him than in luxury with Miles (silly girl), he does something unspeakably cruel. What he should do, of course, is to confess that he’s the duke so she won’t have to live in a hovel after all, and after thumping him for putting her through all that agonising for no good reason, she’d laugh and forgive him. But he doesn’t do that. He decides for some unfathomable reason to reveal his identity to her in public, at a ball, with an announcement of their betrothal.
This right here is what makes me so angry. The rest of it I could just about stomach, if he had only come clean straight away. But no, he had to humiliate her in front of a houseful of snooty guests, whereupon she faints, and when she comes round, instead of slapping his insufferable face and walking out on him, she forgives him. Silly girl. Ugh.
Now, Catherine doesn’t exactly cover herself with glory, either, since she allowed herself to be pulled into the bushes for those passionate kisses every single time. And she never works out that a head gardener (as she supposes him to be) is multiple rungs higher up the ladder than a farm labourer and she wouldn’t exactly be living in abject poverty if she married him. A head gardener would be paid a decent salary and provided with a cottage and as much food as he and his wife and ten children can eat. Ducal estates are virtually self-sufficient, producing enough food to feed hundreds of retainers, and support any number of tenant farmers, craftsmen, etc. Nobody starves, or lives on onion broth. If Susannah can marry the steward without anyone turning a hair, the supposed gardener can marry, too. Most of her disdain seems to be simple class prejudice - he’s an unworthy husband for the granddaughter of a viscount.
Then there are the relations who realise what’s going on and never think to intervene, apart from cryptically telling Catherine to follow her heart, and laughing at her.
And then there’s MacDougal. This strange character is a servant of Catherine and her sister, who seems to have a magical ability to make things happen. He finds the odd leg of mutton for them when times are hard, and when the invitation arrives, manages to track down all sorts of discarded things (gowns, jewels, a carriage) to rig them out for the occasion. He mills about the garden, too, and his is one of the voices telling Catherine to follow her heart. Who is he? It’s never explained. On the author’s website, she says he can be whoever the reader wants him to be, which is not exactly helpful.
I seem to have written an essay here, because this book really did get me riled up, but I have to say I quite enjoyed it, too. The writing is beautiful, it’s just that the characters behaved in ways that seemed beyond the pale to me. Now it might be that the author intended this as some sort of whimsical rags-to-riches fairytale, and I’m completely missing the point. That’s perfectly possible. But frankly, the overriding theme seems to be - love is all that matters and never mind about boring practicalities like having enough money to live on, and that’s not a philosophy I can ever subscribe to.
As I said upfront, I’ve read other Candice Hern books and thoroughly enjoyed them, but this one is lucky to scrape two stars from me.
Here’s the premise: Catherine Forsythe and her beautiful (if slightly dim) elder sister Susannah have been left destitute by their father’s death. They’ve been taken in by their Aunt Hetty, a widow with a small jointure, and for two years the three of them have been living an increasingly hand to mouth existence in a tiny house in Chelsea, such that even the furniture is being slowly sold off and they’re living on onion broth.
Now stop right there for a minute. Selling furniture? And why is it that these two healthy, able-bodied girls are reducing their impoverished aunt to even greater impoverishment, which seems likely to put all of them in the workhouse? Susannah is adept with a needle, so why isn’t she making some money from her stitchery? Catherine is the clever one (supposedly) so why isn’t she a governess or paid companion or a teacher somewhere? Why are they dragging their aunt into the mire, too?
But let that pass. I’ll allow a book its basic premise, however implausible. Anyway, Aunt Hetty happens to bump into an old school friend one day, who happens to be a dowager duchess, who happens to be planning a house party, and who happens to be a charitable soul. She invites Hetty and the two girls to spend a month at the ducal estate, a month of mingling with eligible and rich young gentlemen. Catherine sees the possibilities at once. Susannah, with her looks, will attract a rich suitor and they’ll all be saved. The duke himself won’t be there, as he’s famously reclusive, but there will be fifty or so other guests.
They manage to scrape together enough dresses to pass muster as well as a carriage (more on this later), and off they go, and within no time flat there’s a misunderstanding and the shortsighted Susannah has taken a shine to the wildly ineligible steward of the estate, an ex-soldier with only one arm, instead of all the rich and titled guests. So it’s all down to Catherine to rescue them from starvation.
Meanwhile, Catherine has gone wandering off into the gardens to admire the flowers and trips over a gardener, or rather he trips over her, sending her flying. They have a brief spat, until he discovers she’s knowledgeable about plants and decides he quite likes her after all. And so they fall into a very pleasant guest/gardener relationship. What she doesn’t know (but we do, because it’s never a secret) is that he’s not Stephen Archibald, head gardener, but Stephen, the Duke of Carlisle, skulking about the gardens he loves, because he can’t bear being the focus of attention as the duke. And although he’s thirty-two, and very marriageable, he’s determined never to marry, unless he can find someone to love him for himself, and not be interested in his title and wealth.
Well, we can see where this is going, can’t we? This part of the book is charming, as the two bond over interesting plants. He sends her posies of violets and painting equipment. She paints, and artlessly tells him her plans to marry a rich man so that she’ll never have to live on onion broth again. And her target just happens to be the duke’s best buddy, Miles, the Earl of Strickland. Miles is a widower with two small daughters, and although he doesn’t expect to find love again, he’d like to find someone to mother his girls. It all sounds perfect, and everything is going along swimmingly until Stephen starts to get jealous of his own friend, and ends up kissing Catherine. This is actually a wonderfully romantic scene, perfectly judged, where he basically says: look at him and look at me, and tell me if you don’t, deep down, truly prefer me?
Now, that’s fine, but then Stephen goes completely off the rails and starts (in essence) stalking Catherine, lurking in the shrubbery to entice her away from the other guests she’s supposed to be with, especially from the tempting Miles, and kissing her passionately. Because he just can’t help himself, apparently. She tries to explain her situation, and how horrible it is to be wondering whether you can actually afford food, but he takes no notice. He has to make her love him for himself. He just can’t help himself, you see.
Now I totally get that he wants to be loved for himself, I really do. It’s very understandable, but it kind of goes with the territory of being a duke, and hugely wealthy, that everyone you meet is aware of that, and behaves differently around you. Because, actually, you are different. There’s no way that being raised at that level of society makes a man no different from, say, a plain old gardener. Which is why dukes tend to marry the daughters of other dukes, who just aren’t that dazzled by the vast estates and armies of retainers and whatnot.
But the one thing Regency gentlemen are brought up to have is restraint. Stephen certainly CAN help himself, because losing control is such a breach of etiquette. And then there’s the question of morals and ethics and honour, for heaven’s sake. Catherine has made it very plain that she’s determined to ensure a secure financial future for herself and her family, she only has a month in which to do it and Stephen leaping out of bushes with his smoking hot kisses is an unwelcome distraction, to put it mildly. The problem might be resolved if she could manage to resist him for five seconds, but she can’t help herself either. {Rolls eyes}
There are about a dozen ways Stephen could have addressed the problem honourably, even without telling Catherine the whole truth. He could have told Miles about the situation (and absolutely should have told him that they were both courting the same girl, see point about honour, above). He could have got his mother involved. He could have got Aunt Hetty involved. He could have pointed out that a head gardener on a ducal estate is not exactly penniless, living in a hovel. Or he could have done the decent thing and left Catherine alone (as she repeatedly asked) to follow her own best interests.
Or he could have told her the truth, and let her decide for herself what she wanted to do. You know, treating her with respect as a rational human being. That would have been nice. Not to mention a better foundation for marriage than continuing to trick her, winding her up into such a state of confusion that she spends the last few chapters crying.
But no, what he actually does, after forcing her to decide that she’d rather live in poverty with him than in luxury with Miles (silly girl), he does something unspeakably cruel. What he should do, of course, is to confess that he’s the duke so she won’t have to live in a hovel after all, and after thumping him for putting her through all that agonising for no good reason, she’d laugh and forgive him. But he doesn’t do that. He decides for some unfathomable reason to reveal his identity to her in public, at a ball, with an announcement of their betrothal.
This right here is what makes me so angry. The rest of it I could just about stomach, if he had only come clean straight away. But no, he had to humiliate her in front of a houseful of snooty guests, whereupon she faints, and when she comes round, instead of slapping his insufferable face and walking out on him, she forgives him. Silly girl. Ugh.
Now, Catherine doesn’t exactly cover herself with glory, either, since she allowed herself to be pulled into the bushes for those passionate kisses every single time. And she never works out that a head gardener (as she supposes him to be) is multiple rungs higher up the ladder than a farm labourer and she wouldn’t exactly be living in abject poverty if she married him. A head gardener would be paid a decent salary and provided with a cottage and as much food as he and his wife and ten children can eat. Ducal estates are virtually self-sufficient, producing enough food to feed hundreds of retainers, and support any number of tenant farmers, craftsmen, etc. Nobody starves, or lives on onion broth. If Susannah can marry the steward without anyone turning a hair, the supposed gardener can marry, too. Most of her disdain seems to be simple class prejudice - he’s an unworthy husband for the granddaughter of a viscount.
Then there are the relations who realise what’s going on and never think to intervene, apart from cryptically telling Catherine to follow her heart, and laughing at her.
And then there’s MacDougal. This strange character is a servant of Catherine and her sister, who seems to have a magical ability to make things happen. He finds the odd leg of mutton for them when times are hard, and when the invitation arrives, manages to track down all sorts of discarded things (gowns, jewels, a carriage) to rig them out for the occasion. He mills about the garden, too, and his is one of the voices telling Catherine to follow her heart. Who is he? It’s never explained. On the author’s website, she says he can be whoever the reader wants him to be, which is not exactly helpful.
I seem to have written an essay here, because this book really did get me riled up, but I have to say I quite enjoyed it, too. The writing is beautiful, it’s just that the characters behaved in ways that seemed beyond the pale to me. Now it might be that the author intended this as some sort of whimsical rags-to-riches fairytale, and I’m completely missing the point. That’s perfectly possible. But frankly, the overriding theme seems to be - love is all that matters and never mind about boring practicalities like having enough money to live on, and that’s not a philosophy I can ever subscribe to.
As I said upfront, I’ve read other Candice Hern books and thoroughly enjoyed them, but this one is lucky to scrape two stars from me.
September 5, 2021
Regency.
Two sisters, pretty Catherine & stunning Susannah,
(had late baronet sire) and their Aunty Hetty, 'poor
as church mice' were invited to a month long house
party hosted by a duchess, a school friend of Hetty's.
Their loyal retainer MacDougal helped them "borrow"
a horse & carriage & find gowns to re-purpose. Susan,
sweet but a bit dim, knew her sewing.
Stephen, a reclusive duke since age 10, distrusted the
motives of others. And informed mom he'd skip her
house party, in favor of work in his extensive gardens.
Catherine studied and sketched flowers & even knew
the Latin names. While studying a rare flower, Cath-
erine was knocked over by Stephen. She called him
an oaf. She mistook him for the gardener. Stephen
pretended to be the head gardener for too long. He
just had to test Catherine.
Stephen was joined by his widower friend, Miles,
who I thought the better man. Susan also found her
soulmate, hero's cousin. Susan shared her wisdom
about love w/ sis. Aunty found a home too.
Two sisters, pretty Catherine & stunning Susannah,
(had late baronet sire) and their Aunty Hetty, 'poor
as church mice' were invited to a month long house
party hosted by a duchess, a school friend of Hetty's.
Their loyal retainer MacDougal helped them "borrow"
a horse & carriage & find gowns to re-purpose. Susan,
sweet but a bit dim, knew her sewing.
Stephen, a reclusive duke since age 10, distrusted the
motives of others. And informed mom he'd skip her
house party, in favor of work in his extensive gardens.
Catherine studied and sketched flowers & even knew
the Latin names. While studying a rare flower, Cath-
erine was knocked over by Stephen. She called him
an oaf. She mistook him for the gardener. Stephen
pretended to be the head gardener for too long. He
just had to test Catherine.
Stephen was joined by his widower friend, Miles,
who I thought the better man. Susan also found her
soulmate, hero's cousin. Susan shared her wisdom
about love w/ sis. Aunty found a home too.
January 4, 2015
I like that Stephen and Catherine developed a relationship based on mutual interests and admiration rather than because the plot demanded it, but I'm not sure I liked either of them. Despite her experience in poverty, she still holds tradespeople (or "cits") in contempt, treats her ancestry as proof of her superiority, and . Much as I disliked her attitude, it is consistent with the time period and her straitened circumstances could've made her aristocratic connections seem more rather than less important. I would've liked Catherine to overcome her self-absorption and hypocrisy to some extent, at least, but I could live with her flaws.
I don't feel as charitable towards the Duke of Carlisle. He is so determined to have "proof" that Catherine cares for him and not his fortune that he lies to her for the duration of their relationship. He's so full of his own consequence that he can't understand or accept that financial security is a legitimate reason to marry, particularly since it's the only avenue for women to achieve it. He tortures Catherine with a false choice to ease his insecurities and he sees nothing wrong with it, though both his mother and the Earl of Strickland point out that "fortune hunting" isn't quite the evil he imagines.
The book wouldn't have been so bad if Stephen realized that he was wrong to deceive Catherine and/or that he should've respected that her needs and her priorities were as legitimate as his. Instead, Catherine is portrayed as wrong-headed for putting her family's security first when she could have love. The Duchess of Carlisle, Aunt Hetty, (dim-witted) Susannah, MacDougal*, the Earl of Strickland, and Stephen insist that she should choose love. No such pressure is brought to bear on Stephen when he callously dismisses her explanation and later, decides to humiliate her for his own amusement. It left me with the strong impression that Catherine would've been better off with Strickland because while he might've been dull, he wasn't a self-righteous, inconsiderate hypocrite. If Stephen would've pulled his head from his rear, he would've realized that without his incredible wealth, neither Susannah nor Catherine would have a happy ending and the situation for Aunt Hetty would be worse.
The writing was fine, but I don't like when the narrative props up the sexism and/or classism that defined the historical period. For some readers, those aspects won't be as obtrusive, so my ranting aside, I'd definitely recommend A Garden Folly to anyone who's interested in a sweet, light-hearted romance.
*
I don't feel as charitable towards the Duke of Carlisle. He is so determined to have "proof" that Catherine cares for him and not his fortune that he lies to her for the duration of their relationship. He's so full of his own consequence that he can't understand or accept that financial security is a legitimate reason to marry, particularly since it's the only avenue for women to achieve it. He tortures Catherine with a false choice to ease his insecurities and he sees nothing wrong with it, though both his mother and the Earl of Strickland point out that "fortune hunting" isn't quite the evil he imagines.
The book wouldn't have been so bad if Stephen realized that he was wrong to deceive Catherine and/or that he should've respected that her needs and her priorities were as legitimate as his. Instead, Catherine is portrayed as wrong-headed for putting her family's security first when she could have love. The Duchess of Carlisle, Aunt Hetty, (dim-witted) Susannah, MacDougal*, the Earl of Strickland, and Stephen insist that she should choose love. No such pressure is brought to bear on Stephen when he callously dismisses her explanation and later, decides to humiliate her for his own amusement. It left me with the strong impression that Catherine would've been better off with Strickland because while he might've been dull, he wasn't a self-righteous, inconsiderate hypocrite. If Stephen would've pulled his head from his rear, he would've realized that without his incredible wealth, neither Susannah nor Catherine would have a happy ending and the situation for Aunt Hetty would be worse.
The writing was fine, but I don't like when the narrative props up the sexism and/or classism that defined the historical period. For some readers, those aspects won't be as obtrusive, so my ranting aside, I'd definitely recommend A Garden Folly to anyone who's interested in a sweet, light-hearted romance.
*
January 8, 2014
In landscape design, a garden folly is a structure whose only objective is to deceive. They have no purpose other than as ornament—to delight the eye and draw one to their door to evoke a romantic scene or time. How apt that author Candice Hern chose to name her Regency romance A Garden Folly, since her main characters are follies themselves.
Set at the Kent grand country estate of the Duke of Carlisle, two impoverished sisters impersonate aristocrats to entrap rich husbands, while the wealthy and titled owner of the dukedom, and the continuing custodian and creator of its grand landscape, hides behind the mantle of head gardener to avert interaction with Society. Both hero and heroine have serious trust issues. How they will overcome their personal challenges is a serpentine path that teasingly twists, turns, and surprises the reader until the last page.
Catherine and Susannah Forsythe are down on their luck. Living in genteel poverty in the wrong side of London with Aunt Hetty was not what they had expected at this time in their lives. Their father, Sir Benjamin Forsythe, squandered their family fortune before he died two years ago, but they still have beauty and wits in their corner. A surprise invitation from Aunt Hetty’s childhood friend, the Duchess of Carlisle, for her annual summer house party at Chissingworth may be their only chance to catch rich husbands. Determined to pull off the deception that they are wealthy young ladies, Catherine, with the help of their servant McDougal, magically acquire all the tools needed to disguise their poverty: clothes, carriage, jewels and servants. Now they must set their caps for the right man, steering clear of the wrongs sorts: “penniless younger sons, clerics, or half-pay officers.” Arriving in style, the deception begins.
Stephen Archibald Frederick Charles Godfrey Manwaring, Duke of Carlisle, is a serious gardener and devout bachelor. At two and thirty he has managed to avoid marriage and his mother’s annual summer garden party, devised to introduce him to marriageable young ladies, for years. Since the enigmatic duke has succeeded eluding polite Society most of his life, he has been tagged an eccentric half-wit. He has, however, devoted his life to the management of his estate’s landscapes, collecting rare plants and avoiding love. Catherine, also a great admirer of rare plants is thrilled at the chance to be in the country again and happily strolls the gardens to drink in the verdant countryside and profuse flora of the magnificently landscaped Chissingworth gardens. When the young duke and young the masquerading fortune hunter collide in the garden, he is roughly dressed and she mistakes him for the head gardener. She is a passionate admirer of rare flowers, especially hybrids, which are his favorites too—so he lets the deception continue. They agree to meet again the next morning, and thus begins his infatuation with a new rare flower named Catherine. She, on the other hand, is deep into discovering the “right” husband for her beautiful but dim sister Sukey and herself, and with the help of McDougal, who runs recon to determine who among the 60 guests are listed on the top 50 bachelors under 40 in Britain, is totally oblivious to who she is actually meeting every morning to tour the gardens. Also among the guests is Stephen’s friend Miles, the Earl of Strickland, a recent widow who takes a shine to Catherine. There are many other eligible bachelors to pursue until nearsighted Susannah goes after the wrong green-coated man and all of the weight of finding a rich husband falls on Catherine. As she and the head gardener become more than friends, and an earl is courting her, Catherine must decide if she should marry for love or money.
The British are indisputably passionate gardeners. Setting A Garden Folly at a country estate at the height of August, the peak blooming season, allowed the author to take us on a fabulous journey through the gardens as they would have appeared in Regency times:
“With this in mind, she wandered through the surprisingly informal arrangement of gardens. In the dressed grounds nearest the house, high, clipped shrubbery hedges of sweetbrier, box, and hawthorn surrounded each garden. Moving through the enclosed hedges was akin to walking through the various rooms of a house, each room different from the last. One was awash in bright colors of summer, the gravel paths bordered with stocks, pinks, double rocket, sweet Williams and asters. The morning sun fell upon spires of delphinium sparkling with dew. Her artist’s eye was drawn to the glitter of the moisture on the indigo and royal peaks, and she paused to seat herself on a nearby stone bench. She pulled a pencil and a scrap of paper from her pocket and roughly sketched the familiar blossoms.” p. 36
Hern is renowned for her Regency research and descriptions in her novels. Usually we are treated to vintage clothing fabrics and home interiors, but in this case we are delightfully entertained with flora and folly. The landscape as an artist’s canvas can be formed and molded and admired. So can people, and I was not only struck by our journey through the gardens of a vast country estate, but through the transformation of the characters.
Catherine was determined that she and her sister marry for money to save and protect their family. During Regency times that was not uncommon, but her mercenary motives eventually catch up with her as she reveals her true motives to the head gardener/Stephen as a fortune hunter of the worst sort. As her “veneer of perfection” to Stephen crumbles, he sees her fierce determination to bag a fortune—a large fortune—and is disgusted. Her heartless calculation repulses him and reinforces his trust issues. He is certain that no one can love him and not his title. He will not reveal that he is duke until he has secured her affection as a commoner; she will not let herself love a man who cannot provide for her in a grand style. Two people who have been forced by circumstances to be “follies,” destined for heartbreak.
I can’t honestly say that I admired Catherine and Stephen’s motives, nor their personalities, but by the end things do evolve and their facades change. How we are taken down the garden path is a delightful excursion. This garden geek was not only entranced by the picturesque views and swooning fragrance of an English garden, but by the transformation of the characters by love. A Garden Folly was the perfect antidote to a dark winter of rain and snow. A refreshing journey of discovery and delight.
Laurel Ann, Austenprose
Set at the Kent grand country estate of the Duke of Carlisle, two impoverished sisters impersonate aristocrats to entrap rich husbands, while the wealthy and titled owner of the dukedom, and the continuing custodian and creator of its grand landscape, hides behind the mantle of head gardener to avert interaction with Society. Both hero and heroine have serious trust issues. How they will overcome their personal challenges is a serpentine path that teasingly twists, turns, and surprises the reader until the last page.
Catherine and Susannah Forsythe are down on their luck. Living in genteel poverty in the wrong side of London with Aunt Hetty was not what they had expected at this time in their lives. Their father, Sir Benjamin Forsythe, squandered their family fortune before he died two years ago, but they still have beauty and wits in their corner. A surprise invitation from Aunt Hetty’s childhood friend, the Duchess of Carlisle, for her annual summer house party at Chissingworth may be their only chance to catch rich husbands. Determined to pull off the deception that they are wealthy young ladies, Catherine, with the help of their servant McDougal, magically acquire all the tools needed to disguise their poverty: clothes, carriage, jewels and servants. Now they must set their caps for the right man, steering clear of the wrongs sorts: “penniless younger sons, clerics, or half-pay officers.” Arriving in style, the deception begins.
Stephen Archibald Frederick Charles Godfrey Manwaring, Duke of Carlisle, is a serious gardener and devout bachelor. At two and thirty he has managed to avoid marriage and his mother’s annual summer garden party, devised to introduce him to marriageable young ladies, for years. Since the enigmatic duke has succeeded eluding polite Society most of his life, he has been tagged an eccentric half-wit. He has, however, devoted his life to the management of his estate’s landscapes, collecting rare plants and avoiding love. Catherine, also a great admirer of rare plants is thrilled at the chance to be in the country again and happily strolls the gardens to drink in the verdant countryside and profuse flora of the magnificently landscaped Chissingworth gardens. When the young duke and young the masquerading fortune hunter collide in the garden, he is roughly dressed and she mistakes him for the head gardener. She is a passionate admirer of rare flowers, especially hybrids, which are his favorites too—so he lets the deception continue. They agree to meet again the next morning, and thus begins his infatuation with a new rare flower named Catherine. She, on the other hand, is deep into discovering the “right” husband for her beautiful but dim sister Sukey and herself, and with the help of McDougal, who runs recon to determine who among the 60 guests are listed on the top 50 bachelors under 40 in Britain, is totally oblivious to who she is actually meeting every morning to tour the gardens. Also among the guests is Stephen’s friend Miles, the Earl of Strickland, a recent widow who takes a shine to Catherine. There are many other eligible bachelors to pursue until nearsighted Susannah goes after the wrong green-coated man and all of the weight of finding a rich husband falls on Catherine. As she and the head gardener become more than friends, and an earl is courting her, Catherine must decide if she should marry for love or money.
The British are indisputably passionate gardeners. Setting A Garden Folly at a country estate at the height of August, the peak blooming season, allowed the author to take us on a fabulous journey through the gardens as they would have appeared in Regency times:
“With this in mind, she wandered through the surprisingly informal arrangement of gardens. In the dressed grounds nearest the house, high, clipped shrubbery hedges of sweetbrier, box, and hawthorn surrounded each garden. Moving through the enclosed hedges was akin to walking through the various rooms of a house, each room different from the last. One was awash in bright colors of summer, the gravel paths bordered with stocks, pinks, double rocket, sweet Williams and asters. The morning sun fell upon spires of delphinium sparkling with dew. Her artist’s eye was drawn to the glitter of the moisture on the indigo and royal peaks, and she paused to seat herself on a nearby stone bench. She pulled a pencil and a scrap of paper from her pocket and roughly sketched the familiar blossoms.” p. 36
Hern is renowned for her Regency research and descriptions in her novels. Usually we are treated to vintage clothing fabrics and home interiors, but in this case we are delightfully entertained with flora and folly. The landscape as an artist’s canvas can be formed and molded and admired. So can people, and I was not only struck by our journey through the gardens of a vast country estate, but through the transformation of the characters.
Catherine was determined that she and her sister marry for money to save and protect their family. During Regency times that was not uncommon, but her mercenary motives eventually catch up with her as she reveals her true motives to the head gardener/Stephen as a fortune hunter of the worst sort. As her “veneer of perfection” to Stephen crumbles, he sees her fierce determination to bag a fortune—a large fortune—and is disgusted. Her heartless calculation repulses him and reinforces his trust issues. He is certain that no one can love him and not his title. He will not reveal that he is duke until he has secured her affection as a commoner; she will not let herself love a man who cannot provide for her in a grand style. Two people who have been forced by circumstances to be “follies,” destined for heartbreak.
I can’t honestly say that I admired Catherine and Stephen’s motives, nor their personalities, but by the end things do evolve and their facades change. How we are taken down the garden path is a delightful excursion. This garden geek was not only entranced by the picturesque views and swooning fragrance of an English garden, but by the transformation of the characters by love. A Garden Folly was the perfect antidote to a dark winter of rain and snow. A refreshing journey of discovery and delight.
Laurel Ann, Austenprose
November 9, 2014
The beginning of this story was really enjoyable. I liked the interactions between the H/h. Then it all went downhill when she revealed her motives. (In other words, she was honest and practical while he remained a spoiled liar.) The "hero" became judgmental, unsympathetic and a stalker. That's the opposite of romantic. I really didn't like how the last 2/3 of this book played out.
The next book with Miles as the hero is SO much better. I recommend reading that one instead.
The next book with Miles as the hero is SO much better. I recommend reading that one instead.
June 18, 2018
Catherine Forsythe and her sister need to marry a fortune, or at the end at least one of them must. The girl's are living in near poverty thanks to their late father's mismanagement. They are invited to a country house party by the Dowager Duchess of Carlisle, who knew their aunt as a girl. With a plan set in place the ladies set off to find their husbands.
You know what they say about best laid plans....
The Duke, Stephen, hates his mother's parties and assumes people only care about him for his title. When he bumps into Catherine in the gardens that he is so passionate about he pretends he is the gardener to avoid detection. He allows this ruse to continue as Catherine and he get to know one another and feelings develop, despite Catherine's frank admission that she's trying to marry a fortune. Stephen, and others at the party, do their best to make her see that a fortune doesn't guarantee happiness.
I loved this story, even with Stephen not respecting her wishes of space. I've loved all of Hern's heroine's so far, I find them all very endearing. As usual I read this story very quickly, it was so hard to put it down!
You know what they say about best laid plans....
The Duke, Stephen, hates his mother's parties and assumes people only care about him for his title. When he bumps into Catherine in the gardens that he is so passionate about he pretends he is the gardener to avoid detection. He allows this ruse to continue as Catherine and he get to know one another and feelings develop, despite Catherine's frank admission that she's trying to marry a fortune. Stephen, and others at the party, do their best to make her see that a fortune doesn't guarantee happiness.
I loved this story, even with Stephen not respecting her wishes of space. I've loved all of Hern's heroine's so far, I find them all very endearing. As usual I read this story very quickly, it was so hard to put it down!
October 18, 2020
Pure fluff. Very enjoyable.
July 21, 2011
Review originally posted at Tea, Toast & Books.
In Brief: Catherine Forsythe and her sister Susannah have been reduced to poverty, so when an invitation to a house party arrives, Catherine knows they must make the most of the opportunity to find wealthy husbands. A certain head gardener at the ducal estate has some different ideas, though….
I Thought: I wasn’t as immediately drawn into the story as I was with The Best Intentions. (It really might be unfair to read the two out of order, and so close together, because The Best Intentions is really one of those rare gems, so I find myself making comparisons.) To me, Catherine seemed a little grasping and hard-hearted, so determined to marry for wealth — at least at first. If more of the sisters’ life had been outlined, I might have had more sympathy; as it was, I had the same impression of her, at the beginning, as our hero does of most women of society.
However, that shortly went away, because Catherine displayed a completely formed personality, with hobbies, interests, and a sense of humor, shortly after arriving at the house party. Her fortune hunting, though, becomes sort of the main bone of contention between her and Stephen, and that aspect of her personality continued to grate on me just a tiny bit. Only a little bit; but that’s why I had to go with 4.5 stars rather than 5. Well, that and Catherine’s perception of her sister as being bubble-headed. It’s not that it’s unrealistic for her to think that way; it just struck me as harsh and perhaps slightly manipulative. Perhaps on a reread I might not think so.
Stephen, our duke, is quite charming. He’s definitely the outdoor type, and he mostly manages to keep his good sense about him through the twists and turns of the plot. He has a tiny bit of angst in his background, but it just serves to make him more real and doesn’t bog down the lighthearted story.
MacDougal, a sort of… expanded butler, provides a good deal of comic relief at the outset as he somehow obtains for Catherine and Susannah everything they might need to present well at a house party. There’s a little foreshadowing here, too, that leads to hilarity later in the book. Aunt Hetty has a good head on her shoulders, as does the dowager duchess. And Miles! I was so pleased that he was quite wonderful in this book as well.
As I have come to expect from Ms. Hern, we again have detailed descriptions of clothing and of the estate, which really serves to establish a sense of time and place without making me feel like I’ve been clubbed over the head with Extraneous Research Facts.
Watching Stephen and Catherine fall in love was such a joy. And it was based on intelligent conversation (at least in part) that actually seemed intelligent! I don’t think I can say much more about the main plot without spoiling the story, but the writing is quick, light and witty. For example, possibly my favorite quote:
As if he hadn’t gone round the bend already, to be skulking in his own shrubbery.
Another keeper from Ms. Hern. I’m so glad I discovered her books, and I’m afraid of what will happen when I run out of them! That they are all available at such a low price for Kindle is wonderful, though I’d like to own printed editions of these someday. I like them that much.
Addendum: My coworker and I were discussing this book on the ride home, having both just finished it. 'Tis a happy thing to giggle over a great book with someone else.
In Brief: Catherine Forsythe and her sister Susannah have been reduced to poverty, so when an invitation to a house party arrives, Catherine knows they must make the most of the opportunity to find wealthy husbands. A certain head gardener at the ducal estate has some different ideas, though….
I Thought: I wasn’t as immediately drawn into the story as I was with The Best Intentions. (It really might be unfair to read the two out of order, and so close together, because The Best Intentions is really one of those rare gems, so I find myself making comparisons.) To me, Catherine seemed a little grasping and hard-hearted, so determined to marry for wealth — at least at first. If more of the sisters’ life had been outlined, I might have had more sympathy; as it was, I had the same impression of her, at the beginning, as our hero does of most women of society.
However, that shortly went away, because Catherine displayed a completely formed personality, with hobbies, interests, and a sense of humor, shortly after arriving at the house party. Her fortune hunting, though, becomes sort of the main bone of contention between her and Stephen, and that aspect of her personality continued to grate on me just a tiny bit. Only a little bit; but that’s why I had to go with 4.5 stars rather than 5. Well, that and Catherine’s perception of her sister as being bubble-headed. It’s not that it’s unrealistic for her to think that way; it just struck me as harsh and perhaps slightly manipulative. Perhaps on a reread I might not think so.
Stephen, our duke, is quite charming. He’s definitely the outdoor type, and he mostly manages to keep his good sense about him through the twists and turns of the plot. He has a tiny bit of angst in his background, but it just serves to make him more real and doesn’t bog down the lighthearted story.
MacDougal, a sort of… expanded butler, provides a good deal of comic relief at the outset as he somehow obtains for Catherine and Susannah everything they might need to present well at a house party. There’s a little foreshadowing here, too, that leads to hilarity later in the book. Aunt Hetty has a good head on her shoulders, as does the dowager duchess. And Miles! I was so pleased that he was quite wonderful in this book as well.
As I have come to expect from Ms. Hern, we again have detailed descriptions of clothing and of the estate, which really serves to establish a sense of time and place without making me feel like I’ve been clubbed over the head with Extraneous Research Facts.
Watching Stephen and Catherine fall in love was such a joy. And it was based on intelligent conversation (at least in part) that actually seemed intelligent! I don’t think I can say much more about the main plot without spoiling the story, but the writing is quick, light and witty. For example, possibly my favorite quote:
As if he hadn’t gone round the bend already, to be skulking in his own shrubbery.
Another keeper from Ms. Hern. I’m so glad I discovered her books, and I’m afraid of what will happen when I run out of them! That they are all available at such a low price for Kindle is wonderful, though I’d like to own printed editions of these someday. I like them that much.
Addendum: My coworker and I were discussing this book on the ride home, having both just finished it. 'Tis a happy thing to giggle over a great book with someone else.
February 14, 2018
3.5 stars. This book is the tamer of Hern's dare-to-be-tame romances and benefits from character dynamics that feel more natural than her other novels. Overall, the book moves along pleasingly and satisfies a sweet tooth without castrating the hero to accomplish the effect. The reader expects at any moment the heroine's complete undoing in a public scene. That expectation is met but in a slightly different way; the eventual reveal Miss Forsythe duly deserves.
April 21, 2013
I'm really enjoying this regency romance challenge! I have never read Ms. Hern's novels till this challenge and her book are wonderful. There light, romantic and with the right amount of angst.
This story is about 2 sisters(Catherine & Susannah) of a gentleman baron who are left destitute on his death. They're living with an Aunt who is barely getting by and with no income for the three, life looks bleak. Then a turn of fate, Aunt Hattie runs into an old friend who invite her and her nieces to her summer home for a month(A Garden Party). This friend is a Duchess with a recluse son who everyone thinks is odd. He certainly would not be at the summer garden party. But lots of eligible men and ladies will be there and Catherine is not going to pass up an opportunity for her older beautiful sister not to find an eligible wealthy unmarried man to marry. With a plan in place they head for the Duchess' summer home Chissingworth. But thing start to go very wrong.
I loved Catherine, she was bright, intelligent and very naïve. And the electrifying repartee between her and the hero was wonderful. Just loved this story. It was fun, light easy read. I read this book in a day and I'm not sure if I can wait to read the 2nd book in this series. Don't know if I can wait till next month!!
I would recommend this book to the romantic!!
This story is about 2 sisters(Catherine & Susannah) of a gentleman baron who are left destitute on his death. They're living with an Aunt who is barely getting by and with no income for the three, life looks bleak. Then a turn of fate, Aunt Hattie runs into an old friend who invite her and her nieces to her summer home for a month(A Garden Party). This friend is a Duchess with a recluse son who everyone thinks is odd. He certainly would not be at the summer garden party. But lots of eligible men and ladies will be there and Catherine is not going to pass up an opportunity for her older beautiful sister not to find an eligible wealthy unmarried man to marry. With a plan in place they head for the Duchess' summer home Chissingworth. But thing start to go very wrong.
I loved Catherine, she was bright, intelligent and very naïve. And the electrifying repartee between her and the hero was wonderful. Just loved this story. It was fun, light easy read. I read this book in a day and I'm not sure if I can wait to read the 2nd book in this series. Don't know if I can wait till next month!!
I would recommend this book to the romantic!!
August 21, 2012
I love this book! Candice Hern has done a wonderful job of making the world of Regency England come to life. This novel is charming, romantic, and sweet. I adore it. For all those who love Georgette Heyer, this book is for you.
August 26, 2016
3.5 Nice, uncomplicated mistaken identity story. Little bit too sweet for me and I did not particularly like the hero's way of creating HEA.
February 28, 2019
This was an enjoyable read, and I thought the premise was interesting. One thing that did bother me was how dismissive Stephen was of Catherine's desire to marry well. He acted like she was a horrible person and even called her greedy for her decision to look for a husband among the house party. Even when it is pointed out to him that she was living in abject poverty and was simply trying to improve her circumstances, that most women were attending with the same goal, that his friend had attended with a similarly mercenary goal of finding a wife, he was unimpressed. He was horrified to hear of her living for a week off onion broth and how she would have to enter a shop or service if she couldn't marry, but he still felt like she was a bad person for wanting to marry well. She eventually learns that love is more important, and but I would have liked to see him acknowledge that what she was trying to do was not as bad as he felt it was. I think his desire for her to want to marry him despite his title clouded his judgment on the issue.
September 8, 2017
Enjoyable romance
I've followed Candice Hern's Facebook page for some time and was always curious Scott get books as I felt she probably had a style that described clothing and scenery in more detail than most contemporary regency romance authors. I would say that Hern's style is not at all jarring, like some others, there is nothing that makes me feel the story was lacking in research. It was easy to get lost in.
I liked the characters, the plot is an old one though well executed.
I really liked the fact it was a true romance, there was no need for sex in the story. It is almost as good as a Heyer - I can't quite go beyond that because there's a certain warmth in Heyer's writing I've yet to find anywhere else.
All together a great read - I'm buying the next book right now!
I've followed Candice Hern's Facebook page for some time and was always curious Scott get books as I felt she probably had a style that described clothing and scenery in more detail than most contemporary regency romance authors. I would say that Hern's style is not at all jarring, like some others, there is nothing that makes me feel the story was lacking in research. It was easy to get lost in.
I liked the characters, the plot is an old one though well executed.
I really liked the fact it was a true romance, there was no need for sex in the story. It is almost as good as a Heyer - I can't quite go beyond that because there's a certain warmth in Heyer's writing I've yet to find anywhere else.
All together a great read - I'm buying the next book right now!
December 29, 2021
One of those stories where everyone (including the reader) is in on the joke on the heroine (in this case, that the fellow she believes is the duke's head gardener is actually the duke himself). I'm not a big fan of laughing at the heroine's expense, hence the low rating. Also, old skool "oh, you say you don't want me to kiss you, but you obviously like it when I do, so it's ok to do it even if you say no" amorous scenes do not read well in the age of "MeToo." Also didn't care for the Scottish butler who "borrowed" clothing, jewelry, and a coach for his charges, with their knowledge and casual acceptance. Not one of Hern's better efforts.
August 17, 2018
Charming! seriously, I had fun reading this book. The characters are not your standard rake & heroine duo: a garden lover who prefers the plants over people (a rumored half-wit!) and an open-minded, clever, if a bit headstrong girl. There is also no arch-enemy in the story which is quite pleasant - you can simply enjoy the relationship between the mcs without tormenting over someone's intrigues. The result is a sweet, heart warming story with a satisfying happy ending.
June 15, 2022
Not a folly of a read....
When one reads a romance novel one knows it will involve a happy ending. However, the enjoyment comes in figuring out how the author will bring it about. A Garden Folly is no exception....the stage is set with poor women looking for that financial security....to find it didn't always guarantee their happiness. I enjoyed the author's step by step progression of the characters in reaching their Amen.
When one reads a romance novel one knows it will involve a happy ending. However, the enjoyment comes in figuring out how the author will bring it about. A Garden Folly is no exception....the stage is set with poor women looking for that financial security....to find it didn't always guarantee their happiness. I enjoyed the author's step by step progression of the characters in reaching their Amen.
June 18, 2022
This was a fun story with good characters, except the heroine was a little too stubborn about marrying a fortune than I thought was reasonable. Also, even though they did have some good conversations, their love seemed to be based primarily on physical attraction, which I have a hard time getting behind. However, it was such a fun story, and the Duke was so delightful, that I could fill in the blanks for myself and still give it four stars.
May 1, 2023
A solid three stars. Plot is straightforward. Two poor sisters and aunt get invited to a house party. The plan is for one of them to make a fabulous match with a wealthy man to secure their futures. Older sister falls for the estate steward. Younger sister falls for the head gardener who is actually the Duke.
Most of the book was charming, but it became very repetitive with Catherine going on and on and on about how she must marry a fortune.
PG with a fair bit of kissing.
Most of the book was charming, but it became very repetitive with Catherine going on and on and on about how she must marry a fortune.
PG with a fair bit of kissing.
June 16, 2022
I wish I could rate this book as 3.5 stars, but I’ll round up to 4. The Regency details are well done, and I enjoyed the botanical details woven into this Cinderella story. However, there are a few unexplained details that were really loose threads left dangling, which detracted from the whole. An enjoyable soufflé, as long as you don’t look for more.
April 27, 2018
Lovely
I’ve now read almost all of Ms Herns works. They are each delightful in their own ways. The only thing I regret is that I did not read Garden Folly prior to reading “The Best Intentions” but it didn’t really hurt except I knew who Catherine would not be marrying.
I’ve now read almost all of Ms Herns works. They are each delightful in their own ways. The only thing I regret is that I did not read Garden Folly prior to reading “The Best Intentions” but it didn’t really hurt except I knew who Catherine would not be marrying.
October 14, 2018
A good enough read, although oddly from time to time, Hern seemed to be channeling Kathryn Le Veque. I came away with no real interest in the characters, but I do want to know who, or even what, MacDougal really is.
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