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A captivating Regency romance from a bestselling author Compelled by his ageing Aunt Augusta to give up his dissolute ways and take a wife or risk losing his inheritance Lord Nicholas Strickland is in a quandary. He has no wish to marry at present particularly not to marry his aunt's favoured candidate, Miss Charlotte Craven. But he cannot endure the prospect of giving up his beloved family home, Maplethorpe. Charlotte, however, is no more enamoured of the dashing Lord Nicholas than he is of her. Intelligent, high-spirited and uncommonly tall, she is a young woman of determined character. With the help of her friend Amelia Beauclerc herself rather taken by the gentlemanly charms of Lord Nicholas' friend Captain Young she sets out to confound Aunt Augusta's well-laid plans
184 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2005
About the author
Margaret Mayhew
31 books123 followersMargaret Mayhew was born in London and her earliest childhood memories were of the London Blitz. She began writing in her mid-thirties and had her first novel published in 1976. She is married to American aviation author, Philip Kaplan, and lives in Gloucestershire.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 2, 2021
First of all, this review contains tons of spoilers, especially from the ending so don't read it if you don't want to know what happens. This book left me so frustrated that I had to write a review to let it all out. On the surface, and for most of the book, this is a typical Regency romance. It's well written and it would have been three stars except that the ending brought it down to one star and I decided to average it to be fair.
Charlotte, our heroine, is 18-years old and making her come out during the London season. She's too tall and too intelligent and prefers the country to the city. She has a dog and a BFF who are also a bit of misfits. I liked the h right away. Nicholas is our 29-year old hero. He loses lots of money on gambling, drinking and womanizing. I disliked the H right away. I'm not a fan of man-whores in novels but was nonetheless ready for his redemption arch. Nicholas's aunt is trying to get him to mature and stop wasting his life and her money away so she tells him she'll disinherit him if he does not marry within one year. He loves her estate (Maplethorpe) and does not want to see it going to his brother and his wife. Now, the aunt and Charlotte's mom are friends from way back and Charlotte and Nicholas were acquainted as children. Apparently he was an a-hole from a young age and Charlotte doesn't have good memories of him. The aunt thinks she'll be a suitable wife for him and, after some persuasion, convinces Charlotte's mom that it might be a good match. Of course, they do not let her know that it is all a plot.
Long story short, Nicholas tries to woo Charlotte and she starts falling for him until she learns of the reason behind it. She then turns the table on him and pretends to fall for him while plotting to reject his proposal and succeeds in doing so. At this point, I'm super happy with this strong young woman.
In the meantime, there's a plot with her best friend and a noble military man that I didn't care much about. Even though there's the suggestion that Nicholas is truly becoming enamored with Charlotte, he's still manipulating her into getting married to him. The aunt talks about how deep down inside he's a good man, and the h and her friend talk about how he must be a good man because his best friend is noble and, therefore, Nicholas must be good as well. However, I saw nothing to show that he had changed his ways and was indeed a nice guy. He continued to be conceited and manipulative.
Cut to the elopement of the BFF's with the help of the H and h. There's some madcap carriages pursuit with some people trying to stop the marriage and others trying to get the H and h together, and other trying to get them apart. Eventually, Nicholas learns that Charlotte knows about the reason he proposed and only then he decides to fess up to her and tries again to convince her to marry him.
Now, here's where everything goes downhill quickly. He doesn't profess that it was all a ruse at first and that he eventually fell in love with her. Charlotte says they don't love each other and he agrees. He tells her, however, that they have practical reasons to get married and, now that she knows the truth, there's no deception between them (even though he was perfectly willing to lie to her and go through with a marriage based on a lie a moment before). Then, he literally says, "Perhaps you could bring yourself to marry me for the sake of Maplethorpe?" He continues to try to convince her by saying she'd be close to home and he could ask the BFF's to find a home close to them as well. Dear Charlotte, who up to this point held up to her convictions, decides that a marriage of convenience works for her so they decide to have a double wedding.
Now this is the description of the ceremony: "While Lord Nicholas's eyes were upon his bride, she was keeping her eyes fixed firmly upon the flagstones at her feet. The parson sincerely hoped that it was bridal modesty that kept them there, and not reluctance. He had learned enough of his future patron to know that he was capable of all kinds of wild behaviour, which might well include coercing the girl to marry him."
Later, when the ceremony is interrupted, Charlotte is asked by his aunt (a forceful woman) if she wishes to marry Nicholas and she says that she has agreed to marry him of her own free will even though the whole description of the situation still felt extremely uncomfortable. Charlotte is only 18 and continues to seem reluctant. Her mother accepts her wishes and does nothing to stop it even though the mother was worried about Nicholas before. In addition, the mother never lets Charlotte know that she was aware of the scheme.
It's time for their wedding night and, somehow, I'm still holding on hope that there would be love mentioned somewhere. Nicholas asks Charlotte if she would prefer that he spent the night in the adjoining room, to which she replies yes. I'm thinking that maybe there's some salvation for him. Then he continues by saying "on the other hand" and proceeds to explain to her why they should indeed share a bed that night. This is straight from the book: "He was teasing her - she saw that plainly now. Of course, he had no intention of being so considerate. How could she have imagined that he would?" There's a long kiss and a fade to black.
Now, there are a couple of pages left and I'm hoping for an epilogue or something to let me know that this wonderful young woman is going to have a happy future. The last two pages are basically a conversation between the aunt and the mother. They both agree that it seems like Nicholas is in love with Charlotte, but Charlotte does not appear to be in love with him ("I have not seen Charlotte look at him in anything like the same manner. At the marriage ceremony she did not look at him at all.") The aunt then explains that Nicholas knows everything there is to know about pleasing a woman (from his whoring, you know), and that he'll make her fall in love with him (this is something that the aunt mentions multiple time in the book as a reason for Charlotte to marry her nephew including to Charlotte herself). The end.
I have no idea if this was the author's idea of romance or if she was writing about the realities that Regency women faced (although I'm pretty sure the book was not meant to be a serious look into the Regency period), but I hated that such a great heroine got such a crappy ending. I created my own little epilogue in my head to make myself feel better, whereas Nicholas suffers an accident in his curricle (won by gambling) soon after the wedding and dies along side his aunt. Charlotte inherits Maplethorpe and, since she wasn't truly in love with him, she continues to live there happily. Eventually she meets a kind and considerate man, falls in love, gets married and have lots of kids with him.
Yes, I know this is just a book but the point of reading a romance is to feel good about two people falling in love. This was definitely not it for me.
Charlotte, our heroine, is 18-years old and making her come out during the London season. She's too tall and too intelligent and prefers the country to the city. She has a dog and a BFF who are also a bit of misfits. I liked the h right away. Nicholas is our 29-year old hero. He loses lots of money on gambling, drinking and womanizing. I disliked the H right away. I'm not a fan of man-whores in novels but was nonetheless ready for his redemption arch. Nicholas's aunt is trying to get him to mature and stop wasting his life and her money away so she tells him she'll disinherit him if he does not marry within one year. He loves her estate (Maplethorpe) and does not want to see it going to his brother and his wife. Now, the aunt and Charlotte's mom are friends from way back and Charlotte and Nicholas were acquainted as children. Apparently he was an a-hole from a young age and Charlotte doesn't have good memories of him. The aunt thinks she'll be a suitable wife for him and, after some persuasion, convinces Charlotte's mom that it might be a good match. Of course, they do not let her know that it is all a plot.
Long story short, Nicholas tries to woo Charlotte and she starts falling for him until she learns of the reason behind it. She then turns the table on him and pretends to fall for him while plotting to reject his proposal and succeeds in doing so. At this point, I'm super happy with this strong young woman.
In the meantime, there's a plot with her best friend and a noble military man that I didn't care much about. Even though there's the suggestion that Nicholas is truly becoming enamored with Charlotte, he's still manipulating her into getting married to him. The aunt talks about how deep down inside he's a good man, and the h and her friend talk about how he must be a good man because his best friend is noble and, therefore, Nicholas must be good as well. However, I saw nothing to show that he had changed his ways and was indeed a nice guy. He continued to be conceited and manipulative.
Cut to the elopement of the BFF's with the help of the H and h. There's some madcap carriages pursuit with some people trying to stop the marriage and others trying to get the H and h together, and other trying to get them apart. Eventually, Nicholas learns that Charlotte knows about the reason he proposed and only then he decides to fess up to her and tries again to convince her to marry him.
Now, here's where everything goes downhill quickly. He doesn't profess that it was all a ruse at first and that he eventually fell in love with her. Charlotte says they don't love each other and he agrees. He tells her, however, that they have practical reasons to get married and, now that she knows the truth, there's no deception between them (even though he was perfectly willing to lie to her and go through with a marriage based on a lie a moment before). Then, he literally says, "Perhaps you could bring yourself to marry me for the sake of Maplethorpe?" He continues to try to convince her by saying she'd be close to home and he could ask the BFF's to find a home close to them as well. Dear Charlotte, who up to this point held up to her convictions, decides that a marriage of convenience works for her so they decide to have a double wedding.
Now this is the description of the ceremony: "While Lord Nicholas's eyes were upon his bride, she was keeping her eyes fixed firmly upon the flagstones at her feet. The parson sincerely hoped that it was bridal modesty that kept them there, and not reluctance. He had learned enough of his future patron to know that he was capable of all kinds of wild behaviour, which might well include coercing the girl to marry him."
Later, when the ceremony is interrupted, Charlotte is asked by his aunt (a forceful woman) if she wishes to marry Nicholas and she says that she has agreed to marry him of her own free will even though the whole description of the situation still felt extremely uncomfortable. Charlotte is only 18 and continues to seem reluctant. Her mother accepts her wishes and does nothing to stop it even though the mother was worried about Nicholas before. In addition, the mother never lets Charlotte know that she was aware of the scheme.
It's time for their wedding night and, somehow, I'm still holding on hope that there would be love mentioned somewhere. Nicholas asks Charlotte if she would prefer that he spent the night in the adjoining room, to which she replies yes. I'm thinking that maybe there's some salvation for him. Then he continues by saying "on the other hand" and proceeds to explain to her why they should indeed share a bed that night. This is straight from the book: "He was teasing her - she saw that plainly now. Of course, he had no intention of being so considerate. How could she have imagined that he would?" There's a long kiss and a fade to black.
Now, there are a couple of pages left and I'm hoping for an epilogue or something to let me know that this wonderful young woman is going to have a happy future. The last two pages are basically a conversation between the aunt and the mother. They both agree that it seems like Nicholas is in love with Charlotte, but Charlotte does not appear to be in love with him ("I have not seen Charlotte look at him in anything like the same manner. At the marriage ceremony she did not look at him at all.") The aunt then explains that Nicholas knows everything there is to know about pleasing a woman (from his whoring, you know), and that he'll make her fall in love with him (this is something that the aunt mentions multiple time in the book as a reason for Charlotte to marry her nephew including to Charlotte herself). The end.
I have no idea if this was the author's idea of romance or if she was writing about the realities that Regency women faced (although I'm pretty sure the book was not meant to be a serious look into the Regency period), but I hated that such a great heroine got such a crappy ending. I created my own little epilogue in my head to make myself feel better, whereas Nicholas suffers an accident in his curricle (won by gambling) soon after the wedding and dies along side his aunt. Charlotte inherits Maplethorpe and, since she wasn't truly in love with him, she continues to live there happily. Eventually she meets a kind and considerate man, falls in love, gets married and have lots of kids with him.
Yes, I know this is just a book but the point of reading a romance is to feel good about two people falling in love. This was definitely not it for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 12, 2025
I read it cause of my alphabet challange and my hopes were not high - rightly so
December 16, 2015
This is the gentlest of reads. An old-fashioned regency romance, nothing much really happens and the expected HEA arrives quickly. However - it lost a star because, although I am not a lover of 'hot' Regency novels, this veers a little too far the other way. The 'secondary' love affair between the hero and heroine's best friends is very sweet and it is clear they have a real affection for each other. Between the two main characters, however, this aspect is lacking somewhat. At the end of the book, it appears that HE has fallen in love with HER, but it remains far from clear how far this is reciprocated, which is not really satisfactory in a romance. Having said all this, if you want a very light, fairly well written tale (which does include an absolutely hilarious carriage chase, by the way) to cleanse your reading palate between heavier material, then you could do worse than this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 5, 2017
A fun story of two people pushed together and the interference they receive as they decide if they should overcome their pride and accept each other. It was a bit of a slow start but moved right along. I was disappointed in the ending as no feelings were ever expressed or admitted. I just wanted a bit more from them.
April 19, 2019
pleasant escapism.
August 2, 2013
Lord Nicholas Strickland is a notorious rake and confirmed bachelor. He has no reason to marry for his Aunt Augusta will leave her estate to him after her death along with her fortune. Augusta Fairfax is tired of her nephew's behavior and demands that he marry someone suitable or lose the estate. Nicholas doesn't want to lose the only happy home he's ever known but neither does he want to marry. Aunt Augusta has in mind a bride for her nephew, Charlotte Craven, the daughter of an old friend. Aunt Augusta believes Charlotte will be the making of Nicholas, but Nicholas thinks Charlotte will be a young, biddable bride, content to leave him to his usual behavior. He's confident his usual charms will quickly win the lady over. Nicholas sets out to woo Charlotte with shocking results. Not only is the lady not charmed by him, she positively seems to detest him. This has never happened to Lord Nicholas before but the game intrigues him and he sets out to make Charlotte love him. Charlotte knows Lord Nicholas could never love her. She's too tall, too outspoken and too content with country life to make a good wife. She's wary but perhaps there's some redeeming qualities to him after all. Meanwhile she has her hands full with her friend Amelia's romantic entanglements which include avoiding so-called proper suitors and secretly meeting Captain Young, Lord Nicholas' penniless friend.
This novel has all the hallmarks of being a Pride and Prejudice type story yet it's not. Without giving too much away, I shall say that I found the story rather bittersweet. It's unconventional where I wanted convention. I really liked and identified with Charlotte. I think I should be like her were I a Regency lady. Amelia is a bit young and silly to be appealing as a heroine, but she's a nice sidekick and good foil for Charlotte. Lord Nicholas is a typical rake. His past is explored a little bit which I think could have been expanded on and really added to his character. As with the ladies, his best friend is a foil too. Aunt Augusta is a bit cruel and I could not like her very much. There are some amusing secondary characters, especially Marmeduke, Charlotte's large mutt. Mostly though the characters are typical stock characters that usually populate the light romances by Clare Darcy, Daisy Vivian, Marian Chesney and others. I would recommend this book to those who like those authors and those who might be looking for a slightly different take on the usual rake meets spirited heroine story.
This novel has all the hallmarks of being a Pride and Prejudice type story yet it's not. Without giving too much away, I shall say that I found the story rather bittersweet. It's unconventional where I wanted convention. I really liked and identified with Charlotte. I think I should be like her were I a Regency lady. Amelia is a bit young and silly to be appealing as a heroine, but she's a nice sidekick and good foil for Charlotte. Lord Nicholas is a typical rake. His past is explored a little bit which I think could have been expanded on and really added to his character. As with the ladies, his best friend is a foil too. Aunt Augusta is a bit cruel and I could not like her very much. There are some amusing secondary characters, especially Marmeduke, Charlotte's large mutt. Mostly though the characters are typical stock characters that usually populate the light romances by Clare Darcy, Daisy Vivian, Marian Chesney and others. I would recommend this book to those who like those authors and those who might be looking for a slightly different take on the usual rake meets spirited heroine story.
November 29, 2012
In this pleasant Regency romance, two friends, Charlotte (too tall, too intelligent) and Amelia (too plump, a difficult mother who wants a title for her) both overcome their obstacles to find romance.
October 29, 2010
A quick, light, easy read. Very predictable but still fun..
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews