A Lady's Champion

by Janice Bennett

With ghosts haunting the Selwood Academy for Young Ladies, art mistress Miss Daphne turns to Mr. Adrian Carstairs, sent by her uncle to expose the spirits, for help and, eventually, love. Original.

Genres: Regency

Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Janice Bennett never intended to be a writer, but with B.A. degrees in anthropology and classical civilizations and an M.A. in folklore and mythology, what choice did she have? Her first jobs included the usual abc's—archaeologist, bookkeeper and college craft instructor. Then, on a whim, she submitted her first novel, a Regency, and life took on a fascinating new twist.
Several books later, she began presenting work-shops, teaching novel writing at a community college, serving as a writing panel member at WorldCons...then became an editor. So far, she has written twenty-six novels and more than twenty novellas and received a number of awards, including two Lifetime Achievement awards from Romantic Times/Rave Reviews.
In her spare time, she spins wool (and pet hair), knits, crochets, weaves, and quilts. She lives in a rural town with her husband, never enough cats, a huge dog, an organic garden—and a computer she swears runs on chocolate chips, not silicon ones, which explains a lot about her.
www.janicebennettbooks.com

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I last read this when I was like 17. So half my life ago. It had a fond place in my heart though so I bought it on thrift books for super cheap. It was cute and fun. It moved a bit slower than I remembered. But that may also be just a result of books written in the last decade being faster and faster paced, generally.
Anyway, it’s a clean romance, sweet and fun, cinnamon roll hero, ghosts and mystery. Fun ensemble cast. I would have liked a little more agency from the female characters, but for when it was written it was nicely feminist, and also, I thought the amount of naïveté Daphne had was extremely realistic for a 21 year old. I also liked that the hero was 25, which is a good age gap. Not some 32 year old bachelor or something.

I deducted a star for slow pace and also for the lack of an epilogue. What happened with the Ingels siblings? Did the school hire new teachers? How did they come out from the scandal? When do they get married, and are they really both willing to give up their original life plans? I need answers.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regency