Escapade

by Joan Smith

Ella Fairmont, as the anonymous Miss Prattle, has taken the Duke of Clare to task regularly in her gossip column. The duke, unsuspecting, includes Ella and her aunt in his week-long country houseparty. He has also included the blue-blooded Lady Honor, the strikingly beautiful Miss Sheridan, and the multi-talented Miss Prentiss. How could one “ordinary” young lady with a sharp tongue compete with three sterling debutantes? Regency Romance by Joan Smith; originally published by Fawcett

Genres: Regency, Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Regency Romance, Historical Fiction, Traditional Regency

239 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Joan Smith is a graduate of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and the Ontario College of Education. She has taught French and English in high school and English in college. When she began writing, her interest in Jane Austen and Lord Byron led to her first choice of genre, the Regency, which she especially liked for its wit and humor.
Her favorite travel destination is England, where she researches her books. Her hobbies are gardening, painting, sculpture and reading. She is married and has three children. A prolific writer, she is currently working on Regencies and various mysteries at her home in Georgetown, Ontario.
She is also known as Jennie Gallant

Reviews

[Marguerite Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before there was Lady Whistledown, there was Miss Prattle.

I never get tired of this book. Best house party regency ever.

[Emmy B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was sort of meh? Like, I didn't hate it, but it lacked the spark, joy and, I'm sorry to say, research to make it worth my while.

Look, I'm a tired parent. I want to read, I love to read, but I have so little time to do it and also every book I pick up has to compete with sleep as a thing to do. So I guess take my rating with this in mind. This was not preferable to sleep.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was something not quite natural in the characterisation of Ella Fairmont. I never really warmed to her. She's billed as a quiet, intelligent girl who becomes livelier once she is better acquainted with people. Her bookish side, Miss Prattle is a gossip columnist with non-existent journalistic integrity or skill. Hardly endearing traits in a heroine, she is the regency equivalent of a trashy celeb mag who writes, flourishes and fabricates gossip based on heresay of the loosest form and first-hand observation - made to appear third-hand.

During their stay at Clare's house, her apparent ability to draw upon amusing childhood games and trivial time-wasting activities based on no prior exposition of her background (in the book) was highly convenient for story-telling sakes and left me with a dis-jointed impression of her character.

I actually really enjoyed Sara (who is far more witty and engaging than Ella) and Clare's interaction and it is a shame they weren't the main couple in different circumstances. For her alone I added an extra star. Clare's a standard regency hero, nice but forgettable when compared to many of the genre's greatest.

Not a keeper for me.

Rating: 2 muddy frogs

Re-readability: Maybe just for the Sara and Clare bits.

[Mela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply splendid.

It is my second Regency romance by Joan Smith (my first was Imprudent Lady, here my review) but I'm on the path to become her fan. By now, I can tell that I am a fan of Georgette Heyer and Jude Morgan. I like a lot of Regency romances of other writers too, but I am not their fan.

What have we here? Of course all that should be ;-)

Witty, intelligent dialogues. Interesting, funny characters. An entertaining and engaging story. The tension between main heroes. Smith described some scenes simply marvellous.

there is some sweet seduction in feeling another admires us—a notion so flattering that some return of esteem takes place without our quite being aware

"I have the irrational habit of not listening to people who tell me what to do"

Race of frogs - I wouldn't have believed that I would have had so much fun reading about such a thing.

I tell you, there is all ;-)

And in this piece of genre is the best description (I have ever read) of the hunt for the best candidate of a husband. Really. The idea isn't original, but the way how the women try to catch his proposal is superb. Not only funny, but exact like it could have been in those times.

"Mrs. Sheridan tripped upstairs to look over Sherry's gowns, and Mrs. Prentiss followed her to see what she was up to"

And you can feel that Joan Smith knows and likes the era. She isn't just trying to entertain you or sell a book. I can't stop thinking that she had fun writing it.

I haven't had no thoughts that an author is too modern. I have the same feeling when I read Heyer.

I am so pleased that I am tempted to read her next book. But I am going to refrain and go back to the book I have started to read earlier.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would've been a 4 or 5 if not for a couple things. First of all, the heroine's dislike of the hero without ever knowing him is completely annoying and absurd. Secondly, the fact that she sends off a truly horrid, libelous gossip column based on nothing more than gossip from a jealous rival so soon that none but she could have written it is the stupidest thing I've ever read. Third, she got off way too easily, by the Duke and everyone else, for all of her columns. Especially the Duke. She was pretty much a bitch and he just went along with it and asked her to marry him anyway.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that introduced me to the Regency genre when I was 12 or 13. My first book by Joan Smith, it spoiled me for other Regency authors. From country house parties with frog-jumping contests to London society gossip columnists, this book is well-written, witty, and pure fun!

[Judith Hale Everett · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a slow start, this was a delightful romp, with great banter and a satisfying HEA. It’s not the best as far as period language is concerned, making frequent forays into modern usage, but it was so fun that I stopped caring. The start, as I said, was a bit sluggish, with several odd additions that seemed like convenient afterthoughts, but once the author got her stride it was very enjoyable with all sorts of hijinks and clever dialog to keep things moving swiftly along. Heyer fans will recognize several elements of Sylvester in this story, but there is enough difference that I doubt even Heyer would complain. A frothy, fun read.

[Seema Bakhtiyar · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I read by the author, and I must say I was delighted <3 I was impressed with her style of writing and found it quite to my taste. Characterisation too was rounded and I was intrigued and emmersed deep into the storyline and the plot.

I loved the protagonists Clare and Ella. Their wordplay is, of course, the best part about what makes me like them. The secondary characters were also very well written, while being given a substantial part and yet not boring the reader to death.

I don't know if I could keep her at par with Georgette Heyer yet, as many readers have done, I'd need to a few more to judge and compare. But nonetheless, I would recommend the book to someone looking for a fun, entertaining, pleasant, well written historical fiction especially in Regency genre.

Also, I myself am quite keen on reading her other works...

[QNPoohBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute take on Pride and Prejudice and Georgette Heyer's Sylvester. Ella is a heroine I can really relate to. She's shy in public like me, but sharp tongued and condemning in private. She takes some getting to know before anyone can really be friends with her. Since she's just like me, I really liked her. Others may find her snippy and just as bad as those she derides for their behavior. I liked Patrick a lot. He's a very charming, honorable gentleman who takes some getting used to. I loved his witty comments but sometimes I wished he'd just be straight with the ladies and tell him he's not interested and to please leave him alone. Mr. Darcy had no problems giving scathing set downs with a LOOK, but Patrick is more gentle and kindhearted. The other ladies are all two-dimensional stereotypes. I liked Belle until she turned catty. Honor made me giggle with her nonsequitors. The dialogue in the story is sparkling and witty; though not quite Heyeresque, still very good. The plot moves along a little too slowly. There's a very long description of a frog jumping contest that should have been trimmed a lot. Similarly, a jousting scene could have been shortened. As a result, the romance gets pushed aside. I liked that Ella and Patrick develop a close friendship and a similarity of minds but a little more wooing at the end and recognition of what he did wrong would have been nice. Since Pride and Prejudice is Ella's favorite book, I was hoping Patrick would read it and recognize what he did wrong. He never actually says I love you, but his actions do speak for him. There's a kiss at the end and a little more of a solid ending than Georgette Heyer but not much more. My only other complaint is that some of the dialogue seems too modern. I don't think a Duke's friends would call him by his first name, let alone a nickname publicly. He and Miss Fairmont would also not be on a first name basis and Jane Austen published anonymously and not under her own name. High stickers can nit pick this one but for me, the enjoyable story made up for any inaccuracies. Fans of Ms. Heyer will probably enjoy this one. I really liked it and plan to read it again.

[Emma Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow this was brilliant!! Oh my god I’m so in love. Ella writes gossip columns under the pen name Miss Prattle. One day, one of her favourite victims, invites her, a few debutantes and a few beaus to a country house party.

Look, I don’t ask for much in life - fun, banter, a great heroine and a solid romance. This has it all. If you’ve ever wondered what the rich could possibly do for entertainment in the 19th century, you’ll have plenty of examples here. I dearly wanted to be part of this - competitions, games, reading, exploring. There’s also plenty of gossip and unexpected friendships - Clare’s mother and Ella’s friendship over Jane Austen was a delight. Ella is clever and Clare is clever enough to understand how brilliant she is. They’re also both kind but keen observers - always a winning combination in my book (and a trait they share with Austen’s heroines too).

This is great entertainment, I loved it. ❤️❤️

[fia · Rating 5 out of 5]

i was so enamored by imprudent lady i had to rush to the next book immediately and god, what a treat. the most apt description i can think to give is a remix of sylvester by georgette heyer except you don't wind up wanting to throttle the main characters by the end, or more accurately about halfway through. i adored this. i don't think that i have ever in my life read two whole full length novels back to back by the same author in under twenty four hours, and given them both five stars no less. i suspect joan smith will become one of my favorite authors before long

[MissKitty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a lovely good humored book! Totally entertaining 👍🏻😊👍🏻

[Merili · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. For some reason could not set it down last night. Such a fun read

[Juny · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderfully pleasant surprise! I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I think I like it even more than the Georgette Heyer books I’ve read. Probably because the book doesn’t have the tiresome monologues in the beginning describing family connections and who is who without any context. This was just pure wit and fun moments while still having quite an interesting main plot that makes your cringe at the low points and await on tenterhooks for the wrap up.

[Kimberly Bizzanelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulously formed

There once was a regency tale
A gossipy gal she did rail
She tweaked her a Duke
In a neat sort of fluke
Ended up with a ring and a veil!

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK, now we're talking... this is still not Georgette Heyer, but it's much closer than the other 70s-80s pretenders. What this had me thinking about is how easy it is to destroy something by loving it so much that you try to recreate it... basically what happens to material when it is decanted from a brilliant novel with all kinds of stuff in it it into little bottles marked "enemies-to-lovers" or "the strong silent type."

Obviously this is present even at the creation of the Regency Novel. Austen's own novels are only incidentally about Regency People; back then they didn't have trains, and they didn't know quite where the female waist was, and so that's what she wrote about. (It would be wrong to say that they're only incidentally about romance, but their relationship to romance is certainly different.) Heyer's novels are heightened, frivolous, giddy tributes to opening a Jane Austen novel for the first time.

There are only a few Jane Austen novels, something for which I hold every wealthy and unattached man in England during her lifetime individually responsible. If I was on that plane it wouldn't have gone down like that. Anyway they're the source text for thousands of other novels, and each riveting and wholly new moment in them has become a trope or a component in the hands of authors and readers who are trying to relive the first time they read:

- Darcy unbending at Pemberley, plus bumping into Darcy in an embarrassing but wholly necessary way
- Darcy seeming to have lost respect for you when he has actually just raced off to become your knight
- Darcy... look, everything Darcy does, and everything you do as a result.
- Proving your worth once more to Captain Wentworth when you've been overlooked by everyone your whole life
- Captain Wentworth's furious pacing and letter-writing while you bare your soul right next to him

And for Heyer, in particular, basically every conversation Emma and Knightley have. To write out the entire list would be to produce descriptions of all the important scenes from every Austen novel. Except for Mansfield Park; nobody's writing me fourth-generation copies of Fanny demonstrating her moral courage to Edmund. (<--- Market inefficiency for regency novelists.)

The result of this is that a bad post-Heyer regency novel becomes nothing more than a checklist of those important scenes, supplemented by similarly tropified copies of the ones Heyer invented: We need the one where the heroine is overlooked by her haughty relatives, followed by the one where the dashing buck stares her out of countenance and rolls his eyes at her family, followed by two where she seems to notice a subtle change in him, followed by the familial calamity that renders her permanently unsuitable, and so on, in an airless and unpopulated environment where the shadows of passersby speak to each other in plot points.

Nobody is ever thinking about anything else, nobody is ever doing anything else, it is all the "good parts" with the marrow sucked out of them. And I get why that's tempting. It is very easy to reread Emma and think "Man, it's been a hundred pages since she and Knightley talked, please get Mr. Elton out of my face." But there is no life in a novel with two characters in it who spend all their time thinking about and misunderstanding each other. That way lies the worst fanfiction, heavy and empty and hyperpalatable.

Maybe even more than Heyer herself, Smith—in Escapade at least, which gets passed around with hushed endorsements in forum threads about Heyer withdrawal—is writing a romance in a novel like Jane Austen wrote a romance in a novel, rather than writing a Jane Austen Romance Novel. She's not half as good at it, of course, but despite writing for an audience that is asking for Genrefied—read killed, preserved, and catalogued—Austen-Heyer bullet points, she fills Escapade with characters who exist as individual actors and not animatronic figures declaiming in the Regency Romance dark ride. I find this very stirring. Joan Smith, you are braver than firefighters, braver than whistleblowers, braver than a Corinthian who drives his curricle very fast and always wins his duels.

Escapade—I don't know why it's called that, really, but it occurs to me now that Rhythm Nation 1814 has a Regency Year in the title—is about a wallflowery young girl of the ton who writes an anonymous gossip column and falls for the duke she loves to hate. I ask Joan Smith's forgiveness for that last clause, because it is a description of a much more conventional regency novel.

God bless her, Joan Smith has filled the pages with other people: the girl, Ella, has a beautiful 30-year-old married aunt who's been friends with the duke for ages and flirts with him good-naturedly, and the duke has friends, and the friends have friends. All of them have interests outside of the relationship between Ella and the Duke of Clare.

Ella's aunt wangles an invitation to the duke's country house, ostensibly for the gossip column; he has invited a number of eligible ladies to the house (along with his friends) to try to avoid an apparently inevitable marriage to a wealthy, titled girl named Honor who has no conversation and no thoughts but who materializes at his side any time he is alone. There's a beautiful girl with no accomplishments, and another beautiful girl with too many accomplishments. Ella catches everyone's attention—not just the duke's! and not too quickly!—by acting naturally in this contrived environment.

There's a wonderful scene where, because she has no particular interest in marrying the duke herself, she proposes going out to the pond, catching, and then racing frogs, because she does that with her kid brothers when she's back home. It's a wonderful scene because all the characters are in it! It is not the hothouse storyboard sketch you'd get in a worse version of this novel where Ella and the Duke, in matching smirks, are four inches from each others' faces the entire time, their frogs forgotten. Escapade is composed almost entirely of scenes like that, relaxed and clever ones; it never forgets that it is a romance novel, but it always remembers that it is a novel. Jane Austen invented novels, and we disrespect her when we forget what goes into them. And I would never disrespect Jane Austen. (See above)

When the book threatens to reduce itself to an outline, or to a screenplay written out of one of those books called Don't Skimp On Tweezers—the duke, finding himself thinking about Ella again, fishes her satirical poem about him out of the wastepaper basket—it escapes, miraculously. And when the duke finally does realize Ella is his nemesis Miss Prattle, it leads not to an obligatory and loud misunderstanding but to another Romp—this is a technical term in regency novel criticism—that plays out for a variety of people interested in it for different reasons.

And the book is funny! Many people who try to write like Georgette Heyer or Jane Austen are, I am ashamed to write in mixed company, way too horned up to do it. Their heroes and heroines are too busy wondering What That Tight Feeling In My Chest Is to be amusing; they are only dashing off quips, and pausing every time to notice the chain reaction of facial expressions they set off in their opposite number. This is much lighter—in tone, on its feet, etc.

You get the feeling, reading Jane Austen, that while she felt (correctly) that a novel should end with some happy marriages, she was interested in writing about all kinds of things. While you're reading Pride & Prejudice or Persuasion or whatever for the first time the story can go anywhere, and introduce new characters at any point, and do it for any reason. That spontaneity is what is lost when a novel begets a genre of novels. Reading Escapade, I knew I was going to get the marriage, but I was consistently and pleasantly surprised by how each new scene would play out.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Joan Smith book, and it certainty won't be my last. First of all I loved the writing style; it was very similar to Georgette Heyer. The characters were all great and really funny. Joan Smith had a great cast of characters with really refreshing personalities. The duke was a great hero (as I said earlier he was very similar to a hero in a Georgette Heyer book). I really liked Ella too because she is shy of him at first, and I found that really relatable. But she gradually gets more confident, and their witty dialogues begin. The only reason this isn't a 5 stars book is because I didn't quite like the way the ending happened. I like my heros to say they can't live without the heroines, and the duke in this story never quite said that. This feeling was implied I guess in the way he pursued her, but I really do like a good proclamation of love in a book! Over all a great read.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this story - some of Joan Smith's book are great but this one was meh.

The premise of the story was good but little by little, the details started to pile up in the wrong way. Characters were calling each other by their first names, the ladies were decorating the manor for the ball - really?, costume parties with decorations and styles that were anachronistic, etc.

And does every Regency romance have to have the hero proposing, the lady refusing for some thin reason, she runs off, he chases her down and then they finally agree to marry?

[Christopher Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

The instructor in my college reading interests class required all the males in the class to read a nurse romance and a regency. I can't remember the nurse romance, but I do remember how much I enjoyed reading Escapade. It's clever, the characters are memorable, and Joan Smith follows the regency formula assiduously.
Funny, biting and clever, it's a hoot to read.

[Drava · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars - Joan Smith is an old favorite of mine and I read this when I was in my late teens. Reading it now, it may seem like it's a decent book with fun characters and humor but don't expect sexual tension and graphic descriptions like you read currently. Maybe it's the nostalgic emotions that keeps this story close to my heart.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Your basic silly regency

[Tinuviel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sylvester, but less good and chock full of anachronisms

[Bea Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm deeply invested in the future of Green Boy. Fabulous, like reading a Georgette Heyer.

[Pauline Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a couple of reads that just didn’t do it for me, I was relieved to come back to Joan Smith for this delightfully frothy traditional Regency. It’s very old school, of course, being over 40 years old now, but that just emphasises how far tastes have shifted. There’s no existential angst or any of those new-fangled feminist opinions that modern heroines are so fond of. No, this is all about the season and Almack’s and the proper pursuit of every respectable young lady, which is Finding Oneself A Suitable Husband.

Here’s the premise: Ella Fairmont is no longer a debutante, but her aunt hasn’t given up hope, so here she is indulging in another round of London’s Marriage Mart. To make the exercise more palatable, Ella amuses herself by retailing all the society gossip in a snippy little newspaper column, where she poses as ‘Miss Prattle’. The principal object of her vitriolic pen is Patrick, Duke of Clare (although we’re never given a reason why she dislikes him so much). But then the Duke invites Ella and her Aunt Sara to a house party at his country residence in Dorset…

I’ve read a similar tale more than once before, but even if I hadn’t, it would be easy enough to see how things are going to go, and it’s true that there are few surprises. But that’s not what a book like this is all about. If you want shocking twists, go and read a thriller. With a Regency, it’s all about the journey, not the destination, and the journey here is delightful.

First of all, there are a whole array of very silly side characters. The Duke, foolish man, has invited along three of the leading contenders for his hand, for he happens to be one of the most eligible bachelors in the kingdom. Lady Honor is the high-ranking one, without a word to say for herself, utterly confident that the duke is hers by right. Miss Sheridan is the beautiful one, who can think of nothing but her appearance. And Miss Prentiss is the one with a multitude of accomplishments, none of which she has much aptitude for. There are three male friends, too, to make up the numbers and squabble gently over the ladies’ hands, but they blurred together in my mind and I can’t even remember their names.

An honourable mention must go to the duke’s mother, a lovely, sensible lady who’s entirely supportive of her son, and completely different from the usual trope of the harridan dowager duchess. Then there’s Aunt Sara, who’s a bit of a live wire and has some of the best lines in the book.

But the starring roles go to Ella and Patrick, who start off deep in indifference, start to discover that the other is actually more interesting that they’d suspected and needless to say, end up very much in love. Given the date of the book, this is a fairly restrained affair, devoid of real passion, and mostly their growing interest manifests itself in the rising level of banter between them. They are soon on first-name terms, and arousing a certain amount of jealousy in the others.
The duke’s journey to love is steady and rather touching. Once his interest is piqued, he turns his attention on Ella and singles her out very conspicuously. For some reason, never properly explained, everyone assumes he’s just stringing her along, or flirting, or otherwise just amusing himself, but since he doesn’t have a reputation as a rake, it’s hard to see why they would think that. And towards the end, when she seems to blow hot and cold, he pursues her quite determinedly and charmingly.

Ella, however, is harder to fathom. Why did she dislike him so determinedly at first, enough to make him the principal recipient of all her most acid comments in the gossip column? Why, when she starts to realise that he’s actually not as bad as she’d thought, does she not ease off a bit? And why, why why, when she’s written something completely wrong and malicious about him, doesn’t she do the sensible thing and confess? I do get a bit cross with heroines (and heroes) who just refuse to talk things through. And another why - why, for the love of mike, when he proposes to her, albeit in a completely wacky way, doesn’t she at least wonder if he might be serious? And again, talk to the poor man. Give him a chance to explain himself. But I suppose if all heroes and heroines were sensible, rational beings, their stories would be about 20 pages long.

Now if this was all, this would be just another light-hearted Regency romance, nothing special. Fortunately, after a slightly sluggish start, it kicks into a glorious high gear of comedy. The banter between Patrick and Ella is sparkling, with just an edge of hostility, but there’s also a lot of fun in the house party itself, when Ella comes up with some outrageous schemes for the guests to entertain themselves, although I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you what they are.

Needless to say, there are some hiccups on the road to true love, resolved in the last few pages by the hero sweeping the heroine into his manly arms for a thorough kissing. I strongly disapproved of his arrogance (he never for one moment doubts that she’ll marry him) and I wanted him to grovel just a little bit to win her over, but that was very much the norm for that era.

A beautifully written book, with a few very minor historical errors that only extreme pedants like me would even notice, with a charming hero, a spirited and intelligent heroine and a shed-load of laugh-out-loud humour. I loved it. Five stars.

[piranha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am probably negatively influenced by the fact that I despise celebrity gossip mongers, and it would require quite a lot of positive qualities in a heroine to outweigh that. Especially since the gossip Ella peddles is particularly nasty in some instances, and what's worse in the end, she never atones for it. It's as if in Pride and Prejudice, only Darcy had realized his shortcomings, but Elizabeth Bennett had just blithely remained prejudiced -- yet married him. How wrong that would have been.

But aside from that Ella is also a strange character in the sense that her characterization doesn't always make sense, as if the author wasn't quite sure of her. She's quiet and shy, ok, and she's supposed to get livelier when she likes somebody -- but she gets lively alright when she becomes involved with childlike-fun activities with the same people. She also has a pretty horrible temper, which she lets rip in the Duke's direction without much ado. She's supposedly intelligent, but to be frank, her writing is dull, and publishing what she hears from a competitor who obviously doesn't like her is oh so very dumb.

The ladies providing competition for Ella are so one-dimensional that it's farcical

I don't buy the romance either. The Duke of Clare is quite generic and oddly unable to bring out his demonstrated nasty set-downs when it would actually be useful to communicate that he isn't interested and will never be interested. Makes him look weak. He actually has better rapport and more fun banter with Ella's young aunt Sara.

Also: Jane Austen didn't publish under her own name during her lifetime. Second author this week who made that error; do some research, people -- and what is it with your editors failing on this as well? Come on.

The novel has a lot of fun and unique moments (the whole frog racing bit was hilarious), and I really wish I could have liked the heroine better. It actively bothered me that she got away with her nastiness without any repercussions, and that she did nothing whatsoever to make up for that nastiness -- like, she could have written a column or more doing so, but it was like she had learned nothing; she picked the next victim and then published a lie about him. Sorry, I can't get behind cowardly heroines with flat learning curves.

I'm gonna re-read Sylvester or The Wicked UncleSylvester to wash this out of my brain.

[marceline · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF 52%

Can’t quite get into the heroine. I’m trying to find the exact reason why she dislikes the Duke so much to make him her main topic in the gossip columns. In my opinion, even at the beginning, his actions is what you see as typical for the rich, titled young bachelors and I am sure there are plenty of those young men going around at the time. I mean what can we expect of a Duke. He is literally a freaking Duke of-course he acts self entitled. This is regency era so there are the vain dandies, fortune hunters, the gamblers, the very trashy horrid rakes with half a dozen mistresses. But the duke so far is not too bad overall so I don’t see why she is being too hard on him. But ok. Let’s just say that since he is the most eligible bachelor, Puella was on him and is prejudiced to his actions.

But since this book is being compared to Sylvester, I keep going back to my comparison why I find Phoebe’s dislike to Sylvester much more acceptable than Puella’s dislike to Clare. I guess I can say that Phoebe, unlike Puella atleast, is not trying hard to find faults with the hero to immediately report to her column. And Phoebe wrote Sylvester as Count Ugolino mainly because of his devilish looks and eyebrows, considering his haughty manner and rich background a good ground for inspiration as villain in her book. Meanwhile Puella is like one of those paparazzi in this age on the hunt to any gossip and is watchful of Clare’s every word and action, in search of any anecdote so she could put it in her column to write real slander. And even when she got to talking to the duke and finding him not so bad as what she keeps on writing, she still didn’t have the common sense to stop, think and ponder on the gossip brought to her by a jealous admirer. Instead, she immediately jot down this gossip as a “revenge” to him.

I think I will continue to read this in the future since this is what I like in a good book on Regency era. A good Heyer like book with banters and character studies, great conversations and witty remarks. Although unlike Heyer, this book’s secondary characters are not quite flesh-out as real people.

[ꕥ Ange_Lives_To_Read ꕥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently discovered Joan Smith, and this was another of her perfectly serviceable, clean Regency romances. She writes very much like Georgette Heyer; her novels are clearly well-researched, but she doesn't use so much incomprehensible slang, so I confess I am enjoying her novels a bit more!

The plot of Escapade seems very familiar to me, I'm sure I read something very similar but can't recall who wrote it or what it was called. In this case, Ella (short for Pruella, of all ridiculous names) is a literary-minded female who didn't make a splash during her Season in London and somehow ends up writing a gossip column under the pseudonym "Miss Prattle." The column becomes a sensation, based largely on her constant dishing on the scandalous exploits of the Duke of Clare.

Does she meet the Duke, realize she was wrong about him, and fall in love? Does he initially overlook her because she is not one of the Incomparable beauties he usually chases, but then realizes her many great qualities and also fall in love with her? Does the fact that she is his nemesis, Miss Prattle, cause a Big Misunderstanding that must be overcome in order to get to the happy ending? Well, if you've read any of these novels, of course you know the answer.

I think in this, as in her other novels, the author does an excellent job of showing how her characters overcome their initial impressions and come to like and appreciate each other - no insta-love here! There are also some very funny bits, and good supporting characters. Joan Smith is quickly becoming a favorite.

[Book Addict · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are given Miss PUELLA FAIRMONT’s story within the first couple of pages of Escapade. Having ‘failed’ to catch a husband in her first Season, ELLA (along with her aunt and grandmother) turns to writing an extremely successful gossip column under the pseudonym “Miss Prattle”.

Her favourite target is His Grace, the DUKE OF CLARE (Patrick) who we first see in action as he starts to offer marriage to the woman he has loved for two years. She turned him down when he was just a younger son but now that he’s the Duke, things are very different.

Realising that he no longer loves her, Patrick walks out (after a very funny conversation about Kant and imperative objectives) and before too long we’re in a “The Bachelor” type situation – with one Duke, three contestants (plus one who doesn’t realise she’s in the running), some frogs and hidden identities to increase the fun.

What did I like about this book?
I liked the way Ms Smith outlays information about the Regency period – if you’re just starting out reading Regencies, then this book will give you lots of information, in a natural manner, about the haut ton and Regency society.

I also liked Patrick’s mother, the Duchess of Clare – she is a classic bookworm and as one myself, I really related to her character.

The wit and humour in the book are also very well done and I really enjoyed the portrayal of positive female relationships as well as Patrick’s ‘Miss Prattle related’ antics. (I won’t say anything more as it would be a bit of a spoiler but they are funny and poignant).

What did I not like about this book?
Not much!

Both Patrick and Ella were lovely and I really related to their characters – the way they behaved seem very plausible (in a romance novel sense!) and I really enjoyed their witty interactions.

There was some confusion over names – I’m not sure why Ms Smith occasionally referred to Lady Honor as Miss Sedgley (poor editing perhaps?) but it did confuse and irritate me. That’s my only niggle though!

How did I feel at the end?
That’s really the important thing isn’t it? Did I feel the HEA was right? Did I feel happy or disappointed by the misunderstandings? Was I left with a warm and fuzzy feeling or wishing I could get my money back?

HEA – yes I felt this was right. It wasn’t rushed and I really enjoyed the way Patrick required assistance from his mother to assist in his marriage proposal.

Misunderstandings – for a traditional Regency novel they were perfectly acceptable and actually did make sense given the way Ms Smith had portrayed the characters.

At the end, I felt very pleased with how the story had worked out. It’s a book I’ve re-read many times and unlike other books, there’s no part I miss – I re-read every line every time.

My final thoughts? Highly recommended particularly for readers who like Gentle Heroes; intelligent / independent heroines; witty conversations.

(Check out my personal blog for more Traditional Regency Romance reviews)

[Miriamgreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

a classic regency with bite, banter, evocative satire excellent dialogue.
Miss Prattle meets Duke Clare, her moving target of sly insults, not altogether inappropriate
Lady Honor decides to accompany Duke to his home, trying to trap into marriage, he quickly throws together protection with a house party adding his two other flirts: fair beauties in contention, i.e. like Paris and the golden apple. And a few assorted friends.
Honors go to Lady Honor, white goddess who just sits and commands, a wonderful portrait of obliviousness, as demonstrated by her family. Duke's mother essential with Jane Austen thrown in compliments of Miss Ella [secret disguise Miss Prattles] and her stunnng Aunt, contemporary and longtime friends with the duke. With the frog jumping contest and the masquerade, Clare has seen beyond the superficial common looks of Ella and has been caught. as has she. some problems and great tantrums with final resolve. a definite reread

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another witty read from a trad Regency author from the late 70's. Ella pens a gossip column with her aunt and grandmother, focusing much of her attention on the doings of a reputed rake. But when her aunt schemes to win an invitation to a country house party for herself and Ella, a party during which the rake is supposedly going to choose his bride, Ella begins to become friends with the man she's spent so many hours lampooning in her columns. A bit too much of "Ella is worthy because her competitors aren't" here for my tastes, but still, the relationship between Ella and her fellow is witty and believable, as the two grow into friendship, and then into something more.