The Prodigal Spinster

by Joan Overfield

I AM MORE THAN CAPABLE OF MANAGING MY OWN LIFE! stormed Sara Belding as she showed Brant Deverleigh the door. At two and twenty, the headstrong young beauty had no use for a meddlesome guardian. Especially one whose dark gaze and mocking laughter left her trembling like a silly miss. With defiant toss of her head, she made her position quite clear to the devilish Deverleigh, and then assumed she had seen the last of him. But alas, poor Sara had underestimated the stregth of her opponent's resolve. For Deverleigh wasn't about to let a willful little spinster make a May game of him. Whether she like it or not, the amber-eyed witch was his ward. And he would see to it that she was properly wed, even if he had to marry her himself!

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Regency, Historical

ebook

First published August 1, 1988

About the author

AKA: Carolyn Madison

Joan Overfield (aka Carolyn Madison) has been a published author since winning the Golden Heart Award from Romance Writers of America in 1987 for her Regency, The Prodigal Spinster. Since then she has written a total of twenty-four novels. Along the way Joan has made several bestsellers lists and won numerous awards for her work, including 1998 Career Achievement in Regency Romance from Romantic Times magazine. Her Time Travel, The Door Ajar is in the list of Romantic Times magazine's 200 All-Time Reviewer Favorites.

Joan's varied career has included seven years as a 911 emergency operator. That experience contributed to her writing by training her to assess situations and people – skills she now uses as she develops plots and characters.

Joan uses her stories to showcase characters who reflect her life views. "All of my heroes operate from a strong sense of honor and duty," she says. "I admire that and I believe strongly in right and wrong." The goals of her characters can be summed up in the poem "Ulysses" – "To strive, to find, to seek, and not to yield."

She lives in Oregon with her golden retriever, Libby, and an ornery alley cat named Pounce. She is also a killer Trivial Pursuit player, and loves the smokey wail of a tenor sax and the icy bite of perfectly chilled champagne.

Reviews

[Kathy * Bookworm Nation · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve enjoyed the few Overfield books I’ve read previously and was looking forward to reading this one. I think my expectations were a bit high and I ended up being a bit disappointed. I liked the book and thought it was well written, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as her other books.

I liked our heroine Sara. Based on the synopsis I was expecting someone a bit more feisty and also expected a bit more banter and arguments between her and Brant. She starts out standing up to Brant’s bullying ways, but shortly into the story she becomes a little boring. I don’t know if I ever liked Brant all that much. Not much of a spoiler, but there is mention of Brant’s mistress. It really is not relevant to the story and she never makes an appearance so I don’t know why it’s even brought up. That could have been a factor in me not liking Brant all that much. As for their romance, it was a little lacking.

Overall, I did like it and there were some funny moments and I did like the end, although it did feel a bit rushed.

Content: Clean.

[Mari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I saw this book on my grandmother's bookshelf and grabbed it. I was in the mood for a historical romance. Yep. The '80s delight that is the cover did not deter me from my goal. Well, this is no Jane Austen. Ack, I cringe to bring up her name in this post, about this book.

OMG! Did the woman even try to make this historically accurate. The nobles sounded like American southerners with bad grammar...or at least they sounded like Cockneys. I looked up some questionable items, but they seemed to be correct. Seemed is the key word here. Because everything just seemed to be off. I am definitely not an expert about the Regency era, but it did...well anyway the writing was a joke either way.

The characters were not altogether painful, but they were all stock characters. They didn't have their own unique and intriguing qualities.

On the upside, beside annoying possible inaccuracies, the book is very short. And you can breeze right through it.

[Spazfungus · Rating 2 out of 5]

cute, the aunt in her trademark orange, is awesome, hero and heroine, meh


Brant finds out from his aunt that a distant cousin is living in poverty, he goes to take her to his home, Sara rejects his offer, her doctor drugs her, Brant "kidnaps" her to his aunt's house. Sara wakes up, Brant feeds her lies to stay with her aunt, while mounting a campaign with his friends to marry Sara off. Sara finds out about the plan, tries to find a position as a formal companion, the aunt finds out, fakes an illness, the whole family goes to the country. The aunt tells Brant sara is accepting an offer from another man. The aunt tells Sara that Brant is going to offer for her friend Priscilla, Sara and Brant confront each other, and state their feelings for each other HEA

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the Aunt is my favorite character. She's eccentric and knows exactly what she's about. Sara is too one dimensional, too prideful to ask for and take help when it's really needed. I found her overbearing pride to be annoying. You're sick and starving and barely have any money left and you won't take some help? Unbelievable.