What do you think?
Rate this book
Regency Series #3
A Lady of Fortune
"IF ONLY MEN WERE HONEST WHEN THEY PROPOSED TO ME!" HARRIET CRIED. "IF ONLY ONE OF THEM WOULD SAY 'MISS ASHLEY I ADORE YOUR FORTUNE. MAY I MARRY IT?'"
Harriet Ashley found it galling that so many men who didn't care a jot for her were proposing marriage. She knew only too well that she was plain. The truth was very clear: they were after her sizable fortune. Even the elderly men overseeing her estate seemed to regard the idea of her marriage as little more than a business transaction. Well, she would show them.
Harriet hit on a scheme. She would go to a place where she was not known and live as though she were poor. Thus proving she could manage her own life, she would marry only if she wished--and only for love....
Harriet Ashley found it galling that so many men who didn't care a jot for her were proposing marriage. She knew only too well that she was plain. The truth was very clear: they were after her sizable fortune. Even the elderly men overseeing her estate seemed to regard the idea of her marriage as little more than a business transaction. Well, she would show them.
Harriet hit on a scheme. She would go to a place where she was not known and live as though she were poor. Thus proving she could manage her own life, she would marry only if she wished--and only for love....
222 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 12, 1980
7 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 24, 2014
Possibly one of the strangest regencies I've read in a long time. I will give kudos to Chenier on the historical elements of the book. But the 'Kill the Prime Minister' suitor subplot and all the details seemed to jar against the romance story. The ending was possibly one of the best sum ups and had one of the best responses from the hero to the heroines bizarre split second decisions out of many of the novels I've read, and for that I will give it at least three stars.
July 1, 2025
This story features an element that I’ve seen very, very rarely in romance, which is that the heroine is staying in a rooming house. She is the titular lady of fortune, and to earn the right to determine who she will marry from her guardians, she agrees to live within a strict budget for a certain period of time.
The book is focused on the people she gets to know at the rooming house during that time she’s proving to her guardians—and herself—that she can manage independently instead of relying on advisors and easy money. And of course, there are a couple of young men staying at this rooming house as well…
What makes A Lady of Fortune unique among the many, many romances I’ve read is how strongly it weaves in a real-life incident: the assassination of Prime Minister Perceval. Easily half the book revolves around this and its impact on the lodgers at this house.
Within that, Chenier builds a touching love story with elements that still thrilled me four decades after I first read it. Her construction of characters is utterly winning.
The book is focused on the people she gets to know at the rooming house during that time she’s proving to her guardians—and herself—that she can manage independently instead of relying on advisors and easy money. And of course, there are a couple of young men staying at this rooming house as well…
What makes A Lady of Fortune unique among the many, many romances I’ve read is how strongly it weaves in a real-life incident: the assassination of Prime Minister Perceval. Easily half the book revolves around this and its impact on the lodgers at this house.
Within that, Chenier builds a touching love story with elements that still thrilled me four decades after I first read it. Her construction of characters is utterly winning.
November 11, 2018
I like this story. There are parts where the characters frustrate me some, but I still enjoyed the book overall.
Content: some violence, fade to black sex of married couple
Content: some violence, fade to black sex of married couple
Read
June 10, 2014For a time back in the 80’s & 90’s, my reading material of choice was frequently bodice rippers, historical fiction, and regency romances with a few contemporary best sellers thrown in for good measure. Most of them were pretty steamy (blush) &/or overly romantic, but I read them during a time in my life when I found myself as a single parent, and these books fit the bill. I found them to be highly entertaining.
I recently donated a slew of them, but I wanted to catalog them all the same. So if there is no rating here from me, it means that I don’t remember anything about the book other than I obviously read it. If there is a rating, it must have been in some way memorable for me.
I only wish that GoodReads had been around years ago so that I had some idea of the many books I have read – there were thousands! I did own a copy of this book, but most others came from the library because back then I could never have afforded the 100+ books I generally read in any given year.
And by the way, I still read bodice rippers – just not quite so many as I used to!
I recently donated a slew of them, but I wanted to catalog them all the same. So if there is no rating here from me, it means that I don’t remember anything about the book other than I obviously read it. If there is a rating, it must have been in some way memorable for me.
I only wish that GoodReads had been around years ago so that I had some idea of the many books I have read – there were thousands! I did own a copy of this book, but most others came from the library because back then I could never have afforded the 100+ books I generally read in any given year.
And by the way, I still read bodice rippers – just not quite so many as I used to!
July 13, 2012
“If only men were honest when they proposed to me!” Harriet cried. “If only one of them would say ‘Miss Ashley, I adore your fortune. May I marry it?’”
I begin this review by excerpting the blurb from the back cover of A Lady of Fortune because it captures the spirit of the heroine, the orphaned heiress Harriet Ashley. Previously plump, plain (aside from her gorgeous long red hair, of course), and recovering from a bout of consumption that has left her rail-thin, Harriet knows that all twenty men who have proposed to her have looked at marriage merely as a business transaction. But Harriet wants something more, so she comes up with an outrageous scheme to get her way.
http://www.numbersonthespines.com/201...
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews