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The Wayward Heiress
She was irresistible as she was infuriating.
When Emma Armstead slid down the bannister at the Houghton Academy for Young Ladies, she slid right into Lord Brandford's heart. But Charles didn't know it and for some little time, he and Emma were at daggers drawn.
Only when one of Emma's harebrained ideas to rescue a soldier in distress led her to France, did Charles realize he could lose what he had only just found.
Together they outwitted Napoleon's army, transported a donkey against her will, and arrived back in England with an understanding between them. But when Charles sought her permission from the starchy Headmistresses of the Academy for his dear Emma's hand, he was to learn that his darling beloved had played him yet another hoax!
When Emma Armstead slid down the bannister at the Houghton Academy for Young Ladies, she slid right into Lord Brandford's heart. But Charles didn't know it and for some little time, he and Emma were at daggers drawn.
Only when one of Emma's harebrained ideas to rescue a soldier in distress led her to France, did Charles realize he could lose what he had only just found.
Together they outwitted Napoleon's army, transported a donkey against her will, and arrived back in England with an understanding between them. But when Charles sought her permission from the starchy Headmistresses of the Academy for his dear Emma's hand, he was to learn that his darling beloved had played him yet another hoax!
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1990
35 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 6, 2024
This one ends very sweetly but the rest is a muddle.
It bubbles, I suppose. Bubbles along wanting to be frothy and somewhat farcical -- the heroine's name is Emma and I'm taking that as a hint from the author -- but the parts needed to make you care about and undergird a comedy never gels, and the froth never sets.
Lots of telling. Here they are stating this, there they are striding about doing that, now let us move along to the next thing. One chapter they're somewhere completely different, the next chapter it's literally the same ball but we've shifted to a different conversation. Plenty of action but with no balance in it; it's event to event to event and we don't even experience much of these. This is a Regency (which can certainly be intrigues, it's fine), so all action and no interplay or personality and repression and emotion goes amiss.
There's never any sense of danger despite the daring rescue and mucking about the Continent to do so. Everyone who needs to be in love at the end are in love at the start, so there's hardly any stakes. It's more fait accompli and the pages winding down until three -- a staggering three -- couples reach their HEA.
All this with several secondary and tertiary characters and 'cleverness' that never works for me.
The best moment is the hero up to his knees in the swirling Channel saying goodbye to Emma as she sails away to safety. I take it as he didn't even realize he'd followed the boat that far out, he simply had to, compelled to be with her as long as possible. And I'm giving more to the exchange than the author did! lol -- which maybe she meant it this way too, but for all we get random internal thought asides from many, too many, characters (including the matriarch, for little good reason), here where it would have served best, it doesn't happen.
I felt I could like several of the characters but I didn't come to care about anyone, because I couldn't get to know anyone. The dark moments and big moments are dashed off in a paragraph, while the just-get-to-it parts are given room to linger. So it's uneven, and for all you enjoy the schoolmarms and such, it glazes together without much impression.
There's a lot of throwaway, a lot of convenience, a lot of Regency "wallpapering" to not much good effect, and too much lacking in connection, in establishing their characters and arc, and believing they fall in love.
Meh. Not a drudge or awful, but one not for me. (Obviously.)
It bubbles, I suppose. Bubbles along wanting to be frothy and somewhat farcical -- the heroine's name is Emma and I'm taking that as a hint from the author -- but the parts needed to make you care about and undergird a comedy never gels, and the froth never sets.
Lots of telling. Here they are stating this, there they are striding about doing that, now let us move along to the next thing. One chapter they're somewhere completely different, the next chapter it's literally the same ball but we've shifted to a different conversation. Plenty of action but with no balance in it; it's event to event to event and we don't even experience much of these. This is a Regency (which can certainly be intrigues, it's fine), so all action and no interplay or personality and repression and emotion goes amiss.
There's never any sense of danger despite the daring rescue and mucking about the Continent to do so. Everyone who needs to be in love at the end are in love at the start, so there's hardly any stakes. It's more fait accompli and the pages winding down until three -- a staggering three -- couples reach their HEA.
All this with several secondary and tertiary characters and 'cleverness' that never works for me.
The best moment is the hero up to his knees in the swirling Channel saying goodbye to Emma as she sails away to safety. I take it as he didn't even realize he'd followed the boat that far out, he simply had to, compelled to be with her as long as possible. And I'm giving more to the exchange than the author did! lol -- which maybe she meant it this way too, but for all we get random internal thought asides from many, too many, characters (including the matriarch, for little good reason), here where it would have served best, it doesn't happen.
I felt I could like several of the characters but I didn't come to care about anyone, because I couldn't get to know anyone. The dark moments and big moments are dashed off in a paragraph, while the just-get-to-it parts are given room to linger. So it's uneven, and for all you enjoy the schoolmarms and such, it glazes together without much impression.
There's a lot of throwaway, a lot of convenience, a lot of Regency "wallpapering" to not much good effect, and too much lacking in connection, in establishing their characters and arc, and believing they fall in love.
Meh. Not a drudge or awful, but one not for me. (Obviously.)
November 12, 2018
Read again for ?# of times. I hadn't read this one for several years, so the details were pretty foggy going into the read. Some books have stood the test of time and maturity (mine that is) and this book shall forever hold a space in my bookshelf and my heart. This funny book, though not overly focused on relationship building does focus on a madcap set of situations and the character growth of our H&h- though mostly our hero Charles' growth. Like most HRR's of its time it is clean and sweet. Overall, a funny romp.
September 29, 2018
A snotty stuckup Earl of Bradford and Emma Armstead, an orphaned heiress about to turn 20 at a Academy for young ladies meet in when she slides down the bannister and inadvertently causes his sister to be hurt (sprained ankle). The story also involves Emma's (per Lord Bradford) misguided attempts to assist the cause true love, going to France to rescue a friend, befriending a Donkey named Clytemnestra, etc. While this doesn't seem in keeping with a true regency romance, it was a fun read with a strong willed female character.
Just read for the secomd time.
Just read for the secomd time.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews