What do you think?
Rate this book
Lucretia: or The Heiress and the Dandy
- I highly recommend this for lovers of the traditional Regency needing something a bit different... Rachel Carter is an upcoming talent. Regency Reader
- Excellent and thoroughly enjoyable. You will not be disappointed if you love historical romance that is well written with a funny edge. ToodlesBookclub
Kidnappings, elopements, duels, dastardly plots. Making your debut has never been so hazardous.
Hidden away from polite society, Lucretia Lanyon spent her time daydreaming of dandies, extravagant pantaloons and intricate neckties. Now an heiress and suddenly the toast of Society, she finds her ideal man in Viscount Prendergast, the one bachelor in London who doesn’t seem interested in marrying her. Lucretia must navigate around nefarious impostors, jealous mistresses, dastardly fortune hunters, and the match-making schemes of her aunt, while she tries to attract the notice of her beau.
Christopher Prendergast, an aspiring dandy, was busy perfecting the art of tying his cravat, learning how to use his quizzing glass as a social weapon, and secretly excelling at Jackson’s boxing saloon. To everyone’s surprise, Christopher finds himself in love for the first time in his life. He must now learn how to secure a lady’s affections. He stumbles through a wooing campaign that includes bizarre gifts, terrible poetry, daring rescues and, finally, honesty.
Perfect for fans of authors such as Georgette Heyer and Jane Aiken Hodge, Lucretia is a traditional regency romance brimming with period detail, unlikely heroes, delicious villains, and the flourishing of an unlikely love.
- Excellent and thoroughly enjoyable. You will not be disappointed if you love historical romance that is well written with a funny edge. ToodlesBookclub
Kidnappings, elopements, duels, dastardly plots. Making your debut has never been so hazardous.
Hidden away from polite society, Lucretia Lanyon spent her time daydreaming of dandies, extravagant pantaloons and intricate neckties. Now an heiress and suddenly the toast of Society, she finds her ideal man in Viscount Prendergast, the one bachelor in London who doesn’t seem interested in marrying her. Lucretia must navigate around nefarious impostors, jealous mistresses, dastardly fortune hunters, and the match-making schemes of her aunt, while she tries to attract the notice of her beau.
Christopher Prendergast, an aspiring dandy, was busy perfecting the art of tying his cravat, learning how to use his quizzing glass as a social weapon, and secretly excelling at Jackson’s boxing saloon. To everyone’s surprise, Christopher finds himself in love for the first time in his life. He must now learn how to secure a lady’s affections. He stumbles through a wooing campaign that includes bizarre gifts, terrible poetry, daring rescues and, finally, honesty.
Perfect for fans of authors such as Georgette Heyer and Jane Aiken Hodge, Lucretia is a traditional regency romance brimming with period detail, unlikely heroes, delicious villains, and the flourishing of an unlikely love.
Kindle Edition
Published February 1, 2017
29 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Carter
1 book6 followersAbout the author
Rachel is a novelist and short story writer based in York, UK. She wrote her first novel when she was six years old. The Amazing Panda Roo Roo was a big hit with her audience of mum and dad. It was self-illustrated and stapled together on the right-hand side because she is a proud left-hander. She enjoys a wide variety of books; some of her favourite authors are Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, who have influenced her period writing style.
When not immersed in a book or writing, she can be found either whizzing down a red run at a ski resort or daydreaming about whizzing down a red run at a ski resort.
****
If you have any feedback, please do get in contact. Rachel would love to hear from you.
LINK: rachelcarterregencyauthor@gmail.com,
or visit her website:
LINK: rachelmchale.com
Rachel is a novelist and short story writer based in York, UK. She wrote her first novel when she was six years old. The Amazing Panda Roo Roo was a big hit with her audience of mum and dad. It was self-illustrated and stapled together on the right-hand side because she is a proud left-hander. She enjoys a wide variety of books; some of her favourite authors are Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen, who have influenced her period writing style.
When not immersed in a book or writing, she can be found either whizzing down a red run at a ski resort or daydreaming about whizzing down a red run at a ski resort.
****
If you have any feedback, please do get in contact. Rachel would love to hear from you.
LINK: rachelcarterregencyauthor@gmail.com,
or visit her website:
LINK: rachelmchale.com
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 14, 2017
This was great fun. Taking a lot of inspiration from Georgette Heyer and capturing something of that master’s magic, this is a light, enjoyable romantic comedy of manners, with a rather perfect heroine and a surprisingly unlikely hero.
Lucretia is exceedingly likeable. She’s also beautiful and witty and smart and made even more glorious when she laughs. It would be easy to dislike her, except she’s not the least bit vain, is solicitous to her friends and is intelligent enough not to let all the flattery of her many suitors go to her head. The style of writing doesn’t mean that I feel like I got to know her very well, but I liked her anyway.
Just as I liked many other characters in this book – her cousin was fun and supportive, Christopher was unexpectedly wonderful and I loved his curious friends. The fathers tend to come out of this book a lot better than the mothers on the whole, but there are very few flat and dull characters. Even the villains have necessary motives, usually money and their inability to hold onto their own.
If I did have one quibble it’s that this style won’t suit everyone – if you don’t like Heyer, you won’t like this – and it does occasionally wander into long sections that either show off how excellently the author has research the period, or into the minute details of one or other of the lesser characters. Some of these deviations got a bit too long and my interest waned, but once it was back to Lucretia or the main plot, I was soon back into the swing of things and enjoying it all again. The beginning is an excellent example of this, too much time spent on the aunt rather than getting on with meeting Lucretia and learning about her situation. (But Heyer is guilty of this too at times. Frederica is one of my favourites, but I still wish Charis, Endymion and Harry weren’t in it, taking up so much space that could have been better filled with Felix.)
On the whole, though, this was lovely. It’s more of a Regency comedy than a pure romance, since the characters are held at a distance and as unusual as the relationship was, it also seemed rather tepid at times, but it’s light and fun and engaging throughout. There aren’t many people about today who can successfully pull off this style of writing, so I very much look forward to seeing what else this author can produce.
(Review copy provided by the author.)
Lucretia is exceedingly likeable. She’s also beautiful and witty and smart and made even more glorious when she laughs. It would be easy to dislike her, except she’s not the least bit vain, is solicitous to her friends and is intelligent enough not to let all the flattery of her many suitors go to her head. The style of writing doesn’t mean that I feel like I got to know her very well, but I liked her anyway.
Just as I liked many other characters in this book – her cousin was fun and supportive, Christopher was unexpectedly wonderful and I loved his curious friends. The fathers tend to come out of this book a lot better than the mothers on the whole, but there are very few flat and dull characters. Even the villains have necessary motives, usually money and their inability to hold onto their own.
If I did have one quibble it’s that this style won’t suit everyone – if you don’t like Heyer, you won’t like this – and it does occasionally wander into long sections that either show off how excellently the author has research the period, or into the minute details of one or other of the lesser characters. Some of these deviations got a bit too long and my interest waned, but once it was back to Lucretia or the main plot, I was soon back into the swing of things and enjoying it all again. The beginning is an excellent example of this, too much time spent on the aunt rather than getting on with meeting Lucretia and learning about her situation. (But Heyer is guilty of this too at times. Frederica is one of my favourites, but I still wish Charis, Endymion and Harry weren’t in it, taking up so much space that could have been better filled with Felix.)
On the whole, though, this was lovely. It’s more of a Regency comedy than a pure romance, since the characters are held at a distance and as unusual as the relationship was, it also seemed rather tepid at times, but it’s light and fun and engaging throughout. There aren’t many people about today who can successfully pull off this style of writing, so I very much look forward to seeing what else this author can produce.
(Review copy provided by the author.)
November 12, 2017
Loved this book!
It was very funny. Especially Bertie's statements - I'm still trying to figure out what he meant by "scurvy". Not to mention the poetry! The main characters were all so loveable and Ms. Carter did an excellent job of showing us how quickly 2 boys could transform into men very quickly when they needed to. I didn't think I would like Lady Rutland, but I actually became fond of her despite her haughty tyrannical ways. And Arnold was fantastic, so carefree and funny, but a quite caring person underneath. When he drew his mother's fire to cover for the hero and heroine - what a way to do it! I was laughing out loud at that statement -guaranteed to get your mother's attention! I hope Ms. Carter writes more like this one!
It was very funny. Especially Bertie's statements - I'm still trying to figure out what he meant by "scurvy". Not to mention the poetry! The main characters were all so loveable and Ms. Carter did an excellent job of showing us how quickly 2 boys could transform into men very quickly when they needed to. I didn't think I would like Lady Rutland, but I actually became fond of her despite her haughty tyrannical ways. And Arnold was fantastic, so carefree and funny, but a quite caring person underneath. When he drew his mother's fire to cover for the hero and heroine - what a way to do it! I was laughing out loud at that statement -guaranteed to get your mother's attention! I hope Ms. Carter writes more like this one!
August 5, 2022
The first romance where the plot is more about H than h. In any case his character developed in the story. I’d say he was gay but I can be mistaken.
h was more like a secondary character. She was perfect right from the beginning, always happy, intelligent, charming beautiful, rich. Etc. not endearing at all. And shallow, fell in love with H’s clothes.
The story was too long. All that could happen did happen in this book: 3 kidnappings, two villains, 2 shrew, 3 originals
h was more like a secondary character. She was perfect right from the beginning, always happy, intelligent, charming beautiful, rich. Etc. not endearing at all. And shallow, fell in love with H’s clothes.
The story was too long. All that could happen did happen in this book: 3 kidnappings, two villains, 2 shrew, 3 originals
April 16, 2019
An amalgam of Heyer
I read this in the hope that I might find an author who echoed the splendour of Georgette Heyer's novels. Alas! The characters were two dimensional and the plot had far too many incidents that echoed parts of Heyer's genius with Regency romances without depth or believability.
I read this in the hope that I might find an author who echoed the splendour of Georgette Heyer's novels. Alas! The characters were two dimensional and the plot had far too many incidents that echoed parts of Heyer's genius with Regency romances without depth or believability.
October 19, 2020
Very good, clean story.
This story was highly enjoyable with endearing characters and light humor. The H was a little clueless at first, but came around. It was a lovely, clean romance.
This story was highly enjoyable with endearing characters and light humor. The H was a little clueless at first, but came around. It was a lovely, clean romance.
July 14, 2019
2.5 Stars
This was a fun read, until it got a little repetitive. Kidnapping can be used as a plot advancement only so many times before it gets old.
This was a fun read, until it got a little repetitive. Kidnapping can be used as a plot advancement only so many times before it gets old.
February 25, 2017
In interest of full disclosure, I was asked by Rachel to do a review for her. That having been said, I am very busy with Uni work, working and being a parent, that I have not been accepting anything recently. However, I was impressed by her pitch of the book and decided to fit in into my schedule.
At the time it was also available (and still is at the date of writing this post) available as a free Kindle Unlimited download.
Now to the book ...it was excellent and thoroughly enjoyable. Markedly so, compared to some of the complete rubbish that is turned out by a large proportion of the the US romance writers.
Why? Like a carefully chosen outfit, it provided style and comfort, yet was designed with a sense of restrained style and accomplished design. It wasn't out there smacking people between the eyes, but smoothly gliding along gathering attention.
Essentially, this is a story of young love, with a well matched pair finding themselves and each other along the way. There is an undertone of humour that underpins the author's writing ... a distinctly Georgette Heyer feel, in fact. I would love to see Rachel take this a little further in another book. The world is severely lacking Heyeresque level writing these days.
Production values were very, very high. Quality always stand out above the cheap end of the market and Rachel has managed it with ease. I only found one error (which will be detailed on my blog along with a highlight.
The only slight negative is the cover. The quality of the content befits something more put together and stylish.
That having been said, don't judge it on the cover, pick it up and read. You will not be disappointed if you love historical romance that is well written with a funny edge.
I can't wait to see what Rachel writes going forward.
At the time it was also available (and still is at the date of writing this post) available as a free Kindle Unlimited download.
Now to the book ...it was excellent and thoroughly enjoyable. Markedly so, compared to some of the complete rubbish that is turned out by a large proportion of the the US romance writers.
Why? Like a carefully chosen outfit, it provided style and comfort, yet was designed with a sense of restrained style and accomplished design. It wasn't out there smacking people between the eyes, but smoothly gliding along gathering attention.
Essentially, this is a story of young love, with a well matched pair finding themselves and each other along the way. There is an undertone of humour that underpins the author's writing ... a distinctly Georgette Heyer feel, in fact. I would love to see Rachel take this a little further in another book. The world is severely lacking Heyeresque level writing these days.
Production values were very, very high. Quality always stand out above the cheap end of the market and Rachel has managed it with ease. I only found one error (which will be detailed on my blog along with a highlight.
The only slight negative is the cover. The quality of the content befits something more put together and stylish.
That having been said, don't judge it on the cover, pick it up and read. You will not be disappointed if you love historical romance that is well written with a funny edge.
I can't wait to see what Rachel writes going forward.
February 20, 2017
A classic Reg Rom with fun moments that are often funny, this is a great read for most ages. A dandy and an Incomparable meet at a ball...and the heroine is quickly on pursuit.
Great book for lovers of clean Regencies. Also recommended for teens.
More review here: http://www.regrom.com/2017/02/20/rach...
Great book for lovers of clean Regencies. Also recommended for teens.
More review here: http://www.regrom.com/2017/02/20/rach...
June 6, 2020
I read "Lucretia" in two (too) late nights and very much enjoyed it! The vocabulary is perfect. Ms. Carter is a clever wordsmith. I am in awe of that. Her tone is similar to Georgette Heyer, more comical than Austen's. I would compare the comic element to Dickens' s characters. Some of them are downright satirical, but not the protagonist. For me, it can make their characters less "deep". Tears will not and need not be shed, but chuckles may ensue.
The heroine, Lucretia, is lovely and perfect without making one sick. Her sensibility endears her to the reader. The hero is non-traditional in the genre. I can say that, but to say more would spoil it for you!
I'd give the book a 3 3/4 stars if I could. I enjoyed it, but it gets caught a bit in the fun (but not riveting) side plots for a while. Still, if you adore Heyer and her popular novel "Cotillion", you'll relish this read. Thank you, Rachel Carter! I'll read another!! Excellent and suitable for the young and verbally precocious niece (heat scale? a cup of tea with sugar).
The heroine, Lucretia, is lovely and perfect without making one sick. Her sensibility endears her to the reader. The hero is non-traditional in the genre. I can say that, but to say more would spoil it for you!
I'd give the book a 3 3/4 stars if I could. I enjoyed it, but it gets caught a bit in the fun (but not riveting) side plots for a while. Still, if you adore Heyer and her popular novel "Cotillion", you'll relish this read. Thank you, Rachel Carter! I'll read another!! Excellent and suitable for the young and verbally precocious niece (heat scale? a cup of tea with sugar).
May 1, 2017
A fun, action packed, yet sweet Regency Romance
Poor Lucretia, unfortunately she's rich. And this leads to ploting, proposals, fortune hunters and kidnappings. There is a lot of action in this Regency Romance and just when you think it's all resolved another totally unexpected twist occurs. Throughout it all spunky Lucretia, with her common sense steers clear of total disaster. Her true love is young and very clueless concerning women, almost verging toward disaster himself. But as his true feelings (which comes as a shock to him) emerge he steps up to his potential. Lovely distinctive characters will have you cheering them on in this sweet romance.
Two slightly jaring moments were the continued use of the title Countess, for Lady Rutland who definitely was married to a Viscount and not a Earl. She should be a Viscountess. Or to retain her title her husband should be a Earl. The other problem was the story of being denied entry to Almacks because of wearing knee breeches instead of pantaloons. This is based on the story of Lady Jersey closing the door on Wellington because he WASN'T wearing knee breeches which were traditional. Pantaloons were a modern fashion at this time and not welcomed at formal events. Long pants became popular and accepted as formal wear later during Queen Victoria's period. How this got twisted backwards is unknown. Thus 4 stars.
Poor Lucretia, unfortunately she's rich. And this leads to ploting, proposals, fortune hunters and kidnappings. There is a lot of action in this Regency Romance and just when you think it's all resolved another totally unexpected twist occurs. Throughout it all spunky Lucretia, with her common sense steers clear of total disaster. Her true love is young and very clueless concerning women, almost verging toward disaster himself. But as his true feelings (which comes as a shock to him) emerge he steps up to his potential. Lovely distinctive characters will have you cheering them on in this sweet romance.
Two slightly jaring moments were the continued use of the title Countess, for Lady Rutland who definitely was married to a Viscount and not a Earl. She should be a Viscountess. Or to retain her title her husband should be a Earl. The other problem was the story of being denied entry to Almacks because of wearing knee breeches instead of pantaloons. This is based on the story of Lady Jersey closing the door on Wellington because he WASN'T wearing knee breeches which were traditional. Pantaloons were a modern fashion at this time and not welcomed at formal events. Long pants became popular and accepted as formal wear later during Queen Victoria's period. How this got twisted backwards is unknown. Thus 4 stars.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews