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An Uncivil Servant
Fleeing an unwanted marriage, Catherine disguises herself, with the help of the eccentric Lady Lavinia Pickering, first as a chambermaid and then as a member of an intellectual society, all the while pursued by Lord Jeremy Pickering.
188 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 4, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 3, 2015
As a Regency romance, this is a sad case of young love-at-first-sight for the hero, and with only a few scenes between him and the heroine during the entire book, there's not much to comment on this.
As a mystery, this seems too fortuitous, for there could logically be many reasons why a well-bred young lady would choose to be an upstairs maid aside from her being a runaway bride...so I'll leave it at that.
As a focus on an explorer's club, this is quite fun as it focuses on Lady Lavinia and her two cronies with their ladies observation club - to be honest, the amount of pages devoted to them seems to serve little purpose for the book but to provide additional characters, so the plot is at best muddled, at worst horribly disjointed.
Lady Lavinia is undoubtedly the main character of the book, as much as the blurb fools, and the novel begins and ends with her. The latter half of the book takes a page from Robinson Crusoe with stealing the hero's clothes and fending off an escaped convict in the woods, which is the most fun this book has to offer.
As a mystery, this seems too fortuitous, for there could logically be many reasons why a well-bred young lady would choose to be an upstairs maid aside from her being a runaway bride...so I'll leave it at that.
As a focus on an explorer's club, this is quite fun as it focuses on Lady Lavinia and her two cronies with their ladies observation club - to be honest, the amount of pages devoted to them seems to serve little purpose for the book but to provide additional characters, so the plot is at best muddled, at worst horribly disjointed.
Lady Lavinia is undoubtedly the main character of the book, as much as the blurb fools, and the novel begins and ends with her. The latter half of the book takes a page from Robinson Crusoe with stealing the hero's clothes and fending off an escaped convict in the woods, which is the most fun this book has to offer.
November 24, 2017
A true Regency for those who are still looking for the real thing
November 20, 2018
Between a three and four stars winner. The beginning was not a gripper; hard for me to "get into" it. Not much action; several characters to get to know. However, the action finally got going, and near the end, there were 2 specific episodes that were so hysterically funny that they just made me laugh out loud. Totally redeemed the book. Charming.
March 9, 2025
I had to struggle through the first 2 chapters. The aunt was too autocratic and illogical for my taste. But the book became really good from ca. page 50.
The adventure the four ladies had in the nature was absolutely hilarious. While the book wasn't exactly a romance for me, it was something different and several times, it made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes.
The adventure the four ladies had in the nature was absolutely hilarious. While the book wasn't exactly a romance for me, it was something different and several times, it made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes.
February 1, 2025
Not one of her best, it was mostly about the club Lady Pickering wants to create, the romance was secondary and extremely shallow as a result.
January 14, 2026
Did not finish.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews