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Regency Royal #17
The Chocolate Debutante
HE WAS ATTRACTIVE ENOUGH TO TEMPT EVEN A VERY DEDICATED BLUESTOCKING!
A woman of independent means with a healthy dose of cynicism about the male population, Harriet Tremayne is content with her circle of spinster friends and their devotion to literature, women's rights, and other intellectual interests.
However, when she undertakes a London Season for her beautiful but featherbrained niece, she concedes she must appear less a bluestocking and more a fashion plate to successfully sponsor an impossible miss whose only real desire is to consume chocolate.
Certainly her modish new appearance has nothing to do with the attentions of Lord Dangerfield, a wicked man of the world who has designs on the fair Susan, but spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince Harriet of his all-too-obvious attributes...
A woman of independent means with a healthy dose of cynicism about the male population, Harriet Tremayne is content with her circle of spinster friends and their devotion to literature, women's rights, and other intellectual interests.
However, when she undertakes a London Season for her beautiful but featherbrained niece, she concedes she must appear less a bluestocking and more a fashion plate to successfully sponsor an impossible miss whose only real desire is to consume chocolate.
Certainly her modish new appearance has nothing to do with the attentions of Lord Dangerfield, a wicked man of the world who has designs on the fair Susan, but spends an inordinate amount of time trying to convince Harriet of his all-too-obvious attributes...
168 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 30, 1995
46 people are currently reading
268 people want to read
About the author
Marion Chesney
139 books750 followersMarion Chesney Gibbons
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, M.C. Beaton, Sarah Chester.
Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
aka: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, M.C. Beaton, Sarah Chester.
Marion Chesney was born on 1936 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, and started her first job as a bookseller in charge of the fiction department in John Smith & Sons Ltd. While bookselling, by chance, she got an offer from the Scottish Daily Mail to review variety shows and quickly rose to be their theatre critic. She left Smith’s to join Scottish Field magazine as a secretary in the advertising department, without any shorthand or typing, but quickly got the job of fashion editor instead. She then moved to the Scottish Daily Express where she reported mostly on crime. This was followed by a move to Fleet Street to the Daily Express where she became chief woman reporter. After marrying Harry Scott Gibbons and having a son, Charles, Marion went to the United States where Harry had been offered the job of editor of the Oyster Bay Guardian. When that didn’t work out, they went to Virginia and Marion worked as a waitress in a greasy spoon on the Jefferson Davies in Alexandria while Harry washed the dishes. Both then got jobs on Rupert Murdoch’s new tabloid, The Star, and moved to New York.
Anxious to spend more time at home with her small son, Marion, urged by her husband, started to write historical romances in 1977. After she had written over 100 of them under her maiden name, Marion Chesney, and under the pseudonyms: Ann Fairfax, Jennie Tremaine, Helen Crampton, Charlotte Ward, and Sarah Chester, she getting fed up with 1714 to 1910, she began to write detectives stories in 1985 under the pseudonym of M. C. Beaton. On a trip from the States to Sutherland on holiday, a course at a fishing school inspired the first Constable Hamish Macbeth story. They returned to Britain and bought a croft house and croft in Sutherland where Harry reared a flock of black sheep. But Charles was at school, in London so when he finished and both tired of the long commute to the north of Scotland, they moved to the Cotswolds where Agatha Raisin was created.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
January 20, 2020
Rating: 3 1/2
The h was extremely annoying due to her self-inflicted sheltered lifestyle but her niece and charge, Susan, made everything fun and worthwhile. She was mixture of shrewdness and a load of surprises. The H was awesome and amazing. This was a fun book where all the villains are humiliated and receive their just desserts.
The h was extremely annoying due to her self-inflicted sheltered lifestyle but her niece and charge, Susan, made everything fun and worthwhile. She was mixture of shrewdness and a load of surprises. The H was awesome and amazing. This was a fun book where all the villains are humiliated and receive their just desserts.
November 8, 2022
Funnier than most of Chesney I have read.
Two charming and amusing love stories.
And of course a few sentences here and there about Regency era.
Also, between lines, some wisdom about human nature --> e.g. Jack Barnaby's story.
I could just say classical Chesney's romance.
She wondered what illness Mary had found to “put on,” for her sister dressed herself in various ailments with all the enthusiasm of a fashion-conscious dandy sporting a new waistcoat.
Two charming and amusing love stories.
If one has never been in love before, then it is difficult to recognize the beast when it comes along.
And of course a few sentences here and there about Regency era.
The Regency was an age of hard gambling, and therefore it was more important than ever to keep the family finances afloat by marrying well.
Also, between lines, some wisdom about human nature --> e.g. Jack Barnaby's story.
I could just say classical Chesney's romance.
May 3, 2008
Hilarious!
One of those books that are just outright fantastical in its plot, and somehow makes you laugh for the sheer outrageousness of it. Protagonist has been left in charge of her niece, a girl who's addicted to chocolate and can't eat it enough. So she has to devise a way to marry off the girl...
One of those books that are just outright fantastical in its plot, and somehow makes you laugh for the sheer outrageousness of it. Protagonist has been left in charge of her niece, a girl who's addicted to chocolate and can't eat it enough. So she has to devise a way to marry off the girl...
June 15, 2013
I didn't just laugh. I cackled. While I would never say this book is good, it is absolutely hilarious. The niece eats a centerpiece. I already have a definite weakness for Regency romances and I couldn't sleep. This turned out to be the perfect choice.
February 22, 2017
Quick read. I liked it well enough. I do however always find it strange that a heroine starts off in the book all starchy and wise ...... only to end up losing the ability to use her brain later on in the book. Oh well I breezed through it and will look for other books by this author.
August 15, 2021
Lighthearted fun, Marion Chesney never fails to entertain, love most of her books. Reread.
April 28, 2024
Very funny.
May 2, 2019
Had I the benefit of the paperback cover, I might not have listened to this frankly repetitive, vulgar, and rather lame duck of a novel. The only reason I finished listening to it was the reader's performance.
A woman in the Regency who, thanks to an inheritance, not being required by money to marry, has settled in as a bluestocking. She's content to read and write and discuss women's rights with her friends. One day, her sister, married with several children, asks her to present and chaperone her eldest daughter for the London Season.
The girl managed to fake sick enough at her elite finishing school to avoid learning to read or write. Her aunt takes her in hand, but still has to convince the girl not to eat every sweet she can lay hands on.
A dreadful man the aunt encounters at an inn before picking up the appalling niece provides an obvious romantic foil.
And then there's his mistress, (woman scorned), her other lover (ugh) and a kidnapping plot.
Half of the problems in this book would have been solved if people would just have talked to each other. The other half could have been solved by people just living morally.
But the reader of the audio book deserved a star.
A woman in the Regency who, thanks to an inheritance, not being required by money to marry, has settled in as a bluestocking. She's content to read and write and discuss women's rights with her friends. One day, her sister, married with several children, asks her to present and chaperone her eldest daughter for the London Season.
The girl managed to fake sick enough at her elite finishing school to avoid learning to read or write. Her aunt takes her in hand, but still has to convince the girl not to eat every sweet she can lay hands on.
A dreadful man the aunt encounters at an inn before picking up the appalling niece provides an obvious romantic foil.
And then there's his mistress, (woman scorned), her other lover (ugh) and a kidnapping plot.
Half of the problems in this book would have been solved if people would just have talked to each other. The other half could have been solved by people just living morally.
But the reader of the audio book deserved a star.
February 14, 2023
I laughed!
Yes you might want to suspend belief considering this is a historical book, but then this is fiction and meant for pleasure. But really this obsession with chocolate is just so fantastical!
Yes you might want to suspend belief considering this is a historical book, but then this is fiction and meant for pleasure. But really this obsession with chocolate is just so fantastical!
August 11, 2012
Sounded great, and started off great, but ended up being so-so.
April 29, 2015
I used to really like Marion Chesney's romances back in high school, but twenty years later this just seemed kind of stupid. Live and learn.
May 4, 2022
To be honest I don't really remember much about this book. Except that there wasn't as much chocolate as the title led me to believe.
January 5, 2026
As my first offering from Marion Chesney, I found "The Chocolate Debutante" (**) to be a disappointment. Perhaps, arriving at this work from the heady realms of Jane Austin and Georgette Heyer, I am simply too spoiled to find the entrancement in this novel that others have.
I initially found the heroine to be worthy: Harriet is an intelligent, independent (if innocent) woman living a life of contentment. Unfortunately, the author turns her into an insipid, generically vague female of the times, and we are meant to celebrate this, all for the sake of infatuation, which we are meant to believe is love. There is some base humor (more pertinent to the modern era than a regency romance), as well as many plot elements that clearly are intended to introduce some adventure and suspense, but fail miserably.
But it is not the theme, nor the plot, that so disappoints. Apparently, from reading the reviews here, many (most?) current romances are full of this fluff and still manage to garner readers, as well as acclaim for their authors. No, it is the bare bones style in which Ms. Chesney writes that is truly dispiriting. Reading this novel feels as though the author is using her outline but not adding enough detail. Everything is told to me, rather than being written in a style that allows me to feel it. Before I am able to truly engage with one character's feelings, we are hustled along to the next scene, where this tragedy repeats. At no time did I feel any real sympathy for the characters, for I was not given the chance to get to know them: their troubles were simply foisted off on me, to do with what I willed. And what I willed was to ignore them, in favor of attempting to understand the people in the novel.
If this is the sort of trash that is being accepted as good "romance" by today's women, then I despair of easily finding more romances that I feel worthy to be read. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation" series, and some other individual books, but Marion Chesney's "The Chocolate Debutante" has, alas, borne out to me the reason why romances, as a genre, are so roundly panned in the world of literature.
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* (extremely rare) There is something very wrong with this book &/or this author; never again.
** (seldom) Has flaws, or I just couldn’t get into it; no thanks.
*** (usual) Not great, not bad; no need to return to it.
**** (often) Better than average; I’d read it again.
***** (rare) A superb example of the genre, &/or an incredible piece of art; I re-read it often.
I initially found the heroine to be worthy: Harriet is an intelligent, independent (if innocent) woman living a life of contentment. Unfortunately, the author turns her into an insipid, generically vague female of the times, and we are meant to celebrate this, all for the sake of infatuation, which we are meant to believe is love. There is some base humor (more pertinent to the modern era than a regency romance), as well as many plot elements that clearly are intended to introduce some adventure and suspense, but fail miserably.
But it is not the theme, nor the plot, that so disappoints. Apparently, from reading the reviews here, many (most?) current romances are full of this fluff and still manage to garner readers, as well as acclaim for their authors. No, it is the bare bones style in which Ms. Chesney writes that is truly dispiriting. Reading this novel feels as though the author is using her outline but not adding enough detail. Everything is told to me, rather than being written in a style that allows me to feel it. Before I am able to truly engage with one character's feelings, we are hustled along to the next scene, where this tragedy repeats. At no time did I feel any real sympathy for the characters, for I was not given the chance to get to know them: their troubles were simply foisted off on me, to do with what I willed. And what I willed was to ignore them, in favor of attempting to understand the people in the novel.
If this is the sort of trash that is being accepted as good "romance" by today's women, then I despair of easily finding more romances that I feel worthy to be read. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation" series, and some other individual books, but Marion Chesney's "The Chocolate Debutante" has, alas, borne out to me the reason why romances, as a genre, are so roundly panned in the world of literature.
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* (extremely rare) There is something very wrong with this book &/or this author; never again.
** (seldom) Has flaws, or I just couldn’t get into it; no thanks.
*** (usual) Not great, not bad; no need to return to it.
**** (often) Better than average; I’d read it again.
***** (rare) A superb example of the genre, &/or an incredible piece of art; I re-read it often.
May 30, 2021
Marion Chesney definitely works with the same formula over and over again and sometimes it is amusing (and even touching) and often it falls flat. This felt very flat to me. We have the h, who's practical, intelligent, independent and content with her life. Once she starts caring more for her appearance and being accepted by the ton (that she used to dislike), she becomes insecure, dependent on others and rather stupid (ironically, that's what her spinster friends were worried about). The h is a rake with a murderous mistress whose manly feelings become hurt when the h calls him on his behavior. There are the spinster ladies, who used to be great friends with the h, but become jealous of their friend's beauty and pretty gowns and become bitter and vengeful (just as all women without a man should be). In the end, the only believable part was that the niece, who was one of the most brainless characters Ms. Chesney ever created, had more common sense than the h. I can't even blame this on when the book was written since I've read many similarly themed books written in recent times. I highly recommend The Loves of Lord Granton, which is part of this series but very different from the usual Chesney plot as well as The Poor Relations series. I cannot recommend this book even though it was well narrated in audio format.
August 13, 2018
A delightful and funny story of love in Regency England. Spinster by choice Harriet Tremayne is talked into sponsoring her niece for the upcoming season by her hypochondriac sister. Harriet's niece though beautiful, is a feather-brain who loves chocolate and abhors bathing. Harriet has her hands full, she concedes she must appear less a bluestocking and more fashionable to successfully sponsor her niece. On top of all this Harriet must contend with the attentions of Lord Dangerfield, a wicked man of the world who has designs on the fair niece yet spends an inordinate amount of time trying to sell Harriet on the virtues of his all-too-obvious attributes.
November 6, 2017
Not bad if read as a tongue in cheek spoof on romance novels. The main character starts off as a very level headed woman although very naive in the ways of men -- and the ways of men and women as couples. By the end of the book she is much more acquainted with men but thankfully finds a man who admires her for her brain as well as her looks. In between she makes a lot of not very thought out decisions but acts like a 'silly emotional woman'.
One of the secondary characters, the protagonist's niece, is a real hoot and was the main reason I finished the book.
One of the secondary characters, the protagonist's niece, is a real hoot and was the main reason I finished the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 22, 2023
This book was so good, I couldn’t put it down! The writing was great, loved the characters, and it had quite a few funny moments too. And the best part? The male lead did NOT sexually assault the female lead! Such a low bar and yet this is the first book in five of this author’s where that did not happen. 😬
I have to laugh at all the reviews stating they loved Susan and hated Harriet. Susan got better as the book went along but I loved Harriet! Perhaps because I see myself in her 😅 but I loved that it was the older “spinster” who got the love story this time around.
I have to laugh at all the reviews stating they loved Susan and hated Harriet. Susan got better as the book went along but I loved Harriet! Perhaps because I see myself in her 😅 but I loved that it was the older “spinster” who got the love story this time around.
March 22, 2019
Marion Chesney [MC Beaton] has been a favourite of mine for escapist reading. I have lately gone off, even though all the kindle books did their job for bedtime reading.
And the majority of her books have been on audio from the library, which again, I enjoyed when going through the first fifteen years of audiobook listening.
And the majority of her books have been on audio from the library, which again, I enjoyed when going through the first fifteen years of audiobook listening.
November 19, 2019
Harriet Tremayne is independently wealthy and very happy as a spinster. Then her sister asks her to put a London season on for her niece. The niece turns out to be very attractive and absolutely loves food and causes problems. The Earl of Dangerfield ends up helping Harriet.
Light and fluffy and funny is parts.
Light and fluffy and funny is parts.
August 25, 2023
these are all soooo dumb and yet I keep listening 😭😭😭
Susan was surprisingly funny — I was expecting some conflict between her and Harriet but instead she was just so ridiculous
it just felt like a lot more could have been done with Harriet's "bluestocking" personality like why do you have to like books OR want to get married? the message was very muddled
Susan was surprisingly funny — I was expecting some conflict between her and Harriet but instead she was just so ridiculous
it just felt like a lot more could have been done with Harriet's "bluestocking" personality like why do you have to like books OR want to get married? the message was very muddled
July 12, 2025
So good
So well written in that both the story and the way the author uses words that it is very engaging reading. I especially enjoyed all of the characters interactions. I know that some of the dialogue would have been too scandalous to be real but it's fun to suspend belief and enjoy the story.
So well written in that both the story and the way the author uses words that it is very engaging reading. I especially enjoyed all of the characters interactions. I know that some of the dialogue would have been too scandalous to be real but it's fun to suspend belief and enjoy the story.
December 9, 2019
Cute and fun audiobook to listen to. Didn't love the spinsters-are-just-jealous subplot, but making allowances for the era it was written in! I've been shy about listening to regency romances, but this one was not steamy at all.
November 9, 2021
This was kind of a fun listen - at times I get annoyed at Chesney for stereotyping so much but she definitely comes up with some silly scenarios. This was a nice easy listen for the drive home late at night
October 28, 2022
A delightful story of an Aunt commissioned to escort her niece to London for her first coming out debut to find a suitor. Her aunt does everything to find a suitable match only to find herself in a match of her own!
February 27, 2017
Silly and fun - made me thing of all the romances my grandma had. I didn't know MC Beaton was such a prolific author!
December 30, 2017
3.5 A fun read, not at all dated other than a refreshing lack of the boilerplate sex scenes so common today. Book had interesting characters and a decent plot. I will be reading more of Chesney.
February 27, 2018
Every regency novel by ms Beaton has something new and hilarious. Just when u think you’ve read every possible scenario she comes up with a fresh story! This one is a must read!
June 7, 2018
witty historical romance - the Marion Chesney books are a super guilty pleasure!
August 3, 2018
Loved
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews