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The Daughters of Mannerling #3
The Deception
Like her sisters, Abigail Beverley is obsessed with winning back Mannerling, the ancestral home--no matter what it takes. But marrying Harry Devers, the rakish and repugnant son of the manor's present owner, isn't an appealing option. Marrying the handsome Lord Burfield, just back from the war, is far more appealing.
But then the intolerable Harry Devers suffers a fall from a horse--and is forced to recover with Abigail's family. When Abigail's twin sister Rachel nurses him back to health, Harry proposes marriage--but Rachel has doubts. Determined to win back Mannerling once and for all--and not by marrying Harry--Abigail launches an audacious plan that's sure to keep you turning pages.
But then the intolerable Harry Devers suffers a fall from a horse--and is forced to recover with Abigail's family. When Abigail's twin sister Rachel nurses him back to health, Harry proposes marriage--but Rachel has doubts. Determined to win back Mannerling once and for all--and not by marrying Harry--Abigail launches an audacious plan that's sure to keep you turning pages.
226 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1995
58 people are currently reading
316 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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January 15, 2024
This One is Better Than the Last One!
Another book from The Daughters of Mannerling series. And this one is a doozy. It moves fast and it moves all over the place.
Abigail, the third Beverly sister, and the twin to Rachel is the next in line to get the house back in the family.
If only she could marry the son of the owners of the house. Harry Devers is also in love with Mannerling, just like the Beverlys.
He wants to stay there forever, but he can’t. He has a military career that he needs to sell out in order to stay home and play host to Mannerling.
A Beverly sister would make a nice wife and show he has matured and is in control of his rough ways. Show he has changed.
But has he really changed? And is Abigail Beverly still enamored with Mannerling?
The author wants you to see for yourself.
Five stars. 💫💫💫💫💫
Another book from The Daughters of Mannerling series. And this one is a doozy. It moves fast and it moves all over the place.
Abigail, the third Beverly sister, and the twin to Rachel is the next in line to get the house back in the family.
If only she could marry the son of the owners of the house. Harry Devers is also in love with Mannerling, just like the Beverlys.
He wants to stay there forever, but he can’t. He has a military career that he needs to sell out in order to stay home and play host to Mannerling.
A Beverly sister would make a nice wife and show he has matured and is in control of his rough ways. Show he has changed.
But has he really changed? And is Abigail Beverly still enamored with Mannerling?
The author wants you to see for yourself.
Five stars. 💫💫💫💫💫
June 29, 2018
Home for the heroine in this novel, is a grand mansion called Mannerling but that stately old estate doesn't exactly conjure up images of warmth and happy family tidings. On the contrary, Mannerling is an evil house that's almost on par with the one in Stephen King's story Rose Red. This is the 3rd novel in the series and the heroine is Abigail Beverley. Abigail, like all her relatives ( with the exception of her older sisters who were lucky to find true love in the first 2 novels The Banishment and The Intrigue ), is obsessed with reclaiming Mannerling once more. In The Banishment, Abigail's late father had gambled and lost Mannerling and in the first 2 novels her sisters Isabella and the super bitchy Jessica tried and schemed to marry the new owners of the house before love and good sense led them to their respective heroes. In this 3rd installment in the series, Abigail's identical twin sister Rachel decides that she's going to marry the current owner's son. It's a stupid and dangerous plan because Harry Devers is a lecherous rapist who almost raped her sister Jessica in The Intrigue. But, these Beverley girls do not learn from their older sister's lesson because their unhealthy fixation with Mannerling trumps all common sense and logic.
In this story Rachel decides, at the last minute, that she's not going to marry Harry Devers. The heroine Abigail takes her place since they're identical. Abigail is also drawn to the hero Lord Burfield but the stupid obsession with Mannerling makes her go ahead with the wedding to Harry Devers. She marries Harry, using Rachel's name but when it's time to consummate the marriage she runs off and hides in the hero's bedroom. The marriage to Harry is declared null and void by the vicar and Abigail becomes betrothed to Lord Burfield; this happens because Harry Dever's parents make such a scene that all the guests think that the heroine has been compromised by the hero. I didn't like the MC's in this novel very much because they both seemed to wait until the very last minute before admitting that they love each other. Lord Burfield also got himself entangled with a grasping spinster called Prudence Makepeace who was obsessed with him. Prudence was so determined to marry the H that she investigated his background, his likes and dislikes and forced herself to read books on the types of hobbies that he liked. That woman was a nutcase because she even tried to drug him with laudanum to prevent him from visiting the heroine.
Prudence, Harry Devers and the H's widowed aunt all try to sabotage the MC's wedding. There's even a catfight scene where the heroine beats the shit out of Prudence. Lord Burfield also made me hate him a little bit when he got sulky and jealous and decided to flirt with a notorious slutty widow called Lady Trent. That was quite childish on his part. There wasn't any cheating in this story but I could've done without all the additional OTT stupidity of these 2 MC's. This novel was entertaining but while it wasn't as enjoyable as the first installment The Banishment, it was still superior to the second book The Intrigue. There was a lot of drama, schemes, nasty relatives and jealous wannabe other women. The good thing was that the rapist Harry Devers ended up dying when he fell from the rooftop trying to escape the Bow Street runners who had come to arrest him for his kidnapping of the heroine. Prudence Makepeace also got her punishment because her parents are forced to leave England and go hide in Italy after the authorities are made aware of her role in the schemes to kidnap Abigail. Prudence was such a dumbass that she actually wrote a letter which the authorities used as proof of her part in the conspiracy.
The MC's get their happy ending but the heroine almost ruins things when she gets upset with the H because he can't stand her mother. It took the intervention of a kind stranger to talk some sense into the stupid heroine; the latter then went back and apologized to the H for being a spoilt bitch since she herself is aware of how annoying, pushy and greedy her mother can be. They do reconcile but it wasn't as intensely passionate as I would've have hoped:
‘We will never, ever quarrel again, Rupert,’ said Abigail passionately as she lay in his arms that night.
‘No, never,’ he agreed. But of course they did, for they were very much in love.
M.C. Beaton. Deception (Daughters of Mannerling 3) (Kindle Locations 2505-2507). Canvas. Kindle Edition.
This is the heroine Abigail:
This is the hero, Lord Burfield:
The next novel deals with Abigail's twin sister Rachel but she kinda bored me, so I'll save her story for last and skip on to Belinda's novel. I can't wait to see what the remaining Beverley sisters will be willing to do to try and get Mannerling back in their possession. There are also some hints that Mannerling is becoming an even more evil house with its haunted chandelier that swings wildly even when there is no wind blowing. The mystery about the nice governess Miss Trumbly is also another storyline that I am impatiently awaiting, because there is ample proof that that lady comes from a powerful family and is hiding her identity from her relatives while she works for the Beverleys.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 15, 2018
It is now up to the twin daughters of Manderly to get their home back. Unfortunately the owner is still the wastrel and rapist. But, Rachel thinks he has reformed and agrees to marry him, until she wakes up to his rough handling of her first kiss.
When she tries to back out, the tougher twin, Abigail steps in. A little twin switch, but will Abigail be able to handle the jerk?
This is my fav in the series so far because of Abigail. She is a bit of a hellion and those are my favorite characters. 😊
When she tries to back out, the tougher twin, Abigail steps in. A little twin switch, but will Abigail be able to handle the jerk?
This is my fav in the series so far because of Abigail. She is a bit of a hellion and those are my favorite characters. 😊
December 4, 2022
Definitely better than the two previous ones. Funnier (Tommy Cartwright at the end was as a cherry on the top), more interesting (descriptions of armies and wars were fascinating, Chesney had a way to tell them with a subtle, hidden cry about its unfairness and harshness).
Again, I would have liked to read a longer version of this story, there were many moments, and threads that would have been great to explore. But it was Chesney's romance, so I accepted the length.
[3.5 stars]
Again, I would have liked to read a longer version of this story, there were many moments, and threads that would have been great to explore. But it was Chesney's romance, so I accepted the length.
[3.5 stars]
March 5, 2016
I don't know if I can pin down exactly why, but so far this is my favourite book in the series. There was way less time spent on the romance, and yet it was one of the better ones.
The bolder twin of the sisters, Abigail, expects that she'll be able to land Harry Devers where Jessica "failed," since they're a genteel family who can't use the scandalous word legs, let alone talking about her sister being brutally assaulted. However, Miss Trumble is on the case to stop the girls allowing the curse of Mannerling to draw them back in. The girls are reminded of Harry's brutality and Abigail comes to her senses as Lord Burfield comes on the scene.
I rather liked Lord Burfield. He starts out one of those men in want of a wife, but mostly because he's bored of not having one and doesn't really want to be a bachelor for life. Marriage is desirable, finding the woman to marry isn't. At first he is enticed by Abigail's boldness and her masculine interests in his exploits as a soldier.
There is quite a bit of pointing to gender differences at the time, and most especially that if any of the Beverley girls had been a man instead, then his devotion to getting back the family home would have been seen as noble rather than vulgar. Heroic rather than mercenary. Never mind that every other woman tried to marry with money in mind.
Just when it looks like the girls have put Mannerling behind them, Harry Devers gets himself a concussion and has to stay with the Beverleys. Much like Jane had to stay with the Bingleys in Pride and Prejudice. He wants out of the army (again) and knows that his parents won't let him thanks to the scandal with Jessica Beverley. The only way to smooth over the scandal is to marry one of the other sisters.
Because Lady Beverley is worse than ever, she is totally cool with this. She also got rid of Miss Trumble because she, Lady Beverley is a dizzy cow. It's totally believable, too: Lady Beverley dismissed her because Miss Trumble wore a nicer gown to a party.
The only contrived part is how Harry gets injured in the first place. But I thought it was hilarious, so honestly, contrive away. I laughed out loud when it happened.
While the girls nurse Harry back to health, he strikes up a redemption romance with Rachel, Abigail's twin. It all looks like a nice story to those who don't know what a villain Harry is, until Rachel starts to get scared. As Miss Trumble would say, "a rake never reforms." And he doesn't. However, they're already engaged, the wedding approaches, and if she cries off, the Beverleys will be pretty much irredeemably unmarriageable. So Abigail gets an idea out of The Parent Trap.
They switch places, and Abigail goes through with the wedding under Rachel's name. She doesn't think much beyond the moment, until she realises that Harry is not exactly going to wait to consummate the marriage. Long story short, he freaks her out with his drooling lechery and she runs (unintentionally) into the arms of Lord Burfield.
Rachel is saved, and Abigail is to marry the gentlemanly and honourable Lord Burfield. He was already interested in her, and now he doesn't have to do any work at finding a wife. He pretty much says the latter outright. Most of the book from there is about people trying to stop them from getting married. His mother is against it, since Abigail is scandalous and doesn't really have any money. Prudence Makepeace thought that he would marry her, so she would like to see Abigail burst into flame. And Harry has had the humiliation of the century to go on top of his Need Revenge sundae.
Abigail and Lord Burfield have a slap-slap-kiss romance filled with jealousy and petty prideful stubbornness. They even bicker in the last chapter after they finally are married. Miss Trumble continues on quite mysterious, although a major suspicion has been confirmed. Harry is mad as a box of frogs. I can't wait to read the next book.
The bolder twin of the sisters, Abigail, expects that she'll be able to land Harry Devers where Jessica "failed," since they're a genteel family who can't use the scandalous word legs, let alone talking about her sister being brutally assaulted. However, Miss Trumble is on the case to stop the girls allowing the curse of Mannerling to draw them back in. The girls are reminded of Harry's brutality and Abigail comes to her senses as Lord Burfield comes on the scene.
I rather liked Lord Burfield. He starts out one of those men in want of a wife, but mostly because he's bored of not having one and doesn't really want to be a bachelor for life. Marriage is desirable, finding the woman to marry isn't. At first he is enticed by Abigail's boldness and her masculine interests in his exploits as a soldier.
There is quite a bit of pointing to gender differences at the time, and most especially that if any of the Beverley girls had been a man instead, then his devotion to getting back the family home would have been seen as noble rather than vulgar. Heroic rather than mercenary. Never mind that every other woman tried to marry with money in mind.
Just when it looks like the girls have put Mannerling behind them, Harry Devers gets himself a concussion and has to stay with the Beverleys. Much like Jane had to stay with the Bingleys in Pride and Prejudice. He wants out of the army (again) and knows that his parents won't let him thanks to the scandal with Jessica Beverley. The only way to smooth over the scandal is to marry one of the other sisters.
Because Lady Beverley is worse than ever, she is totally cool with this. She also got rid of Miss Trumble because she, Lady Beverley is a dizzy cow. It's totally believable, too: Lady Beverley dismissed her because Miss Trumble wore a nicer gown to a party.
The only contrived part is how Harry gets injured in the first place. But I thought it was hilarious, so honestly, contrive away. I laughed out loud when it happened.
While the girls nurse Harry back to health, he strikes up a redemption romance with Rachel, Abigail's twin. It all looks like a nice story to those who don't know what a villain Harry is, until Rachel starts to get scared. As Miss Trumble would say, "a rake never reforms." And he doesn't. However, they're already engaged, the wedding approaches, and if she cries off, the Beverleys will be pretty much irredeemably unmarriageable. So Abigail gets an idea out of The Parent Trap.
They switch places, and Abigail goes through with the wedding under Rachel's name. She doesn't think much beyond the moment, until she realises that Harry is not exactly going to wait to consummate the marriage. Long story short, he freaks her out with his drooling lechery and she runs (unintentionally) into the arms of Lord Burfield.
Rachel is saved, and Abigail is to marry the gentlemanly and honourable Lord Burfield. He was already interested in her, and now he doesn't have to do any work at finding a wife. He pretty much says the latter outright. Most of the book from there is about people trying to stop them from getting married. His mother is against it, since Abigail is scandalous and doesn't really have any money. Prudence Makepeace thought that he would marry her, so she would like to see Abigail burst into flame. And Harry has had the humiliation of the century to go on top of his Need Revenge sundae.
Abigail and Lord Burfield have a slap-slap-kiss romance filled with jealousy and petty prideful stubbornness. They even bicker in the last chapter after they finally are married. Miss Trumble continues on quite mysterious, although a major suspicion has been confirmed. Harry is mad as a box of frogs. I can't wait to read the next book.
February 7, 2014
Third sister Abigail believes she has left the dream of Mannerling behind and relishes discussing military matters with the handsome Lord Burfield, who has befriended her. When the rakish son of the Mannerling owners, Harry Devers, is injured in a riding accident, Abigail's twin Rachel nurses Harry back to health and believing him to be misunderstood, she agrees to marry him. Harry's aim is to present himself as respectable until the wedding, then push out his parents and live his life the way he wants. Unfortunately for Rachel, Harry can't stick to his promises and becomes too forward in his advances before the wedding, which scares the innocent young Rachel. Abigail, beliveing she can make Harry do what she wants, proposes to change places with her twin and marry Harry instead so they can have Mannerling back. Abigail promises she won't consumate the marriage for awhile until she tells Harry the truth and they become properly wed. However, Harry has other plans which end up sending Abigail fleeing from him and innocently landing in bed with Lord Burfield. Scandal and drama interefere before the happy ending can occur. I liked this book better than the first two but it dragged on way too long.
December 18, 2012
The third installment in the tales of the Beverly sisters of Mannerling, this one was more enjoyable than the other books, with an intelligent (if wild and impetuous) sister to wed off, and a peek more into Miss Trumble's history.
September 23, 2014
Enjoying this series and would love to know the mystery of Miss Trumbull.
July 26, 2025
Great read for Regency Lovers, I was bored at my Grandma's house and read it in one sitting.
I grabbed this book (not knowing it was the 3rd in the series, but understood it and think it works as a stand alone well.)
Miss Trumble the governess with a secret (obviously coming from a wealthy family) cares for the 6 Beverly daughters and each book follows the scandals and troubles they have getting each one to the altar. I love her character, she's my favorite narrator as she's like this magical fairy godmother not afraid to use her secret connections to get invitations to balls, social events, and give motherly marital advice.
This book focuses on the twins Abigail & Rachel as well as the hot newly returned for war bachelor Lord Burfield. Of course there's the nosey jealous spinster Prudence (similar in many respects to the Bridgerton series Prudence), the town rake Henry Denver come to conspire trouble, and a classic twin switchero.
It's got old english, but is easy to understand and just a good regency romance book with kinda comical plot events that build and build. It switches perspective frequently and is just funny light material, but I'd recommend a mature rating 18+ as there's the rake Henry Denvers and when I mentioned his actions in conversation to my mother-in-law about how he accosting women she felt scandalized. Also, there's a brief description about the marriage night.
Spoilers below (I just wanna rant about my favorite parts of the book below)
The fact how often the twins Rachel & Abigail visit their old home Mannerling is kinda comical to me. The meet cute with Lord Burfield is sweet and I like that he recognizes the age difference, which is my only complaint about the book, but at the time that was normal that the young men would h*e it up till they were ready to settle down with a family or joined the army/workforce until they could afford having their own estate. I love that they have a 1 legged cook, Josiah he's just such a fun addition. The mother Mrs. Beverley is insufferable similar to Mrs. Bennet from Pride & Prejudice, and in denial about her dwindling fortune. The fact that Rachel falls prey to Henry's schemes is frustrating, and I was even on board about the switchero until it went to the part of after 'I do', and then Abigail freaking out that he was coming to bed in a nightgown. Like she really didn't think it through, why not wait till @ the altar and call him out for not knowing the difference between the twins appearances. Prudence is just a funny antagonist and I love that she actually got into a physical fight with Abigail that had me cackling. One of my favorite moments was just the level of pettiness when Henry went to the opera and the soprano refused to sing for the audience because he was there, so he got escorted out, priceless. The petty trope of flirting with other people at dinner to make another jealous had me rolling my eyes in annoyance, and was frustrating when Lord B. kissed Lady T. on the hand and was seen with her a few times, like he could've played the hero a bit better by avoiding that, but I like that he's flawed but noble gentleman. Also, the fact that our heroine Abigail wasn't a helpless damsel but used a knife to try to get out when kidnapped, and straight up scaled out of the chimney to get to her wedding was amazing. I thought it was so funny when there was a quote about how Lord B. noticed her dress being too short to see her ankles, and later the fact about Abigail being all nervous for the wedding night wanting to ask her married sister for advice, but then being to shy to even say such a vulgar word like 'legs' had be dying of laughter. I love that Henry died! I didn't think he was that horrible at first thought he was just an alcoholic frequently drunk horney teenager who hated being apart of the army and made dishonorable seducing attempt on the oldest sister Jessica, but then when you read his internal dialogue seeking to manipulate others or when his history of getting a maid pregnant, threatened to kill Abigail and later locked her up, desires to have the entire family suffer becoming spinsters/ ruined socially etc.
I grabbed this book (not knowing it was the 3rd in the series, but understood it and think it works as a stand alone well.)
Miss Trumble the governess with a secret (obviously coming from a wealthy family) cares for the 6 Beverly daughters and each book follows the scandals and troubles they have getting each one to the altar. I love her character, she's my favorite narrator as she's like this magical fairy godmother not afraid to use her secret connections to get invitations to balls, social events, and give motherly marital advice.
This book focuses on the twins Abigail & Rachel as well as the hot newly returned for war bachelor Lord Burfield. Of course there's the nosey jealous spinster Prudence (similar in many respects to the Bridgerton series Prudence), the town rake Henry Denver come to conspire trouble, and a classic twin switchero.
It's got old english, but is easy to understand and just a good regency romance book with kinda comical plot events that build and build. It switches perspective frequently and is just funny light material, but I'd recommend a mature rating 18+ as there's the rake Henry Denvers and when I mentioned his actions in conversation to my mother-in-law about how he accosting women she felt scandalized. Also, there's a brief description about the marriage night.
Spoilers below (I just wanna rant about my favorite parts of the book below)
The fact how often the twins Rachel & Abigail visit their old home Mannerling is kinda comical to me. The meet cute with Lord Burfield is sweet and I like that he recognizes the age difference, which is my only complaint about the book, but at the time that was normal that the young men would h*e it up till they were ready to settle down with a family or joined the army/workforce until they could afford having their own estate. I love that they have a 1 legged cook, Josiah he's just such a fun addition. The mother Mrs. Beverley is insufferable similar to Mrs. Bennet from Pride & Prejudice, and in denial about her dwindling fortune. The fact that Rachel falls prey to Henry's schemes is frustrating, and I was even on board about the switchero until it went to the part of after 'I do', and then Abigail freaking out that he was coming to bed in a nightgown. Like she really didn't think it through, why not wait till @ the altar and call him out for not knowing the difference between the twins appearances. Prudence is just a funny antagonist and I love that she actually got into a physical fight with Abigail that had me cackling. One of my favorite moments was just the level of pettiness when Henry went to the opera and the soprano refused to sing for the audience because he was there, so he got escorted out, priceless. The petty trope of flirting with other people at dinner to make another jealous had me rolling my eyes in annoyance, and was frustrating when Lord B. kissed Lady T. on the hand and was seen with her a few times, like he could've played the hero a bit better by avoiding that, but I like that he's flawed but noble gentleman. Also, the fact that our heroine Abigail wasn't a helpless damsel but used a knife to try to get out when kidnapped, and straight up scaled out of the chimney to get to her wedding was amazing. I thought it was so funny when there was a quote about how Lord B. noticed her dress being too short to see her ankles, and later the fact about Abigail being all nervous for the wedding night wanting to ask her married sister for advice, but then being to shy to even say such a vulgar word like 'legs' had be dying of laughter. I love that Henry died! I didn't think he was that horrible at first thought he was just an alcoholic frequently drunk horney teenager who hated being apart of the army and made dishonorable seducing attempt on the oldest sister Jessica, but then when you read his internal dialogue seeking to manipulate others or when his history of getting a maid pregnant, threatened to kill Abigail and later locked her up, desires to have the entire family suffer becoming spinsters/ ruined socially etc.
May 26, 2020
This book definitely has more surprises and twists than the first two in the series, but they weren’t very pleasant. I found it difficult to believe SO many Regency ton characters would would commit crimes of passion, heedless of the consequences and risk of scandal. I also had a hard time liking any of the characters except Miss Trumble and Barry. The romance started out well enough, but seemed to fall apart midway through and seemed more like an act, though I don’t believe it was meant to. Since I listened to the audiobook version, those issues were compounded by the distraction of the narrator’s scratchy voice, mispronunciations, and disjointed inflections. I do want to find out what happens with Mannerling, and also discover who Miss Trumble really is, so I will give the next book a go and hope it’s an improvement.
September 5, 2019
Abigail Beverley, the third daughter in the Beverly family, is the next hope of reclaiming their family home, but just as she is giving up on the dream, her twin sister, Rachel, falls under the spell of the rake, Harry Devers (the current heir to Mannerling) - the man who attacked their older sister. But in Abigail's attempts to help her sister, she may end up loosing the handsome Lord Burfield, a gentleman who just happens to be falling for Abigail.
Another fun book in the series, although I could have done without the crazy arguing between Lord Burfield and Abigail, but I guess that is just how things are in some relationships. 3.5 stars
Another fun book in the series, although I could have done without the crazy arguing between Lord Burfield and Abigail, but I guess that is just how things are in some relationships. 3.5 stars
December 25, 2022
I like this enough to keep it because the writing is light and flows like a dream. It is reminiscent of Barbara Cartland in a bad way: the characters are flat and two-dimensional, and we are told, not shown, that they are a certain way.
The hero is certainly wealthy, brave and titled, but also pompous, and the heroine, despite being told she is smart and brassy, well she is brassy, but we have seen no indication of smartness. In fact, most of what drives the story is her idiocy.
The hero is certainly wealthy, brave and titled, but also pompous, and the heroine, despite being told she is smart and brassy, well she is brassy, but we have seen no indication of smartness. In fact, most of what drives the story is her idiocy.
February 7, 2018
I have to keep reminding myself that these stories are "vintage" as they were written in the 1990s. They do attack the Regency norms, manners and the ton. I just can't get over the predictability of the story. Also, anyone that follows my reviews... "come now" is a frequent guest. Ding, ding.
November 16, 2018
Not one of M.C. Beaton’s best Regency romances. I didn’t feel the attraction between Abigail and Rupert, nor were the supporting characters as interesting. Maybe I would have had more context if I had read the other books in the series.
January 25, 2021
I've read A LOT of M. C Beaton/Marion Chesney, have loved all of them, but for the life of me I can't understand this series, it's so unbelievably poor. I like the stories but the writing... Very un-MCBEATON-like.
August 21, 2017
Listened to audio.
September 1, 2017
I like all the scheming in this one. Lots of devious characters plotting and planning. Definitely a fun read.
December 12, 2019
Someone described these books as well written junk food. I think that is a perfect description. I liked the first better. Fun to read while waiting for other books on my holds shelf.
May 24, 2020
Audio. Cute, fast, funny, clean read.
January 19, 2021
Abigail is hilarious. :)
August 27, 2021
The third daughter get married but it sure is tangled web before spider get the fly.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 1, 2021
These are pretty silly but a good listen.
February 7, 2022
The machinations and idiosyncrasies of the British aristocracy during the Regency period is thoroughly showcased in this series.
February 7, 2022
If I am being honest I kept reading this series because it was available but the books are only okay.
March 30, 2022
The third Daughters of Mannerling novel, another Regency romance, this one has a twist. I thoroughly enjoy Marion Chesney's books.
June 8, 2022
This is the first book of this series that I have read and I cannot wait to read the rest
April 27, 2023
A little big gothic and quite delightful
May 4, 2024
Great story
M.C. Beaton is a wonderful story teller. Even when the plot is overused as this one; she makes it enjoyable!
M.C. Beaton is a wonderful story teller. Even when the plot is overused as this one; she makes it enjoyable!
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