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Lucasta
Lucasta Symonds did not enjoy her short London season and she is happy to remain at home while her beautiful younger sister Camilla sets out to make an advantageous marriage. Viscount Kennington takes one look at the beautiful Camilla and is immediately smitten. He follows her to London, determined to make her his wife. However, when events take a turn for the worse and he is accused of a cold-blooded murder, it is not Camilla who comes to his rescue but the less beautiful, much more practical Lucasta.
- GenresHistorical Romance
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 30, 2008
27 people want to read
About the author
Melinda Hammond
108 books49 followersI write under the names of Melinda Hammond and Sarah Mallory.
I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember - many of them born of frustration when I was stuck in a classroom longing to be rescued! I love anything romantic, whether it is a grand opera or a beautiful painting. It doesn't necessarily have to be happy, as long as it is inspiring.
I was born in Bristol and grew up on Barton Hill, an area of small terraced houses built in the nineteenth century between the mills and the railway. I think my love of adventure stories is due to the fact that I grew up with three older brothers and lived in a street full of boys! My love of history and the English language was fostered at grammar school, where I soon discovered the delights of Georgian and Regency fiction, first of all with the works of Jane Austen and then Georgette Heyer.
I left school at sixteen to work in companies as varied as stockbrokers, marine engineers, biscuit manufacturers and even a quarrying company, but I never lost my love of history, and when I wasn't reading and researching the Georgian and Regency period I was writing stories about it.
When I was at home with my first child, I decided to try my hand at writing seriously, and my first historical novel, Fortune's Lady, was published by Robert Hale in 1980. I have now published more than twenty novels, over a dozen of them as Melinda Hammond, winning the Reviewers Choice award in 2005 from Singletitles.com for Dance for a Diamond and the Historical Novel Society's Editors Choice in 2006 for Gentlemen in Question. Writing as Sarah Mallory for Harlequin Mills & Boon, The Earl's Runaway Bride won a coveted CataNetwork Reviewers Choice award for 2010 and the RNA's RoNA Rose Award in 2012 and 2013.
For many years I lived in an old farmhouse on the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire, literally a stone's throw from open moorland. Now I live by the sea in the wild Highlands of Scotland. I love walking to think up my latest plot, or just to clear my head ready for another session of writing.
I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember - many of them born of frustration when I was stuck in a classroom longing to be rescued! I love anything romantic, whether it is a grand opera or a beautiful painting. It doesn't necessarily have to be happy, as long as it is inspiring.
I was born in Bristol and grew up on Barton Hill, an area of small terraced houses built in the nineteenth century between the mills and the railway. I think my love of adventure stories is due to the fact that I grew up with three older brothers and lived in a street full of boys! My love of history and the English language was fostered at grammar school, where I soon discovered the delights of Georgian and Regency fiction, first of all with the works of Jane Austen and then Georgette Heyer.
I left school at sixteen to work in companies as varied as stockbrokers, marine engineers, biscuit manufacturers and even a quarrying company, but I never lost my love of history, and when I wasn't reading and researching the Georgian and Regency period I was writing stories about it.
When I was at home with my first child, I decided to try my hand at writing seriously, and my first historical novel, Fortune's Lady, was published by Robert Hale in 1980. I have now published more than twenty novels, over a dozen of them as Melinda Hammond, winning the Reviewers Choice award in 2005 from Singletitles.com for Dance for a Diamond and the Historical Novel Society's Editors Choice in 2006 for Gentlemen in Question. Writing as Sarah Mallory for Harlequin Mills & Boon, The Earl's Runaway Bride won a coveted CataNetwork Reviewers Choice award for 2010 and the RNA's RoNA Rose Award in 2012 and 2013.
For many years I lived in an old farmhouse on the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire, literally a stone's throw from open moorland. Now I live by the sea in the wild Highlands of Scotland. I love walking to think up my latest plot, or just to clear my head ready for another session of writing.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 29, 2016
LUCASTA is, for all intents and purposes, a story about getting what you need versus getting what you think you need. The story set up is familiar—gorgeous younger sister (Camilla) and less attractive, but more interesting older sister (Lucasta) vying for the affections of the same man (Viscount Kennington). Unfortunately, through no fault of his own, the Viscount becomes less desirable as a potential mate for the popular Camilla, who if not happily spurns him at her mother's behest.
With the exception of the father and his lecherous friend, the characters weren't unsympathetic. Believing what society believed is only to be expected of Lucasta's mother and sister, just as Lucasta not believing is to be expected since she is socially awkward.
I was surprised by the characterization of the father. His borderline cruel disregard for his eldest daughter's marital safety (if not happiness) was shocking. His reasons were basic and understandable, but his intentions and plans were criminal.
The romance follows predictable patterns, but Viscount Kennington is a happy-go-lucky sort of guy and not above poking fun at himself and society, and Lucasta is thankfully not given to melodramatic speeches about how envious she is over her younger sister's beauty. She is content to being less attractive since she was given brains and much prefers them to the obligations her sister must deal with.
The only complaint I have is towards the beginning. Events unfold that force Lucasta to run away from home, but she is woefully unprepared and the resulting encounter with Viscount Kennington is very contrived and unbelievable.
Overall LUCASTA is a quick enjoyable Regency romance sure to make most readers of the genre quite happy.
With the exception of the father and his lecherous friend, the characters weren't unsympathetic. Believing what society believed is only to be expected of Lucasta's mother and sister, just as Lucasta not believing is to be expected since she is socially awkward.
I was surprised by the characterization of the father. His borderline cruel disregard for his eldest daughter's marital safety (if not happiness) was shocking. His reasons were basic and understandable, but his intentions and plans were criminal.
The romance follows predictable patterns, but Viscount Kennington is a happy-go-lucky sort of guy and not above poking fun at himself and society, and Lucasta is thankfully not given to melodramatic speeches about how envious she is over her younger sister's beauty. She is content to being less attractive since she was given brains and much prefers them to the obligations her sister must deal with.
The only complaint I have is towards the beginning. Events unfold that force Lucasta to run away from home, but she is woefully unprepared and the resulting encounter with Viscount Kennington is very contrived and unbelievable.
Overall LUCASTA is a quick enjoyable Regency romance sure to make most readers of the genre quite happy.
Displaying 1 of 1 review