Fleeting Fancy

by Rosemary Edghill

Ten years after he tricked her into a false marriage, Lord Severn finds himself married once again--but legitimately--to Primula Greetwell. Reprint.

Genres: Romance, Regency, Historical Romance, Historical, Regency Romance

Mass Market Paperback

Published February 22, 1993

About the author

She was born long enough ago to have seen Classic Trek on its first outing and to remember that she once thought Spock Must Die! to be great literature. As she aged, she put aside her fond dreams of taking over for Batman when he retired, and returned to her first love, writing. Her first SF sale (as Eluki Bes Shahar) was the Hellflower series, in which Damon Runyon meets Doc Smith over at the old Bester place. Between books and short stories in every genre but the Western (several dozen so far), she's held the usual selection of odd and part-time writer jobs, including bookstore clerk, secretary, beta tester for computer software, graphic designer, book illustrator, library clerk, and administrative assistant for a non-profit arts organization. She can truthfully state that she once killed vampires for a living, and that without any knowledge of medicine has illustrated half-a-dozen medical textbooks.


Her last name -- despite the efforts of editors, reviewers, publishing houses, her webmaster, and occasionally her own fingers -- is not spelled 'Edgehill'.


Also writes under the name Eluki Bes Shahar.

Reviews

[Preeti ♥︎ Her Bookshelves · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Intrigued and Captivated Stars
This is one confounding book. But never, ever boring!
So many mysterious, puzzling things are happening, with multiple tracks asserting for prominence. And so many characters!
No, the h/H were not the problem and were actually a balm to a confused brain.

For a portion of the book, after the prologue, I was winging it as many things went over my head but yes, things get sorted out eventually. And, I love reading traditional regencies (older the better) for the language - formal and flowery (not purple, of course). And this is written beautifully with a grip on the formal language that one can only admire. I learnt many new words (epicene, sufusc, inconnu, animadverting etc.) and phrases.

*Spoilers*
A wagon full of characters. The main player (quite literally) has to be the H's father, the earl. Machiavelli has nothing on him. For most of the book, I could not figure out if he was just plain controlling, actually villainous or was just parenting a once-wild son. Then, his equally clever mistress, Aspasia gets a pride of place in things. Another very old Machiavellian character - Baron Warltawk, the reptile mystifies by his very presence. The H's 'valet' of indeterminate origins is another colorful character.
Then, a bushel full of earl's daughter and their families. Georgie, the hero-worshipping nephew of the H, quite ready to follow in his uncle's infamous footsteps and whom the 'reformed rake' deigns to supervise and guide. The h’s friend, the almost ruined Sarah Jane, who forms the secondary couple with the young pup. Many other smaller players from the ton and the demimonde.
Only sane people in the sec characters' pantheon were the h's parents who were very tolerant, liberal, supportive of their daughter's infamy and anachronistic with it.

The h/H are pretty normal too, as I said. Amazingly, the 'new leaf' H is probably the most sane and likable character. Their history is one wacky story though. The once heartless, deplorable and villainous H fooled and used the h (sexually) with a false wedding (a fleet marriage) and then callously dumps her after a fortnight - all for a lark. This was the most shocking part of the story and what got me into reading the book. He's shown as a young and uncaring man but he was 25 at the time to her 16!

His domineering and ruthless father ships off/banishes him to India for 10 long years where he 'becomes a better man'. He's only allowed to come back if he agrees to marry a girl of his father's choice - sight unseen. He agrees and here we are!
Oh and, as travel to India takes 6 months so the H reaches back home after a year. meanwhile, the h makes a belated and successful come out in society gaining friends and admirers alike. She becomes a favorite of the H's sisters. So, she's in one happy place, deservedly so. Only dark cloud is her impending nuptials and that too because her sisters-in-law-to-be keep showering her with pitying looks and skeptical comments on her doubtful happiness with their rabble-rouser brother.

They marry. Both act as if they don't recognize each other. The H, all those years ago had given her a false name. But she realized his identity when he was shipped off to India in disgrace, by the descriptions of him as being tall and green eyed. (People, at the time, knew of some 'misdemeanor' on the H's part but not the truth.) The H recognizes not her face, but her name during the present wedding ceremony.

The h's agreeing to the marriage was not as strange as was her initial non-antagonism towards a man who betrayed her so bad and ruined her. No one knew what happened to her but lot of aspersions were cast about her 15 days disappearance. There was no out and out ruining. No one cut her but she generally stayed away from society, even foregoing a coming out. All this should have made her bitter but she's not. Rather, she's friendly and so normal towards him and all her thoughts are about going out in society with her new husband - here she's made a wager that she'll take her once-notorious husband to Almack's. So, their roles get reversed - she courts society while he prefers to stay home.

But, then suddenly friction appears between them as the h starts to resent what she sees as his reverting back to old ways. He’s only taking his nephew about or minding him, to keep him out of trouble. But, there’s one mention of a visit to ladies who were anything but (polite society).

‘She was a fallen woman - he should know - he was the one who had tripped her.’
Their marriage becomes a guessing game for them, even a game of chess as both try to speculate on the other motive for marrying and whether the other knows/recognizes the other. The H himself was a lost soul not knowing who he was really - the rake of his youth, a (East India) Company man and he was burning in own hell even as his wife prejudges his intentions and actions and knows she’s ‘caught a tiger by his tail.’

The father and his mistress, though, do not have too much of an on-pages interactions but all of Aspasia’s (the mistress) actions and thoughts are about him. I like her a lot and wish the author had given her a better than a what can be called a hanging hea. Her inner rumination can only be rivaled by the H’s. Her age is not mentioned. (Maybe I shouldn’t mention it but at some level, my brain was pairing her up with the H. Almost incestuous. Sheesh!)
The father’s actions seem harsh but just. I felt he was the only one who thought of the h or of making reparations to her. But, then there's an undercurrent of hidden, devious and mysterious things going on. As the h feels, the father-son relationship is intense and acrimonious but the emotion was ‘not as simple as hate’.

The last pages chase to catch the eloping younger couple, across England to Scotland is quite a drag and pulls down the book’s intensity.
The interactions and emotions in this book are old-fashioned for being overly intense and the characters (leaving out the h/H) are too invested in other people's lives than, perhaps, they ought to be. It's exhausting thinking if I had to behave that way. Here, I am barely able to manage my own life.

Sorry for the rambling review but I am still processing.

[Vintage · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable and somewhat brittle Regency MOC story. The hero is a blatant cad at the beginning as he waves his lace hankie in amusement at his father when he’s chastised for ruining a young girl on a lark with fake marriage and a real honeymoon, or as he flippantly puts it, a real ceremony with a fake parson. His father isn’t too impressed. Not that he’s worried about the girl, but that bad blood may come out with his son. The H is shipped off to India to either grow up or die.

Heroine is smarter than most and blessed with very decent parents so she keeps her mouth shut and gets on with her life but with a little less enthusiasm.

Years later the H’s father comes back in the picture and threatens strong-arms the heroine to marry his son and fetches him back from India. The heroine agrees, not because she still loves him which she does, but because the FIL threatens to ruin her. Regency England is not kind to women.

Slow burn romance as they slowly get to know each other under the guise that neither one remembers although they actually do.

A secondary story at the end confirms what a rough time women have when another cad sets up the heroine’s friend so she will be ruined regardless of what she decides to do. It was very infuriating and brings home what a terrible time it could be for women through no fault of their own.

Basically, I’m floundering on this review. I liked it and I didn’t like it. So like Sam Malone from Cheers, I have two opinions and that’s one guy’s opinion. Highly recommend the video below!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxaQ9...

I suggest that you read Preeti for a more coherent review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Danker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I echo the sentiments of reviewer LemontreeLime who six years ago bemoaned Rosemary Edghill’s decision to write only three HRs. In the interim, Edghill appears not to have been persuaded to add another title, which is a shame. Edghill’s three offerings are all well written and would stand head and shoulders over much being pumped out currently.
I liked this one for a myriad of reasons - the H was a cruel and dissolute youngster who grew up and was remorseful for his previously callous behaviour. And make no mistake - his behaviour was abhorrent. Edghill also provides a number of side characters who added colour to the tale and one of them was my favourite - the mistress of the H’s Machiavellian father.
All three titles are available for loan at Open Library.

[LemontreeLime · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am constantly impressed as all get out at how well Edghill's regency romances are written, and then depressed that she that doesn't write in that genre anymore. Clever, witty, plot twists, interesting characters, Miss Austen would be very pleased. (And I still think these could be rewritten into plays...)

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe deserves a better rating. But don't remember it at all. OTOH I kept it.

[Kiera Beddes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why doesn't goodreads have a half-star function?! Because in all reality, I would give this 2.5 stars. It was ok with moments of true enjoyment, but I had to skim through most of it because I just didn't really care about the majority of the characters.
Summary: Lord Severn is a rake and finally pushed the envelope too far by tricking Primula Greetwell into a false marriage for two weeks before dumping her back on her parent's doorstep. He is then sent to India for ten years as penance for his crime. He is only allowed back if he agrees to marry a woman of his father's choosing, sight unseen. Turns out, it's Primula! Surprise!
Response: It was an interesting concept. I was glad to see that Severn really did seem to grow up after his time in India. I don't know why his father played mindgames with everyone the way he did. I couldn't decide if he was just being cruel or if he was actually trying to some good. Primula (ugh, awful name) was an admirable female protagonist. I was proud of the way she handled herself, especially after her disgrace with Severn earlier.
Like I said earlier, I had to skim a LOT because there was a lot of characters in the book that I just did not care about. I just wanted to find out if Severn and Primula would get back on track.

[Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, I guess? I don't know. An interesting book, not so much a romance as a family drama / prolonged chess game. The worldbuilding is well done in a way you usually don't see in Regency romance published today (presumably because when it was published there was less of an assumption that anyone reading it will already know what romanceland Regency is like), and the characters' inner thoughts also make sense for the period. The best, most interesting character is Aspasia, the earl's mistress -- I wish she had gotten more page time, but since her outlook and goals are incompatible with the way romance novels work I can see why she didn't.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's another book that needs another 1/2 star. The relationship between the father and the son (hero) was fascinating: somewhat like Avon & Vidal (Heyer). "Secrets" were kept but not past the point of annoyance. A keeper for me.