Ratings5
Average rating3.6
The spirited and independent Miss Annis Wychwood is a beautiful heiress, and hopelessly single, has twenty-nine and well past the age for falling in love. When she sponsored young pretty Miss Lucilla Carleton's "coming out," the town's social elite were shocked. After all, how could Annis find Lucilla a husband when she could not choose one for herself? Then Lucilla's handsome and egotistical uncle and guardian, Mr. Oliver Carleton, arrived to approve the sponsorship.
But when Annis embroils herself in the affairs of the runaway heiress, Lucilla, she is destined to see a great deal of her fugitive's uncivil and high-handed guardian, Oliver. Befriending the wayward girl brings unexpected consequences, among them the conflicting emotions aroused by her guardian, whose reputation as the rudest man in London precedes him. Chafing at the restrictions of Regency society in Bath, Annis has to admit that at least Carleton is never boring. And his brash and rakish manner quickly succumbed to the will of Annis, this remarkable heiress no man had yet subdued. Outrageous as he is, the charming Annis ends up finding him absolutely irresistible.
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I continue to enjoy Ms Heyer's books, even though there seems to be a pattern to them. I loved the strong male character who says exactly what is on his mind, even if (and especially if) it will anger the heroine.
Entertaining read, not my favorite Heyer, but fun nonetheless.
I find it interesting that I read this one very shortly after Black Sheep, since they have some noticeably similiarities in characters. Both books have an older (than 25) spinster who is trying to help a younger girl (niece or random stranger) with a marriage problem (one is in love with an inappropriate fortune-hunter, one not in love with her family's choice for husband). Both books have a gentleman guardian of the younger girl who shows less interest in being a guardian than the spinster believes he ought to, and who has a somewhat scandalous past and behaves outrageously & rudely (according to the strict dictates of society). The endings, however, were different and amusing in different ways (Black Sheep being the more unusual).