Georgette Heyer is a historical Fiction writer that I love and respect and I have read a number of her books over the years with my favorite being “Regency Buck”. This book has been on my TBR and as I decided to take a short break from my M. C. Beaton books binge, I thought this was the right time to read this book.
The Earl of Rule, a chronic bachelor with a reputation as a rake, has decided to get married to one of the Winwood girls and the beautiful Lizzy is the obvious choice. However, Lizzy is promised to Edward but he is not rich enough to save the Winwoods from their debts. Little Horatia who is barely out of the school room at 17 takes the bold step to offer herself to Rule in place of her sister and he agrees. Horatia promises to stay out of the Earl’s way as they both know this marriage is one not borne out of love or affection but as time passes, they both realize that they may have fallen for eachother without even knowing.
I really liked this story. First of all, Horatia’s boldness and love for her sister was admirable, but as soon as she was married to Rule, her childishness became quite obvious and outright annoying sometimes . My best character was Rule. I loved his calm nature from the beginning to the end. He was overly mature in every situation even when Horatia made mistakes over and over again, he was always there to arrest the situation. His maturity showed that he recognized her shortcomings and didn’t judge her for them but was patient enough to wait for her to grow into a more mature woman. Another character of interest was her brother Lord Winwood, whom I found entertaining with his gambling, drinking and all what nots.
What I didn’t like about this book was the fact that the point where Horatia’s broach was missing and her brother and co. where out to hunt it down by all means, the story dragged on for much too long and I was highly tempted to skip pages. It had several unnecessary parts which was frustrating to read. Overall, it was an enjoyable read as expected.
I recommend this book to all romance lovers. If you are familiar with Georgette Heyer, this may not be in the league of her best work but it was good overall.
Rating: 4 Stars
Published: June 20th, 2013 by arrow (First published in 1934)
Pages: 288
Genre: Historical Fiction (Romance)
Purchase @ www.amazon.com/theconvenientmarriage
The Author: Georgette Heyer was a prolific historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her writing career began in 1921, when she turned a story for her younger brother into the novel The Black Moth. In 1925 she married George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer. Rougier later became a barrister and he often provided basic plot outlines for her thrillers. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one thriller each year. Heyer was an intensely private person who remained a best selling author all her life without the aid of publicity. She made no appearances, never gave an interview and only answered fan letters herself if they made an interesting historical point. She wrote one novel using the pseudonym Stella Martin. Her Georgian and Regencies romances were inspired by Jane Austen. While some critics thought her novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer’s greatest asset. Heyer remains a popular and much-loved author, known for essentially establishing the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance.
