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Summary: Humorous, fast moving tale
Review: I've never even picked up a Regency Romance before. Once I picked up this one, I couldn't put it down. I found myself chuckling throughout this fast moving story. Great descriptions of amusing characters! I thoroughly enjoyed this romance and anxiously await Jessica's next book.
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Summary: Guaranteed to fall in love with Stanhope
Review: Newcomer Jessica Benson has written a wonderful traditional regency that will make you smile and fall in love with Lord Stanhope and his heroine Calista.When Lord Stanhope's cousin is sent to the country to 'rusticate' and court an 'eligible' girl he is glad that his cousin is finally planning to settle down. But when he hears of the wagers at Whites of him and an 'elderly' spinster named Calista Ashton he is shocked. Determined to go to the country to 'rescue' this poor old spinster he is surprised by what he finds. Upon first sight of Calista Ashton he falls in love with the outspoken spinster. He is bound and determined to win her over and marry her himself. But things always seem to be getting in the way and that is with pushy mama's and gossiping townfolk. Calista is shocked to find that the handsome Lord Stanhope is actually intersted in dowdy her. She immediately brushes his court off. But Stanhope is bound and determined and Calista takes him on a merry ride.
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Summary: Welcome addition to the genre
Review: Seldom have I been so enthusiastic about a first book by an author! Jessica Benson has a deft hand with conversation and has displayed for a us a cast of characters that are believable and either lovable or irritating as they are supposed to be. Stanhope is so deliciously in love that he thinks Calista is beautiful even when she is wearing the ugliest gown known to humankind - deliberately! The requisite self-centered beauties, inept fribbles and fops, and horribly nasty foes are masterfully done. It held my interest right to the last page. I impatiently await her next book!
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Summary: Delightful!!!
Review: This book is what people are talking about when they say "a Regency romp!" Jessica Benson has penned an *amazingly* good first novel with "Lord Stanhope's Proposal". The writing is excellent, the characters delightful and the plot an intricately woven comedy of manners (and errors!) The book reads like a cross between Georgette Heyer and Julia Quinn--and I mean that as high praise!
The heroine of the story, Miss Calista Ashton, is a 24 year old spinster and blue-stocking with a sharp wit, good heart and terrible clothes sense. She is the sister of a brandy-swilling vicar in a small village. When the Hon. Oswald Cravanndish (Ossie) is ordered by his formidable mother to rusticate and find a suitable bride (following an ignominious dive into Sally Jersey's punchbowl), he and his equally frivolous friends, Nev and Squibby, cook up a plan to travel to their friend, Elmo Lyttworth's, village and pretend to court the village spinster (Calista). Unfortunately, this plan is accompanied by bets being placed in the books at their club regarding the odds of Ossie's courtship meeting with success. Recognizing that his foolish cousin has endangered the reputation of an innocent lady, Tristan Rutherford-Hayes, Lord Stanhope, travels to the village as well in an attempt to defuse the situation and rescue the lady's reputation. And that is only the beginning of an extremely complicated and amusing plot....
Tristan, the Earl of Stanhope, is a marvelous hero--jaw-droppingly handsome, fabulously wealthy, intelligent, charming, honorable and sexy. Bored with his string of vacuous mistresses and empty-headed society debutantes, he is challenged by Calista's wit and charmed by her lack of artifice. Calista, for her part, cannot believe that such a gorgeous paragon would really be interested in her. But the two are seldom left to ponder their blossoming love in peace, as alternative suitors and interfering chaperones pop in and out of the story at a delicious pace.
The story does follow the plot of Georgette Heyer's "The Nonesuch" in general terms--a Corinthian, a paragon of society, and a confirmed bachelor, visits a small provincial village (that goes ga-ga over having such an august presence in their midst!) and ends up falling in love with the local spinster. Tristan is even referred to as "the Nonesuch" in this story and some of the dialogue is pure Heyer. To my mind, Jessica Benson has *improved* on the story since I always have thought that the hero and heroine in "The Nonesuch" were rather bland and uninteresting (and Tristan and Calista are definitely not that!) The secondary characters in "Lord Stanhope's Proposal" are also wonderfully well-drawn (although there is no one character to equal the pure brilliance of "The Nonesuch"'s beautiful, self-absorbed schemer, Tiffany Wield!)
In summary, this is a charming, delightful romance that lovers of the Regency sub-genre should *adore*.
Highly recommended!
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Summary: What an amazing debut book this is!
Review: This book was not written in a few weeks or a month, either, trust me on this. THIS book was lovingly labored over by its author, and it shows! Trying to describe the complex plot would take up more words than are allowed in a review, (and truth be told, I'm not sure I could make sense out it, either) but the author never loses any of the multiple threads, nor allows the reader to become confused by any of her large, but delightful cast of characters. The first five pages of Chapter Eighteen in which the hero explains his current rather complicated romantic situation to a friend is worth the price of the entire book. Just those five pages! But every page is marvelous. All of your emotions will be engaged; you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll laugh again at the struggles of the formerly rakish earl as he tries to convince his bluestocking sweetheart that he really does want her. And need her. In spite of all the other efforts being made to convince her otherwise. But indeed, if all's well that end's well, this book ends just as it should, and you'll be well pleased by it. This author has the requisite wit and wordsmith skills to be a major force in the Regency world. If only we can keep her there. The scary part is--if her first book is THIS good, what will her tenth book be like? The twentieth?
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Summary: What an amazing debut book this is!
Review: This book was not written in a few weeks or a month, either, trust me on this. THIS book was lovingly labored over by its author, and it shows! Trying to describe the complex plot would take up more words than are allowed in a review, (and truth be told, I'm not sure I could make sense out it, either) but the author never loses any of the multiple threads, nor allows the reader to become confused by any of her large, but delightful cast of characters. The first five pages of Chapter Eighteen in which the hero explains his current rather complicated romantic situation to a friend is worth the price of the entire book. Just those five pages! But every page is marvelous. All of your emotions will be engaged; you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll laugh again at the struggles of the formerly rakish earl as he tries to convince his bluestocking sweetheart that he really does want her. And need her. In spite of all the other efforts being made to convince her otherwise. But indeed, if all's well that end's well, this book ends just as it should, and you'll be well pleased by it. This author has the requisite wit and wordsmith skills to be a major force in the Regency world. If only we can keep her there. The scary part is--if her first book is THIS good, what will her tenth book be like? The twentieth?
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Summary: Recommended Regency Read!
Review: This is a great little book! So many regencies written today are pretty mundane, but this is a happy exception. I read lots of regencies and this is the best I've read in a long time. It's a little gem! I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Witty and Intelligent
Review: This is a smart, fun read. Not a lot of smooching but enjoyable nonetheless. If I have any complaint, it would be that Ms. Benson almost steals from Georgette Heyer's novel "The Nonesuch."
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Summary: Regency connoisseurs will LOVE this book!
Review: This is such a fun book! Sir Oswald Cravanndish has been ordered to rusticate to the unfashionable country town of Sussex for falling into a punchbowl at a party thrown by Sally Jersey. The season has just begun, and Sir Oswald and his friends must contrive a reason to be in the country that will wash with the ton. They decide upon a bet on whether or not Sir Oswald will be successful in wooing the Vicar's sister, Miss Calista Aston-a spinster blue stocking. Lord Stanhope is Sir Oswald's cousin and helped dish out the punishment. He learns of the wager and dashes off to Sussex save the reputation of the ape-leader that is the subject of the bets and to save the family name. Lord Stanhope sends word that he is arriving in Sussex. His reason for coming is misconstrued. On his way into the village, he meets Calista Asthon. They verbally spar and she realizes the true reason he is there. She decides he is a bit uppity and does not forewarn him of the misunderstanding. This sets off a chain of events that are hysterical. It also sets off a challenge between Lord Stanhope and Calista as they realize they are each others intellectual equals. Lord Stanhope and Miss Ashton are the only voices of reason in this story. They are surrounded by a wacky cast of characters that seemed to come straight out of a Regency era version of Hee Haw! There is subtle humor as well as many laugh out loud situations. My only disappointment was when it ended. I can not believe this is Jessica Benson's first book! READ THIS BOOK! You will adore it!
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Summary: Reads like Jane Austin to me
Review: This is the first regency romance I've ever read. If they're all like this, it won't be the last. Even the minor characters are vividly described, often hilariously so. Well done!
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