Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing and slow
Review: I always look forward to a Lansdowne regency. I do not, however, understand how the previous reviewer gave this book 5 stars. 5 means perfect and perfect is hard to do. Perhaps "The Bedeviled Duke" or "Legion's Ladies" came close to perfect. This book, while staying true to the typical wimsical Lansdowne style, was a plodding read. Lord Nicholas Chastain, the Earl of Wickenshire, had an aunt who left him her fortune if he could teach her bird, Lord Nightengale, to sing by a certain date. Nicholas needs the money so he hires his cousin Eugenia's impoverished friend, Serendipity, to teach the bird to sing. Dippy, (as I called Serendipity) has a sister Delight, who has a grape mark on her face and Nicholas charms the little sister out of her fear of getting out of the coach. The book then goes into another plot of the wicked relations of both Dippy and Nicholas. Between the relations, the bird and the rather tepid romance between Nicholas and Serendipity, the book was too crowded to let romance shine through. After all, one reads a romance to read about the beauty of romance. Nicholas was not a very manly lead. He referred to himself as a frog and he needed a princess to kiss him to make this frog into a real Earl. Confidence is sexy and even regencies can have some sexual kick in the books. Romance and sexual appeal to go hand in hand. There was none of that in this book. I was also disappointed that Ms. Lansdowne has made the heroine in her next Nightingale book so unattractive. That would be Cousin Eugenia. I see unattractive people every day - I even live them them! I don't want to read about them. Romance is for escapism. So please, Ms. Lansdowne, bring back the dashing hero!
Rating: 
Summary: A delightful read!
Review: I cannot imagine anyone not liking this fabulous story! The characters (especially Lord Nightengale itself) are absolutely enchanting and the adventure keeps moving. I laughed aloud at Lansdowne's witty prose. An extra bonus with this book is that unlike some of Lansdowne's books (notably "Amelia's Intrigue" and "The Bedeviled Duke"), the romance here gets just as much attention as the adventure parts of the book. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the next three books of this "trilogy."
Rating: 
Summary: Lansdowne and publisher let us down
Review: I don't think there's any reason to be confused over the mixed reactions to this book. The problem with this book isn't that the heroine for the next is unattractive or that the plot is thin and moves too slowly--it's that this is a short story dragged out to novel length. The bitter sister and the rejected suitors are unattractive because their characters, which are really marginal, have to be padded out to help give the story length. All the padding ruins the humor and the usual Lansdowne light-hearted touch. This is happening too often in romance publishing these days--a good story from a good author being damaged to meet some marketing goal. My guess is that Lansdowne could have made these four stories into a great collection of shorts but that they will be four disappointing novels. Normally I buy everything that Lansdowne writes, and keep it--but I will look through the other ones very carefully in the bookstore before shelling out cash for the next Nightingale books. If readers DON'T encourage publishers by buying such overinflated shorts at full novel prices, perhaps some sanity can return and good writers can go back to publishing good stories at the length they should be written. In the meantime I will wait for the next proper-length Lansdowne novel--maybe about the children of the Bedevilled Duke--and hope for the return of sanity in romance publishing.
Rating:
Summary: Plus five more stars. This one was really worth the wait.
Review: I first became aware of this book, a few years ago from a mailing I received from Judith. I was intrigued by it, so I have been waiting for this particular book. When I received it, I had to read it right away. I read it in one night, and when I fi- nished reading the book, I knew that it had been worth the wait. Judith has written another wonderfully wimsical tale. All the characters, but most especially the titular character are wonder- ful. Nick shows his gallantry towards Serendipity;the heroine and her little sister Delight. Since this is the first book in a ser- ies, I cannot wait for the next book. I also cannot wait to fig- ure out just what the following word means: Knollsmarmer.
Rating:
Summary: A witty and charming book
Review: I just recently finished this book, and I must say it's a breath of fresh air. I am a large fan of the Regency novels that involve rakes, but I do have to say there are far too many of them. It's refreshing to have a lead male that *isn't* out to bed every female possible, or avoid marriage, or anything of that nature. This book has a sensitive, caring, kind male lead, and I think that's one part that makes it so enchanting. I enjoyed the bits with the animals, and I thought the plot was nicely done and creative, but the real winner in my book was Nicky.
Rating:
Summary: FUNNY AND CHARMING
Review: I laughed so hard when I read this book. My mom was visiting and she couldn't wait until I was done so she could read it too!
By the time I wrote this review, I had read all four in the series. "Debut" was my favorite. Sera and Nicky are delightful characters! It is a wonderful read & will cheer your spirits at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: FUNNY AND CHARMING
Review: I laughed so hard when I read this book. My mom was visiting and she couldn't wait until I was done so she could read it too!
By the time I wrote this review, I had read all four in the series. "Debut" was my favorite. Sera and Nicky are delightful characters! It is a wonderful read & will cheer your spirits at the same time.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazed at the disparate emotions this book has aroused
Review: I must admit I'm thoroughly amazed at the varied and disparate emotions this book seems to have aroused. I don't generally comment, but I think LN's Debut may require an explanation or at least a warning label. For those of you who dislike Sera because you think her dippy-- she has a very overactive imagination. She's been heavily influenced by the Gothic novels of her time (which I believe I said in the book). At any rate, I feel obliged to send you to Austen's Northanger Abbey. Sera is merely a playful take-off on Austen's heroine from that delicious farce. To those of you who object to Nicky's plain face and find him a poor subject for a hero-- to me his fortitude, responsibility, dependability, loyalty, and love for his family make him heroic. No, he's not dashing, but neither is he ugly. If you're looking for a handsome rapist who can't keep his word or keep his hands off the heroine, this is NOT a book for you. Nicky's love is precious, admirable and everlasting and Sera's love for him grows slowly with every new day. It's the quality of his heart that attracts her, his actions, his words, not the fact that he's built like a Greek god and has the face of an angel. To misquote one of the following reviews: "Some of us have had enough of spectacular looking men without a conscience in our lives and are looking to escape from them." This book is for those people and for those who would like to understand the notion of a "good man" as opposed to a "handsome" man. For those of you who object to Eugenia being the heroine of the next book-- if I made you think Eugenia is ugly, I did a very bad job of presenting her. Yes, she limps; yes, she's spinsterish in a way. But she's not plain and her soul shines with a beauty that's blinding. It may take a dashing but depressed marquis to see that when the readers don't. I don't know. I only know that he does see it and values it. Eugenia's soul is as deserving of the term beauty as are any number of bodies I've seen strutting around movie sets and tv shows these last few years. In these first two books, I attempted to speak of beauty in a different way-- some of you will understand it and some will abhor it, but I thought it worth exploring nonetheless. To those who wish for handsome heroes and beautiful heroines--the heroes and heroines of the last two books in this series ought to prove more your thing, though beauty of soul is still apparent, they are beautiful on the outside as well.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars? Forget it...
Review: I must have missed something in this book that people would give it 5 stars. I have to agree with some of the other reviewers who did not like the book. I found the story and characters inspid. The bird, Lord Nightingale, detracted from what might have been a good story. I just don't know. This book was quite inferior compared to Ms. Lansdowne's previous works.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful read!
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Lord Nightingale's Debut" and eagerly await the rest of the series. The story was filled with humor and warmth and the main characters were so delightfully human and compassionate. The book had intrigue, but was a lighter story than some of her previous books and I especially enjoyed the "frog and prince" references. As always her vivid descriptions of the characters and settings were so well written that I could easily picture them. I would highly recommend this book to my friends and fellow Regency romance readers and it is a "keeper" as are all my other books by Judith Lansdowne. I never tire of re-reading them.
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