The Grand Sophy (1950)

The Grand Sophy. Georgette Heyer. 1950/2009. Sourcebooks. 372 pages. [Source: Review Copy]

The first time I read it, I found Sophy Stanton-Lucy to be a delightful, sometimes mischievous, matchmaker. I was not as delighted the second time around. I still think The Grand Sophy is a fun book, however. It's just that I've read better Heyer novels perhaps.

Sophy Stanton-Lucy is going to stay with her aunt, uncle, and cousins while her father travels. She is a young woman of marriageable age. She's just the right age to be a companion to her cousin, Cecelia Rivenhall. Almost everyone from the family loves and adores her. She has a way of livening things up, bringing joy with her wherever she goes. She's hardly predictable! There are a few people, however, who have reservations about her. One is her cousin, Charles Rivenhall. He isn't quite sure that Sophy is a good influence on her cousins. Why would any proper young lady bring a pet monkey with her? She's just so different from all the society ladies. Charles' fiancee Eugenia Wraxton is another who has doubts. The difference between the two is this: Charles is won over, quite won over by his cousin, and Eugenia, well, let's just say that the more the novel goes on, the more she comes to hate or disapprove of Sophy. Charles comes to see Eugenia in a new light. She can lecture on and on and be quite interfering. He also sees that his own family does not quite "like" to spend time in Eugenia's company. The contrast between Eugenia and Sophy is oh-so-evident.

Most of The Grand Sophy focuses on the adventures and misadventures of Sophy and her cousins. Cecelia's love life, for example, leads to many of these adventures. There are quite a few men interested in courting her. And Sophy is often around for these encounters. She is very observant, a bit wiser than Cecelia perhaps, and she has plans and designs on how to help her favorite (Lord Charlbury) win Cecelia's heart in the end.

It was a fun, light novel, a good historical romance. It might not be my absolute favorite Georgette Heyer novel, but, it was a good read all the same. Do you have a favorite Heyer novel?

© 2013 SukaYuka.com of SukaYuka's Book Reviews

The Tutor's Daughter (2013)

The Tutor's Daughter. Julie Klassen. 2013. Bethany House. 412 pages.

It wasn't quite love at first sight--or love at first sentence, I suppose. But within a few chapters, I knew it was LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. The more I read, the more I loved. This was one of those oh-so-magical, giddy-making historical romances for me. The Tutor's Daughter is a regency romance. (I would DEFINITELY recommend it for fans of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer.) The heroine is a young woman, Emma Smallwood. She has for the last few years greatly helped her father in his teaching or tutoring. In the past, they've taught from their own home or school. But business has been poorly lately, and when he is offered a tutoring position at the home of his would-be-pupil, and that offer extends to his daughter, he accepts. The Smallwoods will be leaving their own home to live with the Weston family. They know the two oldest Weston sons--they are former students now grown to adulthood. But they don't know their new pupils, Rowan and Julian. And nothing prepares them for the reality of living in such a strange and sometimes unwelcoming home. (It feels more like Northanger Abbey than Jane Eyre, perhaps, but there are some secrets, some clues, some mysteries.) The Weston household can be oh-so-strange and not at all what it appears.

When she was younger, Emma was perhaps drawn to the second son, Phillip. But now that she's become reacquainted with both Phillip and Henry, well, she's surprised by how much she does admire and respect Henry! This is SHOCKING to her at first because she perhaps didn't realize that he would grow out of his childishness, his obnoxiousness, his pranks. But he is all grown up now, and he's oh-so-responsible.

I absolutely loved this one so much. It was so compelling, so dramatic, so perfectly perfect!!!

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