Monday, August 2, 2010

Title:  The Corinthian
Author:  Georgette Heyer
Format:  Hardcover
Pages:  244
Genre:  Regency romance/Clean romance
Date Started:  May 15, 2010
Date Finished:  May 15, 2010

Rating:  A-

Description (from Barnes & Noble):  Beset by marriage-minded relatives, Sir Richard Wyndham nearly plunged into a dutiful betrothal. But just in time, lovely, impulsive Penelope Creed climbed out a window—and into his arms. Dressed as a boy, Pen was escaping her own demanding relatives, and wanted only to return to her childhood estate. Sir Richard refused to permit a young lady to travel unescorted, no matter what her garb. But upon discovering his charge meant to ride a mail coach, the sophisticated lord nearly changed his mind! Still, before long, marriage wasn 't looking quite the evil it had been—if he had the right bride in his arms...

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This is the first time I ever disliked a Heyer heroine.  She was so irritating; I might even compare her to nails on a chalkboard at times.  Her character could have been done so much better.  I liked that she was atypical; she didn't fit with the other Heyer heroines.  But some of her differences were extremely annoying.

The secondary characters left much to be desired too, except Cedric.  He's one of my favorites in this book.  He's humorous, exciting, and surprisingly well-developed for a minor character.  Luckily, people like George, Louisa, Beverly, etc. all had very small parts, so you don't have to put up with their ridiculousness for very long.

It was nice that this book followed a slightly different storyline from Heyer's usual formula.  I say slightly different, because a good deal of the formula is still in there.  The hero, Richard Wyndham (whom I love), starts out as a drunkard, but he very quickly becomes as respectable as the rest of Heyer's male leads.  There's still the May-December romance, the awkward situations, and the great dialogue.  The big difference is that the heroine of the story is pretending to be a boy through most of it, which introduces some very new, very interesting situations.  The very last scene in the book is the best example of this.  Made me laugh so hard.  A-

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