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Miss Wonderful – Loretta Chase
Carsington Family Series
Berkley,
March 2004
ISBN-13: 978-0425194836
ISBN-10: 0425194833
Reviewed by Margaret
May 2004
After years of waiting for a new release from the author of Lord of Scoundrels, I picked up Miss Wonderful with excitement and frankly, a little frightful of a possible disappointment from yet another of my favorite authors. I could not help it. It happens too often these days, being disappointed in a much-anticipated new release from an auto-buy author on my list.
With that in mind, I started Miss Wonderful, and I should have known better because this is Chase and from the first page, she made me smile:
“The right Honorable Edward Junius Carsington, Earl of Harget, had five sons which was three more than he needed. Since Providence–with some help from his wife–had early blessed him with a robust heir and an equally healthy spare, he’d rather the last three infants had been daughters”.
The twenty-nine year old, Alistair is the Earl’s third son and a Waterloo hero. He remembers bits and pieces from the battle and has nightmares from the time when he was injured and left for dead and woke up among the corpses in the battlefield.
Alistair is a very fashionable hero. He has good taste and he does everything with a natural born elegance. Even his limp, a result of his war injury, is done with elegance, because according to him “If one must limp, one ought to do it well”. He is handsome, witty, honorable and a dandy with huge tailor bills and poor judgment when it comes to women. While he is not a rake, he falls in love easily and his scandals involving women are legendary. His father keeps track of Alistair‘s escapades and the cost “in pounds, shillings and pence” of each episode, through a “lengthy document” entitled by his lordship “Episodes of Stupidity“.
Between costly scandals and expensive taste in clothes, The Earl has had enough of his son’s spending and he gives him an ultimatum. Alistair would need to find a way to support his expensive taste or his father would sell Alistair’s two younger brothers estates to be able to support his third son. Alistair decided that going into business with his friend Gordon who wants to build a canal in Derbyshire would solve his problem. The only thing they need to do is to convince the landowners in the area of the benefits of their project, and with that purpose in mind, Alistair goes to Derbyshire.
There, the fashionable dandy meets the “unfashionable” dishevelled, thirty-one year old bluestocking spinster, Mirabel Oldrige. She is the daughter of the largest landowner in the area, and she runs her father’s estate and is opposed to the canal project. Mirabel reminds me a little of Jessica Trent, the heroine from Lord of Scoundrels. Not so “devious” as Jessica but a smart and headstrong woman, the right match for Alistair.
The hero/heroine are perfect for each other. Mismatched, as they may seem, fashionable/non-fashionable, elegant/dishevelled, sophisticated Londoner/country girl, what the hero lacks the heroine possesses and vice versa. They are two halves fitting very well as an all around very likable couple. Witty and with an extraordinary sense of humor, they made me laugh aloud while reading.
The chemistry between the main characters is there from their first meeting. With the support of remarkably well-done secondary characters and a traditional regency style, the author developed the main characters and the romance between them easily yet gradually during the book. The romantic element is powerful and this is not a “falling into bed within the first 100 pages romance”.
The author is skilful in her portrait of provincial English society that reminds me of Austen’s world. Her writing is elegant and sophisticated, too much so at times, causing me to go back and reread some passages because I got lost with the author in all the details and forgot what that scene was supposed to be all about. That is my only complaint, too many unnecessary details and that Chase is spending a little too much time with her main character’s musing and monologue.
Because of that, I lost my patience with Chase here and there and I almost skipped some passages. In that regard the author is losing some points with this reader but not enough for me to consider this book an average regency new release. Miss Wonderful is above average.
Four, out of five, pink hearts from me for Miss Wonderful and a big welcome back Miss Chase!
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