Candice Hern: A Proper Companion

Robert, Lord Bradleigh, is a wealthy earl recently betrothed to a beautiful young girl in her first Season. Emily Townsend is an impoverished spinster hired as a companion to his grandmother, the dowager countess. Robert agrees to help his grandmother find a husband for Emily, but how is he to bear the thought of her in another man’s arms?

Got a very good deal on this ebook, so I gave it a shot…the teaser said it read like a  Heyer (and you all know I have been on a Heyer kick lately)…

And it didn’t disappoint.  It was long, light with funny characters and a little wild Regency romping.  We start in Bath at the home of the Dowager Lady Bradleigh, who is funny and cute…the kind of lady all companions dream of being in service to.  She decides to travel to London, and of course her companion needs to be outfitted in the first stare.  (Even though I am not a girly girl myself, who can help loving a good Cinderella make over?!)  Secretly, the old dear is thinking her companion would be better suited for marriage and is conspiring to matchmake.  Meanwhile, her grandson Bradleigh has shackled himself via an announcement in the paper to a young deb. with an insufferable mama.

Two wrongs must naturally make a right.

Bradleigh is not quite a Heyer hero (he’s far too nice, albeit a rogue) and Emily is a little too missish to be a Heyer heroine.

Okay, maybe not missish exactly.  Maybe starched?  She does have an enormous sense of pride that, in spite of her situation as a paid companion, almost is her undoing.  Which could potentially be really annoying and distracting (Save us from conflict ala miscommunication plot lines!) yet she finally relents and even enjoys herself a bit.

The book reads fast, the romance is really believable, and the “villians” more along the lines of an Austen antagonist than a Heyer character…although the estranged Uncle does present as a potentially dastardly source of conflict.  That his path is foiled pretty early on by a clever Bradleigh and his man of business is actually a pleasant surprise (Save us from over the top endings with villians coming up for one last scare!).

I already downloaded another Hern to enjoy, and recommend those lovers of Heyer like yarns check her out!

Clean, some light adult subject matter.