All she wants is someone to marry her–and then leave her alone. But when finding her “ideal” proves more difficult than she had envisioned, Lady Penelope enlists the aid of the Earl of Harford, the most sophisticated lord in London. Not realizing that he has designs of his own, she soon finds herself in the Earl’s capable arms.
In a slight deviation from the ward and rake plot, Lady Penelope steps in as apprentice chef of French cuisine to rescue Harford from a potentially devastating bet, in exchange for sponsorship in the ton. Lady Penelope in a lot of ways is the standard traditional Reg Rom heroine…independent, spirited, and beautiful. She is also wealthy and smart. Her quirk is that raised almost solely by two servants, she is convinced she wants only a marriage of convenience and to be left alone at her country estate, toiling with her herbs and spices. I didn’t mind the irregularity of a peer being a whiz in the kitchen…I imagine that although not the norm, there were one or two gentry who also enjoyed cooking.
I actually found this book on the whole to be entertaining. That its based on a lot of misunderstandings, and that I find the heroine’s continued devotion to self imposed isolation a little exhausting after about 65 pages, only slightly diminished my pleasure in the read. I was a bit disappointed there wasn’t really a wicked proposal, more like a hoydenish one, but I guess if Hendrickson is using wicked in the “slightly naughty” way, it works.
The hero is meh, pretty pattern card. He at least has a little soul, so that makes him likable.
What really kept me engaged were the secondary characters. Lady Penelope has imposed on cousin Lettice, an eccentric and distracted poet. There are also some villain leaning relatives bent on securing Lady Penelope’s fortune for their own. These enhancements to the romance kept the pace bumping along, and of course there are some great cameos from Regency real peops, places and things.
Originally published in 1992, this is one of those classic Signet Regencies that sticks to the formula, delivers a HEA, and doesn’t offer much in the way of deviations from tradition.
4 out of 6 Classic 90s Regency with few deviations from the formula
| Content Rating/Heat Index | |
|---|---|
| Mature Content |   |
| Carousing, gambling and other adult mentions | |
| Intimacy | |
| Lots of kissing | |
| Violence | |
| Not much | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| More appropriate for older teens | |
