The Ghost and Lady Alice by M. C. Beaton Published by Rosetta Books on September 12, 2011
Genres: Fiction / Romance / General, Fiction / Romance / Historical / General
Pages: 159
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A mistreated maid may be transformed into a lady—with the help of a departed duke in this novel from the New York Times–bestselling author.
Alice Lovesey, a poorly treated scullery maid, makes a desperate plea for help—which miraculously summons Wadham Hall’s rakish eighth duke. Summons him from the dead, that is . . .
The duke is delighted to be newly materialized, and promises to return the favor by helping Alice become a lady of quality. But Alice’s heart may not stand a ghost of a chance, now that she’s lost it to a restless spirit . . .
Originally published under the name Marion Chesney, this heartwarming and hilarious story is by the beloved author of the Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth series.
Reader, I was looking for books to pull together another top 10 list for Autumn/Halloween, and had really enjoyed Regency Gold so thought I would give another book in the Regency Intrigue series a try. Boy, was this book banana pants. And not in a good, bonkers-romance sort of way.
If you have been a Regency Reader for a while you know I am not exactly a great paranormal romance reader. In my non-Regency life, I enjoy consuming paranormal content. But in my romance, I am a bit more skeptical (and if you know me IRL, you know not to get me started on vampires as romantic figures).
I had guessed from the back cover this might be one of those light paranormal stories where the ghost helps the young lady find love. And with her being a scullery maid who gets Pygmalioned into a lady (which is a particular favorite trope of mine), I thought what could I lose (it helped that its also short and was cheap).
Here is where I (or the book) went wrong and I almost DNFed:
- Big age gap (Regency Gold also had an age gap)
- All the non-ghost men were absolute MONSTERS. Like murderous, lecherous, thieving monsters. So its not a surprise that…
- She falls in love with a ghost…
- Who somehow bends reality enough to be human during the hours of darkness (Um, I don’t think that is how ghosts work, but okay) who can also, even in corporeal form still go through walls, fly, jump into other people’s bodies, and perform a variety of other “magic” tricks.
- Alice has a bit of growth/character arc, but is mostly just an insipid heroine who normally should be relegated to comic relief
There is probably more, but that is also enough.
I persevered and finished it, hoping it would round the bend and redeem itself. But alas, it did not. And it wasn’t even funny.
Other reviews, similar to Regency Gold, either loved or hated this one. Proving humor to be subjective, some found it hilarious.
Objectively, I can say if you are in the market for paranormal-esque reader, there are a variety of other, better books, to put your $2 towards.
It’s been a long time since I read this one and even if I do agree with everything you said, I somehow like the story enough to think of it fondly. I reread it every few years. I don’t know why it gets billed as a romantic comedy, but then Beaton could swing wildly in the opposite direction sometimes with her Regencies giving you a real shock. When I discovered her I was new to Regeny and would buy them up when they went on sale. They were great reads to pick up after a particularly gut wrenching, wring-me-out-like-a-rag angsty novel I’d finished. Short, light hearted, funny (usually.) But then she’d stick one of these kind in there. Even though there is an HEA, it’s hard won and you still wonder if it really will be happy. But the maid is so devoted she no doubt will be happy. It’s a different kind of love story than I would want to live. Like I said before, Beaton would throw her readers way off sometimes. I think I read that she really got sick of writing Regencies and longed to quit long before she actually did. I wonder if these were some kind of ploy to end her popularity in Regency. On the other hand, her mystery stories were often a mix of gruesome and hilarity. I adored her, God Bless her. She had a fascinating life. She’s given the reading world a lot of enjoyment.
Thanks for your perspective, Michelle!
One of the wonderful things about romance is there is so much diversity in the offerings, that we can all find something we love for the mood we are in. Appreciate your insight into why this works for you!
I really loved reading her Regencies, but I think the last books I purchased were a couple in 2017 and they were ones I had already read via Kindle Unlimited. Before that 2015.
However, I read one that year that shocked me so much I haven’t been able to read any more of her book since. Not even the ones I previously liked a lot. Some of my old favorites are available free to borrow from Audible though, so I might listen. I can’t tell you how my stomach dropped when she killed off the hero and heroine! And the perpetrators of that crime got off Scott-free (whatever the origin of that slang, I probably don’t want to know.)!!!! I was ill over it, it was really horrible. I know that this happens in other works of fiction, but (supposedly light hearted) Romance?
I can’t find that book, I guess I wanted to really forget it, and I don’t want to waste my time searching. I’ve got reading to do. 😀
By the way, I really did appreciate your review.
Wait…she killed off the MCs in a romance? How does that not break the mandatory HEA/HFN rule? Now I am curious and am going to need to go in search of the book…
Yeah, I googled it but got tired of the rabbit hole. Like I inferred in my first comment she really got tired of writing her Regencies. She hated what T.V. did to her Hamish character (I agree that they were both quite different from each other but I also liked both,) and she loathed what T.V. did to her Agatha character. In the Agatha case, I just could not get into the books but enjoyed the T.V. production.
Yep. She really did kill them off. I tried to find a sequel to that story hoping the villains got their comeuppance, but nope. Good luck finding that!