Sourcebooks Landmark, 2008 (org. 1944), 223 pgs.
I am a newbie to the world of Georgette Heyer. See first blog post about her book The Grand Sophy here. This summer (I told you, dear readers, I've had a stack of neglected books to blog about!) I picked up another Heyer book to read--Friday's Child.
Quick plot summary: Lord Sheringham (Sherry) has just been denied the hand of Miss Milbourne. He's upset and vows to marry the next woman he sees. That woman happens to be Miss Hero Wantage, a childhood friend. He takes her to London and marries her. Scrapes and mishaps abound as the two navigate marriage and society together.
And now here's the honest truth. I'm not sure how I feel about Heyer after reading another one of her novels. I felt like I was reading the same plot as I did with The Grand Sophy and it left me bored. (Which, by the way, is simply not ok when one is at the lake on summer vacation.) I had to pick up Friday's Child several times after putting it down for a couple of weeks and try again. Once I got into it, I enjoyed it but still, the same plot--silly girl heroine, serious or sometimes equally as silly hero, numerous misunderstandings and hijinks, and then end up declaring they love one another. And there it is. Same thing. Both times.
So I ask, is there a Heyer Regency romance that doesn't follow this prescribed plot sequence? To be fair, isn't this plot repetitiveness the same in so many novels by the same author or similar genres? (See previous post about dystopian science fiction.) Could the same be said for Jane Austen? (Insert audible GASP here! I may have just written blasphemy!) Just throwing the idea out there. Isn't that why kids like series books so much? (Much to this librarian's chagrin at times, but who am I to judge? In my parents' basement there resides a crate of about 100 Babysitter Club books by Ann M. Martin from my elementary school days.) I guess what I'm saying is that the jury is still out for me on whether I'll read more Heyer or not.
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