(4.5 stars) This is a real romance and it's HR writing par excellence. It's also a book with a lovely hero, not the usual jerk I've been finding lately in HRs. This is not, however, a 5-star book for me. I gave it 5 stars because it deserves more than 4, although it didn't give me that extra thrill that Chase's classic
Lord of Scoundrels
did long ago. But if I compare this to most other HRs I've read lately, it may deserve 6 stars.
Leonie is the third Noirot dressmaking sister to find her true love, after Marcelline in
Silk Is For Seduction (Avon Historical Romance)
and Sophy in
Scandal Wears Satin (Avon Historical Romance)
. She's the businesswoman/number-cruncher of the dressmaking business, Marcelline being the creative genius and Sophy the marketer/promoter. Numbers and neat columns, credits and debits, weighing pros and cons of everything, that's Leonie's life.
But it's a lonely life now that Marcelline and Sophy are married and much less involved in their dressmaking business. Her sisters' husbands would prefer that the three sisters, including Leonie, leave the business and devote themselves to life in the peerage. But Leonie can't even consider that possibility. "It hurt, physically, to think of abandoning it. The shop was her link to Cousin Emma. She'd made them into a family and taught them to have a real life... How could Leonie give that up? It would be like giving up some part of her heart."
That's the main conflict of this romance. Can she give her heart to a man who may want her to give up that other important part of her heart? The lovely resolution of this dilemma at the story's end will please any romance reader.
To add a little bit more interest, there's a blackmail/scandal issue involving hero Lisburne's friend Lord Swanton, poet of questionable talent, whose immense popularity with young women has more to do with his looks and sensitivity than to his talent. And there's the problem of a certain Lady Gladys, needing a makeover in looks and personality. Leonie and Lisburne make a wager over the possibility of turning her into this season's success and the recipient of at least one marriage proposal before the season is over.
When you consider the plot, it's not "all that", but when you consider the writing, well, it's "all that" and more. One particular aspect of the romance that's written so well is Lisburne's attraction to Leonie's accountant's/mathematician's mind. Like when he says "When you talk in numbers, you drive me mad." Or "...when you speak of your ruthless ways with customers in arrears, my heart pounds." There's a lovely seduction scene which has Leonie reading a list of dressmaking product prices and quantities to Lisburne that is truly funny and romantic at the same time.
For me, this is class-act HR writing. As I said earlier, it didn't give me that total romantic thrill of LoS and it has minimal angst (something I love in HRs), but compared to most HRs available lately, it's excellent.
BTW, we still have Lady Clara's fate to worry about. She was informally engaged to the H of the first book, ran off with a fortune hunter in the second, and mostly just hangs around in this third book of the series. I assume Chase's next book will have her find true love.
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Top reviews from other countries
Sands Kay
Super Buch! Unbedingt lesen, auch wenn es nicht leicht fällt!
Reviewed in Germany on May 28, 2016
Sands Kay
Reviewed in Germany on May 28, 2016
Dies ist nun der 3.te Band und ganz der dritten Schwester, Leonie, gewidmet. Die zwei anderen sind ja nun verheiratet. Marcelline plagt die Schwangerschaftsübelkeit und Sophia ist auf Hochzeitsreise.
So muß Leonie das Modeatellier ganz alleine schmeißen. Lady Clara ist immer noch die beste Kundin und bringt ihre sehr schwierige Cousine vom Land mit. ( man erinnere sich an Lady Gladys vom 2.ten Band😉)
Schwierig ist sie dann auch anfangs im Atellier, doch Leonie kann sie rasch überzeugen. Nachdem Gladys tatsächlich gescheit ist, kann sie bald ihre Stärken "gewinnbringend" einsetzen. Hier öffnet sich eine weitere (Neben-) Liebesgeschichte.
Lord Lisburne begleitet seinen verträumten Cousin nach London , wo dieser unter den jungen Damen als Poet Triumphe feiert. Relativ gelangweilt beschließt er Leonie, die er in der Kunstsammlung vor seiner Leihgabe kennenlernt, zu verführen.
Pech! Leonie hat nur das Geschäft im Kopf! Eine gutgemeinte Idee von Lisburne und dessen Cousin verwandelt sich dank einer Intrige in ein Disaster für das Atellier, dessen Ruf durch die Eheschließungen der Schwestern ohnehin geschwächt ist, und deren Wohltätigkeitseinrichtung für "unglückliche Frauen". Leonie und Lisburne haben alle Hände voll zu tun, um Schlimmes abzuwenden!
Von tatkräftiger und entscheidender Mithilfe ist auch wieder Fenwick!
Aber natürlich geht zum Schluß alles gut aus und wir haben zwei glückliche Paare! Wie geht's weiter mit Maison Noirot? Das erfahren wir ganz zum Schluß.
Auch als ich es jetzt zum zweiten Mal gelesen habe, habe ich mitgefiebert und gelacht und mich sehr gut unterhalten!
Noch ein Wort zu den Bemerkungen der Vorrezzessentin:
Natürlich dreht sich alles ums Geschäft und um die Kunden! Es ist schließlich ihr Lebensunterhalt! Und das Atellier ist ja immer noch im Aufbau begriffen und das Darlehn müssen sie auch noch abbezahlen!
Die Bücher haben einen einen guten Sprachstil und verlangen daher einen erweiterten Wortschatz. Dazu kommen Ausdrücke die im heutigen Gebrauch nicht oder wenig vorkommen. LCs Bücher sind im Original nicht leicht lesen! Manche Wörter muß selbst ein Übersetzer nachschlagen.😉
Aber: Übung macht den Meister und wenn man am Stück mehr von einer Autorin liest, wird's besser.
Fazit: die ganze Reihe ist fantastisch und 10 Sterne wert ( außer dem 4.)
und auch mehrere Male lesenswert'!
Ich hoffe auf eine Geschichte von
Lucie Cordelia aka Prinzessin Erroll!!
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gimmielinda
Book three is as engaging and entertaining as the other two books in this series. Loved it.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2015Kindle Customer
Entertaining series
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 5, 2017