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Author Heyer's Book Reviews

A Civil Contract
Viscount's father dies leaving nothing but debts. To save his family home he agrees to marry an heiress from the merchant class and gives up any hope of marrying the beautiful & aristocratic love of his life. The book is about the life and marriage Adam and Jenny build together from this foundation and with these odds. Jenny's motivation is the deep, passionate love she has felt for Adam ever since he was a convalescent officer who spent his leave fal...
April Lady
Nell is a very young lady married to an English aristrocrat. The marriage was semi-arranged. He fell in love with her at first sight, but things have not worked out as he expected. She thinks he only married her because she was suitable. Nell's poor brother borrows money from her. Then when the quater comes she can't pay all her bills. The crisis comes when she discovers she owes an enormous dressmaker's bill, after telling her husband that all her ...
Bath Tangle
Lady Serena's father had always been eccentric - even now, after his death, his legacy lives on. Having left behind a widow younger than Serena himself, the whole family is eager to see what the will holds... But they are unpleasantly surprised when Serena, who, whilst stunningly beautiful, is unmarried, has been left to the guardianship of the very man she had been engaged to (and jilted) some years beforehand. It seems that her father is determined to ...
Beauvallet
'Mad Nick' to his friends, 'Scourge of Spain' to the enemy, dashing Sir Nicholas Beauvallet has never been known to resist a challenge or lose a battle. When boarding a captured galleon, Nick discovers the beautiful Dona Dominica de Rada y Sylva. He vows to return her and her sick father to the shores of Spain, and promptly falls in love with the spirited and reluctant beauty en route. Unfortunately El Beauvallet is a wanted man throughout Spain, and...

Heyer booklist

Black Moth
When Jack Castares takes the blame for his brother's dishonesty when playing cards, he is disgraced in the eyes of the world. He is not longer accepted in London society, so he leaves for the Continent, where he remains for seven years, acting as a Robin Hood type of highwayman. Upon his return to England, he meets with his solicitor who tries to convince him that he must come out of hiding and take control of his late father's estate, which he has j...
Cotillion
Kitty Charing was infuriated when her guardian compels her cousins to offer to mary her -- especially when the cousin of her choice did not appear. In an effort to make Jack, her cousin of choice jealous, she begs Freddie -- the cousin who had the least bit of interest in her -- to pretend they were betrothed. In her one month stay in London, Kitty found that everything was not as she had thought them to be. She learned that she could be qu...
Death in the Stocks
A man with a knife wound in his back is found dead, clapped in the stocks that are on display in the town square of a small English village. Scotland Yard are called in and Superintendent Hannasyde begins to sift through the facts in the case. Suspicion falls on the dead man's half-siblings: Antonia, who was at his house outside the village on the night he died, and Kenneth, who is heir to his considerable fortune and has no alibi. Also under suspicion i...
False Colours
Christopher (Kit) and Evelyn Fancot, twin brothers, have always been extremely close. So when Christopher, abroad on a diplomatic mission, feels pangs of anxiety about Evelyn, he comes home immediately. But when Kit comes home to London, he finds Evelyn's affairs in a very sorry state - Evelyn has disappeared, leaving a fiance behind. If Evelyn doesn't come back in time for a dinner with Chressy (the fiance) and her grandmother, Evelyn won't be able ...
Frederica
Vernon, Marquis of Alverstoke, is rich, handsome and utterly self-centered and it is therefore as much a surprise to him as to anyone else when he agrees to help a distant connection (she can't even be called a relative) bring her lovely sister out in London society. Frederica Merriville's only thought is to find a man who will provide her very silly little sister, Charis, with a comfortable home and a pleasant marriage. Alverstoke is soon in the confide...
Friday's Child
Angered and humiliated by his beautiful neighbour's refusal to his offer of marriage, which was necessitated by the fact that he did not come into his inheritance until he was twenty-five, or married before this date, Lord Anthony Sherringham determines to marry the first female he meets on his return to London. She comes in the seventeen year-old form of Miss Hero Wantage, his childhood friend who has been in love with him ever since he made her his gof...

Georgette Heyer list of books

Regency Buck
Judith and her brother are orphaned and very rich and have yet to attain their majority. They go to London where their guardian is living. Judith and the guardian, a wealthy earl, immediately clash. Judith finds him insufferable and interfering in hers and her brother's lives. They can't ever meet without the guardian infuriating or offending her. But she has to obey him to some degree, because she is not yet 21. At one point, she disobeys him in a ...
Sylvester
Sylvester, the Duke of Salford, reaslises that it's time for him to wed. He has shortlisted five girls as eligible - not being very romantic - but seems unable to decide between these girls. After conslting his mother about the problem, she recommends the daughter of her deceased best friend - the hon. Phoebe Marlow. The somewhat arrogant Duke has no doubt that he will be able to make Phoebe his wife. But Pheobe has already had a glimpse of Sylvester, an...
The Convenient Marriage
In addition to her regency romances, Heyer wrote some stories set in the Georgian era. The wealthy Earl of Rule is engaged to marry a daughter of the Winwoods, a family of impeccable lineage and no money. She is in love with a poor soldier but forbidden to marry him. Youngest sister Horatia Winwood manipulates matters so that her sister can marry her solider lover, and Horatia marries the earl. She tells him it can hardly make a difference, since she i...
The Corinthian
Richard Wyndham, notorious Corinthian and excellent match for any social-climbing lady, is being pressured from all sides to marry Melissa, the seemingly perfect but snobby daughter of a family friend. So when he stumbles upon a lovely young heiress fleeing from an arranged marriage, Richard sympathises with her and feels obliged, for the girl's safety, to escort her to her destination. Penelope (Pen) is set on marrying a childhood friend with whom s...
The Grand Sophy
Sophia Stanton-Lacy's father sets off for the Americas, leaving Sophy with her reluctant aunt and her family. Soon after arriving the resourceful Sophy sees that her aunt's family is in turmoil - the eldest son is engaged to a horrible woman (almost as odious as cousin charles himself), the second son is having problems with moneylenders, and the daughter has fallen in love (she thinks) with a totally unsuitable (but admittedly hot) poet. Soon Sophy gets...
The Masqueraders
Prudence and Robin have lived a roundabout life - following their father from city to city and country to country, always under a false name, they have gotten into scrapes and scandals everywhere. But now, having returned to England after following their father in yet another failed political rebellion, they are on the criminal wanted list... So they decide to cross-dress to create a false identity. With the backing of an old friend who happens to be...

Georgette Heyer novels

The Nonesuch
When wealthy Sir Waldo Hawkridge inherits a Yorkshire country mansion from his uncle, he decides to have the house fixed up and use it as an orphanage. Sir Waldo is known as the Nonesuch for his unsurpassed prowess in sports, such as hunting, horse-riding and curricle racing, and when the neighbourhood hears of his impending arrival, all the young men want to be like him and most of the young, unmarried women want to land him for a husband. One of th...
The Reluctant Widow
When she accidentally steps into the wrong carriage, Elinor is persuaded by Lord Carlyon to help him not to inherit his cousin's estate. Married at midnight and widowed at dawn, Elinor overnight becomes the mistress to an encumbered estate and receiver of late night guests, agents of Bonaparte. As she and her new cousins become acquainted, they try to solve the many mysteries that have sprung up in the light of her husband's death. Everything become...
The Unknown Ajax
Major Hugo Darracot is the unwelcome heir to a cherished title. When he is summoned to his grandfather's estate, so the elderly man can meet his future heir, Hugo comes unwillingly. He decides that for the time being, there is no use attempting to contradict the image of a simpleton his family believe him to be. Hugo's younger cousin rebels against his grandfather's control, becoming involved in the ‘Free Trade', better known as smuggling. The determ...
Toll Gate
Captain John Staple arrives at Tollgate and finds a scarred boy whose father has disappeared. He stays the night and meets a squire's daughter who he falls in love with. Her grandfather is dying and her cousin keeps hitting on her. John pretends to be a commoner (with her knowledge) to discover where the missing tollgate operator and a bankroll of coins are and to protect his lady. ...
Venetia (Romance)
This is a historical romance by one of the world's most popular writers of the genre. Sadly, it is not one of her best works. The cynical hero, the fresh but witty heroine and the verbal sparring are all in place and make for fun reading bt this isn't a book you'd re-read unless you're a die hard GH fan....
Venetia (Literature)
Venetia Lanyon is a 25 year old girl and Lord Damerel is a 38 year old man with a past. They meet and fall into a flirtation. Due to unforseen circumstances they also become the best of friends. She calls him "my dear friend" and he calls her "my dear delight." His intention is to seduce her but then he realises he is really in love with her and that he cannot do that. He decides to cool it. Venetia, not realising why, is broken hearted and when ...