When Sophy goes to stay with her cousins in Berkeley Square, she finds them in a sad tangle of affairs – some romantic and others of a more p...
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reviews
Dec 16, 2009
Siria
rated it: 
I think this has surpassed These Old Shades as my favourite of the Heyers that I've read. The hero isn't as much fun as Avon is, but the heroine, Sophy, far surpasses Leonie. Sophy is, admittedly, forward, bold, and out-spoken enough that she could have become as irritating to me as Leonie is; but I think Heyer handled Sophy with far more skill than she did Leonie - no great surprise, perhaps, since there's a gap of about three decades between the two books - and she's instead a very joyful char
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Feb 23, 2011
Vinaya
rated it: 
The one thing that always puzzles me is people's tendency to compare Georgette Heyer to Jane Austen. As well compare Crime and Punishment to a John Grisham novel! I am not denying the literary merits of either genre; far from it, in fact. However, that doesn't change the fact that one is trying to compare chalk and cheese.
Jane Austen's purpose in writing her novels was not merely to tell a story. In fact, the story was merely a vehicle to examine critically the mores and customs of More...
Jane Austen's purpose in writing her novels was not merely to tell a story. In fact, the story was merely a vehicle to examine critically the mores and customs of More...
9 comments
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(24 people liked it)
Mar 31, 2010
Kelly
rated it: 
My goodness, I will have to review something very dark and depressing to make up for loving this book, won't I?
This is the romance novel that isn't a romance novel. The heroine who isn't a heroine. It's fixed in time and place, but with a heroine who seems modern. Sophy is fantastic. She's so very skillfully drawn. Every action and word from her is much more carefully considered than in many others of her heroines, and not forced for the sake of the romance. At least, it felt that wa More...
This is the romance novel that isn't a romance novel. The heroine who isn't a heroine. It's fixed in time and place, but with a heroine who seems modern. Sophy is fantastic. She's so very skillfully drawn. Every action and word from her is much more carefully considered than in many others of her heroines, and not forced for the sake of the romance. At least, it felt that wa More...
7 comments
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(12 people liked it)
Oct 12, 2010
Abigail
rated it:
When the lively, loving and very independent Miss Sophia Stanton-Lacy comes to stay with her relatives in Berkeley Square, none of the Rivenhall family, from nervous Lady Ombersley to stern Cousin Charles, have any notion that their lives will never be the same. Soon perceiving that she has come to an unhappy home, Sophy determines that she will set all to rights, whether this entails assisting Hubert with his financial difficulties, helping beautiful Cecilia to find her true love, nursing young
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20 comments
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(6 people liked it)
Dec 11, 2011
Tatiana
rated it:
I think "The Grand Sophy" is an excellent recommendation to fans of Jane Austen and regency romance, especially those who are quite sick of contemporary versions of the genre filled with throbbing members and heaving bosoms.
This book is very clean, light and reminiscent of Austen's masterpieces in its humor and focus on domestic issues - marriage, unwanted engagements, cheating husbands, gambling debts and such. The language is sophisticated, the characters are well drawn More...
This book is very clean, light and reminiscent of Austen's masterpieces in its humor and focus on domestic issues - marriage, unwanted engagements, cheating husbands, gambling debts and such. The language is sophisticated, the characters are well drawn More...
19 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2009
Res
rated it:
First-rate Heyer. Here's a family: mother kind of helpless the way a lot of Heyer mothers are; father a weak-willed gambler; oldest son Charles arrogant as you get when everybody else in your family is an idiot (and he's engaged to the most awful busybody right out of Austen); oldest daughter Cecilia rejecting an arranged marriage to quite a nice man in order to fall in love with an extremely handsome and absent-minded poet. And in comes their cousin, Sophia, who's been raised by a traveling mil
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(4 people liked it)
Apr 03, 2010
Tara
rated it:
This is my first Heyer novel. By the mostly rave reviews I see for her, I am wondering if I picked up the wrong one to start with. It was amusing, I will give it that. However, the prose was incredibly pompous. I had to get out my dictionary for at least one word on every page. Take this sentence for example: "and the dutiful presentation to her erratic and far from grateful spouse of eight pledges of her affection had long since destroyed any pretensions to beauty in her. Her health
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8 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Jan 29, 2008
Nancy
rated it:
Okay, I confess to a weakness for Georgette Heyer books. While I refuse to read regular romance novels, Ms. Heyer's books, which I discovered as a teenager, are well written and FUNNY. The Grand Sophy is full of pompous people and Sophy--who has a sense of the ridiculous. There are some laugh out loud scenes. I must admit that I keep a copy stashed for the times that life just gets me down.
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(8 people liked it)
Nov 11, 2010
Mona
rated it:
When a few Jane Austen aficionados (Janeites) started recommending Heyer to me, noting that she wrote several Regency romance novels, I thought they'd lost their minds. Romance, in my mind, equaled the Harlequin imprint + Danielle Steel. Ewwww, was my first response. But considering the same people had also recommended Wives and Daughters, which has come to be one of my favorite books, I decided to venture out into strange territory.
I'm glad that I did. While The Grand Sophy is certai More...
I'm glad that I did. While The Grand Sophy is certai More...
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(2 people liked it)
Apr 03, 2011
Mollie *scoutrmom*
rated it:
It has been over a decade since last I read this particular treat. I'm glad I picked it up and enjoyed it again.
The plot reminds me of a juggler... one never knows where the next twist is going to appear, or how the author is going to make the heroine come out the winner. Sophy is a marvel in Regency romances, an independent spirit with the means to please herself. She does not meet the love of her life until he is engaged to be married to another; her young cousin is infatuated w More...
The plot reminds me of a juggler... one never knows where the next twist is going to appear, or how the author is going to make the heroine come out the winner. Sophy is a marvel in Regency romances, an independent spirit with the means to please herself. She does not meet the love of her life until he is engaged to be married to another; her young cousin is infatuated w More...
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(2 people liked it)
May 24, 2010
Renee
rated it:
The Grand Sophy is my second Heyer (after the so-so Sprig Muslin), and it's a delight--much more enjoyable than the other, because I preferred Sophy's protagonists. Heyer's strengths as a writer are her humor & command of dialogue; consequently, her books succeed or flounder based on how amusing you find the lead characters.
Sophy borders on being too perfect, but Heyer somehow manages to make her charming instead of a Mary Sue. It helps that Sophy's physically in the Elizabeth Bennet More...
Sophy borders on being too perfect, but Heyer somehow manages to make her charming instead of a Mary Sue. It helps that Sophy's physically in the Elizabeth Bennet More...
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(1 person liked it)
Sep 23, 2011
Mel B.
rated it:
I was pretty sure I had given up on faux-Regency or mannerpunk, but then I saw a recommendation for this, saw that it was written decades ago, and decided to give it a chance. [return][return]I'm glad I did. I sometimes had to tell myself this was not actually written as a contemporary of Jane Austen's. And really, if you think about it, Sophy probably never could be as independent as she was.[return][return]My biggest annoyance was the idea that Sophy would fall in love with her cousin Charles.
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Jan 04, 2010
Laurel
rated it:
The Grand Sophy is a devilishly fine girl!
First published in 1950, The Grand Sophy contains one of Georgette Heyer’s most endearingly outrageous heroines. In this newly released reissue by Sourcebooks, you are in for a rollicking good time through Regency era London with Miss Sophia Stanton-Lacy. As one of her many male admirers proclaims, "By all that is wonderful, it’s the Grand Sophy!" Too true.
A diplomat’s daughter, Sophy has traveled the Continent with h More...
First published in 1950, The Grand Sophy contains one of Georgette Heyer’s most endearingly outrageous heroines. In this newly released reissue by Sourcebooks, you are in for a rollicking good time through Regency era London with Miss Sophia Stanton-Lacy. As one of her many male admirers proclaims, "By all that is wonderful, it’s the Grand Sophy!" Too true.
A diplomat’s daughter, Sophy has traveled the Continent with h More...
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(4 people liked it)
Nov 23, 2008
Jenni
rated it:
Sophy Stanton-Lacy, a young unmarried woman, was born in an era of extreme discretion. It is improper for a young lady to allow their affections to show, to ride a large horse, to leave town with a man. This regency woman is very different however from the women of Jane Austin's similarly set novels. She is not concerned with appearances. Her indiscretions range from riding her horse too fast in the park, to standing up to a loan shark armed with a pistol, to running away with the man her cousin
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 02, 2012
Srisurang
rated it:
3.5 ค่ะ มันถูกจัดอยู่ใน Romance แต่เราว่าน่าจะเป็นแค่นิยายย้อนยุคธรรมดามากกว่า เพราะความรักของพระนางในเรื่องนั้นไม่เด่นเลย แทบจะต้องบอกว่า ไปรักกันตอนไหน เรื่องอ่านเพลินๆ สนุกดี แต่ไม่ถูกใจพล็อตหลัก นางเอกน่ารัก กล้า มั่นใจ พึ่งตัวเองได้ ผิดไปกว่าหญิงยุคนั้นอย่างมาก แต่เธอเล่นเด่นคนเดียวในเรื่อง แก้ปัญหาให้ทุกคนได้หมด อย่างดีด้วย แต่ทำให้พระเอกดูด้อยกว่ามากๆ เลย ไม่ถูกใจพระเอกตั้งแต่แรกที่เลือกหญิงน่าเบื่อนิสัยไม่ดีที่ทำให้แม่และพี่น้องไม่สบายใจกันไปหมดมาเป็นคู่หมั้นได้ หรือความคิดของเขาที่ว่า ผ
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Dec 25, 2011
Felicia
rated it:
OKAY Get ready for an onslaught of book reviews because I just got back from vacation and literally read like 20 books, maybe more.
FIRST, this book was on my Kindle for a while because I guess this author is considered the mother of historical romance novels. It was written in 1950, and actually, due to the historical nature of the subject matter, doesn't feel THAT dated (caveat, see one of the things I hated about the book, lol), and is very witty and engaging. The main character re More...
FIRST, this book was on my Kindle for a while because I guess this author is considered the mother of historical romance novels. It was written in 1950, and actually, due to the historical nature of the subject matter, doesn't feel THAT dated (caveat, see one of the things I hated about the book, lol), and is very witty and engaging. The main character re More...
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(9 people liked it)
Oct 27, 2011
Kathryn
rated it:
I love Georgette Heyer. The Grand Sophy is one of my favorites; I'd put it in my top five, along with Sylvester and Frederica. (I think Arabella and The Convenient Marriage round out my top five, but I may be forgetting one I like better.) The titular Sophy was raised by her diplomat father, her mother having died young. She spent her early youth on the Continent hobnobbing with many influential people, from dukes to generals, and at the age of twenty, has returned to England to stay with he
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Oct 08, 2011
Kathy
rated it:
One of Heyer's Regency romances.
The Story
Sir Horace must post off to Brazil for some sort of diplomat-thing and his daughter, Sophia, must stay in England and look after Sancia, his fiancée. And the Rivenhalls are about to find out that Sir Horace's "dear little soul...not an ounce of vice in her" is not exactly what they had expected.
For Sophy isn't one to sit back and watch other people's lives fall apart when, with just a bit of a push and some courage, one More...
The Story
Sir Horace must post off to Brazil for some sort of diplomat-thing and his daughter, Sophia, must stay in England and look after Sancia, his fiancée. And the Rivenhalls are about to find out that Sir Horace's "dear little soul...not an ounce of vice in her" is not exactly what they had expected.
For Sophy isn't one to sit back and watch other people's lives fall apart when, with just a bit of a push and some courage, one More...
Oct 08, 2011
Lana
rated it:
El libro no solo no me ha defraudado sino que me ha encantado. Es una novela con tintes románticos sobre los enredos de una familia del sigo XIX, cuya cotidianeidad se ve interrumpida con la llegada de la prima Sophy, una joven decidida e independiente, a la que importan muy poco los convencionalismos sociales tras haber sido criada por su padre en diferentes países. Su actitud encandilará a unos y horrorizará a otros, y serán sobre todo estos últimos los que protagonizarán algunos de los moment
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Sep 26, 2011
Ilona
rated it: 
I thought the book was delightful - witty, bright, deeply hilarious - and then we ran into a very stereotypical description of a "Jewish Moneylender." I do realize that Heyer was reflecting attitudes of the time, but did the moneylender have to be quite so odious?
On one hand, he is a nasty character and nasty characters often don't have a good personal hygiene. On other hand, the description hits point by point a racial stereotype used for many years to fuel persecution o More...
On one hand, he is a nasty character and nasty characters often don't have a good personal hygiene. On other hand, the description hits point by point a racial stereotype used for many years to fuel persecution o More...
12 comments
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(21 people liked it)
Sep 09, 2011
Corinne
rated it:
Things are just fine in the Rivenhall residence. Dull perhaps - not particularly pleasant, maybe, but within the bounds of propriety, surely. That is, they were, until their cousin Sophy (who has been traipsing about the continent) comes to stay. Sophy has a habit of shaking things up in a rather alarming fashion and soon Charles, the eldest of the Rivenhall cousins, is quite sure that Sophy will bring them all to ruin.
Sophy! Grand she is. She's a delight in every way. A pot-st More...
Sophy! Grand she is. She's a delight in every way. A pot-st More...
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(1 person liked it)
Jan 21, 2011
Susan
rated it:
A Georgette Heyer romance is the best the romance genre can offer. Far before the days of idealized relationships starting off as drunken one night stands, or whirlwind affairs that prove that love is true after about a week, Georgette Heyer wrote romances of sensible people enjoying life and realizing that they enjoy it more with their exasperating friend. Even though a Heyer romance can be relied on to have a happy ending to the romance and some combination of her favorite adventuring subplots
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Jun 04, 2010
Sarah
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 03, 2010
Amy
rated it:
Admittedly, this one took a while to get into because a friend let me borrow her large print edition. It felt like a remedial reader and had a slow pace, having to flip pages after nearly every paragraph. Now, having stated that I didn’t like the version I was reading, I actually really enjoyed the story. The pompous, erratic, meddling—although well meaning-- main character reminded me of Jane Austen’s beloved “Emma” (although I’ve only seen the movie and not read the book).
The au More...
The au More...
Feb 22, 2010
Kspeare
rated it:
TGS is a great introduction to the originator and still unrivaled practitioner of the modern Regency comedy of manners. Heyer wrote period dialogue more fluently than anyone since Jane Austen, and of modern writers only Naomi Novik can match her. She wrote a lot of books, some better than others (one that I hated, PENHALLOW, she apparently wrote to convince her publisher to break her contract, per Wikipedia).
The best of Heyer's books can be read on multiple levels. They contain scene More...
The best of Heyer's books can be read on multiple levels. They contain scene More...
Nov 11, 2009
Sabrina
rated it:
I was extremely excited for the chance to review Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy. Having heard so much about Mrs. Heyer and her books, I was sad to say I'd never read one before now. From the research I did, The Grand Sophy is beloved by readers. In fact, many deem it to be their favorite Heyer book. So, it was the perfect introduction into the world of Mrs. Heyer!
I was not disappointed! When an author and book are hyped so often, I sometimes worry that my expectations could never More...
I was not disappointed! When an author and book are hyped so often, I sometimes worry that my expectations could never More...
Aug 06, 2009
Gabby
rated it:
I was at a church friend's house waiting for a meeting to start, and we started discussing books. She and I have similar tastes, and, at the end of the evening, she lent me one of her new books. She said if I liked Austen, I would like Heyer. (I have to say that she must have incredible trust in me -- lending me a new book and all. I admit, I have a VERY hard time lending out my books. But then again, she does have 5 kids under 7, so maybe her expectations regarding the overall conditions of boo
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(1 person liked it)
May 06, 2011
Marleigh
rated it:
First line: "The butler, recognizing her ladyship's only surviving brother at a glance, as he afterward informed his less percipient subordinates, favored Sir Horace with a low bow, and took it upon himself to say that my lady, although not at home to less nearly connected persons, would be happy to see him."
Summary: Outgoing cousin Sophy comes to live with her staid London cousins, where she decides to fix everyone's lives. There is also a strange obsession with animals, as More...
Summary: Outgoing cousin Sophy comes to live with her staid London cousins, where she decides to fix everyone's lives. There is also a strange obsession with animals, as More...
May 14, 2010
A.M.
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Mar 29, 2010
Michelle
rated it:
I was a little nervous to try this--I've had it recommended to me in a couple of different places now as being "like Jane Austen" but, for heaven's sake, it's a HARLEQUIN! (my edition was printed by Harlequin) I don't read "Regency romances", I read literature. :-) But two recommendations of "like Jane" intrigued me enough to try. So.
Guess what? Heyer is no Jane Austen. This book is much too light to truly be considered "like Jane" Heyer has a More...
Guess what? Heyer is no Jane Austen. This book is much too light to truly be considered "like Jane" Heyer has a More...
