<![CDATA[These Old Shades]]>

false <![CDATA[These Old Shades]]> http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173644611m/311182.jpg 311182 22 A gentleman was strolling down a side street in Paris, on his way back from the house of one Madame de Verchoureux. He walked mincingly, for the red heels of his shoes were very high. A long purple cloak, rose-lined, hung from his shoulders and was allowed to fall carelessly back from his dress, revealing a full-skirted coat of purple satin, heavily laced with gold; a waistcoat of flowered silk; faultless small clothes; and a lavish sprinkling of jewels on his cravat and breast. The gentleman in question is Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, known by friends and enemies alike as Satanas--the devil. On this particular evening, the dangerous rake crosses paths with Léon, a red-headed youth of low birth who is fleeing a certain beating at his brutal brother's hands. On a whim, Avon buys the boy and makes him his page. It soon becomes clear, however, that Léon is not what he seems, and that Avon has an ulterior motive for bringing him into his household. Set in pre-Revolutionary France, These Old Shades follows a twisting course as young Léon (or is it Léonie?) is swept up in a dangerous mystery: how to account for the page's amazing resemblance to the sinister Compte de Saint Vire, for example; and why will this man go to any lengths to get the youth in his power? Georgette Heyer's historical romances tend to fall into two different camps: later novels such as Cotillion, False Colours, and Sylvester feature larger-than-life comic characters and romantic pairings more akin to Beatrice and Benedick than Hero and Claudio. Earlier works such as These Old Shades, however, tend to be darker, tinged with mystery and overshadowed by very real menace. What both types share is Heyer's fine storytelling and encyclopedic knowledge of Regency mores and manners--her books are the next best thing to a time machine. These Old Shades's greatest asset, however, is the charming Léonie: beautiful, brave, and loyal to a fault, with a fondness for swordplay and pistols and a delightfully incomplete grasp of the English language. Heyer herself was so fond of this character that she featured her in two more novels, Devil's Cub and An Infamous Army. --Alix Wilber 2682162 book 1926 These Old Shades total:879|5:13|4:18|3:12|2:6|1:0| 879 3576 1147 104 4 4 false false Tue Jun 05 10:48:01 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 05 11:03:20 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 1 true false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 12 22:45:36 -0700 2007 Sun Aug 26 18:07:06 -0700 2007 The Dreyfus Affair and Siria does with Swordspoint. I hated it. I despised pretty much all the characters, other than Hugh and Ru...more...]]> 2 1 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Wed Apr 11 12:18:25 -0700 2007 Wed Apr 11 12:19:18 -0700 2007
Avon is more problemati...more...]]> 4 1 false false Tue Jan 27 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 11:17:26 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 14:19:27 -0800 2009 1 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Wed Nov 07 10:37:58 -0800 2007 Wed Nov 07 10:43:54 -0800 2007 more...]]> 5 0 true false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sun Jan 11 01:45:05 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 11 02:00:23 -0800 2009 2 more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Jan 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 08:54:35 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 09:12:20 -0800 2009
Anyway, my reaction to this book can be summed up in one word: CREEPY! Here's why:

1. Avon buys Leon/Leonie from her brother. Ew.
2. The age difference between Avon and Leonie (20+ years)...more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Nov 02 11:40:43 -0800 2009 Mon Nov 02 11:40:43 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Wed Sep 02 13:52:02 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 02 14:05:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Jun 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 26 13:49:26 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 28 10:02:45 -0700 2009
Satanas, whose real name is Justin, the Duke of Avon, takes a young boy into his care when he sees him fleeing from his older brother's brutal punishment. He turns this boy, Léon, into his page. Léon is loyal ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Oct 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 27 15:27:59 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 29 18:51:46 -0700 2009
I literally just finished reading it and I don't want to go into too much for fear that I will spoil it!

I found Leonie t...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Dec 26 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Dec 12 18:17:33 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 27 16:54:58 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jul 28 13:45:43 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 09:02:04 -0700 2009
I read this because my daughter's book club was reading it, and I found it readily ava...more...]]> 2 0 false false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 15 21:05:31 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 13:34:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 10:16:45 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 08 10:21:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1975 Mon Dec 24 04:15:02 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 24 04:17:24 -0800 2007 2 1 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 09:01:35 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 10:29:22 -0700 2009
Okay, that's a no. I have no problem with single-minded love, but not when it's played as slavish and not when i...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jul 25 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 24 05:43:44 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 05:01:15 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 2 false false Mon Jun 23 11:56:23 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 09:02:01 -0700 2008 These Old Shades is a Georgian romantic-adventure-novel, and the first in a series of three titles devoted to the affairs of the Alastair family. It follows the story of Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, dubbed "Satanas" as a result of his man...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Mar 22 18:45:49 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 04 18:50:39 -0800 2008 Fri Mar 07 15:40:53 -0800 2008
I had two major problems with the story, though.

The class issues made me deeply uncomfortable. One's birth parents (wealth and nobility, or lack thereof) have more impact upon a person's wit, grace and manners than the environment in which they w...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=311182