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A Country Cotillion
As the widow of the irresistible and infamous libertine James French, Elizabeth became accustomed to both his cruelty and his passion, two things she suddenly recognizes in Marcus Sheridan, a would-be suitor
- GenresHistorical Romance
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 4, 1992
About the author
Sandra Heath
87 books24 followersSandra Heath is the ever-popular author of numerous Regencies, historical romances, novellas, and short stories. Among other honors, she has won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards for Best Regency Author and for Best Regency Romance. She lives in Gloucester, England, and can be contacted at sandraheath@bluey onder.co.uk.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
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June 27, 2023Could not put this book down. Very enjoyable.
March 29, 2016
Sandra Heath has long been one of my favorite Regency Romance writers. Much of her earlier work formed the basis from which I became interested in Regency romance and her stories never fail to delight me in some way. A COUNTRY COTILLION is no different in that regard. I found Elizabeth to be a charming woman, though obviously emotionally confused because of her past with her no-account, scapegrace late husband.
The story is a slow one, Marcus not showing up in a substantial way until close to the middle and spending a lot of time shrouded in mystery and cryptic words. For the better portion of the book we spend watching Elizabeth's cousin Isobel working to win Elizabeth's fiancee Sir Alexander away from her under Elizabeth's nose! I was far more interested in watching as Isobel basically manipulated every action, conversation, and event to further her pursuit of Sir Alexander. I could not, for the life of me, understand why Elizabeth was so blind.
Then again, Elizabeth spent a good deal of time being haunted by her late husband's specter. With her impending betrothal to Sir Alexander looming, she has begun to think about when she first married James, how happy and in love she had been. How briefly the two of them seemed to have found the love that so many strive for. She dwells on this to distraction, unintentionally giving her would-be fiancee the cold shoulder.
This is where I had a disconnect with the story, I think. We're told that Sir Alexander spent a good deal of time and effort to woo Elizabeth before the novel takes place; that it took him awhile to prove his suit was worthy and for Elizabeth to realize how stable he was (in comparison to James). Yet it seems almost from the first that their 'love match' was lukewarm. Built on mutual affection, not love. Also, once Marcus comes to the scene, we learn very little about him beyond that he was Alexander's schoolboy friend; was in America and estranged from his father; and had a possible bride in America waiting for him. This is all we learn. We learn little about the man himself and even less about certain circumstances. As Elizabeth began to fall in love with him, I couldn't help but wonder if she was really in love with him or with the fact that he is everything she ever wanted James to be.
In the end, the novel is a sweet one, but leaves a lot of questions for me to ponder over.
The story is a slow one, Marcus not showing up in a substantial way until close to the middle and spending a lot of time shrouded in mystery and cryptic words. For the better portion of the book we spend watching Elizabeth's cousin Isobel working to win Elizabeth's fiancee Sir Alexander away from her under Elizabeth's nose! I was far more interested in watching as Isobel basically manipulated every action, conversation, and event to further her pursuit of Sir Alexander. I could not, for the life of me, understand why Elizabeth was so blind.
Then again, Elizabeth spent a good deal of time being haunted by her late husband's specter. With her impending betrothal to Sir Alexander looming, she has begun to think about when she first married James, how happy and in love she had been. How briefly the two of them seemed to have found the love that so many strive for. She dwells on this to distraction, unintentionally giving her would-be fiancee the cold shoulder.
This is where I had a disconnect with the story, I think. We're told that Sir Alexander spent a good deal of time and effort to woo Elizabeth before the novel takes place; that it took him awhile to prove his suit was worthy and for Elizabeth to realize how stable he was (in comparison to James). Yet it seems almost from the first that their 'love match' was lukewarm. Built on mutual affection, not love. Also, once Marcus comes to the scene, we learn very little about him beyond that he was Alexander's schoolboy friend; was in America and estranged from his father; and had a possible bride in America waiting for him. This is all we learn. We learn little about the man himself and even less about certain circumstances. As Elizabeth began to fall in love with him, I couldn't help but wonder if she was really in love with him or with the fact that he is everything she ever wanted James to be.
In the end, the novel is a sweet one, but leaves a lot of questions for me to ponder over.
October 24, 2013
I liked the book, but did not love it...lol. I find it hard to cheer the "bad girl" more or less getting a happily ever after. The cousin Isobel did everything in her power to undermine her cousin with her soon to be fiance Alexander, every trick, every game and truly teh story was overtaken by this little harpy... Elizabeth (the supposed to be heroine) was relegated to a secondary character in her story. The "hero" was underexposed , he pretty much was an even smaller character than Elizabeth, so with the ending being as it was I was less than happy that technically the villianess gfot the best man and was pretty much rewarded for her illbred behavior with only a minimum of "issue" with her outlandish behavior... but you know me I love the angst... but hated the characters endings...lol
December 25, 2014
meh, isobel was a brat and was rewarded for her behaviour. didn't really feel the chemistry between marcus and elizabeth
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews