Remembered Serenade

Warrender Saga #9

by Mary Burchell

Joanna Ran some was hoping to embark on a singing career — and with the great conductor Oscar Warrender taking an interest in her she could hardly fail!

But how could she manage to convince Elliot Cheam that she was not just a cheap little gold digger?

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Romance, Contemporary Romance, Clean Romance

188 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1975

About the author

Ida Cook was born on 1904 at 37 Croft Avenue, Sunderland, England. With her eldest sister Mary Louise Cook (1901), she attending the Duchess' School in Alnwick. Later the sisters took civil service jobs in London, and developed a passionate interest in opera. The sisters helped 29 jews to escape from the Nazis, funded mainly by Ida's writing. In 1965, the Cook sisters were honored as Righteous Gentiles by the Yad Vashem Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Israel.

As Mary Burchell, she published more than 125 romance novels by Mills & Boon since 1936. She also wrote some western novels as James Keene in collaboration with the author Will Cook (aka Frank Peace). In 1950, Ida Cook wrote her autobiography: "We followed our stars". She helped to found the Romantic Novelists' Association, and was its president from 1966 to her death on December 22, 1986.

Reviews

[Naksed · Rating 1 out of 5]

H thought badly of the h for the entire book. He even lent her money for singing lessons anonymously, only for the pleasure of seeing her make a fool of herself on stage as he believed her to be talentless. What love!

On the other hand, I don't blame him for suspecting h to be a ruthless social climber and user. Squeezing an invite to pick a lonely, elderly man's brain in anticipation of a singing role is one thing. But when she tried on the priceless antique costume that is part of the old man's museum-quality collection (after appropriate half-hearted protests), I started to feel iffy about her. When the h's pushy mom and aunt finnagled another invite (this time an overnight weekend stay) at the home of the sweet old man through more lies and conniving, I knew the apple did not fall far from the tree. The last straw was when h accepted a "loan" of money from this eccentric, reclusive, vulnerable old man. I had no doubt this was an "All About Eve" reboot.

This author tends to excuse despicable behavior from her characters under the guise that it's all for the glory of art. She did it pretty convincingly with a mean, manipulative fashion designer in Under the Stars of Paris, but failed miserably in redeeming her monstrous opera diva character in the atrocious Little Sister. Although the h in this book is not nearly as evil as the Medusa-like opera star character in Little Sister, I couldn't help feeling I was witnessing the birth of a baby monster just cutting its little teeth in this one. Being an Artiste doesn't give you carte blanche to manipulate others and step on people with impunity.

I think I will stay away from this author's opera books in the future because they tend to bring out the worst in her :(

[StMargarets · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the ninth in the Warrender Saga and a re-read. Warning about the open-library copy - there are some garbled passages.

Singing student heroine meets big-time producer hero as she is on her way to his uncle's house to see said uncle's opera costume collection. Hero almost runs her down in his car and is annoyed with her and himself for the accident. He had been worried about some gold-digger taking advantage of his uncle. Turns out heroine is the "gold digger" who had been invited to visit the uncle because her aunt was a close neighbor. Heroine's motives are innocent - she needs more insight into the character she will play in an obscure opera. Uncle immediately sees the resemblance between the heroine and the opera singer he loved in his youth and insists she try on the costume. Enter outraged hero during their dress-up session.

Heroine does her best allay his suspicious and he puts his doubts on hold to invite her to the dress rehearsal of his latest play (starring OW) and takes her out to dinner where she meets legendary conductor Oscar Warrender and his wife. Hero warns heroine not to crash his uncle's house party when the conductor will be there. Heroine vows she won't be there. Later that night, though, she learns that she's been invited by the uncle. Heroine tries to explain to the hero, but their conversations get interrupted.

She does go and is assessed by the great man. In the middle his critique, enter hero who is angry that heroine crashed party and is a golddigger like he thought. Uncle tells him to put a sock in it. There is an uneasy peace.

Heroine gives a great performance in the obscure opera and Warrender is in attendance. She is given an audience with the conductor in London and is told she is the perfect person to play the female lead in a new opera. The character is mute through 1/3 of the opera, only singing her woe at the injustice of the hero in the second third and lying on the stage dead in the last third. Seems the heroine is a great dramatic actress with an okay voice. But she'll need expensive lessons with a Russian dancer/actress. Hero's uncle says he'll pay. Heroine is reluctant, but Warrender tells her to get over herself and take advantage of this opportunity.

Now it's cemented that she's a gold digger. Hero refuses to talk to her. Heroine channels pain into her studies and blows away the critics during her first performance. Hero was in attendance at the debut, but didn't seek her out. She finds out hero, not uncle, was the one who put up the money. She doesn't know how to thank him without looking forward. Warrender arranges a "chance" meeting between the two. Apologies and gratitude. HEA

I really don't know if you could call this a romance, since the H/h are hardly together on the page. There is much more emphasis on the heroine's growth as an artist and how the pain of real life can be channeled into the fantasy land of opera. It's fun to see Anthea and Oscar again and to see how their romance played out. (No white picket fence or kids - just artistic collaboration and understanding). The hero in this story is heroic, because like Oscar W, he helps the heroine fulfill her dreams. That is love in Mary Burchell world. This is a common theme in the whole Warrander series.

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time warming up to the characters in this book and the H/h spend very little time together so their romance is not credible - especially after a particularly upsetting interaction where the hero accuses her of being a gold digger. It is hard to recover from that off page.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this one fine but it was pretty unremarkable, even amass the binge that I am currently on. (They DO all start to blend together after a bit.) Again, I do like the patronage elements present in the series. The authors had a very clear eyed view of the world they loved so much.

[Alisha Trenalone · Rating 1 out of 5]

The latter part of this series is really falling off. Rudeness, assumptions, misunderstandings, annoying plot devices…

[maddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

i think as she wrote these they slowly just got less good cuz this was the worst one😭

[lucía · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️

Una no quiere terminar los libros de la saga que ama por miedo a que se acaben. Cómo me gustan estas historias de amor entre partituras, con el añadido de relaciones más allá de la propia de los protagonistas que hace que el libro tenga mucha más profundidad.

[Sophie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unconvincing romance takes a backseat to unconvincing show business plot. It felt like the hero and heroine didn't spend more than a few hours together throughout the whole story, which made their final love scene painfully weak. (It also didn’t help my enjoyment of the book that I thought the heroine's behavior was frequently contemptible.) This book (Warrender #9) perfectly illustrates the difficulty of writing this kind of series—where the author tries to shoehorn the same characters into different situations and keep it believable and interesting.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the strongest of the series, I think, and maybe the most Streadfeildian, because of its single minded devotion to Joanna’s career. In fact, there’s an aspect of Joanna that feels like a (dare I say) more realistic adult Posy Fossil: grimly determined and hardworking, with a dash of that “money will be found” attitude (though Joanna does facilitate it herself).

There are real arguments about art here which don’t feel repetitive - surprisingly, since this isn’t exactly the first in the series. But there’s something about these arguments, which are tied to the characters so well, in which both sides have valid points, that makes them beautifully specific.

Except for these arguments (which means, really, except for his part in Joanna’s career), Elliot is an afterthought. The romantic interest! And that’s so thematically apt: Joanna’s big part involves almost no talking at all, and yet amazingly, communication takes place anyway. In a way that’s a parallel to their relationship.

Though they do talk in the beginning, and some of the funniest lines of the book are said by Joanna in those conversations:

‘Am I telling this story, or are you?’ she asked, so crisply that he glanced at her in surprise. ‘And why, incidentally, were you at such pains to tell me you couldn't come down here, when all the time you meant to come sneaking down to see if I were here?’

‘I did nothing of the sort!’ He was suddenly furious. ‘How dare you suggest -?’

‘It's horrid when people make stupid and unfounded accusations, isn't it?’ she said sweetly, and there was a long silence.

It was so perfectly placed. And so was this:

‘…You have a great deal to learn, chérie. But you have come to the right person to teach you.’ There was no false modesty about that. ‘It will cost you a lot of money, but it will be worth every penny. Now we will have tea.’

Now we will have tea. I love it. A stereotype, maybe, but an effective one.

This book is also interesting because the development of Joanna’s distinct talent is interesting. The practical question that arises from that is, I think, what could be next for her? She’s not really a classical artist, is she?

(I wonder if Warrender ever gets bored of constant success? I do like that he develops new works. But I think some mediocrity might be good for him. At any rate it would be human.)

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh dear, all the misunderstandings again. It ALMOST works. The characters have moments of recognizing the absurdity of it all, which is great! But then you just see another one coming and it's all terrible!

I liked the plot a lot. Burchell does a good job of making each character find their own niche? They're not all the MOST SPECIAL EVER, but they often have a thing they're uniquely good at it. Which is cool.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorites in the series, far more about the demands and rewards of an artistic career than a romance. Joanna has spine and stands up for herself and her devotion to her art, and the hero confesses he was wrong at the end and apologizes without reservation. Pretty rare even now and this was published fifty years ago!

[Susan Drago · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the story

Mary Burchell's writing is beautiful. She was a wonderful woman, a heroine in her own right.

But, someone has done a horrible job editing this volume! Being a retired editor myself, I can't express how annoying it is to see such an inspirational book as this so full of errors.

It would behoove the publisher to remedy this!!

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another day, another Mary Burchell novel. I'm enjoying these so much.
Joanna, our heroine, is a singing student who visits an old man who collects theatre memorabilia. Our hero is Elliot, the man's nephew. He's got a quick temper and isn't good at listening, so they end up at odds. Meanwhile, she is secretly training for a special singing role that Oscar Warrender chose for her. She must go through intensive training with Sir Oscar and a highly expensive acting coach, both of whom are tough as nails, and give out praise minimally to keep the student from overestimating their talents so they will not get lazy. Elliot is upset when Joanna asks the old man to back her financially to finance her training because Elliot thinks she's a gold digger. Her friendship with Elliot is set aside during her training, but she hopes to sort it all out later.
I really enjoyed this book.

Grey-eyed characters: Joanna (heroine); Oscar Warrender

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting close to end of series and I do not want it to end.

[MK · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this as a young girl - it was one of the first romances I ever read and the first in the Warrender saga. Much thanks to my aunt and her stash of romances I'd read when I was supposed to be sleeping. I loved this story so much and remember loving the book all these years later. May have to raid the stash again next time I visit my aunt.