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A Brilliant Alliance
Miss Caroline Wentworth takes it upon herself to teach the arrogant Mr. Robert Neville a lesson in humility. But his presence sparks in her two very different emotions. As badly as Caroline wants to show this egomaniac that he is just another man, his proximity stirs certain amorous feelings--that become increasingly harder to deny.
- GenresHistorical
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1993
8 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Jackson
72 booksElizabeth Jackson is a talented writer of regencies and contemporary fiction, and lives near San Diego with her husband. When not writing, she practices immigration law.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 9, 2013
Such a tiresome book. The secondary hero was a dead ringer (including some pretty specific dialogue) for Freddy of Heyer's Cotillion. The hero/heroine's story was lifted directly from Heyer's Arabella -- except for the passages with his aunt that were pure Pride and Prejudice. So tired of this, I see it all the live long day.
February 5, 2023
I agree with Janet's review describing this book as tiresome. Not sure if it's for the same reasons or not. The basic premise is that Caroline's father died leaving a lot of debt behind. They're forced to sell the family home and some heirloom jewelry. With the help of some godmothers and friends, they have the chance to give Caroline's younger sister one season in London before they retire to Bath to live a quiet life. Caroline is okay with it but the beautiful and spoiled sister and mother don't want to accept reality. The sister is determined to make "a brilliant alliance" in order to maintain her lifestyle and, at first, sets her cap on the man who bought their family home. He's rich, handsome and aloof and wants nothing to do with young debutants. Caroline overhears him disparaging her family and is determined to snub him. If you've read enough of these Regencies, you know where this is going.
The first reason this book was tiresome is because of the writing style. There are some books that grip you right from the beginning and, even if the story is not that great, they're "easy" to read. By the time I got about 1/3 of the way, I realized I was struggling to make progress. The best I can say is that the book is "wordy". It tries to be somewhat complex, but it just has a lot of words that lead nowhere. The plot just drags. The other reason I didn't care about the book was the characters. I thought Caroline would be an older sister, perhaps on the shelf, but she's only 19 (the younger sister is 17). She's a sensible girl but she does act her age and, even though that is a point for the author in terms of characterization, I just wasn't interested in that. The younger sister is annoying as all beautiful and spoiled characters are, the mother was another immature female, and the hero was the bored, haughty type. If you're going to write a story with all these common archetypes and tropes, something needs to stand out but nothing did. I did like their young neighbor Bertie who, at 18, has a lot more sense than the young sister, and Mr. Neville's friend Lord Wynchwood, but they were secondary characters and not enough to enliven this story.
To be fair, after about page 80, I skimmed most of the book, so I might have missed something. I got to the end feeling nothing for the main characters.
The first reason this book was tiresome is because of the writing style. There are some books that grip you right from the beginning and, even if the story is not that great, they're "easy" to read. By the time I got about 1/3 of the way, I realized I was struggling to make progress. The best I can say is that the book is "wordy". It tries to be somewhat complex, but it just has a lot of words that lead nowhere. The plot just drags. The other reason I didn't care about the book was the characters. I thought Caroline would be an older sister, perhaps on the shelf, but she's only 19 (the younger sister is 17). She's a sensible girl but she does act her age and, even though that is a point for the author in terms of characterization, I just wasn't interested in that. The younger sister is annoying as all beautiful and spoiled characters are, the mother was another immature female, and the hero was the bored, haughty type. If you're going to write a story with all these common archetypes and tropes, something needs to stand out but nothing did. I did like their young neighbor Bertie who, at 18, has a lot more sense than the young sister, and Mr. Neville's friend Lord Wynchwood, but they were secondary characters and not enough to enliven this story.
To be fair, after about page 80, I skimmed most of the book, so I might have missed something. I got to the end feeling nothing for the main characters.
May 21, 2008
This book had a particularly charming cover with a pig
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews