Review: 1981 old-school Regency.  One of Chater's best.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 5, 2013
Elizabeth Chater is a hit-or-miss writer of Regency romance but this is one of her hits.  It's a Regency romp with often absurd characters and behavior but it's all in good fun and the main romance is quite satisfyingly romantic (provided one ignores the too-large age difference between the H and h).The hero is an older, sophisticated earl who's suffering from ennui and manages to bump (literally) into the young "romantical" heroine who helps him find his joie de vivre again.  It's a Cinderella story told in the old-school Regency style, with homage to Georgette Heyer in the way the characters are presented and behave, especially the interaction between the older H and and young h.  Not as good as a Heyer, it is equal to many a Joan Smith or a Barbara Metzger.This is one of Chater's better-paced romances.  Oftentimes she tends to go overlong and tediously tangential in the second half of her books, making me long for them to end.  This one had me delighted all the way through.