Review: Competing with a brother's memory for a woman's love.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 17, 2012
Anne Wickfield is a young woman who has grown up next door to the more well-to-do, prestigious Penholme family.  She had a long-time crush on Charles, the oldest brother and titular head of the Penholme estate.  Charles was a gambler and womanizer but full of so much charm that many loved him anyway, Anne, of course, included.Charles dies unexpectedly and brother Alex, a soldier, comes home from the Peninsular Wars to take his place as head of the household.  Alex has always loved Anne in silence.  Now it's up to him to woo her away from Charles' memory.  Little by little, Charles' wastefulness, carelessness and lack of concern for anyone but himself become evident even to Anne.It's a pretty love story, a slow and charming romance where the heroine gradually sees the worth of the honorable brother.  It's not as humorous as some Joan Smith regencies, but in this case the story was the better for this.  It was more romantic and poignant this way.