Review: Hilarious Mad Cap Regency Comedy Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 14, 2013
This sequel to the wild and zany Penelope took the zaniness to a whole new level.  This goes beyond normal levels of historic romantic comedy to slapstick funny.  Fair warning, right?  I happen to enjoy this brand of crazy when in the right mood.  It's a fun blend of regency romance, intrigue and a monstrous dose of comedy.  There were times I groaned over the too over the top stuff and other times I was snickering and then snorting.  Through it all, there was still a clear story line of a young girl in love with being in love who thought herself very sensible and had to learn that being sensible wasn't all that it was cracked up to be when it came to love.The story focuses on one of Penelope's younger half-sisters, Celine.  Getting Penelope's story first is best so that the characters and the situation makes sense.  Celine has been invited up to Town to take care of Penelope and her household during the last weeks of her lying in.  Celine has her own reasons for jumping at the opportunity and dragging her younger sister Dorothy and her governess along for the ride.  Celine plans to hunt down her less than dashing in appearance and less than stellar poet lover who has left the area and asked her to come and find him if she loves him.Celine's personal quest gets hijacked when the mischievous and dashing Lord Elmer is dropped in front of her on the Duke's carpet where the Duke's friend plans to leave the insensible man since he has to leave town and can no longer house him.  George, Lord Elmer, has lived an exciting life all in pursuit of his own pleasure and fun.  He now proposes to help Celine find her poet lover if she'll persuade her sister and the duke to let him stay since he's hiding from someone.  Celine isn't impressed with George's talents in stretching the truth, turning every female head, shirking responsibility and getting her into mischief, but more and more he is pushing her poor Philly out of her thoughts and replacing him with thoughts of George.  It's Philly she loves, right?  Between all the chicanery George and her relations kicks up, it takes her some time to arrive at her true wants.This one was so full of silliness that I wasn't sure if I'd find it the delight that Penelope was for me, but then I grew more engaged in the story when George and Celine began working together and something began between them. The story is told third person all from Celine's point of view.  It was neat seeing how Celine's experiences grew her and changed her thinking.  I also enjoyed the pop-in with Penelope and her duke though she was totally nuts because of her pregnancy and the intro to the younger sister Dorothy.As to recommendations...This is not a story or series for everyone.  One has to truly appreciate slap-stick blended with historical romance to enjoy this story.  For those who do, it is a fun reading experience that I heartily recommend.  Warning, you will laugh out loud so reading in public might not be a good idea if you're self-conscious about your laugh.My thanks to the author for providing my copy of the story in exchange for an honest review.