Review: No cravat survives this one in pristine condition
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2014
This book is rather like the frothy milk on top of a Starbucks coffee. It is insubstantial an unnecessary, but enjoyable on occasion.I appreciated the truth-in-advertising. This is a romp, and the author tells you so up front. Humor may be the most difficult to write because one person's chuckle is another person's groan. The book managed to stay out of the groan zone, with only a few places that went too far or too long for me.This is a Yorkshire pudding of a story, with a huge pig, OCD duke, wild bluestocking, barefoot race, ale-swilling, big family of girls, conniving servants and more all stirred together. I appreciated the author's consistency. I've read too many stories with, say, a heroine with a limp or a hero with a fear of becoming a spendthrift like his father, but those attributes seem to disappear by chapter five. These characters had flaws and reasons for those flaws, and they didn't magically change or become forgotten when the plot thickened.I understand this is the author's first foray into romance. I hope she continues to write in this genre!