What I've Read This Week

What I've Read This Week . . .

Refining Felicity : School for Manners #1 -- Regency Romance
When gently born but impoverished elderly spinsters Amy and Effie Tribble advertise to hire themselves out as professional chaperones for difficult young ladies, they get more than they bargained for with Lady Felicity Baronsheath, who refuses to stop acting like a wild boy. Aided by Lady Felicity's neighbor, the Marquess of Ravenswood, the Tribbles are determined to refine Felicity and land her a husband. This is one of the best Regency books I've read in a long time. The Tribble sisters are hilarious in their efforts to catch a man for themselves and in their dealings with Felicity. Felicity comes across as a spoiled brat but I really have sympathy for her and wouldn't wish to be a woman of her station at that time. The romance parts were stupid and unrealistic and I enjoyed the Tribble sisters more than the central romance. I can't wait to read more about the Tribble sisters!

Perfecting Fiona: School for Manners #2 -- Regency Romance
The Tribbles are back with a new charge, Miss Fiona Macleod a Scottish heiress sent by her aunt and uncle to the Tribbles because she's sent every suitor running. The Tribbles find Fiona charming as does Lord Peter Havard, a notorious rake. The Tribbles try to push Fiona into marriage but not with Lord Peter, who is entirely unsuitable. Fiona has her own ideas about marriage and plots to keep the gentlemen away. Meanwhile, Effy and Amy Tribble hold out hope of romance of their own and the dastardly Mr. Callahagn who inherited their aunt's money, has plans of his own. This second volume in the series wasn't as funny or charming as the first. The romance happens too quickly and is too improbable. I enjoyed Effy and Amy's exploits much better than Fiona's and laughed out loud at some of them.

Enlightening Delilah : School for Manners #3 -- Regency Romance
I read this after the first in the series but I didn't seem to miss anything that I didn't already know by skipping the second. Once again the Tribbles must come to the rescue of an exasperated parent. Squire Wraxall's daughter Delilah, still unmarried at the advanced age of three and twenty, has become a hardened flirt after being disappointed by Sir Charles Digby when she was 17. The Squire hires Miss Amy and Miss Effy to help give Diana some "town bronze" and cure her of her habit of breaking hearts. Sir Charles Digby has returned from the wars and decided to have some fun in London and hunt for a wife. The romance happens too quickly and unbelieavably. It's predicatble but there's more of a plot than the romance and more mature than the first book. There is an amusing subplot involving Miss Amy Tribble and her desire for a husband and the outcome of the story had me laughing out loud. More Tribbles waiting for me on my nightstand and in the library! I am hooked on them.

Finessing Clarissa: School for Manners #4 -- Regency Romance

The Honorable Clarissa Vevian is the Tribbles latest charge, and most challenging! Clarissa is tall, awkward and clumsy - a walking disaster! Before she even arrives at the Tribbles, she manages to set fire to her last suitor, be held up by a (wannabe) highwayman, injure the highwayman and set fire to her traveling coach, plus a few other mishaps along the way! She is befriended by the Earl of Greystone who at first feels sorry for her. Clarissa and the Earl become friends after she helps him out with difficult family members. His stepmother and half-sister loathe Clarissa and the attention the Earl gives her and are determined to ruin Clarissa. There is also a mystery plot involving French spies and a packet of missing papers As usual, the Tribbles still dream of marrying and see any man who comes their way as a potential suitor! Like the previous books, the romance happens too quickly and too improbably but the Tribbles come to the rescue with their hilarious hijinks!