What do You think about An Accomplished Woman (2007)?
This book opens with a charming scene at an art exhibition with a Regency Miss lamenting on the cavalier treatment of her beloved brother by the woman he worshipped and who had cast him aside without a second thought. Lydia Templeton listens sympathetically and although I guessed early on she was the woman in question, I was still thoroughly entertained by their interchange and Lydia's bewilderment with a man whose favour she had attracted by no more effort than by, 'Suppressing my yawns in his presence'.Lydia is an intelligent woman in her twenties, who once scandalized society by refusing the hand of wealthy and eligible Lewis Durrant. She lives happily with her father, Dr Templeton and spends her time exactly as she wishes with an occasional visit to her married brother in London.Thus all the dowagers have given her up as marriage material and she is therefore selected by her Godmother to chaperone a young orphan to Bath. Pheobe Rae is a beautiful, and more interestingly, rich girl of nineteen who has two suitors. The sojourn at the fashionable spas is to enable her to make a decision about which, if either, of these young man she intends to accept.Lydia tries her best to be impartial, but the two men are so different, she finds this more and more difficult as the days pass. Then when Mr Durrant arrives in Bath purporting to be in search of a bride and latches onto the party to watch the fun, things get even more complicated.Miss Templeton is obviously more engaging than even she admits, because she manages to evoke strong emotions in men without even trying. It wasn't difficult to work out what would happen with the tangled emotions of the characters, but to say it was predictable would be an insult. My enjoyment wasn't in any way affected by this foreknowledge as the writing and characterisation is beautifully put together. The gentle, Regency language with its humour and sheer visual richness, not to mention its irony, was a treat. Even 'must hate' characters were a delight and at the words, 'It's Mrs Vawser', I hunkered down to enjoy the outrageously entertaining dialogue. A fabulous, gentle read to be enjoyed on a lounger in the sunshine with a cool drink beside you. Bliss!! I had the good fortune to meet the author too and my copy is signed. A definite keeper.
—Anita
Lydia is a clever, talented, young woman in the Regency era who is approaching the age of 30, and after rejecting a proposal from the neighbor, Mr. Lewis Durrant, seems happily disposed to never marrying. We see her wicked sense of humor when she pretends not to be herself to a woman who believes she has led her brother on romantically in the opening chapters. Lydia is asked by her godmother to take on chaperoning in Bath her ward, Phoebe, who in her opening Season in London has attracted the attention of two beaus, Mr. A and Mr. B, who are quite different in their personalities. One is promising diplomat with a charming and intelligent sister and a challenging mother, while the other is a poet and rather flamboyant character. Lewis is also going to Bath on the pretense of finding a wife, hoping that this will straighten out his ne'er-do-well nephew. Lydia and Lewis, who have remained friends, have a wager on whether Lydia can be a good chaperone and whether Lewis will find a wife. Lydia must find a way to work with her own prejudices towards the two suitors. Things get complicated when proposals go awry, and Lydia and Lewis find themselves in a tangled situation. While I expected some of the outcomes, the story led the characters on a merry chase. I enjoyed the story with its similarities to both Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer.
—Michelle
The 3 stars is an average of the rating I would have given the beginning, 1, combined with the rating I would have given the ending, 5. I pushed myself through the first 200 pages or so because the author has a brilliant way with a simile. For example:"Lydia was precisely divided between agreement with what Mr. Durrant said, and disgust at the arrogance with which he said it: emotionally the effect was like one of those sneezes that do not quite come."That's just one example; there are many elegant similes in this book, some even better than this one.So I loved the similes, but for the first two-thirds of the book didn't particularly like the main character. However, by the last third of the book I was hooked, and could hardly put it down. And the ending was excellent, and made the dragged-out portion seem like almost a distant memory.So I'd recommend you read the first half as quickly as possible, so you can get to the really good part which, when you get there, is worth the journey.
—Suzanne
