LynneC’s review of Guarding a Notorious Lady by Olivia Parker
Historical Romance published by Avon 31 May 11
I’ve never read Olivia Parker before, and while this is a pleasant read, it’s instantly forgettable, so gossamer-thin that if I don’t write this review now, I’ll probably forget about it. I put this book down half an hour ago, and if I hadn’t made notes, knowing I was going to review this one, I wouldn’t remember it.
This is an ARC that I received from NetGalley, and in my desperate hunt to find a new historical author to love, I thought I’d try this. It’s not for me, though it may well be for you. It’s an airport book, and God bless anyone who can help the poor traveler to wile away those tedious hours after security and before takeoff.
The heroine, whose name I’ve forgotten already and have to look up, Rosalind (oh whoops, Rose of my Richard and Rose series is a Rosalind, I should be able to remember that name!) is a scamp rather than notorious, so the title seems a little inappropriate and far too melodramatic for the tone of this book, which is charmingly light. Anyway, Rosalind is in London for the season when she meets a neighbour, Nicholas (with the unusual surname of Kincaid – an Irish name for a Scot living in England? Ah well, could be. After all, Billy Connolly is Scottish). She has no idea he’s in London and no idea that he has recently inherited the title of Marquis until Chapter Two.
That wasn’t my first “Eh?” moment, but it did stop me a bit. She would have known. She’d have known he was in line, and she’d have known when he inherited. But this is a light-hearted story, and it would be a shame to spoil it, wouldn’t it?
Historical inaccuracies and skimming period and setting are legion. Kilts and whisky in the Regency period? Not for fifty years did they make an appearance in polite society, but, eh, I told myself. At least whisky is spelled right (big sigh of relief there!) or maybe it wasn’t Regency. Since there’s no mention of Napoleon, Wellington, or any other reference to ground me in the period, I wonder if it might be early Victorian, except no mention is made of her, either. Not that I noticed, anyway. There doesn’t seem to be a mention of the period in the blurb, either. So I decided the whole thing is taking place in America in the 1850s. Somewhere like Boston (is there anywhere else like Boston?) and since I know very little about this time and place, it works much better. Because Britain it isn’t. Neither is it Regency.
I can actually take a lightly written novel if the author makes me care about the characters and their dilemmas. But there doesn’t seem to be any dilemmas. Rosalind spends the whole book falling into Nicholas’ arms, tripping, stumbling, falling off ladders and so on. Accident prone doesn’t begin to describe it unless, of course, she is doing it on purpose. That’s about it, really. The plot, I mean. Rosalind spends a season falling into his arms and he spends the season kissing her and then pushing her away, either because of basic honor or a promise he made to her brother or because he has a Tragic Past. Take your pick. None of them seem to matter come the sex scene.
There is a little kissing, a little heavy petting, and one sex scene in the book. It’s a book written by numbers in that respect.
Rosalind is in love with Nicholas from page one and he’s in love with her, so the whole book could actually have ended at the end of Chapter One. Or Chapter Two, if you like a ball scene. She meets him unexpectedly, he’s inherited a title, her family approves, and they announce their engagement. There’s no conflict, no believable reason for staying apart, no reason why they should resist each other.
So, as I do when I start getting bored, I note the inaccuracies and plough on. If I weren’t determined to find one historical I liked, and I knew I’d decided to review this one, I would have given up.
Am I hard for commenting on inaccuracies in what is essentially a romp? No, I don’t think so, though I do feel a tad mean. But hey, remember Georgette Heyer – unforgettable. She wrote romps, scads of them, and in every one she gave the reader a reason to turn the page and in every one she made serious efforts to ground the reader in the period she loved, giving details without swamping the characters in it. They just belonged there, as surely as the Baluchistan Hound belonged in Green Park. But with the Parker book, it would have been any dog in any park, and it wouldn’t have had the same impact, or the same comedic effect. And the fact that I can remember that and the scene effortlessly should really show the difference. Heyer’s Frederica is deeply memorable and very funny in parts. The Baluchistan Hound and Dr. Ratcliffe’s Restorative Pork Jelly are indelibly marked in the minds of anyone reading it. It’s the superficiality of the Parker book that I find tedious and, I think, why it doesn’t have the same effect on me.
And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go and get a copy of Georgette Heyer’s Frederica and read it now. You won’t regret it.
Don’t get me wrong. Parker’s style is delightful and has enchanted many a reader, but it isn’t a book you’d put on your keeper shelf. Or you might, remembering that you enjoyed it, and then pick it up six months later and think, “I don’t think I’ve read this one.”
So for an airport read, it’s probably a C. For review purposes, it’s a D. Sorry. And I did enjoy the first chapter, and I thought I’d found something interesting. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.
Grade: D
Summary:
Exquisite trouble . . .
A woman of pristine breeding, Lady Rosalind Devine is also an unrepentant meddler and snoop–which is why her brother refuses to leave her to her own devices while on his wedding trip. But Rosalind will not make things easy for any unseen, unwanted “nursemaid”–and vows to use her considerable wiles to expose her mystery guardian.
Nicholas Kincaid, the Marquess of Winterbourne, agreed to secretly guard his friend’s spoiled, stubborn sister, though her infuriating penchant for mischief is causing him to question his decision. Though bound by the rules of society–and friendship– Rosalind’s spirit and sensuality have sparked a fierce desire in Nicholas to play a very different role in her life, one that entails passion, ecstasy . . . and unavoidable scandal.
Read an excerpt.
