How Miss Rutherford Got Her Groove Back
February 21, 2012
Available as Mass Market Paperback (368pages)
and E-book (Kindle 598 KB)
and E-book (Kindle 598 KB)
Synopsis:
Emily Rutherford is having a very bad day. Of course, having the man you’ve loved forever, announce his engagement to your (now very former) best friend will do that.
Emily is sure nothing good could possibly come out of this horrid situation. But she lets her sisters and Adrian’s cousin, Francis Riley, the delectable but brooding Earl of Dunhurst, convince her a season in London will be just the thing.
Now Emily has a choice: sulk in a corner while her sisters enjoy the glitter of the ton. Or become the belle of the ball, dazzling everyone on an earl’s arm. But as Francis helps Emily get back on her feet, she quickly realizes that a childhood crush is nothing compared to the power of true love. (www.sophiebarnes.com)
 | As in other period fiction and historical fiction, Vauxhall Gardens play an important part in this story so I wanted to see what it looked like. Sophie Barnes' website has a lot of research on Vauxhall and other aspects of her work. |
| Vauxhall_Gardens_by_Samuel_Wale_c1751.jpg |
This story is a Regency Romance occurring in 1811 placing it during the period when George III was mad and George IV became the Prince Regent. It's a bit of a shoulder period between the prior Georgians and the Victorian period.
The problems I had with it stem from a ludicrous title for Regency, and highly improbable dialogue. These periods in history were not as proper as we're led to believe. And, so, attempts were made to protect young women from the coarser aspects of life. But, don't we protect children anyway.
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| The Prince Regent: "Gent. No Gent & Regent!! Pubd by T. Tegg, No. 111 Cheapside, July 5, 1816." Image via Wikipedia |
There was a lot of debauchery in Regency England. The Prince Regent was known for his womanizing and gambling. The time period did have a great influence on style and fashion, as well as history.
Aside from a few redundant phrasings, the writing would be more acceptable in a later period. Whether or not one is trying to make the Regency more accessible through more modern language. I think it would have been better set into a later time period, or as Science Fiction because I don't think a gentleman of the character described in the story, during this period, would behave towards a woman he was intending to marry as Francis, Earl of Dunhurst does in the book. He does preserve her "virginity" but not much else.
I do commend the reality with which the three sisters' plight, and that of all single women of the gentry, faced regarding marriage and property during this time.
I don't intend or like to be too harsh or unkind, but I felt this was a fairly mediocre piece of fiction, altering historical details and overreaching with the depiction of sexual behavior. But then, it is fiction.
This is an official trailer. Most of the pictures are later than the Regency period.
Aside from a few redundant phrasings, the writing would be more acceptable in a later period. Whether or not one is trying to make the Regency more accessible through more modern language. I think it would have been better set into a later time period, or as Science Fiction because I don't think a gentleman of the character described in the story, during this period, would behave towards a woman he was intending to marry as Francis, Earl of Dunhurst does in the book. He does preserve her "virginity" but not much else.
I do commend the reality with which the three sisters' plight, and that of all single women of the gentry, faced regarding marriage and property during this time.
I don't intend or like to be too harsh or unkind, but I felt this was a fairly mediocre piece of fiction, altering historical details and overreaching with the depiction of sexual behavior. But then, it is fiction.
This is an official trailer. Most of the pictures are later than the Regency period.
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Disclosure: Loaned E-Galley from publisher through Edelweiss. No remuneration was exchanged and all opinions are my own.
