Review: Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer

Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer

☆ ☆ (Just okay)

This is the first book to be read for my Georgette Heyer 2011 Reading Challenge.

Book source: My own copy
Genre: Regency Romance

Book Synopsis: Abigail Wendover, on the shelf at 28…is determined to prevent Fanny, her pretty and high-spirited niece, from becoming attached to Stacy Calverleigh, a good-looking town-beau and an acknowledged fortune-hunter of shocking reputation.

Miles Calverleigh, the Black Sheep of his family…is enormously rich from a long sojourn in India, has a scandalous past, and is not at all inclined toward good manners. Could he be Abby’s most important ally in keeping her niece from a most unfortunate match? But Miles turns out to be the most provoking creature Abigail has ever met with a disconcerting ability to throw her into giggles at quite the wrong moment…

Review: This is the first book by Georgette Heyer I’ve read. I was so excited to read this book because I have only heard good things about her work. Unfortunately, I was lost from the very beginning. I had to go back and re-read the first 5 pages or so just to understand what was going on. I think what confused me in the beginning was how the story is told. This book is told in the third person point of view and it kept skipping from one character to the other, which caused me to get lost a number of times throughout the book. Also, regency romance is not the genre I tend to read and so the old fashioned wording really through me for a loop. For example on page 106

“You don’t favor your father much: for one thing, he wasn’t a dapper-dog. Hadn’t the figure for it. I collect that yellow calf-clingers are now all the crack?”

Due to the narrative and the old fashioned wording, I found myself drifting off and then coming to and realizing I have no idea what I’ve just read. This was really frustrating. However, once the story started to pick up and I got more used to the wording I began to enjoy the book more.

One other thing that I didn’t much care for was the characterization. I never could really connect to the characters of the story. They weren’t very developed and I never really got a since of who they were with the exception of Abby Wendover and Miles Calverleigh. I got to know who Abby was right from the beginning whereas Miles’s character was being developed throughout the entire book. He was sort of a mystery character and bits and pieces of him were revealed to the reader throughout the story.

Overall, the book was just eh for me. I never got the urge to rush back to it to see what would happen next. There were some highlights throughout, such as Abby’s and Miles first meeting but overall I was disappointed. I hope Heyer’s historical fiction novels will do more for me than her regency romance novels. I would only recommend this book to someone who loves regency romance and understands their jargon otherwise you may be bored at times if you are like me and like the fast-past plots that keep you wanting more. 

Here's the link if you would like to sign-up for this challenge: Georgette Heyer

2011 Jean Plaidy & Victoria Holt Reading Challenge

Alright, so I promised I would host one more reading challenge and I came up with the perfect one! I'm so excited about this one! I have decided to host a Jean Plaidy & Victoria Holt 2011 reading challenge! Jean Plaidy is my all time favorite author and her real name is Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert and she wrote under many pseudonyms. Since work under the pseudonyms Jean Plaidy and Victoria Holt are my two favorites I've decided that this challenge should include her works under both names. Feel free to join in the fun and the more the merrier!

Rules:
1. The books must be written under the pseudonyms Jean Plaidy and/or Victoria Holt. Feel free to mix and match!

2. You must read at least 3 books but if your as crazy about her as I am I guarantee 3 won't be enough!

3. If you want to participate in this challenge and you have a blog please post the challenge button somewhere on your blog and make sure to link it back to this page so others can join in the reading fun.

4. As with all my other reading challenges, a review is not mandatory but it would be nice to see what you thought about the books you read for this challenge.

5. To sign up please leave your name, a link to your site so others can read what you are reading for this challenge, and also how many books you plan to read. If you aren't quite sure that's okay because you can always add to your list later.

(You don't have to have a blog to participate just let me know if you want to participate and feel free to comment about what you read in the comments below and on other participants blogs)

My Plaidy & Holt Reading List:
1. The Three Crowns by Jean Plaidy
2. The Queen's Secret by Jean Plaidy
3. My Enemy the Queen by Victoria Holt
4. The Loves of Charles II by Jean Plaidy
5. The Captive Queen of Scots by Jean Plaidy
6. Lord of the Far Island by Victoria Holt

This is a tentative list. I may add or reduce this list depending on how busy I get this year. Hope you enjoy your Plaidy and Holt reading extravaganza!

Henry VIII 2011 Reading Challenge

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and possible expanded your library a little...I know mine sure did!

I have come up with a few new 2011 reading challenges to both host and participate in. I'm going to post them one at a time so people can sign up for the one's they want to participate in down below in the COMMENTS area.

So I decided to start off by posting the Henry VIII 2011 Reading Challenge that I'm hosting here at All Things Historical Fiction. Please feel free to join in the reading fun! The rules for this challenge are listed below.

Rules:

1. The book must be centered around Henry VIII in some way obviously and the books can overlap other challenges you may be participating in.

2. You must read at least 3 books and they can't be one's that you've already read because that sort of defeats the purpose.

3. This is a year long challenge so you have until January 1st of 2012 to finish your personal goal.

4. It's not mandatory to post a review but it would be nice so other people can read them but Non-bloggers please include your information in the comments below.

5. Please sign up by leaving a comment down below with your name, link to this challenge on your blog, and how many books you plan on reading.

6. You must some how link back to this post so others can join in the fun!

I will update my list as much as possible and will post my reviews as soon as I read them.  I hope to read as many as 5. Here's what I have so far:

1. The Queen's Rival by Diane Haeger (5 Stars) Read Review

Georgette Heyer 2011 Reading Challenge

My Mr. Linky link messed up and I lost those links. So please sign up in the comments area from now on.

So it's already December, which means it's almost time for the 2011 Reading Challenges!!

I've decided to host some of my own reading challenges for the 2011 year and the first challenge I've decided to host is a Georgette Heyer Reading Challenge. This is going to be a laid back challenge with not very many rules because it's just for fun. A while ago I set a goal for myself and that was to try and read all Georgette Heyer's Historical Fiction novels in two years. So I thought this challenge would motivate and help me complete my personal goal. So if you want to join in with me please feel free to do so! This challenge is open to EVERYONE you don't have to have a blog to participate. Have fun!

Rules:

• The book must be by Georgette Heyer obviously and it must be HF. It can't be one of her mystery novels.
• You must read at least 3 books and they can't be one's that you've already read because that sort of defeats the purpose.
• This is a year long challenge so you have until January 1st of 2012 to finish your personal goal.
• It's not mandatory to post a review but it would be nice so other people can read them but Non-bloggers please include your information in the comments below.
• When you sign up under Mr. Linky, put the direct link to the post about the the Georgette Heyer Challenge. Include the URL so that other participants can find join in and read your reviews and post.

My Goal is to read 5 books but that may change depending on how busy or not so busy I am. I will post my book list here along with a link to my reviews. Enjoy!

1. Black Sheep Read Review
2. The Conqueror
3. An Infamous Army
4. Royal Escape