The Famous Heroine/The Plumed Bonnet [Mass Market Paperback]

The two stories are slightly connected - part of a 'series' of four books concerning a group of friends with some characters in common. Each book stands on its own perfectly well.

The Plumed Bonnet - 5 stars
The Duke of Bridgewater is bored and cynical. An apparently cold, reserved, very upright and dignified gentleman, he always behaves correctly. When he comes across Stephanie Gray wearing a very gaudy bonnet in some distress by the roadside he offers to take her up in his carriage. In fact she is a well brought up vicar's daughter who has been robbed of her money and is in dire need of rescue. After a very profound misunderstanding the Duke is eventually obliged to offer her marriage and Stephanie in mistaken admiration and gratitude tries to turn herself into the perfect future Duchess. Whilst he desperately craves her warm spontaneity and passion for himself, she tries to suppress her own personality thinking he disapproves of her behaviour. The story tells how this misapprehension is gradually unravelled as they learn to know each other better during the first difficult weeks of their marriage.

Its a lovely story, lots of character development, plenty of sensual content, very well done and in context - so their first night of marriage is perfectly and realistically described as an awkward encounter, no simultaneous fireworks here but it gets better! By the end both of them have lost their inhibitions with each other and can be themselves. Its a lovely and moving ending. A very satifying read and highly recommended.

The Famous Heroine (4 stars) is a much lighter tale - more of a comedy romance. Cora and Francis Kneller marry for all of the wrong reasons. He's been badly disappointed in love (part of this story is told in Lord Carew's Bride)and he's so flamboyant she thinks his interests lie elsewhere. He's kind to her when she flounders somewhat in high society so they become friends, are caught in a compromising situation and marry. She's described as quite a loud, tall, clumsy woman so on the surface a total mismatch for Francis who is immaculately dressed, perfectly mannered, elegant and charming but they laugh together and over the weeks of their marriage each comes to realise the others worth. Also a charming story if a little less deep and intense than the Plumed Bonnet.

Quite a few characters from the two connected books appear - the Marquess and Marchioness of Carew (Lord Carew's Bride)and Lord and Lady Thornhill (Dark Angel).

I love MB in general, however that was not as captivating as her other books. Predictable and I never read the second story. Just got bored with the first one.

These are two older stories which have just been re-published.
The first of the two is "The Famous Heroine". This features Lord Francis Kneller probably the most flamboyant member of the ton. He is asked by his friend the Duke of Bridgewater to dance with his Mother's protégée Cora Downes. Cora had saved the Dukes nephew Henry from drowning, so the Dukes mother in gratitude had brought Cora to London for the season to get her a husband. Not a man of rank as Cora was the daughter of a merchant, albeit a very rich one, nevertheless without breeding she could not look to marry a man with a title. Unfortunately Lord Francis compromises Cora and feels honour bound to offer marriage.
I had so looked forward to Lord Francis's story I had really liked his character from the previous book, he was outrageous in his dress wearing all the colours of the rainbow, even his pants were made of leather. In this story he is brokenhearted as Samantha Newman has married the Marquis of Carew, Francis had proposed many times himself to Samantha but she always treated it as a joke,so he spends a good part of the story moping for his lost love. Cora Downes was a difficult character to like IMO, she is described in the blurb as beautiful rich but without breeding, but once you begin reading this story that is not at all the case, the author describes her as too tall, or as tall as a man, in fact she is taller than most men, her face is not beautiful, but it has character she is large, with big feet and hands, a fact which we are repeatedly reminded of throughout the story. She did not come across as very feminine at all, plus her erratic behaviour which at first seemed amusing,soon became tiresome. They seemd a very mismatched couple to me, and I never quite believed in their relationship.

The second story is "The plumed Bonnet". This features the Duke of Bridgewater who is travelling to London, when he spots a woman walking along dressed most outrageously in a pink hat and cape. He offers her a ride to the next village. He suspects that she is either an actress or a woman of easy virtue. The young woman is Stephanie Gray who had just learnt that her Grandfather whom she had never met had left her his estate and fortune, and rather than wait for the carriage they were sending she had set out on foot. But her belongings had been stolen and she was forced to wear the garish hat and cloak, which she had borrowed out of necessity. The Duke of course thinks her whole story is a pack of lies, but wishing to see how far she would go with her story, and finding it amusing,he insists on taking her all the way to her newly inherited estate, believing that once there she would have to admit the truth. Then he would take her to London where he would keep her until he tired of her. But when they arrived at Sindon Park everything she had told him was the truth. Now having been alone with her for three days and nights he insists that they marry.
This was slightly better than the first story inasmuch as there was a lot more emotion, the Duke is a very controlled character years of training to be the Duke had made him a somewhat pompous person, although he did loosen up quite a bit as the story progressed. Stephanie was a likeable character Innocent and sweet.
In both of these stories the loves scenes were totally underwhelming. The male characters in both stories are more interesting and have more depth than the female characters. Overall I was quite disappointed. The first two stories in this series are Dark Angel/Lord Carew's Bride.