Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Review: The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer


Book: The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer
Genre: Lit. Fiction/ Mystery
Rating: B+
For: Fun

So, I must say, after looking forward to reading my first Georgette Heyer novel, and finally doing it, I think I'm a touch disappointed. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book. I thought the story, about a girl who ends up making a mistake right at the beginning which causes her to marry a dying man, instead of going to become a governess, was fun and interesting. But, it turned out to be more of a mystery (with all the subsequent problems and questions) and I was expecting more of a romance. I wanted SO BAD for the characters and the relationships to be more developed! I wanted to be "in their heads" more. I felt like, as readers, we didn't really get to know them. It was frustrating to me.

I know there's tons of you who love these books, and I'm wondering if you've ever felt this? This distance from the characters? Hmmm.... maybe it's just me.....

But I enjoyed it enough to try more. I loved the character of the little brother. He was a hoot!

7 comments:

  1. Oh, sure, sometimes a character gets under your skin and you care -- and sometimes you don't give a flip about them. I'm sorry to hear you didn't like this one. It's on my wishlist.

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  2. I just read my first Heyer and was disappointed. I'm going to give her another chance, but pretty much had the same reaction as you. The one I read was Lady of Quality, here's my review:
    http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com/2009/01/review-lady-of-quality-by-georgette.html

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  3. I have this one. I can't seem to get motivated to read it. Based on your comments and Lisa's, maybe I'll wait.

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  4. I can definitely understand what you're saying. I've read 3 Heyer novels and while I wouldn't call any of them great I still liked them and will probably read more. I'm a sucker for the Regency time period, though. There isn't as much pure romance in Heyer's novels as there is in many other regency romances that I've read but I do like the witty banter between characters. I wouldn't say that the characters are very well developed but when I'm reading a Heyer novel, it's usually because I'm in the mood for a surface level book, know what I mean?

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  5. To you all, I would say, for sure still read it! I was just expecting something totally different!

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  6. That book wouldn't be my choice for a good introduction to her. I think her best books were "These Old Shades", "Devil's Cub", "Venetia", "The Masqueraders", "Simon the Coldheart", and "Frederica". Some of her others are quite boring.

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  7. P.S. Love your blog!

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