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Lady Eugenia's Holiday (2009)

by Shirley Marks(Favorite Author)

3.31 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1477811834 (ISBN13: 9781477811832)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Montlake Romance

review 1: Lady Eugenia Abbott has just missed her debut Season thanks to her older sister breaking off her engagement. When Lady Eugenia's eccentric great-aunt Rose arrives to whisk Eugenia away to Brighton for the summer, Eurgenia is thrilled to have some time to develop a bit of town bronze and practice flirting before her London Season in the fall. Unfortunately, she finds Brighton society with her aunt rather dull. Her aunt knows few young people and always wants to leave the party just as it's about to get interesting. Lady Eurgenia manages to find some new friends after all: the snobby Lady Penelope, also the daughter of an Earl; Miss Cynthia Penhurst and Mrs. Penhurt's protogee, an Austrian musician known as Franz Muller. Lady Penelope turns her aristocratic nose up at the fo... moreppish little musician but Lady Eugenia is quick to defend their amusing new friend. Her life changes forever during a breathtaking dance with a masked stranger at a masquerade ball. At last she has found her soul mate, but who is he? She discovers he's none other than the Duke of Rothford! Eugenia pursues Rothford, believing he feels the same way about her but each time she encounters him, he's cold and hot with her. She can't figure it out. During a visit to Lady Penelope's estate, Eugenia encounters a deadly secret and discovers that everything she thought she knew is not what it seems. When a mysterious man attempts to rescue her, she finds herself in just as much trouble as before. The author of this book couldn't decide which plot device she wanted to use: fluffy love at first sight, suspense or marriage of convenience so she combined all three into one book. As such, the plot makes little sense. At first I found the book slow because nothing happened. After the first few slow chapters, the story becomes silly and I kept rolling my eyes at Eugenia. I probably would have felt the same way at 17. Then everything happened all at once and I couldn't put it down until I finished. This doesn't mean the story or writing was good though. I guessed at some of the secrets but it still came as a bit of a shock when secrets were revealed. The mystery is concluded too quickly and neatly. I kept waiting for something more gothic to happen.The characters are rather cardboard. Eugenia is a typical naive young girl who wants others to rescue her from whatever predicament she finds herself in. I didn't have much sympathy for her in the last third of the novel. I didn't understand why she was so upset. I can see why she would be a little angry but what happened was partly her fault and she got what she wanted. The villain is so shockingly evil without much of a story. Their motivation seems understandable but to actually act on it is bizarre. I can't believe that if something like that actually happened, the villains would get away with it. Aunt Rose is merely a background figure until the very end. I thought she would be an Auntie Mame type character but there's really nothing to her. She had potential but ended up disappointing. The only character I liked was Franz. He's so charming and funny. I wanted more of him but less of his atrocious accent and German phrases sprinkled in his speech.I gave this book 2 stars because it captured my attention in the middle. I wouldn't recommend it to Georgette Heyer fans though. The Avalon Regency romances are just too silly for my exacting standards. They would be a good place to start for beginners and teens though. Don't read Georgette Heyer first or you'll be disappointed with everyone else!
review 2: When Lady Eugenia Abbott visits Brighton with her aunt for a mini post-season holiday, she finds intrigue, a mysterious duke and a strange German musician that befriends her.I read this book for the Romance Writer's Awards. A nice story, but a little thin on details, which created a kind of non-connection with the characters for me. I would have like more details to the story--it jumped around. less

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