To Make a Match
Set in 1740, this lively romance has an intriguing plot of cross-purposes as Lady Victoria Lennox tries to escape her sister’s over-zealous vigilance. Her chosen method is to attract Amelia’s attention to a handsome, eligible man by flirting with that man herself, and dragging his equally eligible friend into the scheme.
The stage seems set for a society romp when the plot unaccountably veers into a tale of gypsies with Lady Victoria, wearing breeches, riding around the countryside on a stallion. In my opinion, the original plot was sufficiently fizzy to sustain the reader’s interest without the horsey additions, which led me to ponder whether a duke’s daughter could possibly get away with so many unchaperoned absences from home. Other notable incongruities were that the name Victoria was pretty much unheard of before Queen Victoria’s reign, and that ladies and gentlemen do not call each other “my lord” and “my lady” – this form of address is reserved for servants and the lower classes.
Yet I enjoyed the sheer exuberance of the writing and the sexy, fun interactions between the main characters. A diverting read if you are not too fussy over historical details.
