Book review: Cotillion by Georgette Heyer

"I am happy to be able to tell as many of you as I can that I have not the smallest wish to marry any of you!"

The  great-nephews of cantankerous Mr Penicuik know better than to ignore his summons, especially when it concerns the bestowal of his fortune. The wily old gentleman has hatched a typically freakish plan for his step-daughter's future and his own amusement: his fortune will be Kitty's dowry. But while the beaux are scrambling for her hand, Kitty counters with her own inventive, if daring scheme: a sham engagement should keep wedlock at bay...

 
My review and thoughts

 

Kitty is a pretty but unsophisticated young girl adopted by the disagreeable and ageing Mr Penuik, who upon deciding that his fortune will be Kitty's dowry invites all his nephews to Arnside house. To inherit the fortune, she must choose one of them to marry or she faces being peniless in the world  after her guardian is gone. However the darkly handsome and rakish Jack Westruther who Kitty has 'fancied herself in love with for years' fails to turn up because he hates being forced into anything although he is his Great Uncle's favourite and the one he really wanted to see married to Kitty. The distressed Kitty who doesn't want her guardian's 'odious fortune' is forced to bear the proposals of the reluctant Lord Dolpington forced by his domineering mother into doing so and the sensible and dry Hugh who is to become a church parson.
When Kitty meets another of her cousins, Freddy Standen she persuades him to pretend to be engaged to her after recounting her situation so that she can travel to London to meet his family and make Jack jealous of him.

Arriving in London unsophisticated and innocent, completely unaware of the way of London society, Freddy finds that she is going to take a lot of 'looking after.' Fascinated by the sights, fashions and new people, Freddy is obliged to accompany her on sight seeing trips and many other visits. Finding her place, Kitty is soon involved in a the romantic involvements of several of her acquaintances too, which poor Freddy is dragged into too.

Although when doubts about her engagement to Freddy creep through after her month in London is up and the possibility of revealing the truth is discussed, Kitty begins to wonder: is Freddy the man for her after all?
 
Characters
 
There are a whole cast of typical Heyer characters in Cotillion: the old and eccentric uncle, the fussy spinster governess, handsome young rake, a pretty and young heiress, a fashionable and intelligent Pink of The Ton, a gorgeously beautiful but on the verge of penniless young girl and an exceedingly foolishly silly Earl. Their different personalities all wove together to create a vibrant and amusing set of characters that are very memorable.

When we first meet Kitty, a nineteen year old who has had a simple and sheltered upbringing she is very innocent and unaware of the ways of the world but a cunning and witty side to her is revealed in her plans. She has a good natured attitude which attracts many people to her side and induces her to help her friends in their romantic troubles.

Freddy is a very honourable and intelligent young man blessed with a considerable fortune and a very easy going and humble manner. As more of his qualities were slowly revealed throughout the book, particularly his loyalty and fondness of Kitty, I began to see that the two were perfectly matched. He is very different from the Heyer heroes I have encountered so far who have mostly been arrogant rakes and I found that he was very likeable.

The conversations and scenes with Kitty and Freddy together were lovely and amusing to read, one of my favourites is when Freddy is dragged all over London to look at all the sights in Kitty's guide book Picture of London such as the Elgin Marbles and The Tower of London.

Here's an extract from that part:

'( referring to the Elgin marbles) 'Dash it, they've got no heads!" he protested

"No, but you see Freddy, they are so very old! They have been damaged!"

"Damaged! I should rather think so! They haven't got any arms either! Well, if this don't beat the Dutch! And just like at this, Kit!" '

The secondary characters add to the sparkle and fun he plot, we meet: Kitty's dubious French cousin Camille; her stunningly beautiful but impoverished friend Olivia; her poor cousin Lord Dolphington being bullied by his manipulative mother and Freddy's slightly vain sister Meg whose fashion sense is to be questioned.

Writing

Heyer's writing is fine and witty, there are many laughable lines and the Regency language used may have had been reaching for a dictionary occasionally but it gave the book great character. I particularly liked Freddy's constant 'Oh dash it Kit!' and other words like 'clodpole' and the description of 'Corinthian' or Pink of The Ton.' Her descriptions and realistic dialogue really bring Regency London to life, addressing not only the glamorous side of society but also the darker side too.

Verdict: Cotillion is a delightful dance of fun, mischief and love that lives up to the dance it is named after. in a rich plot that will keep the pages turning. With lovable characters and a brilliant London setting, it could be a perfect starter for a first time reader of Heyer's novels. Perfect to curl up with!

Waiting on Wednesday: Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme held by Jill at Breaking The Spine, which encourages book bloggers to post about books that they are eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week is: Bright Young Things by Anna Godbersen

The year is 1929. New York is ruled by the Bright Young Things: flappers and socialites seeking thrills and chasing dreams in the anything-goes era of the Roaring Twenties.
Letty Larkspur and Cordelia Grey escaped their small Midwestern town for New York's glittering metropolis. All Letty wants is to see her name in lights, but she quickly discovers Manhattan is filled with pretty girls who will do anything to be a star...

Cordelia is searching for the father she's never known, a man as infamous for his wild parties as he is for his shadowy schemes. Overnight, she enters a world more thrilling and glamorous than she ever could have imagined—and more dangerous. It's a life anyone would kill for...and someone will.

The only person Cordelia can trust is Astrid Donal, a flapper who seems to have it all: money, looks, and the love of Cordelia's brother, Charlie. But Astrid's perfect veneer hides a score of family secrets.

Across the vast lawns of Long Island, in the illicit speakeasies of Manhattan, and on the blindingly lit stages of Broadway, the three girls' fortunes will rise and fall—together and apart. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe comes an epic new series set in the dizzying last summer of the Jazz Age. 

 

(From Goodreads)

I really enjoyed reading Godbersen's Luxe series so I'm looking forward to seeing what Bright Young Things is like. I haven't read anything set in America in the 1920s so this will be a new experience for me, hopefully a good one!

Cover:

This cover definitely has a 'Roaring Twenties' feel to it with the font and the 'glamour feel' from the era. It's one that would stand out on a bookcase but I don't like it as much as the beautifully gorgeous Luxe series covers.

Welcome to my blog if this is your first time visiting, feel free to take a look around and read a few posts. I'd love to hear from any visitors in the comments and if you like, leave a link to your WOW post and I'll try and take a look at it.

Stephanie <3

Teaser Tuesday: Deeper than Blue by Jill Huckelsby

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along and have fun! Just do the following:

• 
  
  Grab your current read
• 
  
  Open to a random page
•  Share (preferably 2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

My teasers this week comes from Deeper Than Blue by Jill Huckelsby:

'And there it is at last- the shrill sound of the whistle- a discordant shriek sending impulses my nervous system, straight to my muscles, asking them to propel me into the air and down into the water like an arrow.'

'I feel a shiver pass down my spines and with it, the realisation that I will never be officially 'in traning' as a county swimmer again.'

Calling all budding young writers and their friends and family!

Are you under the age of 15 and love to write or know someone that does? Then is the competition for you!

Sunpenny Publishing are a Christian publishing house who are running a short story competition for young writers that ends on 30th September, which is only in 10 days time. Submitting a story gets you the chance to have your story published on the website and in a competition anthology if you come first, second, third or highly commended and you can win some great prizes.

Having entered it myself for the last 2 years, it is definitely worthwhile and it is lovely to see my name in print and the competition anthology made a brilliant gift for family.

Here is what Sunpenny have to say about it: 'We have a passion for developing young  writers. We know that dreams of writing can begin very early, and we want to encourage children of all ages to pick up a pen and write! '

Entries can be in any style or subject under 2000 words but must not contain racism, foul language, violence or anything that does not conform to 'good family morals. For a lot more in depth information on entering visit the link here.

Prizes:

1st: £50

2nd: 25

3rd:  a book

The competition is open worldwide and there is a small entry fee of  £3.00 / US$5.00 / ZAR30.00  but you will only be charged once the competition has reached its target number of entries.

If you would like to see some of the entries from last year (including mine!) then take a look at this page.

However due to a shortage in entries last time, they are only running the competition if they receive 30 entries minimum and currently they have only 40% of the entries that they need. It would be such a shame if this happened  so .................spread the word and get writing or encourage other young writers you know!

Remember, competition ends 30th September!

There is also an open writing competition and a Christian writing competition- details can be found on their website.

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Future Treasures

I haven't really participated in the daily topic posts from BBAW but I have enjoyed reading what other people have written so I thought I'd take part in the wrap up post.

My blogging goals for the future:

As my blog is quite new and I am still just getting into the swing of it, so I have a lot of goals. One of the things that I would like to do next year is to hold a 2011 reading challenge of my own, which I am thinking about at the moment. I would also like to do some author interviews and have a few guest posts to liven up the content.

I've really enjoyed blogging connecting with the book blogging community so far and I'm really excited about the year ahead and improving my blog!

A Very Big Welcome

Welcome to any visitors who got here through the weekly Book Hop (a Book Party) organised by Jennifer @ Crazy for Books or Follow A Book Blog Friday hosted by Parajunkee's View so that book bloggers can share their blog with other book lovers and also find new blogs to 'follow.' To get involved all you have to do is post your blog link at the bottom of the 'linky list' on Crazy For Books and/or Parajunkee's View, answer the weekly question (for the hop) on your blog and get hopping around and following all the blogs!

This weeks Book Hop question/topic is: In honour of Book Blogger Appreciation Week, let's take time this week to honour our favourite book bloggers and why we love them.
My answer:

There are so many fantastic blogs that I read regularly but my reading tastes can be often quite different to a lot of blogs so I am going to mention some that are my favourites because they have similar tastes.

A Tapestry of Words- Danya from ATOW is always dropping comments here that make me smile and she has gave me my first blog award, The Versatile Blogger. We started blogging around the same time so it has been nice to see her blog grow in content and readers. She reviews a variety of genres on her blog from YA to adult fiction and my favourite feature of hers is called Forget Me Not, which spotlights books she loved from her childhood.

Bookalicious Ramblings- This was the first book blog that I discovered when searching for a review on the Internet. At that point I had already set up a blog for reviews but had abbandoned it because I didn't know what to do but I got started again thanks to discovering BR. Her blog design is just gorgeous, I think it is just about my favourite and inspired me to make my design prettier. I emailed her at the start asking if she could review Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper on her blog because I love the way she writes her reviews and she asked me if I had reviewed it. I hadn't but she visited my blog and commented on my first posts, it was a real encouragement for me.

Rebecca's Book Blog- Rebecca's blog was the first I found that reviewed a lot of YA historical fiction like me and I was very excited. I went through a lot of her old posts, frantically adding a lot of books to my TBR list. Thank you Rebecca! She is holding a giveaway of The Queen's Daughter by Susan Coventry currently so you might want to visit to enter.

Others that I love are This Miss Loves to Read, Reading Angel, The Fourth Musketeer, 21 Pages, Rhianah Reads.........


I hope that you enjoy taking a look round my blog and. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel free to drop me a comment! If you like my blog, please follow, I'd really appreciate it and don't forget to leave a link to your blog in a comment so I can check it out :D

I hope to be holding an 150 Followers Giveaway soon, so it would be great if you could help me get to that number soon!

Thank you for stopping by and enjoy your weekend!