An Honorable Match

I bought this book at the same time as another Paquet book and frankly wasn't overwhelmed by the other. But since I'd already bought it, I thought I might as well give it a chance. I'm very glad I did. Paquet takes the familiar plot of a poor woman searching for a rich husband along with a stuffed shirt hero and does something a little different with it. As the other reviewer says, this isn't a novel of whacky happenings or one in which the heroine finds a rich man at the beginning and they just have to work out that they are in love. The romance between William and Sarah has more than one real obstacle and both know it. I like that the author knows her regency manners and has her characters follow them. But it's not done in a stuffy "see, I've done my research" kind of way. I like that just when you think the heroine will turn out to be feisty, she doesn't. Or that there are real reasons for her family's oddball behavior. And that the hero has an excuse for being a bit stuffy. Along with the fact that both are sadly practical about what is expected of them and that they try to live up to family obligations. Yes, I got a little impatient with Sarah's money-feckless family but at least they were finally opening their eyes and acknowledging the problem. William's brother is a jerk but then as so many say, who says no to a Duke? I like that Paquet solves the problems without resorting to a sudden death-leading-to-inheritance or complete brain/personality transplant. The resolution is believable in both timing and action. The secondary characters are nice and have their place in the story. There is enough detail about them so that they aren't just place holders and yet they don't take over the story or fight for recognition of their own future book. An Honorable Match is a sweet, down to earth regency that I'm glad I read. B

Lord William Cates, the younger brother of the "wild" Duke of Cambermere, has spent a life time untangling and smoothing over every mess that his elder brother has managed to create. But even he is stumped as to what he can do about his brother's latest start. For while still engaged to one young lady (Lady Sarah Harrison), the Duke has upped and married his mistress, Harriet Partridge, a Drury Lane actress, instead. William is aghast, but his brother doesn't seem to have a care in the world, and has left it to him to break the news to Lady Sarah. A correct and proper young man, who has managed to carve out a career for himself as a diplomat, Lord William could do without the scandal; and decides that the best way to smooth things over would be for him to travel to Yorkshire to see Lady Sarah, break the news of her jilting and to offer to marry her himself. Only to find that things are in even more of a coil than he had expected. For while he knew that Lord Glenmont and his family were quite penniless, he was not prepared for just how bad things really were. Up to their eyes in debt, the only way to save things is if Lady Sarah marries money. And Lord William Cates, with his quiet and stuffy manners and who has very little money to his name, just would not do, no matter how charming she finds him. The only thing left for Lady Sarah to do is to go to London in order to find a rich husband, who would be prepared to marry her for her ancient name. What Lady Sarah finds in London however is that she has become the object of ridicule because of her jilting, and Lord William who seems to have assumed the mantle of friend and advisor. Something she finds both exasperating and thrilling. For how is she to keep her mind on finding a suitable husband when all she can think of is the modestly incomed and proper Lord William Cates? "An Honorable Match" is a very sobering read about the dire straits that an intelligent, courageous and penniless young lady (who's not a raving beauty) finds herself in and her attempts to find a rich husband admidst a scandal not of her making. Lady Sarah is very easy to empathise with and take to -- even her stubbornness and pride is understandable and condoned, thanks to Laura Paquet's skillful portrayal. The authour's sympathetic and engaging portrayal of the much tried Lord William was well done too; as was the simmering romance that developed between the two principals. "An Honorable Match" stands out as a slightly different kind of Regency-era romance novel: it's achingly sobering. I felt for both characters who realised early on the attraction they felt for each other, but who also realised that circumstances dictated that they not act on it. It was not a book that was full of whimsical and wacky episodes; nor was it a book about the pleasures of the London season. For Lady Sarah each outing is a strain and a chore as she struggles to try and fit in, say the right things and attract that right kind of attention. So that