Daphne

It seems that 18-year-old Daphne, the fourth daughter of the Reverend Charles Armitage, is the most beautiful of "The Six Sisters" that Marion Chesney has been writing about in these romance novels of Regency England, so of course that means trouble. No one is more aware of Daphne's dazzling beauty than Daphne herself, who is also painfully aware of her father's track record when it comes to finding wealthy noblemen to marry his daughters. As we all know, the vicar likes to hunt, and he requires the financial support of his three sons-in-law to do so. But Daphne has other ideas, namely to marry Cyril Archer. At face value (and I do mean at face value), they are a perfect match, because he is as vain and empty-headed as Daphne herself. Once married, she can continue to present the pretty picture of herself to the world without having to reveal there is an empty shell of a woman behind the beautiful face. However, while Daphne is in London with Lady Godolphin the malaprop-prone cousin whose home all of the Armitage girls seem to end up with when they visit London town, Reverend Armitage's affairs suffer a catastrophic misfortune. You see, a jealous bishop is after the vicar's hunting pack, and when Mr. Simon Garfield comes to the rescue, and proves himself to be as rich as he is noble, Reverend Armitage offers up Daphne as a bride. This means daughter number four is going to have to drop the facade and demand the right to find her own husband (like that is going to happen). Meanwhile, Annabelle, the second oldest sister, is having troubles with her own marriage because the new baby in the house tends to scream all of the time. Annabelle might be more maternal if the boy was actually her own, but that, of course, is part of the problem. "Daphne" would not be a Chesney romance if the title character was not put into a compromising position, and we have one of those as well in this book. But by now Chesney's readers fully understand and appreciate her formula as one forced marriage after another leads to true love and romance. There are plenty of period touches for those who pay attention to such details, and while the characters are all familiar types from such tales, Chesney clearly takes great pleasure in putting them through their paces. Besides, all of the twists and turns in the plot add to the general sense of merriment, as does her sense of humor. But in the end love will prevail, Mr. Archer will be forced to flee the field, and the vicar will get to keep his hunt. Next up is "Diana the Huntress," which should give you plenty of indications as to what sort of handful she will prove to be and if you have gotten two-thirds of the way through the series there is no reason to stop now.

I've bought the six sisters' series in the wrong order with Daphne being the last one in the series that I got. The book is good and typical Marion Chesney. Daphne, who knows she is a beauty, finds another beauty in the handsome Cyril Archer, but in typical Marion Chesney style, there is more to meet the eye. The Vicar is indebeted to a Mr. Simon Garfield, who is able to read Daphne like a book. He knows she knows she's a beauty and putting up a front because it's easier that way. The way Marion Chesney gets these two finally together is delightful.This is not the best of the six sisters' series, that's why I gave only four stars. I was somewhat handicapped since I had the read all the other in the series before I read Daphne. I would recommend you read the series in the correct order, but even if you don't, this book is still wonderful to read.