Deirdre and Desire

I was very pleased, not only with the product, but also with the communication before I received the product. Everything was wonderful.

If you are married to somebody named Deirdre (not to be confused with Deidre) then this is the sort of book you have to pick up and read. The only thing is that this is the Third Volume of "The Six Sisters" by Marion Chesney, a novel of Regency England. In the previous two volumes we have seen Minerva and Annabelle married off by the Reverend Charles Armitage, who is always in need of money because of his fondness of hunting. The problem is that his two wealthy sons-in-law have gone off to Paris to celebrate the defeat of the tyrant Bonaparte at Waterloo, so he needs to marry off another daughter. Teyve might have to worry about coming up with dowries for so many daughters, but the vicar of St. Charles and St. Jude in the parish of Hopeworth clearly has no such concerns. There are always men of property looking for a beautiful wife and the reverend is perfectly happy to help. Deirdre is the third daughter, and like her older sisters she is given a flaw by the author. For Deirdre it is that she is brilliant and redheaded, a combination that would be too much for most men to handle. "Desire" in the title of this 1983 romance is not a reference to passion, but rather to the man that Reverend Armitage has selected as his ideal son-in-law. Lord Harry Desire is handsome, if somewhat uninteresting, and he has money problems of his own. Lord Desire will only inherit if he is married before the death of his uncle, who is sinking fast. So, even though he has stated he does not like clever redheads, he agrees to marry Deirdre. What is surprising is that the reverend actually has second thoughts when he notices that his daughter seems afraid of the man who will be her husband, and even Lord Harry is surprised and a bit taken aback. More importantly, Deirdre falls in love with Guy Wentwater, one of those dashing young men who tends to make the titled nobility look bad in comparison, and in her entire life Deirdre has never tried to please her papa. So we might be inclined to think this time things are not going to work out, but then we remember the title of the book. Chesney's comic touch is in full flower in this volume, which includes a masquerade ball unlike any other (one gentleman arrives dressed as a thatched cottage with some interesting details) and a hickey. When was the last time you read a period romance set in England that involved a gentleman giving a lady a hickey? Or a lady upset because there is a cartoon of her and her fiancé in the local print shop, not to mention the fear of being disgraced by having to wear your sister's old wedding gown. Of course, in the end Deirdre gives into both Desire and desire, and is kissed in an open carriage with everyone looking, just as she so richly deserves. Plus, I like the way Lord Desire shakes off his lethargy enough to become something of a romantic figure. "Deirdre and Desire" is the best comic romance in this series so far, although that verdict might be projection on my case.

Before I begin, let me just say that I love Alpha male romance heros--from Wulfgar to Cal Bonner and everything in between. But I also enjoy variation on the theme, and occasionally (very occasionally) I like to step completely outside the box with a different type of hero. Usually, I'm inevitably disappointed and run straight for the next Viking or Pirate novel I can find. The exception? Lord Harry Desire. His name is giggle-inducing, and you probably won't like him for a solid two-thirds of the book, but by the end you will be curling your toes like a school girl and wishing there was one, maybe two other heros like him in the world. He is handsome, determined, and utterly brilliant. He makes up his mind about something and then throws every ounce of his being into acting his part. Even through his smokescreen of vain and vacant idleness, we catch only the smallest teasing glimpses of a wonderfully clever mind at work. He has the good-humor of Tom Jones and the mischievousness of Puck. The rest of the novel is enjoyable enough, as nearly all Marion Chesney's regencies are, and there was nothing particularly wrong with Deirdre as a heroine, I just felt that a character like Harry was wasted on her--even the book. But that's not quite true because he makes the book, and he makes Dierdre. Read it-- if only to step outside a rut. I promise you, this thin, subtle, "PG" romance novel provides the kind of clever male character Jane Austen would have been proud to create.

This was the first of Chesney's Six Sisters series books I read, although I recommend starting at the beginning with Minerva. Dierdre is beautiful, despite having what Regency fashionables would call unfortunate red hair, and has been coddled by her oldest sister Minerva into believing that she is the smart one of the family. Lo and behold, her meddling fox-hunting father arranges a match with the seemingly vacuous Lord Harry, whose fortune would solve the Armitage family's sudden financial woes. Lord Harry, however, is far more than he seems as he woos Dierdre and handily rescues her from the hands of Guy Wentwater (seen in the previous two books in the series).Chesney weaves her usual tapestry of comic characters, sweet romance and Regency lore into a fine read that never takes itself too seriously. Great fun to follow the ups and downs of the Armitage girls as they chart the sometimes choppy waters of London society.