Lady in Waiting

What a delightful book. Honestly, I would have never chosen it based on the cover, but I was a judge in contest and it showed up in my allotment. I loved it! Jenny Penny is the most refreshing heroine I have read all year. There is nothing usual about her, or this story at all. The hero, Callum, showed up in my dreams (need I say more?) I put Lady in Waiting on my keeper shelf and just ordered the author's other books. I have high standards, but if the others are even half as good as this book, I will be very pleased. Highly Recommended.

This was just the kind of romance novel I love. Wonderful characters. Characters that seems real because they are not perfect-something most novels like this lack. If you love a Cinderella story - with a real-life shopaholic maid striving to rise above her station (and let's face it-who would want to face drudgery all her life?)then this is the book for you. That she isn't like a Disney character willing to wait for Prince Charming to do all the work - is what rankles some readers. Not me. I like a feisty heroine willing to try to take charge of her destiny despite the iron-clad rigitity of social classes in Regency era England. Some say farfetched- I say bravo and thank you Kathryn Caskie for creating a heroine with more spunk than the typical delicate virgin who seems to be inhabiting the pages of too many historicals these days. And the hero? A certain scene made me want to visit Bath and take the water cure...

This is the funniest book I've read all year. I know its only January, but this book really made me laugh and also shed a tear or two. The reason is Jenny Penny. She is so refreshing and not the stereotype maid or governess you see in all the other regency books. I never knew what she was going to do next and that was part of the fun and what made me start and finish the book in one day. If you are looking for the same old regency book, buy another book. This is one is not the usual and if that is what you like you won't like this one. This story is just fun, fun, fun. Because Jenny Penny was born to a housekeeper and a peer she always felt that she deserved something better in life. She spends all of her money on dresses and trinkets that make her feel like the lady she is inside. All of her spending gets her into trouble and pretty soon she owes a lot of guineas (money) to the shopkeepers all over town. Her friend talks her into secretly selling her tingle cream. Pretty soon lords and ladies are dying to gets pots of the aphrodisiac cream. Rumors begin that the tingle cream is made by the great Lady Eros. About the same time at her employers house (the Featherton sisters) Jenny meets a handsome Scottish lord named Callum Campbell while she is dressed up in a fine gown as a game. When the Featherton sisters see that Jenny and the lord are attracted to each other they introduce Jenny as Lady Genevieve. Jenny goes along with game especially when the lord invites her to a ball. For one night she can be the lady she always wanted to be. One thing leads to another though and Jenny gets pulled deeper and deeper and into the charade, though since she is falling in love with the lord, she wants to admit everything to him. Callum though was hurt deeply by lied when he was young and can't abide lies. Jenny wants so much to tell him but she is also afraid that he will stop loving her because she is really a maid and that she had been lying to him. There are some fun, but odd characters in this book, but my favorite is the old lady Featherton sisters from the author's first book. They always make me laugh, but this time I cried too because there was a big surprise for one of the Featherton sisters that I did not see coming. This book is really wonderful. It is different, I won't deny that, but I loved every minute of reading it.

I think Romantic Times BOOKclub reviewer Kathe Robin said it best - "Caskie's unique wit sparkles in this tale of lady's maid Jenny Penny and her homemade facial cream...."(AND) "Caskie's clever plotting shines in this Cinderella-esque tale of lady's maid turned lady with the help of three fairy godmothers. The backdrop of Bath and the idea of a lady entrepreneur are brilliant." This is Kathryn Caskie's follow up to her wildly popular debut "Rules of Engagement," the 2002 Golden Heart Winner in Long Historical. The new book is a continuation of the matchmaking Featherton ladies series. One of my favorite aspects of the book was the setting in Bath - so well written and described it made you really feel what it must have been like to be there during the Regency period. The novel was written from the point of view of the heroine which put the reader in Jenny Penny's shoes - making the heroine's struggle to rise beyond her station all the more powerful. If you like light-hearted, witty, Regency-set Historical romances that sizzle, Lady In Waiting is for you. A winner in every way.

Kathy Caskie just keeps getting better and better. This book is even funnier than Rules of Engagement. Jenny Penny is a thoroughly appealing character and I love the premise of the Tingle Cream, which is just hilarious. This book starts with a bang, and just keeps you turning pages until the very satisfying conclusion.