Lady Wombat says:

After reading Lord of Scoundrels, I decided to try other Chase books. Miss Wonderful has a stupid title, but nuanced, and rather unconventional, characters for a romance novel. Funny and emotionally compelling. And a heroine who takes her sex life into her own hands. Chase's reputation as one of the tops in the field is certainly well deserved.

A fun romance with smart and witty protagonists. ( )

The plot is rather aimless and silly; I found the treatment of PTSD... strange, to be charitable; and there were elements of speech/attitude which struck me as so anachronistic that I winced, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable book. Although I didn't fall in love with either of the main characters, I liked both of them a good deal, and was glad when they got together. I appreciated that it wasn't a standard romance-by-numbers, either; Alistair was not a rake straight from central casting, and I loved the fact that Mirabel was actually older than him. Very good for reading on a rainy day when curled up under a duvet. ( )

I really enjoyed Miss Wonderful. The characters are engaging and original. The dialogue sparkles. The prose is fluid and pure fun to read – with a bit of an Austen feel to it for me. Alistair Carsington, the younger son of an earl, is not your typical regency rake. He manages to pull off the incongruous mix of being both a dandy and scarred war hero. He’s very uncomfortable with his fame as a hero and the wounds he earned at Waterloo. The former he thinks is undeserved and the latter is a noticeable limp of which he is ashamed. The thing I liked best about Alistair was how self-effacing he was. He doesn't use his war wounds as an opportunity to brood and rage all over the place. He's charming, chivalrous, and flawed. Even better, he isn’t famous for millions of affairs as part of a marriage hating complex. (Love doesn’t exist, my parents didn’t marry for love, all women are conniving mercenaries, bla bla bla.) He’s more of a head ache for his parents, who have had to bail him out of numerous disasters, financial and amorous. I loved the list of Episodes of Stupidity with which his father confronts him, prior to delivering the ultimatum that Alistair must find a way to cease draining his parents financially or his younger brothers will suffer for it. Alistair’s solution is to join his best friend Lord Gordmor in a business venture, the building of a canal in Derbyshire. To this end, Alistair travels to Derbyshire to plead their case with the largest landowner in the area, Mr. Oldridge. Unfortunately, since the death of his wife, Mr. Oldridge has cared for nothing but botanical pursuits, so Alistair has to deal with his daughter, Mirabel, who has run the estate for the past ten years or so. And she is vehemently opposed to Alistair and Gordmor’s project.

From the start it’s clear that Mirabel is an intelligent, capable woman. All the work she does, all the responsibilities she shoulders are very evident in the book, so she’s not one of those “bluestocking” heroines who make vague references to doing math-type things, but never really do anything. She’s genuine and practical, has given up a lot to run the estate, but she doesn’t whine about it. She made her choice years ago to commit herself to this certain path, and though she’s not above missing the fun of her youth, she doesn’t turn her actions into a huge, dramatic sacrifice. Despite (or perhaps because of) being antagonists with regards to the canal, she and Alistair have great chemistry as they disagree, resist each other, and eventually work towards a solution to the obstacles that stand between them. Alistair’s reactions to Mirabel’s sartorial offenses are particularly funny and endearing.

Other reviews of Miss Wonderful are kind of mixed and I can understand how the sedate pacing of the book and its premise might be considered drawbacks. The circumstances under which the hero and heroine meet don’t particularly scream "romantic." Alistair is in Derbyshire for business, and that business is a big part of the book. It’s the plot, what brings the characters together, what everyone talks about a lot of the time. The building of the canal is tied up with the industrial revolution transforming the landscape of rural England at the time, so Miss Wonderful is not your typical balls and tea parties romance. Some might find it tedious, but I thought the author integrated these issues very well with the development of Alistair and Mirabel’s relationship. Alistair is invested in the canal venture because it’s his first chance to stand on his own and make something of himself, let alone save his brothers from ruin. Mirabel is emotionally tied to the land and has made great sacrifices for it. Loretta Chase writes so well that I was never bored with the canal business.

My only objection was the book’s descent into stereotype with the awkward introduction of a devious villain near the end, a kidnapping, the doddering old father, and the heroine’s initial determination to have one night of passion with the hero (because they can never be together) which she will hoard away for the rest of her dreary life. Even though it isn’t the best of books, Miss Wonderful was still a fun, sexy read. ( )

"Miss Wonderful" is the story of Mirabel Oldridge, the only daughter of a slightly crazy but amiable man, and Alistair Carsington, a younger son of an Earl. At the beginning of the story, the reader discovers that Alistair, an injured Waterloo veteran, because of a long list of follies from his past, is being forced to either wed an heiress or find himself employment. Not particularly wanting to marry at the present time, he goes together with his friend, Lord Gordmor, in a venture to build a canal to Gordmor's coal mines in Derbyshire. When Alistair arrives and attempts to persuade the residents to his side, he discovers that his strongest opposition is from Mirabel, a feisty and intelligent girl who runs her father's estate. The two butt heads frequently and an attraction starts to grow between them...

This story was a bit of a dissapointment. At the beginning, it was set up well and was very entertaining, but it fizzles out towards the end. She gives away her character's "secrets" (such as they are) too early, and there is no real climax to the book. It just kind of drifts in the direction it's going without any real purpose. And this was a great dissapointment, because it had a good deal of potential. Mirabel, also, was riding the line of an "Amazon" woman - one of my greatest pet peeves when it comes to women in Regency novels. She was not ~quite improper, but she certainly did not seem the least bit concerned about her reputation, which I felt to be a bit unrealistic. Alistair was a good character, but I think that he should have had some major revelation, or actually let us know what happened to him at Waterloo, rather than his major revelation being something as pitiful as admitting he was afraid. Well, duh. Also, I didn't like the sex scene right before the wedding, with them coming to their wedding all rumpled. I found it rather unrealistic that people wouldn't be absolutely horrified at that. And think that Mirabel was quite a slut. ( )