These Old Shades (1926)

This one was definitely not my favorite Heyer. In fact, if it had been my first, I doubt I would have read any more of hers, which is a shame because she's one of my favorite authors. This one, though, was difficult for me to get through.

First of all, I had a hard time with the hero, Justin Alstair, the Duke of Avon. His motives at times seemed highly questionable. He claims he knew from the first that his new page was a girl, yet he let her continue with the charade much longer than seemed necessary; in fact, he went out of his way to flaunt his new page all over Paris society, taking her into places that few men brought their pages, places that were not at all suitable for a nineteen-year-old girl. I know it was all part of his plot to ruin his old rival, the Comte de Saint-Vire, but it showed a tremendous lack of respect for Leon/Leonie as a fellow human being rather than a disposable pawn. The fact that he called her his child over and over in the story was also a bit disturbing, given where readers know the story is going to end up. Leon/Leonine's slavish devotion to him, too, seems to be a bit much. Their relationship just had a few too many "ick" factors for me to be completely comfortable.

If you can get past the hero and heroine's questionable motives and actions, though, many parts of the story are enjoyable and trademark Heyer. The secondary characters are, as always, wonderfully drawn. The antagonist is delightfully evil, and the plot itself is good. The last third or so of the book did have my complete interest as much of the first half did not. All in all, I'm not sorry I read this one, but I am very glad that it wasn't my introduction to this author. ( )

One of Heyer's best, together with its sequel Devil's Cub. Set in mid-18th century unlike her more usual Regency, the heroine Leoine is absolutely delightful. One odd fact: the implied back-story between some of the leading characters matches the plot of The Black Moth, though the names of the characters are different ( )

It was a good book with lot's of twist and turns. The ending was as expected. However, having figured that out about 25% into the book it was still a great read and kept my attention. The characters were all interesting and most played a huge part in making the story enjoyable. ( )

I really like the way Heyer doesn't fuss about trying to make the plot twists a surprise. ( )

The title, I learn after a little 'wiki research' is after the characters who are shades of those in Heyer's first book 'The Black Moth'. (I still haven't had occasion to come across this one in the library.) Since plot of this book was no sequel, Heyer just changed the old characters to new name though they retain their mannerism and felicity.

Book was delightfully written - only two complaints being the age difference between the lead pair was mammoth, 20 years! And I feared that if the book continued 30-40 more pages, I would be irked of same 'delightful, innocent and at the same time 'infantile' tone of the heroine of the novel. However, Heyer did rein it tightly to keep the humor alive all through the book.

This one works for humor than for the passion. ( )