These Old Shades

Utter cliched fluff, but at least it's historically accurate fluff which is passably well-written. Leonie bugs the hell out of me, and I keep wanting to smack her; Avon is like a slightly soppier, more romantic version of Valmont. But GAYER. There is no way on earth that man was straight, and there is no way on earth that Hugh Davenant is not his boyfriend.

Sprig Muslin

Much less enjoyable than These Old Shades, I thought. I was disappointed that so much of the book concentrated, not on Hester and Gareth, the evolution of whose relationship would have been interesting, and more on Amanda, who is the most spoilt, irritating, awful character I've seen in a long time. There are one or two amusing scenes, but for the most part, this was very forgettable.

Sylvester

So much better than Spring Muslin. I think Heyer managed to create a rather arrogant, self-absorbed hero (very much in the Darcy mould), and a headstrong, impetuous heroine without having either one come across as overly annoying or irritating. The secondary characters were wonderful as well - especially little Edmund with his Button, and Sir Nugent (the scene with him and his valet and the boots! Oh, wonderful).

The Corinthian

I enjoyed this one. Very light-hearted and very funny in places (the ending made me giggle rather a lot), with an enjoyable hero and a spirited heroine whom (unlike Leonie in These Old Shades) really didn't irk me very much. Probably not one of Heyer's books to start off with, though. The characters feel like ones that you will grow to like more the more you reread.

The Convenient Marriage

This one was a bit different from the other Heyers that I've read in that the marriage comes first, with the love only growing afterwards. The plot is a little flimsy - though I suppose that's the most charitable thing you can usually say about her plots - and I didn't really like the hero so much. Horry was a charming, if only because an unusual, heroine. Short, stammering, with bad eyebrows and a tendency to get into trouble and spend far too much on gambling. I didn't really buy her and Marcus falling for one another so swiftly, but the writing is good enough, the dialogue smooth enough, and as usual, the secondary characters wonderful enough (Pel!) to make this worth the read. ( )