Enlightening Delilah

You can certainly have too much of a good thing. In the space of three short novels, I'm already stalled of M.C. Beaton's School for Manners series, which morphs more and more into Georgette Heyer with each heroine. Felicity I loved, Fiona I found amusing, but the practically perfect Delilah and her moody suitor I could well have done without.

Also, Beaton stretches a joke too far - the Tribble sisters are unbelievable caricatures, with emotional Effy and foul-mouthed Amy, and the 'wild, unruly or undisciplined daughters' they take on are basically Heyeroines in disguise. I was amused by Amy's advice to Delilah that 'beautiful people should not flirt' (they don't need to), but Sir Charles Digby is decidedly unappealing: 'You will marry show more me. If I thought for a moment you would ever kiss another man in the way you kiss me, then I would kill you', he tells her, after repeatedly 'punishing' her with kisses. Mills and Boon readers might go for tall, dark and angry, but I prefer Mr Knightley's old fashioned manners and respect over dominance and abuse. Also, would a gentleman really comment on a lady's virginity, or talk about rape, so bluntly? Not even Heyer went that far in 'modernising' the Regency era.

Sadly, the magic has worn off. I still recommend the first novel, Refining Felicity, as an introduction to the Regency genre, but I won't be completing the set, sorry to say. show less

Delilah’s heart was broken years ago by Sir Charles Digby, and ever since then she has gone about breaking the hearts of other men. Can the Tribble sisters cure this incurable flirt?

This book goes in some rather dark directions for an otherwise lighthearted Regency. Once again, I found the male lead not very likable, and the sisters’ antics are starting to feel a bit one-note. I’ll listen to the next book in the series, but if I don’t care for that one, I may give it a rest.