Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand

Roxanna Drew, recently widowed, has two young daughters and a wicked brother-in-law who's scheming to take advantage of her poverty. The Marquess of Winn has spent years abroad in the army and no intention of ever getting married. In a Regency romance like this, you can guess what happens next. Mrs Drew Plays Her Hand contains some of my favourite tropes—marriage of convenience, mutual pining—and the characters are mostly engaging enough to make this a pleasant read. However, the rampant anachronisms, improbable child characters (a four-year-old shouldn't sound like a twelve-year-old), and the unearned, tone-deaf resolution to the wicked brother-in-law plot means this is far from a classic.

This is a Regency Romance that rises above the usual due to strong characterisation and a nice, heart-warming feel. A plethora of anachronism and some very contemporary prose stop it from being great, however.

Mrs Drew has lost her husband and is left with two young daughters to care for. In dire straits, she ends up leasing on a nearby lord's estate. Drawn to each other, despite social and logistical barriers, will the two fall in love, and stay there?

Okay, pretty hackneyed set-up there, I admit, but Kelly really invests in the story. The way she draws Roxanna Drew demands your sympathy; Drew isn't just a damsel in distress, and nor is she a bland, blank slate. And the omnipresent danger of real poverty or worse feels very real.

The show more emotional pay-offs in the book are very well done - sentimental without falling into melodrama - and the characters are extremely likable and in the main believable.

Where the novel struggles is anachronism. Perhaps I have a high bar in this regard as I don't really read in the genre outside of Georgette Heyer - whose books are flawless in this regard - but the large majority of the novel is unbelievable. Everything from names, clothes, dialogue, and general mores and norms falls down at some point or another.

Sometimes, the gap is a minor irritant (the liberal use of nicknames, like "Roxie" etc), sometimes it's a glaring anachronism (unchaperoned women, mixing between classes in preposterous ways) etc. Coupled with some very modern prose, it's a bit jarring and really broke me out of the story at times.

For all that, I enjoyed the book a lot - especially because I've read far, far worse regency romances, and I liked that it wasn't just a clumsy vehicle for sex scenes. A good holiday read. show less

This is my favorite or among my favorites of Carla Kelly's books. I just get sucked into the story of a strong woman facing tremendous difficulties and dealing with them with strength and also with some help from good people, including her landlord and eventual husband. It's a warm and charming story. I just re-read it and liked it as much as I did the first (and maybe second) times. There were some anachronisms which sometimes bother me but not so much in this book.

Wonderful, stirring, heartfelt romance, but too sad for me. The characters, the plot, the setting are all first-rate. The story, though it has a happy ending, has too much sadness in it, for repeated re-reading. Bits of the plot feel contrived, the second half of the book is not as strong as the first.

Loved this! Didn't want it to end! Sweet, touching with likeable characters and just the right amount of angst. Roxie Drew, a widow must find a new home to live in and settles in a cottage that has seen better days on the local lord's estate. Enter local lord who is usually never around and he is charmed by Mrs. Drew. The two develop a friendship and eventually love and it all just really grows on you!

A fantastic romance, and really a splendid book about domesticity and all of its many facets—dramas and jokes and terrors and blisses alike.

I enjoyed this historical romance. I liked the straight forward communication between main characters at the beginning. The heroines realistic attitude toward life was good too and the girls were adorable. Widow Roxanne's brother-in-law is after her so she rents a house on Lord Winn's property.