Beauvallet (Beauvallet Dynasty #2)

I love Georgette Heyer. No one I've ever come across, writes with her inimitable style, flair, turn of phrase, grasp of the language of the period and historical accuracy, be it her Regency novels or her more serious actual historical fiction. Oh add in oodles of humour and you have a masterpiece.

Beauvallet is set in Elizabethan England during the time of Drake, Frobisher and other sea dogs whose nautical abilities made England into the mistress of the seas.

A pirate, Mad Nick Beauvallet must always be pitting his wits and his sword against Spain. Second son of my Lord Beauvallet, Sir Nicholas Beauvallet has something of the daring, boldness, and courage of the first Lord Beauvallet who lived and fought during the time of Henry IV and show more Henry V of England (think Agincourt -1415 AD).

But the harebrained schemes Nick Beauvallet embarks upon originate purely in his brain. One such is the attack on the Spanish galleon that challenged him on the high seas in the Atlantic near the Carribbean isles, the taking on board his ship, the Venture - a highborn lady all crimson, cream and ebony - Dona Dominica Rada y Sylva, and her father, a sick man and former governor ofa Spanish colony. Beauvallet proceeds to enter a Spanish port in the dead of night to drop the lady and her father off in their homeland - all with a price on his head.

He also swears to Dominica to return to the heart of Spain - Madrid - where her home is and carry her off to England. Will Mad Nick essay such a harebrained emprise successfully, or will he fail, condemning himself and Dominica to the tender mercies of the Spanish Inquisition?

As usual, Miss Heyer's characters are smooth, well developed, the plot swift, the details minute and the language superb. If you love your Jane Austen and well plotted, superbly written romances with much tongue-in-cheek humour and appreciate novels and characters with much more complexity, depth and than your run of the mill romances, Georgette Heyer is the one for you. You won't regret it.

I inherited my copy from my aunt years ago. show less

High adventure, low on romance. Enjoyed the swashbuckling Beauvallet, but the romance was incredibly underdeveloped. I also enjoyed the writing, and look forward to another Heyer.

When the ship bearing her to Spain is attacked by Sir Nicholas Beauvallet - the daring English pirate christened "Mad Nick" - Dona Dominica de Rada y Sylva is at first outraged by the free and easy manners of this "villain." Soon won over, Dominica nevertheless disbelieves him when he states his intention of seeking her out in Spain and "making her an Englishwoman." After all, with war threatening between the two nations, and the Inquisition waiting to pounce on any non-Catholic, what Englishman would dare to venture into Spain?

The first Georgette Heyer novel I have read which was not set either in the Regency or Georgian periods, Beauvallet is a swashbuckling Elizabethan adventure, and provided me a few hours of lighthearted reading. show more It has all the improbable circumstances and well-known character-types that one would expect in a work of this genre, but for all that, it is well-paced and engaging. Well worth a read, especially for Georgette Heyer fans or readers interested in the Elizabethan Age. show less

I got this book courtesy of a friend who was appalled to hear that I'd never read Heyer. She sent me a good half-dozen, and this is, I believe, the 3rd of them I've read.

Nicholas Beauvallet is a pirate--oh, okay, an English "privateer". He captures a Spanish ship that just happens to have the beautiful Doña Dominica aboard with her father. Her father is ill, and he promises to return them to Spain and then to come for her in a year to make her his bride.

I've called this "historical fiction" rather than "historical romance," because despite Heyer's reputation, there's really not much romance about it--or rather, there's nothing of falling in love about it.

Apparently, Nick likes the way Dominica looks, and she loathes him, which show more apparently means she's madly in love with him. I've never been fond of that sort of plot, probably because I just don't understand the emotions behind it. Mostly, in my life, if I've loathed someone, I pretty much continue loathing them. Or, to be honest, loathing takes an awful lot of energy, so unless there's a reason for me to actively loathe them, I settle down to a sort of bored dislike. It's not like there've been all that many.

Then too, I don't know anyone who hated their significant other before they fell in love. Found them annoying or irritating maybe, or not their type, but never really hated them.

So there's that. And making it worse is the fact that we don't see any actual love growing between them. Nick wants her, he vows to have her, he moves heaven and earth to get her. Dominica goes from not wanting anything to do with him to worrying that he's forgotten about her. But on both sides, it's vastly more about possession than love, even more than lust or attraction.

The swashbuckling-ness, though, is quite a lot of fun. Heyer does really have a genius for writing in the style of the era in which the book is set, and this Elizabethan-set tale is full of older words, slang, figures of speech, and constructions--the way sentences are put together. It really helps to immerse you in the setting.

Nick's determination and drive and audacity were exciting, and he made a wonderful pirate hero--I could definitely see this as an old swashbuckling movie, probably starring Errol Flynn.

Unfortunately, I couldn't really say the same for Dominica. She was really unlikeable--for me, anyway. I keep getting the feeling that she's supposed to be like one of the "heroines" of those old movies--no real personality, just a pretty ornament to give the hero something to chase after. She acts angry to show she has "spunk", and that's pretty much the extent of her character. That's the conclusion I came to, and why I didn't like her, and what kept the book from being a great read for me.

Maybe I've misunderstood her. If you have a different take on her, please let me know. show less

Sir Nicholas Beauvallet is my hero! A dashing pirate who saves the life of his heroine Donna Dominica and her father to return them to their homeland- how could I possibly resist such gallantry, courage, strenth and charm?

Heyer outdid herself once again with this fantastic novel filled with history, intrigue, excitement…and yes, this one too is filled with incomparable wittiness. And- the dialogue is superb!

Surprisingly, being more used to her regency novels, I was thrilled that this one takes place during the reign of Elizabeth I and the Spanish Armada. I absolutely loved the history and detail, let alone that the characters completely came to life. The story captivated me from the very beginning with that first scene involving Don show more Juan himself.

This book is reminiscent of a time when heroes were heroes and damsels were breathtaking not only physically but even more so due to their clever and gustsy ways. I reveled in the times, and the historical accuracy for me was more than a treat.

Delightful from beginning to end, BEAUVALLET has become my number one Heyer read- so much so, that I plan on re-eading this one for sure. It’s truly a classic.

Fantastic! show less

While there were many things that held my interest in Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer, this Elizabethan tale of a swashbuckling pirate that falls in love with his lovely, young Spanish captive isn’t up to the level of her Regency stories. The difference for me was that I never felt the author’s tongue-in-cheek enjoyment that I do with her Regency romances and while the writing was sprinkled with many phrases that felt authentic, it didn’t flow with the same assurance and joie de vivre that makes her such a delight to read.

I quickly found myself picturing Errol Flynn and Maureen O’Hara in the lead roles and that certainly helped to bring this rather ho-hum adventure to life. As it was obvious from the start that Nick Beauvallet show more would eventually win the fiery Dona Dominica, I settled in to enjoy the sword-play and romance along with authentic glimpses of some well-known characters of the day such as Elizabeth I of England and Phillip II of Spain.

So while Beauvallet was far from a favorite offering from this author, it was still an enjoyable escapist read that I was able to comfortably curl up with. I have read that Georgette Heyer on a bad day is still better than many other authors and after reading Beauvallet, I agree. show less

Swashbuckling pirate meets lady, follows lady. Sweeps her off her feet. Not a typical regency setting, Elizabethan, and a bit more obvious a romance than usual.

Re-read review. This being a re-read, you already know that Nicholas Beauvallet, pirate and heir to an estate, is going to get his lady. To be honest, that's pretty obvious on the first reading of it as well. What this allows you to do on a re-read is to enjoy the ride, knowing that the end arrives safely. The pair of them spar from the first, when he captures the ship she is traveling back to Spain in. He promises to come and find her in Spain and take her to be his bride. There are then any number of schemes and escapades as he enters Spain, traces the lady and follows her to show more achieve his aim. Its is a load of fun, so sit back and enjoy the ride. show less