Curricle & Chaise by Lizzie Church
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Synopsis (edited):
…Of course, it was entirely natural that two young ladies of 19 and 7 would feel bereft at the loss of their mama, but to Miss Lydia and Miss Susan Barrington their change in circumstances demanded a total and somewhat painful adjustment to their whole way of life…
…It is 1810. Lydia, now penniless, is forced to seek a home with an aunt and uncle who have no interest in her whatsoever. But there are plenty of others with an interest in her – including the handsome but selfish son of the family – her cousin Charles – and two elegant brothers who live nearby.
Each, in his own way, poses an intriguing challenge to her. Luckily Lydia is well able to look after herself but she gets into a number of scrapes which almost cost her any chance of happiness before finally managing to sort things out in the end…
Fans of Regency romances and Jane Austen alike will appreciate the author’s effort, if not the actual execution. Like the traditional Regency romance, “Curricle & Chaise” features a warm, but certainly not burning hot romance that’s a pull and tug for most of the book. Like a Jane Austen book, the story features a large ensemble cast and continuous play on the manners of the Regency period. However, the book is neither fish nor fowl as far as Regency or Jane Austen clone goes; it goes on too long and has too little action to be a Regency, but is too light and frothy to mimic the insight of Austen. And I still have no idea what the title means. A pleasant, but unmemorable read.
