Bless Thine Inheritance

I really liked Sophia Holloway's first Regency, THE DEVIL YOU KNOW, and was looking forward to this second one. Well, rats. This one started out as a lovely, comforting, entertaining, witty read. It's not that the plot is unusual. I've read many a storyline almost exactly like this one with characters in this same mould. What set it apart was the fun I derived from the way Holloway set up the story and introduced her characters. And the droll, tongue-in-cheek, clever dialogue. This checked all my boxes for a fun Regency read.I also appreciated the several letters to her father written by a grammar-and-punctuation-impaired secondary character, whose philosophy of punctuation was "when in doubt, leave it out", leading to sentences such as "Mr. Mardham has taken the gentlemen out this afternoon to shoot Sir Marcus Colgrave though did not accompany them saying his shoulder was too stiff." And also there's the dowager grandma of our heroine, who says things such as "I have my sources, young man. Just because I live in the middle of a field does not make me a cow."So I was delighted at first and settled in for a cozy read. The main female character is Celia Mardham, lovely 19-year-old daughter of Lord and Lady Mardham, who two years ago was predicted to be a London success when tragedy struck. A riding accident badly broke one of her legs and left her crippled, with a shortened leg, a very pronounced limp, and an inability to ride, dance, or walk gracefully again. Now her mother despairs of any man ever choosing Celia as his wife. A terrible shame, considering the inheritance Celia's late grandfather has left to the first of his granddaughters to marry. What a pity if that money were not to come to her daughter Celia, thinks Lady Mardham.So Lady Mardham has the bright idea of hosting a houseparty with as many eligible bachelors as she can come up with, and, of course, filling up the female guest slots with young women who, it is hoped, won't be too much competition for Celia. The female guests will include Celia's cousin Sarah (aka The Poor Relation), friend Marianne Burton, daughter of a very rich man in trade (aka The Money Pot, also referred to as The Ninny), and Miss Darven, unbearable, humorless, narcissistic socialite unkind enough to have given those sobriquets to the above-mentioned ladies, along with "The Cripple" for referring to Celia.And we have, of course, the gentlemen. Mr. Wombwell, a ne'er-do-well, self-obsessed fortune hunter; Lord Levedale, upright, honorable gentleman finding himself forced to marry an heiress because of the profligacy of his father and his late brother; Lord Deven, a kind, quiet sort; and Richard Mardham, Celia's brother. There's also Sir Marcus Colgrave, an older widowed gentleman who has been diligently wooing Celia for months now, feeling that she needs to be cared for and coddled in his unbearable, stifling manner. (And if there's one thing Celia doesn't want, it's pity and coddling or being seen only as a cripple.)You may notice that there are two gentlemen who need to marry money: the fortune hunter and the noble would-be savior of his ancestral home. And there are two heiresses: the daughter of the gentleman in trade and Celia, if she is the first granddaughter to marry in her family. The problem is that no one but family knows about Celia's possible inheritance, since a provision in her grandfather's will stipulates that it be a secret. This leads to a huge dilemma for our hero Lord Levedale, who, from the moment he sees and interacts with Celia, feels immediate attraction. But he must marry money. What to do?Well, all, of course, shall be well in the end, but there's a lot of confusion and misunderstanding to clear up along the way. Mostly, this is a sweet, warm, humorous story, but it verges into the cartoon-ish by the halfway point. The most unappealing characters become unbearable and the failures to communicate become tedious and annoying. And there's even an abduction-like scene in the story which causes our hero to fly "ventre a terre" to the rescue and, oh, dear lordy, how I hate theatrical abductions.This had so much promise. It started out so very well. That's why its devolution into an over-the-top, farcical, exaggerated comedy of manners and errors with too many misunderstandings disappointed.

I was very pleased with my experience reading this novel. It is well-written and seems to be quite thoroughly researched. The story was engaging and the characters interesting.

Liked the setting was a country house party,main leads weren't perfection, their love for each other believable,still the book dragged.

This is a delightful and charming story with wit and humour enough to satisfy in the best tradition of Regency romances. You have a unique heroine with a physical disability but is also intelligent, independent minded and beautiful, and a worthy hero of character. There is also a colorful cast of supporting characters, some are kind and some are very foolish indeed. There is even a lovely secondary romance involving the more plain looking cousin to our heroine who is the "poor relation" to the outside world, but is in fact a sensible and intelligent young lady. Overall this was an enjoyable read and a nice escape.

The author's previous book, The Devil You Know, was very good. It had flaws though, and so does this one, which wasn't nearly as good. The book was too long, and dragged after the excellent beginning. The plot avoided some of the historical romance cliches, but fell right into some other ones.That old chestnut about the inheritance being tied to ridiculous requirements and even worse, super secret requirements that would void the inheritance if they were disclosed, was just annoying. For one thing, how could anyone prove that a family member (I'm looking at you, h's mother) didn't whisper in a suitor's ear? Or his mother's ear? A very unsuitable suitor at that! If you're going to slip someone the good word, why not the H? Well, then we wouldn't have the requisite abduction I guess.Some of the villains, while entertaining, were just over the top. Why anyone in the world would invite that Darwin woman anywhere is beyond me. There were some very good secondary characters, including the two involved in the sweet secondary romance, and the h's grandma, who was a force of nature to rival the Dowager Lady Grantham.Although I ended up skimming toward the end, I still have hopes for future books by this author. It pains me to give only three stars, but that's the best I can do.

became tedious....house party setting....really enjoyed THE DEVIL YOU KNOW

Finally!What a treat to finally find a historical romance written that is a) not filled with formulaic sex scenes b) not written in jarring English.I think most Heyer fans would enjoy this. I don't think the imagery was built quite as strongly as Heyer's but it felt right.

This is a densely plotted and absorbing book. The heroine is beautiful and intelligent, but her life has marred because of a riding accident which has left her lame. Most of her family and friends think that nobody in his right mind would want to marry her. There is a family bequest available to the first granddaughter to make a good marriage. Her mother arranges a house-party in the hope that someone can be found who is desperate enough to take her on. An ill-assorted group of young people is assembled and the novel concentrates on how they interact so that some find happiness and some get their just desert.

I enjoyed this book very much.The characters were interesting.and the 'baddies'in the story suitably dealt with .The heroine was both brave and funny andkind and loveable.The hero was so much in love..and so heroic and handsome...ahhhhh.

I found Bless Thine Inheritance both charming and very entertaining from start to finish. Loved the various characters, but in particular down-to-earth Celia and of course grandmama with her rather fetching rudeness, and found myself laughing out loud several times. Also the secondary romance worked very well imho. I would very much love to delve into that world again - so where is the next book?

It is written in the same style as Georgette Heyer. The story lines are not as good as a Heyer but the language used is the same. This author shows signs of being very good. Have bought her other book on kindle and look forward with interest to her third book.