Sir Thomas | Love Romance Passion

Review: Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale

February 2nd, 2010 — 4 Stars, ARC, Convict, Friends, Gentry, Great Britain, Heiress, J-L, Ranching, Regency, Rogues and Rakehells, Soldier, Spinster, Thief, Virgin Hero, Virgin Heroine

Lessons in French is a feel-good story. It’s cute, lighthearted, and full of whimsy. It was the right novel at the right time. I needed cute, lighthearted, and whimsy. I smiled a lot when reading it and rooted for both of the main characters. They’re imperfect, but that just makes them extremely likeable.

The heroine is as Laura Kinsale describes--an anti-kickass heroine. Callie Taillefaire is pretty shy. She prefers her animals to men and ballrooms. In ballrooms she’s an absolute wallflower without even trying. She was betrothed three times and all three men left her cold. The people of Shelford love her, but even they have to wonder what’s wrong with her when eighty thousand pounds won’t get a man to the altar. What’s great about Callie is that even though she’s not one of the kickass heroines running around in other romances, she can be fierce and courageous. She’ll even save the hero.

Trevelyn d’Augustin is a very interesting character. He is the son of aristocratic but impoverished French émigrés. Nine years approximately before the story starts, he was in love (or pretty darn close to admitting it anyway) with Callie. That her father did not approve of him is an understatement. One bad episode and Trev runs away to France where he does a lot of things from organizing fights, shooting at Englishmen, becoming a war prisoner, returning to England and organizing more fights, and getting in trouble with the law. He’s avoided Shelford for ages because he’s positive Callie is married with kids, but with his mother extremely ill he can no longer stay away.

They both get a second chance at first love. Trev pulls Callie out of her shell, one hilarious incident after another. Callie gives Trev comfort and quiet strength and a sense of purpose, but she can’t imagine that he feels anything beyond friendship and gratitude for her. So when her sister, Hermione gets engaged to Sir Thomas Vickery, Callie seriously entertains the attentions of an old fiancé. She won’t burden her sister and she won’t stick around with her cousin and his wife Dolly. Trev won’t pursue her romantically because of his legal troubles and because he feels she deserves more than he can offer… and certainly more than this idiot who’s back and sniffing after her eighty thousand pounds.

Rating: 4 Stars

Buy: Lessons in French

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Movie Review: The Masterpiece Theater version of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park

October 16th, 2009 — 3.5 Stars, Great Britain, Jane Austen, Movie Reviews, Regency

The Masterpiece Theater version of Mansfield Park is my first foray at watching this particular novel come to life. True Austen purists will find the film a disappointment. Too many characters are left out and several are given so little back story that newbies to Mansfield Park will be a bit confused at the beginning. But I honestly enjoyed it despite its flaws.

Quick Story Overview:

Fanny at the tender age of ten was sent to live with her aunt and uncle, Sir Thomas and Lady Bertram. She soon ran across four cousins, two male and two female. Life eight years down the road depict them to be thus: Tom is the eldest son, but he parties and gets drunk in excess; Edmund is the second son who is destined for life as a clergyman; Maria is engaged to be married to Rushworth; and Julia is the youngest daughter. The story starts when Sir Thomas leaves freeing the occupants of Mansfield Park from his tyranny.

The actors and actresses were engaging and you even like the slimy characters. There is no trouble at all in locating the Mr. Wickham in this novel/movie. It’s plain as the nose on your face. Henry Crawford and his sister Mary are both trouble at a glance. Henry is told to focus on Julia, but his attentions turn inevitably to the more beautiful Maria. Can we say scandal in the making? Why yes, we surely can. Mary is disappointed to learn that Tom is not at home and has in fact run off to London, where she can’t follow because her father has installed his Mistress into their home. Instead she focuses on Edmund, much to Fanny’s displeasure.

I found Edmund, the hero, to be wonderfully cast with Blake Ritson. Very Byronic hero. He was handsome, of good character, a little blind to what was going on around him perhaps but eager to throw off his unfortunate decision to love Mary Crawford and start anew with what was right under his nose the whole time. His epiphany scene is really quite phenomenal and will surely make your heart leap out of your chest. For no other reason, you should rent the movie to see that scene.

Fanny, played by Billie Piper, is the heroine and she is lively with a wonderful smile. At some points you think she’s holding an orange peel over her teeth when her mouth is closed. Is this something that the British do? I noticed this in BBC’s Persuasion that characters held their mouths funny. Her dark eyebrows and blond hair is a bit of a distraction too. She wears her hair down for the movie so if this Regency inaccuracy is going to bug you, you are now forewarned. Over all I found that Billie played her part quite well.

Rating: 3.5 Stars