Sheila Simonson

This was a winner. I really enjoyed it. The first person narrator is Lady Elizabeth, an enormously talented and dedicated astronomer, who has reached the advanced age of 28 without marrying. She's the eldest of eight girls, and her father, the earl, has just died. His title and property have passed to the son of his black-sheep younger brother. The new earl, Thomas Conway, is a survivor of Waterloo, so severely wounded that he has only a few years to live. Surgeons have been unable to remove all the shrapnel from his body, and there is a piece lodged near his spine that will eventually kill him. You know what's going to happen!

I liked Elizabeth and Thomas very much, and enjoyed Elizabeth's witty narration. Lively, cheerful, funny and not too long. Recommended.… (meer)

Lady Elizabeths father Lord Clanross has died leaving the title to a relative.This is not much of a concern to her as she is an independent woman with her own establishment.

She plans on continuing to live her own and life and pursue her passion for astronomy.And of course there are her two wild younger sisters to take care of.

When he finally arrives he is nothing at all what she anticipated,being a very ill man ravaged by the war injuries he suffered in the Peninsular war.

Not realizing this Elizabeth dismisses him as just weakling of a man.

But when he suddenly gets sick she decideds she is the best person to help care for him and they form a friendly relationship.

The heroine was a bit too mature,almost boring for my taste.She was supposed to be 28 years old but could just as easily have been twice that age.I kept waiting for her to do something,anything that would make her a bit more lively.

The hero remained a bit of a mystery throughout the most of the book,since the story is told in first person through the eyes of the heroine. So we dont get his thoughts on thing. Thats not so very common in historical romances nowadays.

I didnt really feel there was much of a romance as the heroine gets engaged about halfway into the book...but not to the hero. But to his best friend.

They do realize they dont suit and break the the engagement

I think the author wanted to write a book along the lines of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. But while there is a lot of visiting and everyday life being described in the book it doesnt really advance the story,instead I felt it bogged it down.

The author also uses a lot of old fashioned words. I swear when I read the sentence "she writ me" I honestly thought it was a typo. It annoyed me.

There is also "heroick" and "connexion" to mention some others.

I give it two stars because altough I didnt care for it,the writing wasnt bad per se and there were no glaring historical inconsistencies.In short it was a bit bland. Not bad,not overly good.

Just ok.

If you want to read a book that also has an independent heroine and reminded me a bit of this one (sans sick hero) I suggest [b:The Country Gentleman|977067|The Country Gentleman|Fiona Hill|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|961963] by [a:Fiona Hill|184214|Fiona Hill|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1255236291p2/184214.jpg]… (meer)