Some good fun in this one but also some eh more problematic bullying I didn't particularly like. Not the best of Heyer's novels I've read. ( )

Another delightful romp by Heyer in this sequel to These Old Shades. The author gives us enough descriptions to make vivid images in the reader's mind but not enough to bore them. And I love how the dialogue will make me chuckle instead of groan, as I do with other authors' Regency stories. ( )

Duellist and gamester, the young Marquis of Vidal had fairly earned the sobriquet 'Devil's Cub' - a tribute to the wilder excesses of his father, the Duke of Avon.

When Mary Challoner discovered Dominic's plans to run away with her lovely sister, she donned cloak and mask in a daring impersonation and found herself bound for France with the most notorious rake in Georgian London.

The many admirers of These Old Shades will meet some familiar friends.

Dominic Alistair, Marquis of Vidal and fiery son of the notorious Duke of Avon, has established a rakish reputation that rivals his father's, living a life of excess and indulgence. He is a bad lot a rake and seducer, reckless, heedless, and possessed of a murderous temper. He is known by friend and foe alike as the "Devil's Cub." Yet as the handsome and wealthy heir to a Dukedom, he is considered a good prospect on the marriage market. Vidal currently has his eye on the young, lovely, and unintelligent Sophia Challoner, and Sophia's greedy mother is more than happy to encourage his dubious attentions. Banished to the Continent after wounding his opponent in a duel, Vidal decides to abduct the silly aristocrat bent on seducing him into marriage and make her his mistress instead. In his rush, however, he seems to have taken the wrong woman?

Intelligent, practical Mary Challoner knew wicked Vidal, wouldn't marry her sister, despite her mother's matchmaking schemes. So Mary coolly prepared to protect her naive sister by deceiving Vidal. Substituting herself for her young sister, she certainly hadn't expected the nobleman to kidnap and take her to France. She had little notion he would grimly hold her to her part of the bargain. Now he had left her, and she was alone, a stranger in a strange land, prey to the intrigues of glittering, heartless, 18th century Paris. Only one person could rescue her--the Marquis himself. But how could she ever trust this man? How could she even hope to overcome the contempt in which he held her? And how could even the sudden flowering of her love ever bridge the terrible gap between them? ( )

Another absolute favorite that I read over and over again. Sometimes I just pick it up and read the scene at the end where Mary meets the Duke of Avon unbeknownst to her. Vidal, the hero, is beautifully written as a totally spoiled and uncaring aristocrat. He is not a very nice man and he lacks the savoir faire and elegant manners of his father. For that reason he needs a very different heroine than his father did. Mary doesn't put up with any nonsense from him. She stands up to him, forces, shames and shoots him into becoming a better man. Vidal is used to getting his way and Mary doesn't let him get away with anything.

The writing here again is lovely and the history impeccable, but then this is Georgette Heyer. I love the dialog and pace of the story. I love seeing His Grace of Avon and Leonie again. ( )

Heyer once that she though her worst books were the most popular.

I agree. This is apparently one of her most popular books. I don't like it nearly as much as most of her others.

It's a sequel to "These Old Shades" and I wasn't madly impressed by that either.

I like the protagonist, Mary is a pretty sensible character (and not afraid to shoot someone), but that's about all.

This is probably a book for those with rape fantasies. A man who will stop at nothing, but fortunately has just enough honour left not to ravish a 'respectable' woman.

I didn't find the plot even a tiny bit convincing. I don't require much convincing where romance novels are concerned, but this one missed that low bar.

The only thing that redeems it at all is the section at the end where Avon and Mary meet up -from there to the end, there's a good dollop of humour that actually works for me. ( )