Lord Wraybourne's Bethrothed [Paperback]

Jane Sandiford is a sheltered and not very fasionable girl, raised in the country far away from the London scene. She hails from one of the oldest and wealthiest families in England which makes her a prime canditate to become the bride of David Kyle, Tenth Earl of Wraybourne. With much trepidation, she sets out on her first and last season as a single women. With a little help from David's sister Sophia, we watch Jane blossom, going from fear to awe and then total adoration for her betrothed. David is the typical Regency gentleman, a little stiff but with such endearing qualities the reader can't help but fall in love with him, right along with Jane.

The secondary characters are extremely likable too. Sophia, David's devilish sister and his friend, Lord Randal Ashby, an incorrigible rake with the face and form of Adonis. A secondary romance?

Add to all of this, a mystery; Lord Wraybourne is recruited by his uncle to help solve a rash of attacks on women which he reluctantly does. Beverley keeps the reader guessing till the very end.

This book is out of print, but you can find it through out-of-print searches,it is well worth the effort. It is a quick and very enjoyable read (I read it in one sitting). Do yourself a favor and get it.

This book really didn't do a lot for me. I did quite like both Jane and David in the beginning, but - and this is a short Regency! - the story really began to drag from around halfway through. Jane and David were already pretty much in love with each other, and it seemed as if the story could be over. But Beverley dragged it out with a mystery plot (and since I'd guessed the identity of the culprit very early in the book, that wasn't exactly suspenseful) and a largely absent fiancé.

And those are my main problems with the book. First, I ended up feeling that I really didn't get to know David at all, because he was missing for so much of the time. Second, the mystery plot was uninteresting and a distraction from the real story. And then third, I found Jane a little too perfect to be either interesting or convincing. She's had no real experience of Society or even mixing with other people of her own class - and yet she fits into the ton as if she's been attending parties and coping with repartee all her life?! She's an instant success - but why? She copes with every obstacle placed in her path just too easily. And her behaviour in respect of David is too inconsistent: she keeps believing that he's having affairs, and yet every time she sees him she ignores that suspicion and behaves as if he's the love of her life.

I ended up being far more interested in Randal and Sophie, two secondary characters; but their romance was dealt with very abruptly in the end, and then I realised that their story is finished in The Stolen Bride.

There are also a couple of clichéd villain-types in the book, which is something later Beverley books avoid like the plague. All in all, this is definitely not Beverley's best work - if you want to read a good short Regency by her, try Emily and the Dark Angel.