Roses and Champagne [Mass Market Paperback]

This book is especially pleasing because it is like a breath of fresh air while still being a satisfying example of Ms. Neels' artful formulaic writing. The heroine in the story is the familiar older sibling who has taken on responsibility beyond her years, and who has done so without hesitation or complaint and with grace, courage, warmth and humility. This heroine, however, comes from a family with sufficient money and has a longtime best friend who is the hero....and the hero ISN'T A DOCTOR ! :) The hero has of course seen her great heart and worth and uses his wits and his patience to await her awakening to her true feelings for him.
Though deviating substantially from her more familiar formulas, the book is completely charming and fun.

Let's see, she is twenty-seven (but looks ten years younger). The hero is thirty-four (but looks younger). Her sister, Virginia, is twenty (how old does she look, ten?) She raised Virginia after their parents death and made a complete hash of it. Of course no one ever acknowledges that the person who would have had the most influence on Virginia's character is her only sister. Virginia is spoiled, ill tempered, and without morals or manners. She is verbally and psychologically abusive to her sister, rude to her neighbors and we are asked to believe that because she is beautiful everyone puts up with it. Her sister responds by giving her money to buy things.

At some point before the story starts the heroine asks her neighbor and childhood friend, Lucian, to squire Virginia around and try to pry off some social barnacles. Lucian, obligingly does. Then the heroine gets upset because Lucian does what she asks. Lucian after a while indicates that he does not intend to marry Virginia. When the story opens the heroine is furious at Lucian because he has broken Virginia heart-- as if the little baggage had one! She seems to have forgotten that he ws only taking Virginia around because she asked him to do so.

The hero also has his problems though. His interest is in the sister that he can mould to his tastes. He is extremely manipulative as he manipulates the heroine into a "fake" engagement. This requires him to take her to London to pick out clothes-- indeed he guides her toward what he wants her to wear. He is possessive when another man comes around and manipulates the situation so that she is not home when the other man is to call. He manipulates her into a Greek holidy. He does everything but sit down and have a heart to heart talk about feelings. Probably it would have been no use though since the heroine is such a dimbulb.

Of course there is a Big Misunderstanding, that fortunately lasts only a few pages. It is precipitated by Virginia, back from her honeymoon just in time to try to rain on her sister's parade.

I wanted to grab the whole lot of the characters in this book and shake some sense into them-- hard.