Customer Reviews

Lord Nightingales Debut

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I laughed so hard when I read this book. My mom was visiting and she couldn't wait until I was done so she could read it too!
By the time I wrote this review, I had read all four in the series. "Debut" was my favorite. Sera and Nicky are delightful characters!

It is a wonderful read & will cheer your spirits at the same time.

I just recently finished this book, and I must say it's a breath of fresh air. I am a large fan of the Regency novels that involve rakes, but I do have to say there are far too many of them. It's refreshing to have a lead male that *isn't* out to bed every female possible, or avoid marriage, or anything of that nature. This book has a sensitive, caring, kind male lead, and I think that's one part that makes it so enchanting. I enjoyed the bits with the animals, and I thought the plot was nicely done and creative, but the real winner in my book was Nicky.

This book is delightful and funny. This is the first book that I've read from this author and after finishing it I wanted to run out and buy the rest of "Lord Nightingale's" books. I found Serendepity and Nicky to be delightful characters. Lord Nightingale's antics were hilarious,they had me laughing right along with the charcters. I think its a well written Regency, entertaining and relaxing. The characters were realistic to me and it had a nice unconfusing plot. But I was left wondering....... Knollsmarmer?

I waited until I had all four of the Nightingale books before I started reading the "trilogy". I have just finished Lord Nightingale's Debut and loved it. Nicky was wonderful! It was so refreshing to have a caring, thoughtful man as a hero instead of the usual selfish, lustful rake. Serendipity was a lot of fun, especially near the end where she had me in stitches. I thought that the two were ideally suited, and found their falling in love very believable.

One of the reasons this book was so special was the extraordinary cast of secondary characters. Delight is charming, Lady Wickenshire is a wonderful mother, Eugenia is entertaining (I see that she is the heroine in LNLS), Neil is a deliciously funny villain (surely there is room for redemption here), and I totally fell in love with Jenkins who is one of the best butler's I have ever read about.

Of course you can't talk about this book without mentioning the splendid array of animal characters. Lord Nightingale is the main focal point of the book, but he definitely gets a run for his money from Sweetpea and Stanley Blithe.

This was an excellent book. It was extremely entertaining, the hero and heroine were charming, and the story had my laughing out loud in several places. I was sorry when it ended, but then I immediately started the next book in the series (at midnight, although I did read only a couple of chapters). If it's anywhere near as good as LND I will be an extremely happy reader.

Wow - what a range of opinions on this book. In a way, it must be rewarding to Judith Lansdowne that so many are interested in her work. I am a big fan of her books. I enjoy the fun, light qualities her regencies have. However, the failure of this book is really no surprise. It should have been edited better. It went on way too long. Also, I too found Serendipity too, well, yes, dippy, even for a Lansdowne book. Romances are read as escape book. This was an overly writen book with too many people, a bit of a silly story involving a bird, and two lead characters, Nicky and Serendipity, who were not really very romantic. Trust me, Ms. Lansdowne, handsome leading men do not have to be rapists! A bit of masculinity never hurts.

Well. What a wild array of reviews for one delightful little book. I'll be the first person to say that not every reader will adore every book written. I'm at the top of the list when it comes to avoidance of horror, or overly profane or violent books, or even exceedingly sensual ones, for that matter. And frankly, I'm a bit tired of the (at least to me) over-emphasis on physical beauty. Every lord cannot be the handsomest creature that ever walked, nor can the heroine of every book be absolutely the most gorgeous! Give Ms.Lansdowne credit for creating HUMAN characters, with whom we should all be able to identify. At least, I should clarify this--the human characters are human. The animals are delightful in their own way, as they should be. Children, too, are children; some are advanced for their age, some are not. Most all, however, are winsome at some point. It's the talent of this author to catch each child at whatever age the winsomeness is the most charming.

I LOVE the books of Judith Lansdowne, however. All of them. Long or short. Because I always know what I'll find when I settle down to read. Every page brims with love and laughter, adventure and absurdity, mixed with great amounts of probability. Her characters are REAL. If you think hard enough, quite probably you'll know someone very like many of them.

Absurd? Yes. Busy? Of course. More than just two characters in the book? Thank goodness, yes again! If you only want very sensual stories, in which the romance between the two major personages is the plot in its entirety--and you want to follow along into the bedroom with them, commentary provided--then you will probably not be very satisfied with her stories. This series especially, as it will, admittedly, sprawl out over four months time, with a whole cavalcade of folks to meet, during which you will learn the entire story of Lord Nightingale. Enjoy it for what it is. If you like a well-told story with a hint of intrigue, a bit of adventure, a whole flock of non-stereotypical characters, and a bit of the English nobility, set during a perfectly splendid portion of history, all accompanied by an abundance of laughter, then chances are, you will enjoy Lord Nightingale's Debut, and his Love Song, his Triumph and his Christmas, too! I know I will.

I must have missed something in this book that people would give it 5 stars. I have to agree with some of the other reviewers who did not like the book. I found the story and characters inspid. The bird, Lord Nightingale, detracted from what might have been a good story. I just don't know. This book was quite inferior compared to Ms. Lansdowne's previous works.

I usually enjoy a Judith Lansdowne romance. I think my favorite was from one of her anthology short stores from "Notorious and Noble", the Hawk and Priscilla. However, I found this book to be to long full and full of paper characters. There was not enough of a story to stretch it out. The story was perhaps a bit too fanciful, even for a Lansdowne book. Singing birds, bitter family members, disfigured children, gothic "dippy" women, spinsters, shy earls, smugglers, just too much. It would have been better as a short story focusing in on the romantic involvement of the Earl and Sera. I also read Judith's comments about the varied opinions on this book and I must say I was slightly offended. Just because I find that attractive characters sometimes (not always) add more zest to a romance than plain ones does not mean that I enjoy handsome rapist's who can't keep his word. Shoot me - I too (like another reviewer) enjoy reading about attractive people. No, they don't all have to be Incomparables or devilishly handsome Rakes. Lord Wright's Eleanor was a plain Jane but the romance worked maybe because she was nice and smart. In this book, while Sera was perhaps too gothic and annoying, there was no spark between her and the frog Earl. Sorry, but while the frog was sweet, a dash of confidence and looks might have made him more appealing. He seemed like someones sweet, younger brother who has not grown up yet. Regarding the sequel, I will probably the skip the story of the spinster cousin Eugenia and her rolling walk and her mysterious Marquis. Hey - the author describes her as a plain spinster not me!

I cannot imagine anyone not liking this fabulous story! The characters (especially Lord Nightengale itself) are absolutely enchanting and the adventure keeps moving. I laughed aloud at Lansdowne's witty prose. An extra bonus with this book is that unlike some of Lansdowne's books (notably "Amelia's Intrigue" and "The Bedeviled Duke"), the romance here gets just as much attention as the adventure parts of the book. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the next three books of this "trilogy."

Regency novels have always been a favorite genre of mine. Filled with light-hearted humor, wonderful characters and interesting, somewhat silly plots. Lansdowne's newest novel is one of the best examples of its type. In the tradition of the finest regency heroes, Nicki is strong and intelligent, but vulnerable and insecure around Sera, our heroine. Delight, Stanley Blithe, Jenkins - a little girl, a dog and a butler- add just the right humor to the book. Lord Nightingale, the star of the trilogy (of four books?) has more dimensions to his character than would be expected from a parrot. All in all, the book was an excellent read and hard to put down. I'm looking forward to the next installments.