Thursday, January 8, 2015

A Season of the Heart by Elizabeth Chater

Don't faint.

No one is more surprised than I am that I’m reviewing a romance novel.

But I can’t help mentioning this writer if you like a clean, fun read that doesn’t sound like it was written by a high schooler.


Author Elizabeth Chater was born in 1910. She started teaching English at San Diego State College in 1961 and began her novel-writing career in 1978.The crowning feature of Chater’s books is her rib-tickling conversation. I know that Georgette Heyer is famous for this, but Chater is much less historically self-conscious than Heyer. Where Heyer excels in historical details that can make her dialogue heavy and obtuse, Chater’s repartee is brisk and light, but still full of regency flavor. And the vocabulary is rich (a plus for me in any book.)


In A Season for the Heart, Melpomene (“Pommy” for short) is an orphan who has been hoisted off on an unfriendly aunt. She had previously lived in a small town with her vicar grandfather who taught her the classics. So she is naive in many things, but quite an intellectual. I enjoyed how these two aspects of her personality played off each other. She unexpectedly gets a position as companion to a wealthy elderly woman and moves to London where her fortunes change. As you can imagine, after a series of usual roadblocks, love conquers all.   


My biggest quibble with the book is that almost everyone falls in love at first sight, which would be okay for just one couple, but EVERYONE? Really?

Still, it is a very pleasant read if laughter is called for. Only 99 cents on Kindle.

4 comments:

Farm Girl said...

I don't do Romance novels ever but I always put anything on the list you read. I do like witty dialog.
I have never heard of her.
I will look her up since I did get the kindle app. :)

hopeinbrazil said...

Gee, Kim, that puts a lot of pressure on me! But I always try to do my best to recommend only the best stuff. =)

Amy @ Hope Is the Word said...

I like to say that the only romance I'm interested in is my own. 😉. If romance is the genre used to deliver an otherwise entertaining story, however, AND it's not too heavy-handed, I'm game. This sounds like fun!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

and I don't even know what that means - to fall in love at first sight. Dave, my deceased husband used to say, "I've never fallen in love; might have stepped in it once or twice though." I'm visiting from Farm Girl Kim.