Book Review: April Lady by Georgette Heyer

While reading psycho-thrillers back to back, I thought to give it a break (recommended by one of my reading group members before I turn to the dark side. Buhahahahaha) and so I chose Regency Romance queen Georgette Heyer whose The Grand Sophy and Devil’s Cub I had completed few months back.

April Lady is a typical romantic book but which will make you smile. It is also an easy read, specially for the mind to relax, even after there is so much melodrama. In fact, it acted as the sort of relaxing/ meditating music one usually listens to for sleeping. And when I talk of sleep, yes, this time, I completed it slowly slowly in a fortnight.

However, if I have to recommend between this book and The Grand Sophy, I will pick the latter one only (for it had that X entertaining factor).

Keep watching my blog for more book reviews!

Book blurb: Despite the scandalous blemish on the family name of his 18 year old bride, Lord Giles Cardross is convinced beautiful Helen cares for him. When newlywed begins to fill her days with fashion and frivolity, her husband has to wonder whether she really did marry him for his money, as his family so helpfully suggests. He thought they were marrying for love, but as the bills and extravagant debts begin to mount up, Giles begins to suspect that perhaps his adored wife isn’t as innocent as he supposed. Especially since, as of late, she’s been unable to look him in the eye… Impetuous Lady Helen Cardross had collected quite a basket of little white lies in her efforts to help those less fortunate than herself. There were, for example; her own dashing, debt-ridden brother, and her husband’s love-sick, youthful sister. But to her adored (and adoring) lord and master, there could be no dissembling of integrity, honor, or truth. One faced up to grim reality — unless one were Lady Helen. When his family’s priceless jewels disappear, Lord Cardross is aghast at the idea that his lovely new wife might be the culprit, but he soon discovers the truth about Lady Nell’s situation. And between his concern over his wife’s spending sprees, rescuing her impulsive brother from one scrape after another, and attempting to prevent his own half–it’s no wonder the much-tried earl can’t see where he’s gone wrong. And now owing a shocking amount of money, Nell doesn’t dare tell him the truth–that she’s loved him from the first, and thought he’d married her for convenience.

About the author: Georgette Heyer was a prolific historical romance and detective fiction novelist. Her husband George Ronald Rougier, a mining engineer often provided basic plot outlines for her thrillers. Beginning in 1932, Heyer released one romance novel and one thriller each year. Heyer was an intensely private person who remained a best selling author all her life without the aid of publicity. She made no appearances, never gave an interview and only answered fan letters herself if they made an interesting historical point. She sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Stella Martin. Her Regencies were inspired by Jane Austen, but unlike Austen, who wrote about and for the times in which she lived, Heyer was forced to include copious information about the period so that her readers would understand the setting. While some critics thought her novels were too detailed, others considered the level of detail to be Heyer’s greatest asset. Heyer remains a popular and much-loved author, known for essentially establishing the historical romance genre and its subgenre Regency romance.

Rating: 7/10

Genre:	Historical Romance
Book Name:	April Lady
Author:	Georgette Heyer
Pages:	246
Publication Year:	1957