Arabella

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Delightful but lacking - Rated
I picked this book wanting a good read on a rainy afternoon and Georgette Heyer certainly delivered that with vivid descriptions and period features that would satisfy any historical fanatic, but I found the love scenes between the two main characters very lacking, but perhaps that's just the way romance and love scenes were abck then.
I prefer abit more sizzle and passion with my historical novels

Ulysees Steals the Show. - Rated
I seem to be chain-reading Heyer's Regency romances at the moment, and this one has been my latest. I very much enjoyed it, but the book only really came to life after the rescue and Beaumaris's subsequent adoption of Ulysees the mongrel. His relationship with Ulysees and also that of his staff is joyful. (While we are on the subject, a mention must also go to Painswick, Beaumaris's fastidious valet - a very camp David Walliams should play him if ever there was a dramatisation.)

I did find it a bit hard to believe sometimes how Beaumaris always seemed to know everything, but maybe that's just fustian nonsense on my part.

Great book - Ulysses is the next great Character! - Rated
Arabella is one of my favourite Heyer books and part of its charm are the amusing conversations that Beaumaris has with the little dog Ulysses. The central idea that because Arabella isn’t interested in Beaumaris, that piques his interest and makes him pursue her, works quite well except it’s never entirely clear what it is about her that DOES attract him. Yes, she’s pretty – although younger than his usual lady, but she is also innocent and unworldly and therefore makes mistakes that he appears (rather surprisingly) to find charming; she foists young orphans, mongrel dogs and penniless brothers on him (not usually guaranteed to snare your man) and she withholds the truth of her fortune from him – not knowing that he already knows it.

Beaumaris starts the book seeming jaded, bored – the typical rich Heyer hero (although untitled this time), but he seems to become more and more amiable as the book goes on, going against his better judgement in order to humour her in many areas (such as Jemmy the Climbing Boy that he takes in). His conversations with the dog are fantastic though – Heyer occasionally includes dogs in her books and she always gives a wonderfully affectionate and amusing portrait, such as Lufra in the book Frederica and Bouncer in The Reluctant Widow.

The book is a great fun read, with lots of interesting characters well-drawn. For me the only real disappointment is that we never really know quite why Beaumaris falls in love with Arabella, apart from her innocence and freshness, and also why he is so sure that she does really like him when she has given him so little encouragement.
Despite these negative comments, read it and enjoy it. It’s well worth it!

One of my favourite Georgette Heyer's - Rated
This has to be one of her funniest, the characters are so full of life and yet it is all done so lightly, with no heavy handedness. The hero and heroine are, as ever, very interesting characters, and I personally find the hero's unrepentant mischievousness much more appealing than any plaster saint.
Though the 'conversations' with his dog has to be the highlights of this book.

My favourite Georgette Heyer - Rated
This is without doubt my favourite Georgette Heyer. Beaumaris is the perfect hero - handsome, elegant and incapable of refusing the demands of the lovely Arabella. But he doesn't gush his feelings - he just gets on with it, so you know how he feels by how he acts. You always know what the result will be, and because it is so well written, you can thoroughly enjoy the journey towards it.