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How I Met My Countess
By:
Elizabeth Boyle
List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.99
(as of: 09/08/10)
Manufacturer: Avon
ISBN: 0061783498
Publication Date: 2010-01-01
Release Date 2009-12-29
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Product Description:
Lucy Ellyson, the improper daughter of an infamous spy, saves the life of the Earl of Clifton. He intends to make her his countess after the war ends, but when he finally is able to return to her, he finds that she′s vanished. Meanwhile, Lucy is living a new life in the heart of Mayfair. But she′s as scandalous as ever, and when Clifton finally happens upon her, she′s landed in the sort of trouble that only a hasty marriage can solve. He′s more than willing to step in, but their future is all too quickly threatened by secrets from the past.
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The three Standon widows, all young, beautiful and spirited, have become a more than a burden to the Hollindrake dukedom, prompting Felicity, Duchess of Hollindrake to dust off the Bachelor Chronicles and find suitable husbands for the widows. How I Met My Countess introduces the former Lucy Ellyson, now the widowed Lucy, Lady Standon. Lucy grew up as the daughter of a former spy-turned-teacher, scandalizing proper society with her unrefined behavior.
As a young woman, Lucy meets Justin Grey, Earl of Clifton, and his half-brother Malcolm, when they come to train with George Ellyson, renowned spy master of the Crown. The men are to be trained to conduct highly dangerous and secret missions behind the lines in Napoleon’s Empire. Lucy and her sister, Mariana, are as knowledgeable as any of the spies that complete their training, and they become tutors of a sort to the brothers, spending evenings playing cards, decoding letters, picking locks and more!
Lucy and the Earl are unable to deny their feelings for each other, and their relationship becomes even more complicated when he is sent off on his mission to the Continent. When the Earl of Clifton returns years later, it’s to find that things at the Ellyson household have changed greatly…in fact, the household as he knew it is no longer in existence, and Lucy is nowhere to be found. What Clifton does know is that he desperately needs to find Lady Standon, heir to his brother’s large fortune. Which Lady Standon? And why did Malcolm name her as heir?
How I Met my Countess is classic Elizabeth Boyle – passion, adventure, and humor with a good dose of scandal just for fun. Lucy and Clifton throw sparks that leap from the page, and readers will be at once laughing and crying as their story unfolds. Two widows Standon remain to be matched through the Bachelor Chronicles – this promises to be a delightful series by Elizabeth Boyle.
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| By: Joyce Greenfield
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Customer Reviews
Crazy, fast paced fun from Elizabeth Boyle: (2010-09-04)
How I Met My Countess by Elizabeth Boyle Avon, 2010 345 pages Romance; Historical; Series 4/5 stars I've never read a romance that had so many chapters set in the past but it's necessary in order to fully tell the love story of Lucy and Clifton (His name appears to actually be Justin Grey but he's never called that.) Seven years earlier, he and his brother Malcolm arrived at her father's home to be inducted in to the world of spies. Along the way, they fall in love. But Lucy is illegitimate and Clifton is an earl so her father tried to manage her expectations. Seven years later she is widowed after marrying in desperation and thinking Clifton had forsaken her. He in turn believes her to have been untrue. I really loved Lucy, a vibrant and exciting woman. She has a mean right hook and a tart tongue She did not seem of her time but I didn't mind. I was less enthused about Clifton, mostly because he was sometimes too intent on dominating her. He also has trust issues (see Spoiler). But he is genuinely heroic, having faithfully served England as a spy all these years. SPOILER: I don't believe this is really a spoiler but better safe than sorry. Mickey is obviously Lucy's nephew and Clifton's as well for while Clifton hearts Lucy, his brother Malcolm loves her sister. But when Clifton meets Mickey, he jumps to the ludicrous conclusion that Lucy and Malcolm had produced the child. I believe this marks the start of what I'm calling the Lady Standon series as Lucy, Elinor, and Minerva are all called by that name. They all married men they didn't love and this is now their chance to get their happily ever after. Check out Elizabeth Boyle's website for more info. One interesting aspect is toward the end where Lucy takes a rather philosophical approach to life that such a thing had to happen in order for other things to happen. The second book, featuring Elinor, is also set up. My big problem with this book is how problems cropped up and were quickly dispensed with. There were a lot of problems but they never lasted for long. However I liked that the couple were pretty much always in love and were eager to resume their relationship after those misunderstandings were cleared. This is all set in Elizabeth Boyle's Regency World with references to spymaster Pymm, spy Temple (hero of my beloved Stealing the Bride), and Felicity Langley (from Love Letters from a Duke) in a rather unsympathetic portrayal. There are also two hilarious dowagers who come to help the Lady Standons remarry and who will hopefully be in the next two books. Overall: A perhaps too fast-paced romance spy novel with an amazing heroine from the ever-delightful Elizabeth Boyle. Cover: Why hello Miss Cleavage-pretty necklace!
Don't Waste Your Money: (2010-02-22)
Might as well have set fire to my $6.99. Terrible book. Thin characters, thin plot, poorly researched (oh wait, it is possible the book wasn't researched at all) and poorly written. Don't bother.
Just kind of silly: (2010-01-28)
I love romances - I read tons of them, but I find myself really confused by the glowing reviews for this book. I couldn't like the male lead - man I can't even remember his name- yikes. I kept thinking, if this guy loves and respects her, why is he moving so fast? I mean really - their first kiss he is groping her like a drunken frat boy. Ugh. Love is more than sex - and I just never saw the love part well developed here. That and the spy stuff was just silly - the father was supposed to be the "spy trainer" but somehow it's delegated to his daugher who he supposedly loves and wants to protect, but sends her around unchaperoned with a bunch of rowdy men, hmm. I was actually reminded a lot of the Johanna Lindsey books I loved when I was 13 - but as a grown woman, I need something a bit deeper.
Entirely Too Pat: (2010-01-19)
I am a huge fan of romance novels, and a huge fan of Elizabeth Boyle's, which is why I was so disappointed in this particular story. While nobody is claiming that romance novels are supposed to be true to life, the plot should at least be fleshed out fully. There was absolutely NO conflict resolution in this book. Every problem was solved in a hurried, weak manner, and far too quickly. It almost seemed like this book was the outline of another, as yet unwritten, book. Too much time was spent on the back story and not nearly enough on what was supposed to be the main story! This had the potential to be great, but instead was weak, rushed and too pat for my taste.
Cool cover. Love the necklace.: (2010-01-08)
I'm a romance novel addict even at my advanced age, so I've got a lot of books under my "have read that" belt. And I have read just about every romance written by Elizabeth Boyle and each time wonder why I did it. Doesn't say much for my learning curve, but there's always something about each book that I like and makes me think that the next one will be even better. The problem for me is that the Boyle heroines have too much 21st-century freedom and are full of modern-day sensibilities and actions. This new young heroine trains spies, is an expert at picking locks, breaking spy codes, cheating at cards, understanding foreign terrain and dealing out a mean uppercut. Not that these are usual activities for a 21st-century woman, but it would be even less likely for a 19th-century female. She is also illegitimate, from the lower classes, and at the end of the book ends up married to an earl. So to enjoy this book, one must suspend logic and just go with the story, enjoying the romance and the fairy-tale ending it is bound to have. I believe a younger reader will enjoy this much more than I did.
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