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Book ReviewsThese Old Shades |
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Book: These Old Shades
Written by: Georgette Heyer |
Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5
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One of my very favorite books
Rating:
5 / 5
There are any number of things a reader can love about Georgette Heyer's works: the humor, the scholarly attention to period detail and nuance, the romances, her use of language. For all those reasons and more These Old Shades has been one of my favorites ever since the first time I read it. Her characters are larger than life but still have depth. Avon is neither a nice man nor a good one and yet he has many admirable qualities to go along with his vices - not the least of which are his intelligence and his sense of humor; Leonie is like a fire - fierce and bright and quick. She warms Avon's lonely, tired soul in ways he never expected. I always felt she was what they used to call an "old soul" so the age difference between her and Avon never really mattered to me - they were so perfect for each other (if imperfect for most everyone else). Unlike others, I never thought they had a "father/daughter" relationship. Avon might have been trying to see it that way, but Leonie, always wiser than he, knew better from the beginning. All in all, a fun book that has stayed with me through most of my life. I've even had to buy second and third copies once my earliest started to fall apart due to age and much reading; I still own it though.
His Grace of Avon buys a soul
Rating:
5 / 5
The author who writes the forward for this novel states that "Any boook that opens with a chapter titled 'his grace of avon buys a soul' will suck me in every time" and I feel the exact same way. I can not tell you how much I love this book. My mother read all the Georgette Heyer romances as a girl, and then passed them on to me. "These Old Shades" was her favorite, and it's mine as well. While I'm not a fan of most modern romance novels, Heyer's books manage to feel fresh and engaging. Possibly 'cause they're not all that modern. This particular one was published in 1926, so at the time, it probably was fresh and at least somewhat original. Heyers books are intelligently written (no drivel about heaving bosoms) and just a lot of fun. This particular book is among the best because everyone in it manages to be completely over the top, and somehow believable at the same time. While the romance between the protagonists may be predictable, the ultimate ending is definately not. It's a fun, engaging story, with wonderful charactors and when you finish it, you know everything turned out just the way it was supposed to. Love triumphed, and Evil got what was coming to it. Justin is dangerous, scandelous, haughty, and heartless. He won his fortune at cards from a young man who was later rumored to have shot himself rather than live pennyless. He is also smart, funny, loyal, and will bend over backwards to help the people who love him despite the image he presents to the world. Leonie is stubborn, opinionated, bad tempered, and extremely rash, but in her defence, her worst qualities usually surface only when she is defending one of the many people she loves. Leonie is not a luke warm sort of person, whatever she feels, she feels violently, and it only makes her more endearing. Seriously. I love this book.
I haven't finished yet and I love it already
Rating:
5 / 5
I read Devil's Cub years ago and never knew there was a preceeding novel about Dominique's mother and the Duke until years later, when I couldn't find the book. Now Heyer's stuff is in reprint so I've finally purchased my copy of "These Old Shades." Yes, it does remind me of a Barbara Cartland novel that I read, but I think this one will be much more in-depth. Also, I can see how the duke became the archetype for many heroes of the current Romance genre. I see traces of him in Judith McNaught's heroes, without the foppishness of the Georgian era, of course. At any rate, I'm barely on chapter 3, but I'm so excited to read this book and I know I'll love it, so I just put my 5 stars up now, so i won't have to think about it later.
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