Miss Billings Treads the Boards (Signet Regency Romance) - Softcover

Kelly, Carla

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451178564 ISBN 13: 9780451178565

Publisher: Signet, 1993

Synopsis

An impoverished vicar's daughter desperate to escape a lecherous employer, Katherine Billings is asked by a handsome marquess, Lord Henry Grayson, to join him in masquerading as his wife. Original.

About this title

About the Author

A well-known veteran of the romance writing field, Carla Kelly is the author of twenty-six novels and three non-fiction works, as well as numerous short stories and articles for various publications. She is the recipient of two RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America for Best Regency of the Year; two Spur Awards from Western Writers of America; a Whitney Award for Best Romance Fiction, 2011; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Romantic Times. Carla s interest in historical fiction is a byproduct of her lifelong interest in history. She has a BA in Latin American History from Brigham Young University and an MA in Indian Wars History from University of Louisiana-Monroe. She s held a variety of jobs, including public relations work for major hospitals and hospices, feature writer and columnist for a North Dakota daily newspaper, and ranger in the National Park Service (her favorite job) at Fort Laramie National Historic Site and Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site. She has worked for the North Dakota Historical Society as a contract researcher. Interest in the Napoleonic Wars at sea led to a recent series of novels about the British Channel Fleet during that conflict. Of late, Carla has written two novels set in southeast Wyoming in 1910 that focus on her Mormon background and her interest in ranching. You can find Carla on the Web at: CarlaKellyAuthor.com.

Review

"Kate, the entire Bladesworth family, Gerald the playwright, and even the Bow Street Runner, are utterly charming and lovable. This made the book a pleasure to read ... an enjoyable Regency romance."

--Rike Horstmann, All About Romance

4 Stars: Henry Tewksbury-Hampton, Fifth Marquess of Grayson (Hal) is turning into a dull dog, no longer attractive, with thinning hair, a thickening waist and no desire to leave the house. He returned years earlier from the Napoleonic Wars and settled down into this easy way of life. His solicitor advises him to wed and beget children so he has a reason to pull himself together and get back to being the man that he once was. Hal laughs all this off and decides to go into the country, but on the journey, he is accosted, injured and left bleeding after his bumbling attackers all but run away.

Kate Billings lived a traveling life with her father - a Pastor - who was more interested in art than the Bible. After his death she is penniless and has to take up a job as a governess in the town of Wakefield. As a result of all of her worries and mindless wandering she ends up in the town of Wickfield, and instead of being met by the servant her employer was sending, was picked up instead by an actor who thinks she is the actress he is supposed to meet.

The novel is a romantic comedy; there's a lot of slapstick and not really much detail around the plays that the characters are performing in. There's hitting with candlesticks, fainting and overreactions. Given the number of times Hal gets hit you'd think he'd be out for more than a few minutes and possibly suffering a concussion, but it's amusing to see this in a romantic setting. Hal can be pushy which may be a little off-putting and it sometimes makes the reader wonder exactly what Kate sees in him! But given her upbringing and life with an unreliable man who could never stay in one place and who ultimately left her with nothing, it's easy to see why she would be attracted to a man like Hal who is the complete opposite. The romance between Kate and Hal is an interesting one - their entire relationship actually starts on a lie and it continues that way, which, fortunately, is more humorous than n --?

"Carla Kelly's Regency Romances are always superb and a timeless delight."

--Romantic Times

"one of the most respected Regency writers."

--Library Journal

Edition details

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451178564
• ISBN 13: 9780451178565
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224