Seducing Mr. Heywood

After the death of her third, and best liked, husband and the defection of her long-time lover, Lady Sophia Rowley is determined to make some changes in her life. Though a forced rustication in Yorkshire would not be her first choice of retreats, she needs to escape the gossips of London and her country home is the only place available to her. Sophia also hopes to use the time to re-acquaint herself with her two young sons who have long been left in the care of their father and have more recently been named the wards of the local vicar, Charles Heywood.

Lady Sophia is the somewhat notorious, thrice widowed woman who first appeared as the hero's mistress in The Reluctant Guardian. The "other woman" as a heroine! That's almost enough for a DIK right there. She is coupled very effectively with the very moral (though not preachy) vicar. So effectively, that their first encounter had me laughing out loud by the time it ended with the butler finding Sophia and Charles on the floor (she topless and he unconscious). You'll have to read the book to find out how they got there.

The heart of this novel is the redemption of Sophia. Sold into her first abusive marriage at the age of fifteen by an equally abusive and dangerous father, Sophia, as a heroine, is the logical outcome of such a past. Too many romance heroines emerge from similar situations unscathed, both literally (all those widowed virgins!) and figuratively. Sophia puts up a great front of cynicism and independence, but deep inside is the voice that tells her she's not worthy of love and that voice holds sway in her early dealings with Charles. She's determined to seduce him initially because he's attractive and she's alone in the wilds of Yorkshire. As she gets to know him she realizes that she could feel something more for this man, if she can get past that little voice inside.

Charles is an equally intriguing, and original, counterpart for Sophia. He's tongue-tied by her beauty and certainly no match when it comes to the art of seduction, but he's light years ahead of her emotionally. He's instrumental in helping her reconnect with her two sons and becomes her strength when her past comes back to haunt her. The two complement each other perfectly.

There's plenty in those two paragraphs to fill a full-length novel, much less a traditional Regency, and that's the problem here. The story of how Sophia and Charles will figure out their relationships, how Sophia will deal with her estranged sons, and how the group will mesh as a family is the draw here. The abrupt appearance of Sophia's father and the nastiness he brings into her life before he just as abruptly departs makes for a very inopportune distraction. It made the last third of the book unnecessarily choppy.

If the author had simply stuck with Sophia and Charles and their very real personal obstacles, this would have been an unqualified recommendation. And though this one is hard to find in your local bookstore I'd still recommend it as a very solid purchase through Amazon, and if that's not an option, check your local library. I'll add a personal thanks to Ms. Manning for writing the type of heroine I've long wished to see. Here's hoping she has more to come.

-- Jane Jorgenson

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