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The Holly and the Ivy
Elisabeth Fairchild
1999, Regency Romance
Signet, $4.99, 219 pages, Amazon ASIN 0451198417
| Grade: |
C+ |
| Sensuality: |
Kisses |
Charles Thornton Baxter, fifth Viscount Balfour, also known as Lord
Thorn, dislikes Christmas. This particular Christmas season is even more
irritating than usual because he has lost the services of his valet, Temple, a
man who was closer to him than his own father. Now, in addition to the other
Christmas annoyances, he must train Temple's hapless son. While training
Temple, Charles meets his neighbor Mary Rivers, the daughter of a dairy
farmer, who has come to London to care for her ailing grandmother. Despite his
wealth and privilege, Charles is grumpy. Despite Mary's poverty and
loneliness she is cheerful. Whatever the other sources of conflict, this
difference instigates the chemistry between the two.
Charmed by Mary's fresh innocence, Charles invites her and her
grandmother to the theater. When a friend assumes that Mary is his mistress,
Charles is initially appalled but eventually comes to believe that Mary may
well be angling for that position. He propositions her only to have his
request mistaken for a marriage proposal. When Charles's solicitor presents
the settlement papers to her grandmother, Mary realizes the nature of
Charles's offer. She repulses him, leading to the main conflict of the
story.
An unusual hero, Charles's isolation from those around him is his most
touching quality. Unlike so many regency heroes, he is not a rake nor a
man who leaves a trail of mistresses in his wake. Nothing is said of
Charles's past romantic or sexual history, but I would not have been surprised
to discover that he was a virgin. The source of Charles's coldness is his
estrangement from his parents. Charles's history with them is explained in
enough detail to let us sympathize with his dislike of the holiday season.
Unfortunately, Mary is less interesting. She is pretty, kind and
cheerful. It seems that there is nothing negative one could say about her.
Mary is also young, innocent and lonely for her family which makes her
cheerfulness admirable. Mary never expects to be noticed by a Viscount and
from the first reminds herself that a man of his station would not be
interested in her.
My main problem with The Holly and the Ivy is that author seems to be
stretching a rather small amount of material to fill up a two-hundred and
nineteen paged book. The description of Charles and Mary's initial meeting,
their carriage ride and trip to various shops seem overly drawn out. We
observe every detail of Charles and Mary's interaction, but we also hear more
than I wanted to know about hats and stationary blowing across the street, the
intricate details of buying a coat for Charles and addressing envelopes for a
Christmas Ball. There are lots of cheery, flirtatious conversations which are
fun, but there are also duller ones with "Gran" over things like
new handkerchiefs.
The Big Misunderstanding, which develops when Charles is persuaded that Mary
is a potential mistress, is unconvincing. Charles's friend believes that Mary
and her grandmother are angling for her to become a kept woman. This is based
on little more than the color of her dress (red) and the fact that Mary is
from humble circumstances. Nevertheless, when Mary reveals to Charles that
she accepted his gifts thinking that they preceded a wedding, I could not help
but cringe at her humiliation and feel her deep sorrow and disappointment in
him.
The Holly and the Ivy is a pleasant enough Cinderella Christmas story
complete with a handsome Scrooge who becomes a Prince. While I found the
pacing a too slow and the plot unconvincing, if you are looking for a
traditional Regency Romance with a sweet, uncomplicated heroine and a stuffy hero who
needs softening, you might enjoy it.
-- Robin Uncapher
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