A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of A Civil Contract
Book Review: A convenient read
Summary: 5 Stars
With all the buzz around this particular book of Ms Heyer's, I was quite nervous to read it. True, this book is different than the usual type of fantasy regency books readers are accustomed to read by Heyer, it's very sedate, featuring two characters -Adam and Jenny-- possessing sense and good judgment. Both the hero and heroine have sacrificed a great deal to provide comfort and convenience for the other despite their contracted marriage. Yes, you will not be swept off your feet reading this book, but you can not help smiling turning each page; a very warm and realistic story.
" Lord, if we were all to marry our first loves what a plague of ill-sorted marriages there would be!" Lord Oversley- A Civil Contract
(need I say more ? A pleasant read)
Book Review: A departure from the boring HEA...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the fifth Heyer I've read, and it's my favorite to date. Given that Georgette Heyer wrote dozens of books, I still have a way to go before I can claim it as my favorite of all, but I think I've sampled enough to get a feel for the type of books she wrote and the character styles she favorited.
A Civil Contract is a departure from the Heyer romantic plotlines. Although marriages of convenience are standard regency romance fare, Heyer takes this and stands it on its head by keeping the hero and heroine from ever (yes, EVER) discovering wild, heart-stopping *lurve*. There is no conventional Happily Ever After (HEA). No passionate liplock or smoldering declaration of deathly love from our hero and heroine. The hero of the story, Adam, is young, vaguely stupid at times, and unintentionally cruel to his lower-class wife throughout the book. Our heroine, Jenny, is not your typical romantic powerhouse at all: She's lower class, dowdy, short-necked, red-faced. She's also possessed of a meek nature that rarely takes her lordly husband to task for all his slights to her and she seeks only to make him comfortable. She's even willing to help him through his unrealistic obsession with the beautiful and vapid Jula (who would typically be the poster girl for romantic heroines the Regency world over).
Gentle reader, I found it refreshing....
I'm so sick of perfect Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters that look like models, smell like freesia, and fart rainbows and unicorns out their perfectly proportioned buttocks. Oh, sure, it's fun for the first 1,000 or so books, but after 1,001, this wish-fulfillment perfection becomes as stale and repulsive as your breath after a weekend bender.
At least it does to me.
ACC isn't for the HEA obsessed, but for those readers who like a little more realism added to their regency reading romps. Perhaps a bit of age or general cynicism is also helpful in enjoying this book (both qualities I've got in spades).
If you're thinking of reading Heyer for this first time, don't pick up A Civil Contract, as it really doesn't fit her general mold. But if you're tired of the same 'ole/same 'ole complete with the HEA, give this one a try.
Book Review: Another funny and romantic story from GH
Summary: 5 Stars
I loved this engaging story about solid, steady married love as opposed to hot explosive love. The hero has to get married to someone with money; the heroine has been in love with him for years. He doesn't love her passionately but over the course of the novel, he does come to love her and he realizes he is far better off with her than he would have been with the woman he thought he was in love with. And Heyer serves up some deliciously funny characters in the course of the novel.Book Review: Her best!
Summary: 5 Stars
Civil Contract is my favorite Heyer - and I have them all, going back to some hardbacks which I have assigned in my will. I was overjoyed to see that she is in reprint as my paperbacks have probably 2pt type and are disintegrating, but I would not part with them while Heyer was out of print. I have a number of favorites that I return to - Frederica, Grand Sophy, Black Sheep, The Nonesuch, These Old Shades, Devils Cub, Black Moth, Cotillion, Unknown Ajax, False Colors, Sprig Muslin, Lady of Quality, Venetia - but if I had only one choice, Civil Contract is the one I would take to that desert island. My favorite Austin novel is Persuasion, and this reminds me of it: there is acute social satire which makes you laugh; there is undeserved heartbreak which makes you cry; and there is restraint, and bravery, and nobleness, and self-realization, and redemption, which gives resolution and satisfaction. This is her least stylized and most realistic, true view of life, while retaining all her strong comic, satiric and historical elements. You can't go wrong with this one.Book Review: Heyer's book about love, not romance
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is full of wonderful characters. Its strength is the very sweet story of Jenny, a woman who does not inspire passionate love in her gentleman suitor. Their marriage of convenience causes Jenny both pain and happiness. Over the first year of their marriage, Jenny and her husband build a marriage which, although not perfect, has a great deal to recommend it.
In the end, Jenny's husband realizes that his friendship and partnership with her is is worth far more to him than the romantic dream of a lost love.
One of the most endearing and well-conceived Georgette Heyer books. A strong and loving heroine, a kind husband worthy of respect, funny relatives... add Napoleon and fascinating historical detail and you have a really enjoyable book.