Release Date: January 1, 1999
About the Author: At the age of sixteen, Sheri Cobb South discovered Georgette Heyer, and came to the startling realization that she had been born into the wrong century. Although she doubtless would have been a chambermaid had she actually lived in Regency England, that didn’t stop her from fantasizing about waltzing the night away in the arms of a handsome, wealthy, and titled gentleman.
Since Georgette Heyer was dead and could not write any more Regencies, Ms. South came to the conclusion she would simply have to do it herself. After honing her craft on five young adult books for Bantam’s long-running Sweet Dreams series (the first of which, Wrong-Way Romance, is a collector’s item today), she tried her hand at the genre she had loved for so long. Her first Regency romance, The Weaver Takes a Wife, was published in 1999, to critical acclaim.
In addition to her Regency romances, she is also the author of a series of Regency mysteries featuring idealistic young Bow Street Runner John Pickett, described by All About Romance as “a little young, but wholly delectable.”
A native and long-time resident of Alabama, Ms. South recently moved to Loveland, Colorado, where she has a view of Long’s Peak from her office window. She loves to hear from readers, and invites them to email her and “like” her Facebook author page.
MY REVIEW
Ethan Brundy is a self-made man, rising to great wealth with his mill. He sets his sights on the aristocratic Lady Helen Radney as the woman of his dreams, and coerced by her father, Lady Helen marries Mr. Brundy in what she thinks is a marriage of convenience. The trouble is, Mr. Brundy is quite in love with Helen, and despite her shrewish disposition, he would like to be man and wife indeed. What follows is a hilarious farce in which Helen learns the worth of her lowly husband and Ethan Brundy shows himself to be made of sterling stuff.
This novel, published twenty-five years ago, follows admirably in Heyer’s footsteps. The characters are larger than life and the plot is delightful (if not exactly believable). Lady Helen, like Shakespeare’s Kate, learns to curb her tongue and Ethan Brundy demonstrates that sartorial magnificence is not necessary to be a good man. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the books in this series.
“Ah,” said Sir Aubrey, nodding sagely. “That, as you so succinctly phrased it, is Lady Helen Radney. One of the ton’s loveliest flowers, to be sure, but the rose has thorns–in Lady Helen’s case, a particularly poisonous tongue.”
“They call her the Ice Princess,” concurred Lord David.
“And ‘appy the man ‘oo melts ‘er,” said Mr. Brundy, his eyes never straying from the lady in question. “Gentlemen, that’s the lady I’m going to marry.”
-The Weaver Takes a Wife by Sherri Cobb South
Rosanne E. Lortz 