I absolutely love his sense of humor! I wish I had someone to trade Shakespearean insults with in everyday conversation... Beautiful, capable, and independent minded, Venetia Lanyon's life on her family's estate in the country side is somewhat restricted. But her neighbor, the infamous Lord Damerel, a charming rake shunned by polite society, is about to shake things up.

Chapter 14, in which the reader recalls that allies with the best of intentions may be more obstinate and troublesome than the worst of enemies.

Damerel: HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA OEDIPUS!!! But it's the other way around honey, YOU won't turn out to be MY mother!

Venetia: Oh hell yes I am staying HERE! I have been anxiously traveling all day long just to get here, and now you think I’d go away? Uh-uh!! No, no, the danger is that I might win too much!” he retorted. “Who are you? Or should I first present myself to you? I’m Damerel, you know.” Venetia is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer set in England in 1818. [2] Plot summary [ edit ] Damerel: Alright, so, I have an idea, since you refuse to leave, I'LL leave and go to the inn, that way proprieties will be respected, and isn't that nice? I love proprieties :) And I love how you do your hair now! Very pretty!I am one of those who steered clear of Georgette Heyer for years, even though I heard the comparisons to Jane Austen, I was afraid they were formulaic romances. To my surprise it wasn't what I feared all those years and proved that breaking out of one's reading comfort zone can be quite rewarding. This was made more enjoyable getting to read this along with Sabrina, who also had some of the same feelings regarding Heyer, and both of us ended up enjoying it.

Wonderful characters, elegant, witty writing, perfect period detail, and rapturously romantic"—Katie Fforde Venetia is, without question, my favourite of all Georgette Heyer’s Regency Romances, and I’ve been looking forward to this new, unabridged audio version for some time. Much of the story takes place in the Autumn, and I’ve always felt that the book has a corresponding maturity about it, an almost elegiac feel in terms of the beauty of the prose and in the depth of the characterisation. Damerel is certainly one of Ms Heyer’s most strongly drawn – and sexiest – heroes, and the eponymous heroine is an absolute gem; intelligent, loving, practical and totally devoid of artifice. Their conversation continues in a like manner, and even at this early stage of the book, it’s clear that theirs has been a true meeting of minds and spirits. Both are more than a little smitten, and when they are thrown into each other’s company following an accident, they are able to spend time together which leads to the blossoming of a tender and deeply affectionate friendship.Oh no, you’re quite out, and have gone to the wrong poet besides! They look like rosebuds filled with snow!’” This may have been a reasonable sentiment in Regency England. But Georgette Heyer published Venetia in 1958, and it pleasingly reflected a modern sensibility regarding female independence. Yes, I know, I know, I use N&S gifs WAY TOO MUCH. But I don't CARE. It's PERFECT here. #sorrynotsorry) Aurelia, Lady Steeple - Sir Francis Lanyon's 'deceased' wife, mother of Venetia, daughter of General Chiltoe

My own view is that her apparent unsuitability for dramatisation might be for the very reason that, while she may not be, or set herself up to be, an author of Great Literature, Georgette Heyer is nonetheless a writer, a real writer, whose gifts and glories reveal themselves most perfectly in the act of reading. If a new fad for the Regency age causes her to win new readers, then that is enough. I ADORE Venetia. She is one of the most sensible, level-headed, determined and yet completely loveable heroines I have ever had the pleasure to read about. Whatever life throws at her (and boy does it throw things at her: a terrible, egotistical father who pretty much buries her alive on his secluded country estate, the egotistical brothers who never think about her happiness, the self-centered aunt who doesn't do anything to help alleviate her situation, to name only a few), she somehow remains cheerful and optimistic, never gives up, and always finds a way to be happy with what she has. I truly envy her in that respect. I love how she never tries to change Damerel, how she sees him for exactly what he is, and loves him for all his bad parts together.

Read Also

Never in my life have I been so glad of a rainy afternoon. Never so glad that I was bored and typed a name into a search bar to see what would come up. But Damerel has seen much more of the world than Venetia has, and knows the damage her association with him could cause to her reputation. So when he realises that he’s in over his head as far as she is concerned and that what he had originally intended as no more than a pleasant diversion has turned into something much more, he tries to distance himself from her in a scene that, even though I’ve read it several times, continues to bring a lump to my throat. Fortunately for both of them, Venetia is not going to let love slip away so easily. His attention caught, her companion raised his eyes from the book which lay open beside him on the table and directed them upon her in a look of aloof enquiry. ‘What’s that? Did you say something to me, Venetia?’ The humorous gleam sprang to her eyes as she glanced at Aubrey, still lost in antiquity. She said: ‘Aubrey! Dear, odious Aubrey! Do lend me your ears! Just one of your ears, love!’ It does seem a pity,” she agreed. “I have been thinking so myself, for I always wished for a friend to laugh with.”