Her Ladyship's Companion

224 pages

Published March 31, 1983 by Avon Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-380-81596-8
OCLC Number:: 9379801

Beautiful Melissa Rivenwood was leaving Mrs. Brody's Seminary for the Daughters of Gentlemen for a new life. But when she accepted the position as companion to the formidable Lady Dorothy, spirited Melissa could not have known that she would soon be caught up in a web of passion and intrigue at beautiful and remote Vinton Manor.

Giles Tarsin, her haughty employer, is maddeningly aloof--and irresistibly attractive. Darkly handsome Sir Adrian Hawkhurst admires her undisguisedly with, Melissa suspects, the most impure intentions. Harold Bosworth, a family connection, appears to be ever the gentleman. But why is seven-year-old Robbie, an orphan like Melissa and the future Earl of Keptford, so terrified? Before long, Melissa is struggling to unravel dark family secrets that will lead her suspicions to center on just one man...the one man she loves!

Beautiful Melissa Rivenwood was leaving Mrs. Brody's Seminary for the Daughters of Gentlemen for a new life. But when she accepted the position as companion to the formidable Lady Dorothy, spirited Melissa could not have known that she would soon be caught up in a web of passion and intrigue at beautiful and remote Vinton Manor.

Giles Tarsin, her haughty employer, is maddeningly aloof--and irresistibly attractive. Darkly handsome Sir Adrian Hawkhurst admires her undisguisedly with, Melissa suspects, the most impure intentions. Harold Bosworth, a family connection, appears to be ever the gentleman. But why is seven-year-old Robbie, an orphan like Melissa and the future Earl of Keptford, so terrified? Before long, Melissa is struggling to unravel dark family secrets that will lead her suspicions to center on just one man...the one man she loves!

1 edition

betty reviewed Her Ladyship's Companion by Joanna W. Bourne

Review of "Her Ladyship's Companion" on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I've been looking for this book for a while because I enjoy [a:Bourne|486041|Joanna Bourne|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1292372291p2/486041.jpg]'s Spymaster books, to which this is putatively an ancestor. (It was published in 1983, and is a bit hard to find, now.) The Spymaster books are enjoyable, decent romance novels with heroines who take an active role in solving mysteries and defeating conspiracies. This book belongs in that series only in the sense that some characters from that series show up, but it will not particularly answer any questions you may have about their backstories. Also, it is a completely different genre, which was rather a surprise.

Gothics are not my genre, so I turn to skygiants as my guide. They define a gothic as a story where 'a girl meets a house' and this definitely fits. I believe it also requires one dude who seems sketch as hell, and as actually the hero, and one …

I've been looking for this book for a while because I enjoy [a:Bourne|486041|Joanna Bourne|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1292372291p2/486041.jpg]'s Spymaster books, to which this is putatively an ancestor. (It was published in 1983, and is a bit hard to find, now.) The Spymaster books are enjoyable, decent romance novels with heroines who take an active role in solving mysteries and defeating conspiracies. This book belongs in that series only in the sense that some characters from that series show up, but it will not particularly answer any questions you may have about their backstories. Also, it is a completely different genre, which was rather a surprise.

Gothics are not my genre, so I turn to skygiants as my guide. They define a gothic as a story where 'a girl meets a house' and this definitely fits. I believe it also requires one dude who seems sketch as hell, and as actually the hero, and one dude who seems friendly and benevolent and is actually the murderer. Um, no spoilers, but this is definitely a Gothic, and once you know that, I'm sorry, the mystery is pretty much laid open to you.

I had a bit of problem with Melissa, the heroine, who is initially presented as spunky and independent, and then becomes intermittently weepy and clingy as the plot requires. (At several points she is dramatically Soaked To The Bone!!!) She does not so much take action as appear in the vicinity of action and form conclusions, with one exception. I think this is a requirement of the genre, though?

The hero, to my taste, falls prey to the 'bag of dicks' pitfall in the "so commanding!" archetype, although only mildly. I mean, I can think of plenty worse.

This doesn't have the polish of her later novels. It leaves some threads dropped, and drags in some places. It also features the world's most precocious nine-year-old, although he is at least not irritating about it; he just comes across as a teeny Spock.

I would recommend this for those who enjoy seeing an author change over time, or who have a fondness for Gothics.