I wish I hadn't waited so long to read this one.

First, the obvious comparison: Anyone who enjoyed Downton Abbey should read this.

How best to describe it? A butler fails at badinage.

Or perhaps a line, used ironically, from within the book itself, is the most appropriate description: "Why should one not enjoy in a lighthearted sort of way stories of ladies and gentlemen who fall in love and express their feelings for each other, often in the most elegant phrases?"