A London Season - Joan Wolf

"The "London Season" in Regency England was a time when marriages were made and lives changed. The Marquis of Rayleigh thought it was time to tame his headstrong young charge, Lady Jane; for young Lord Audley it was time to snare the unwilling girl; for David Chance, Jane's friend and horse trainer, the last time he would be able to ride with her. But for Lady Jane, it was a time to be herself and do what she wanted..."


I'm starting to appreciate how Wolf writes such different stories. A London Season is the story of Jane and David. They meet as children with a common interest in horses and both orphans. Jane is the niece of a Marquis and an heiress and David is a stable boy. They grow up inseparable even if Jane doesn't immediately realises what feelings they share.

It took me a while to warm up to Jane. She is so different from the usual heroine being too determined, too sure of herself, too focused in what interests her (horses and painting) and also very authoritary and self centered. She always sounded older than her years in her determination and too young when dealing with her feelings.

David is also a different child but in a different way. He is always calm, level headed, steadfast, mature, also determined but not given to bad temper outbursts like Jane. When they realise they have romantic feelings for each other and that Jane's guardian has hopes for her to marry well, meaning some gentleman, they realise they will have to elope as the class distinction is too great for them to be allowed to marry. I was looking forward to see how the class distinction problem would be dealt with but David's true parentage is discovered and he becomes an eligible party.

Although I found it an original story with characters different from your ordinary romance novel I did have those problems warming up to Jane and found the solution for David's lack of birth and bit too obvious.

Grade: B-