Perfecting Fiona
The School For Manners – Book II
M C Beaton

Canvas (Constable and Robinson)
16 August 2012/ ISBN 9781780333120
Regency Romance / 1810s / London
Amazon

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

In the first of this series impoverished spinsters, Amy and Effy Tribble, advertise that they can bring out the type of young Miss other chaperones despair of. They have so far had success with their first charge, Lady Felicity Vane. Now the money is running low and they need another. At first sight, Scottish heiress, Fiona Burgess appears perfect; she has all the accomplishments, is quiet, and seems biddable enough. Apart from her family having made their fortune in trade, surely there can be no problem with this apparent paragon? Unfortunately, there is.…

I confess to being addicted to Ms. Beaton’s delightfully different and amusing Regencies, and am grateful to Constable and Robinson for making them available to UK readers at long last. As ever this is a slim volume, but packed with laughs, incidents of all kinds, and romance, as well as plenty of spot-on period background and detail. This is not Georgette Heyer nor is it the more prevalent modern type of Regency with plenty of sex, but a different animal entirely, and one which seems without imitators. If other romances seem mawkish or too steamy, and you enjoy humor, then these ought to more than suit.

Reviews of other titles in this series

Refining Felicity - Book I