'Friday's Child' by Georgette Heyer

ISBN: 1402210795
Format: Paperback, 432pp
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Incorporated
Price: $12.95

If you’re looking for a good laugh with your Regency romance, look no father than Friday’s Child, another of Georgette Heyer’s engrossing and unforgettable novels.

Lord Sherrington - Sherry for short - is exactly the kind of young man any woman would be lucky to have; rich, well bred, and dashing, he has any number of nice qualities to recommend him. Or so he thinks, and when the Incomparable Beauty Miss Milborne, a childhood friend, refuses him in marriage he can’t understand why. On top of that, she accuses him of being a libertine and a gambler who doesn’t love her anyway. But Sherry isn’t going to give up on marriage that easily; it just might not involve Miss Milborne.

Sherry is determined that he should be married before his 25th birthday so that he might come into his inheritance sooner. Of course, it doesn’t help that he has a number of gambling debts hanging over his head, nothing too deep mind you, but just enough to make a gentleman a bit nervous. Sherry swears as he leaves Miss Milborne that he will marry the first woman he meets. Fortunately for him, that woman is Miss Hero Wantage.

Hero, another childhood friend of Sherry’s, has worshiped him from day one, and when he sweeps her off her feet in a run away marriage she feels just like Cinderella. Of course Hero might not be as beautiful as Miss Milborne or as refined and educated, but she has her charms, namely among them her innocence and complete trust in Sherry. So when Sherry says that it will be a marriage of convenience and he won’t interfere with her life if she doesn’t interfere with his, she agrees. However, going from a quiet country life as a poor relation to the bride of one of the more eligible men in London, Hero is sure to get herself into a few tight spots. Between Sherry’s wonderful friends, who take it upon themselves to look after Hero and of course Sherry, they manage to pull her out of each one with only a few minor scrapes and her reputation intact.

The premise for Friday’s Child is one that has been done a million times before and will be done a million times again. Girl and boy fall in love without realizing it or meaning to, and after a few slapstick mistakes, they live happily ever after. However, Georgette Heyer puts a smart spin on it, and with her secondary characters (here for comedic relief), the story comes to life. With each problem that Hero faces, you will both cringe and laugh. When Sherry finally realizes that he loves his wife above all things, you have to smile.

Friday’s Child is a cut above the rest, which is saying quite a lot since this is Georgette Heyer we’re talking about and all her books happen to be fantastic. Friday’s Child is filled with likable characters that stick with you and witty dialogue that will make you laugh out loud. This was one I simply couldn’t put down, and I even took it to the gym with me and turned pages while I cycled away to nowhere. It’s just that great.