Book Review: Georgette Heyer’s These Old Shades

The notorious Duke of Avon, nicknamed “Satanas”, runs into a young boy in a dark Parisian back alley, and he buys Leon, a redheaded urchin with strangely familiar looks . . .
The notorious Duke of Avon, nicknamed “Satanas”, runs into a young boy in a dark Parisian back alley, and he buys Leon, a redheaded urchin with strangely familiar looks . . .
A delightfully devious campaign is orchestrated to bring together two people destined for one another, regardless of the obstacles to be overcome and the inconvenient tendency on the part of the protagonists to resist their attraction . . . until they are finally brought to realize they cannot escape fate, or the meddling of one determined grandmother!
After recovering from terrible wounds, the once cheery boy has become a reclusive, somber man who enjoys his solitude. The recently widowed Lydia Tavernor, who secretly enjoys her new freedom, dreams of taking a lover. Neither wants to marry.
A simple question causes each to wonder if they’re lonely.
Sometimes, just one person can pull a whole family apart. And sometimes, it just takes one person to pull it back together. For fans of the Bridgertons, Mary Balogh shows how love truly conquers all in this new Friends of the Westcotts novel.
With the death of her miserly cousin, Millicent Boarder takes on his identity, determined her family should never be poor or vulnerable again. Which means, of course, at this point she will meet the perfect man.
The newly returned Duke of Evermont is determined not to let the beautiful and vibrant Eleanor slip through his hands. Again. In return, he learns what a clever businesswoman his darling has become.
First appearances deceive when Abigail Westcott encounters Gil Barrington chopping wood—without his shirt! But they each soon discover how wrong their first impressions were.
It’s never too late to fall in love, again. And Charles Sawyer, Viscount Dirkson, is determined to crack the hard exterior Matilda has built for over three decades or risk losing her once again…
During a rare white Christmas at Brambledean Court, the widow Elizabeth, Lady Overfield, defies convention by falling in love with a younger man.
Retreating, the ex-countess, Viola Kingsley, encounters an old flame at a country inn where she flings propriety out the window…and runs off on her own adventure.