Jude Morgan (1)

Lydia Templeton was not a female protagonist that I admired greatly. Although she was an intelligent, strong personality, she failed to examine her own faults and was quick to look for them and even distort the faults of others. Much of this unattractive trait was only revealed in her inner dialogue, with the exception being whenever she was in the presence of Mr. Durrant, her neighbor and spurned former beaux. Her selfishness and critical tendencies flared more glaringly when she was away from her Papa, Dr. Templeton, a man of very gentle character and a benign tempering influence. The mutable love vacillations of her friend and protégé , Miss Phoebe Rae was tedious and overdone. I failed to see the appeal of either of her suitors, Mr. A or Mr. B. Subsequently, I found myself skimming the paragraphs, in true doubt I would be pleased if she chose either of them. As she was an heiress with fifty thousand pounds (3.9Mil by today's standards), I rather thought if I was in that enviable position, I'd be profoundly more choosy and take my time! For welcomed comic relief we were given the prattling of absurdly pretentious Mrs. Vawser (all my friends will tell you...) and the vulgar, preening Mrs. Allardyce (it may sound impertinent, but that's my way...) who showed the worst examples of regency womanhood. Yet, I did not enjoy this novel of Mr. Morgan's quite as much as the first one I read entitled Indiscretion. However, in my review of that book, I criticized the abrupt slipshod ending. This ending was a small measure improved. All being said, Jude Morgan is still a cut above in the quality of writing compared to other clean regency romances.… (more)