Reviews

Charity Girl by Georgette Heyer

charityjohnson's review against another edition

a no-brainer before zzzzzzzz

whippycleric's review

emotional lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

This felt like a pretty standard heyer novel for the most part and as such was fun and easy to read. It's definitely not her best book but a decent Sunday read. As you read it becomes clear there're two possible endings and in my opinoin the wrong one was chosen.

Spoiler

the idea that a man and a woman could be lifelong friends without romance I found quite powerful in the heyer world, but it was blown to hell when they got together at the end

the book is a good read overall but lost some marks at the end. 

beauty_and_the_rose's review against another edition

1.0

I picked this up as my first Heyer book and after reading some of the reviews i should have chosen something else.

I wasn't fond of the pacing for this story and found it slow and hard to get through. The characters were ok but i didnt really love any of them.

I hope I'll enjoy another one of her other books.

lubleu's review against another edition

funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

artwinsintheend's review against another edition

3.0

Hardly one of Heyer's best, but pretty charming. I really enjoyed Des and Hetta, but Cherry was mostly annoying.

maplessence's review against another edition

2.0

After rereading The Foundling & Cousin Kate & having an improved opinion of both, I did hope my assessment of Charity Girl would improve. I didn't expect to like this novel, mind, but hoped to find it an average read. Wrong. Charity Girl is still terrible & owes a lot to The Foundling & Sprig Muslin - both far better books. Reading Kloester's biography it sounds like GH wasn't well when she wrote this & genuinely thought she had written a good book. To be honest I had hoped on her usual diet of dexdrine, gin & cigarettes, she had phoned this one in. That at least would have been an excuse!

Not much actually happens in this book, the hero & heroine spend very little time together & the ending feels rushed. & I have read enough times in GH's works about inn servants not being allowed to handle a hero's boots, in case they put a thumb mark on them! I did like some of the minor characters (most notably Simon) &

Spoiler

& Wilfred Steane's first scene, while laboured, gave me a chuckle!

Now to proofreading criticisms of this particular publication. (Arrow) Page 164, Peccavi is not in italics, but it is in my old Pan copy. The italics make it clear it's a foreign word. When I first read it I thought it was a typo. Worse, they talk about a bumblebroth in the book, but it's called a humblebroth on the back cover. Very sloppy.

The other GH Regency I didn't think much of was Lady of Quality. I may put off that reread for a while.

jackievr's review against another edition

lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

danahuff's review against another edition

2.0

Read my review of Charity Girl.

pam_sartain's review against another edition

5.0

Another great read by Georgette Heyer with adventure, shocking characters, and of course, a hero and heroine!

siria's review against another edition

2.0

Charity Girl is not one of Heyer's worst efforts, but still far from being her best. There was little evident chemistry between the main pairing, and as they spent very little time together over the course of the book, Heyer's best attribute—her dialogue—wasn't allowed to shine. Very low on Awful Aunts and other horrible relations, too; very much a Heyer-by-numbers.