LORD BARRY'S DREAM HOUSE

Author: Emily Johnson ISBN: 9780709084129 4/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: ROBERT HALE, LTD.
Time Period: Regency

Lord Edmund Barry might be young in years and boldly handsome and a picture of up-to-date elegance as well. But he had no sympathy with Juliana's modern notions of what a mansion should be. 'There is nothing wrong with the past,' he declared. 'I admire the past very much.'' Well, then we will build you a nice Doric temple on that rise over there. It will be lovely,' Juliana assured him. 'You are humouring me aren't you,' he said, the tone of his voice causing Juliana to take a step back from him. She swallowed carefully, then shook her head. 'No, that is not it in the least. I want to please you.' His expression changed, and she did not know what to make of it. Until she found herself swept into his arms and kissed with a thoroughness that put previous attempts in the pale. When he released her he growled again, but more softly, 'You do please me...'

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Lady Juliana Hamilton had but one wish: to finish her late father’s masterpiece of architectural design. She felt certain she could add some modern improvements of her own to the house and the patron wouldn’t mind at all. Unfortunately, she didn’t reckon on the patron being thoroughly enamored of having as traditional a new house as he could manage. Lord Edmund Barry, her patron, wasn’t certain what to be more dismayed about—the ‘water closets’ she wished to have installed, or the fact that his contractor was a woman with such radical ideas and stubborn ways!

LORD BARRY’S DREAM HOUSE is such an amusing Regency romance! The interaction between Juliana and Edmund is never very predictable; at times, they either wish to find out the truth of the matter or aggravate the other just to see how far they can push them. Edmund’s attempts at treating Juliana like an architect and not a lady is met with varying degrees of success. Juliana’s attempts to ignore just how handsome he is and how charming he can be, are even less successful. By about half way through the book, you will be pulling your hair out every time Edmund thinks to himself that Juliana is not what he wants in an ideal wife at all, and it was a damned shame at that.

The secondary characters are also of varying degrees of interest. I felt her mother, the dowager countess Lady Hamilton, and her middle sister, Barbara, were perhaps the most annoying of all the characters. Barbara was inconsistently portrayed—in the beginning she seemed to be vain and shallow, but loved her sisters and wanted to help them. By the end, however, she is still vain and shallow, but very willing to throw them under the bus to gain her wishes. Lady Hamilton was simply too shallow and neglectful for words. Juliana’s youngest sister, Kitty, was delightful. It was refreshing to see the author give Kitty an impairment as she did, but not to make Kitty bitter about it.

The villain of the piece, Sir Phineas, a rival builder who adored Gothic designs above anything else, was delightfully oily and sneaky. His son, Peregrine, was also interesting, but not until the last half of the book when he becomes a personality and not a fixture.

My only real complaint with the book is that the last third of it seems entirely too rushed and convenient. Without giving anything away, the underhandedness of Sir Phineas’ is dealt with too easily and not very satisfyingly, and a new character is introduced who, while entertaining, wasn’t mentioned at all before the plot needed her.

All in all it is well worth reading, especially the details in the book. The author must have put forth quite a bit of research in design and architecture and new ‘improvements’ during the time period, because there is a lot of detailed goings-on explained throughout.

Alexandra Cenni