Book 14 Refining Felicity

 

Book 14 Refining Felicity

Refining Felicity by Marion Chesney/M.C. Beaton fulfills the category “Book from a Favorite Prompt from a Previous Year” for the PopSugar 2022 Reading Challenge. As usual, I picked “Audiobook” as my favorite prompt. I listen to three titles in the School for Manners series. Refining Felicity was the first. I can’t have a blog without one book from my favorite author!

M.C. Beaton was a prolific writer. By my count, she penned over 150 books. I aim to read them all. Last year, I finished her cozy mysteries for the second time, except for the new Hamish Macbeth from the ghostwriter. I’ve been slowly working on her regency and Edwardian romances. This week I picked up from Audible and the New York Public Library the first three in her School for Manners series.

In this set of six novellas, two spinsters, who still dream of marriage, realize they are in financial dire straits. They are house rich, but cash poor, with no servants and practically nothing to eat. They become chaperones to supplement their income. To make more money, they opt to take the most difficult girls and find them a match.

Boy, do they ever get some troublesome women! These two ladies, Amy and Effy, are not quite perfect society women themselves. The results are hilarious with defiant debutantes, revenge plots, and the spinsters’ attempts to attract a man of their own.

The books are short and simply plotted, which is how I read three in one go. In the first book, Felicity has attempted to please her father by acting manly—hunting, drinking, and being coarse. It does not help her marriage prospects. Their second charge in Perfecting Fiona keeps driving away suitors with a few comments. The sisters work to get the young woman to confess she’s afraid of marriage until she meets Lord Peter Harvard. The last I listened to was Enlightening Delilah, where the girl was a terrible flirt after having her heart shattered as a young woman.

All the novellas have the regency restrictions about women and Ms. Chesney’s humor. The author throws in some modern thinking, though. She points out the ridiculousness of duels, the double standard for females, and has a bit of sexuality. I won’t spoil, but I cheered when the women refused to condemn another for being pregnant out of wedlock.

I’ll be reading the last three in the series soon. Honestly, I plan to read all of her books in the next year. I love a cozy and quick historical romance.

I give the first three titles in the School for Manners series Five Cashmere Shawls that Make Amy Look Beautiful.