In all honesty LORD FENTON'S FOLLY is very much the kind of book young teen me would have read over and over again. A dandy hero, a practical but somewhat romantic heroine, family secrets and marriage of convenience...all the sorts of things young Lexie endlessly sighed over.

Kilpack writes with a clear sense of emotional intensity. Her observations about Alice and her place within her family struck a chord within me. Alice's bitterness over her dreams being dashed had me upset for her.

While Charles spent basically 80% of this book pissing me off, there's no denying that he came by those infuriating habits honestly. And oh so many secrets!

The book moves quickly and organically; every action the characters took felt true to themselves and the situation. This didn't stop me from being exasperated with the two of them as their Cold War escalated to truly being vicious towards each other, but step by step you could see how that relationship grew.

In the end I certainly enjoyed this, just wish there had been less acrimony at times. ( )

So a funny thing happened on the way to Hawaii. I was looking for books and this one was suggested by an acquaintance. I expressed neutral curiosity and said I would possibly look it up if it was in at the library and Daniel Deronda was not. But Daniel was, as I knew that there was a high probability of, and I went on my way rejoicing.

I came home and found this book set aside for me with a note from my favorite coworker saying that she'd heard I "REALLY wanted this book" and so she had found it and set it aside for me. So, naturally, I had to read it.

I found it to be just as light and fluffy as Sarah Eden concoctions. I had a hard time buying into the characters and their motivations. Alice was a little too precocious for a 10-year-old at the beginning and the vocabulary was rather modern. I guess my problem is that most authors of this specific genre are trying to sell ordinary people in extraordinary situations (e.g. ordinary good girl extraordinarily likes bad boy and no one else for 10 years even though they haven't seen each other in the interim--- I don't really know any teenager wired that way hormonally. Or somehow 16 - year-old bad boy convinces good girl's father to give her land for a garden even though bad boy has no relation, connection, etc to good girl's father and this is not seen as creepy or questionable... and somehow she gets to keep it after he leaves. #notthesecretgarden)

I was reminded, especially at the end, of a quote I read from an intelligent male reader. Speaking of a Pride and Prejudice knockoff (purporting to be Darcy's diary) he accurately said something to this effect: "You [readers] don't want to read a real man's diary. What you want is to read the diary of man as you want him to be. What you get, then, is not a heterosexual man's real thoughts and way of thinking but, instead, a heterosexual female's brain dressed as a man."

I think this is true of this book and others like it. Not that all men are horrible or overly sexual all the time but very few men are like Fenton or think like him. Very many women, however, want men who think like Fenton.

That being said, I didn't hate the book. But it's not me. Having recently published something myself and done the drafts and redrafts I applaud the author's tenacity.

Josi Kilpack is the master of creating characters that you despise, and then slowly opening them up and transforming them into beautiful people. It's amazing to watch that transformation. The character development has a natural flow. I love how her regency romance books feel as if she has placed herself in that time and written from them, rather than regurgitating tidbits of the era she has studied. The issues that are dealt with in her books are unexplored situations when it comes to this era. I won't give away any spoilers, but this book has more depth than just a cheesy romance.
Josi Kipack understands people. She knows her characters through and through- and sees both the good and bad in them- and writes it all. No character in this book is perfect. Every character disappoints you from time to time. But that is what sets this book apart from other regency romance books. It has depth. My understanding of situations in my family seem clearer after having read this.
It's just dang good book. I wouldn't suggest that young teenagers read it- FYI. It has some mature themes. More mature in the handling of them than most YA books are, but I would probably wait until my daughter is at least 17 or 18. That's just me though. ( )

Wow. It’s been a looooong time since I’ve read a straightforward, not-ashamed-to-say-it romance novel. I see the formula hasn’t changed. Meet cute. Hate each other for a while. Decide you love each other after all. Live happily ever after. It only took me three hours start to finish. (Hint: Don’t start a new book at 9 p.m.)

Alice is a strong character with a mind of her own, not a simpering, marriage-minded girl. Since this book is set in an era where a woman’s only (or close to only) option is marriage, that’s a nice thing. The fact that the man she’s had a crush on since she was a child is the one asking is a great bonus. Too bad he is only marrying because he has to.

Fortunately, it’s not quite as simple as that. What I really enjoyed about this book is its examination of the effects of parental actions on their children. Fenton is the seeming-idiot because he doesn’t want to become his father.

Yes, the ending is predictable, but the journey there is fun, and the lead characters are both worthy of their happy-ever-after.

Possible objectionable material:
References to sex, married and extramarital, but nothing shown. The hottest it gets here is desire. A character is developmentally delayed—possibly Down Syndrome, but is treated with great kindness after some initial, period-appropriate, dismay.

Who would like this book:
Romance fans who don’t need sex scenes—or even much kissing. This is very much about emotion, not physicality. Probably women more than men. It’s squeaky clean, so if a middle-grader wanted to read it, I wouldn’t object, though they might not quite have the emotional maturity yet for the full effect. Approximate Lexile: 1130

Thank you, NetGalley, for the Advanced Reader e-book. ( )

I enjoyed this read, quick and light hearted, no not really, it had a lot of deeper meaning that you will discover when you get to the end.
You get great mind pictures of Charles aka Lord Fenton, so colorful and quite the dandy, and embarrassment to his family, and no regard for any ones feelings. Then you have Alice the sweet good daughter, who is chosen by a wise Mother to be Charles wife. It comes down to his father ‘s demands and his final submission. Come and enjoy how we get to this point.
Alice and Charles meet when he is a teen and she a child, and she is one smart cookie, and you will enjoy the banter between them.
There are lot of deep and hurtful secrets to be revealed here, and making no excuses, you wonder if a lot of people lived this way. Don’t give up on these folks a really good story is about to unfold. Enjoy!
I received this book through I Am A Reader, Not A Writer, and was not required to give a positive review. ( )