A light, slight, pleasing visit to the Regency realm with out glaring anachronisms and some almost interesting characters going through some almost interesting variations on couples getting together. ( )

Hmmm. Not bad, not nearly as good as the first couple Robins I read...for exactly the same reasons they were so great. She takes all the standard events of regency romances - all the misunderstandings and flirtations and missed connections - and makes them happen to real, solid characters with good reason for behaving that way. I found it delightful in Lady John and excellent in The Heiress Companion; here most of the characters were either annoying, or I was embarrassed for them, for what they didn't know and didn't ask. Althea is more than a little controlling, for good reason; when she actually meets someone who _doesn't_ need her to take over, she missteps quite a lot. And she's less experienced even than she realizes in London society. Tracy is equally controlling, with less excuse; his problem is mostly that he assumes everyone (or at least Althea) understands what he doesn't say. I guess that was a large part of my problem - the romance trope I dislike most is misunderstanding, and here it's in full flow in multiple directions. But the characters are rich and well-drawn, the situations range from hilarious to heavy tension, and (of course) it has a happy ending. I might like it better on a reread, and I expect I'll do that in a while. Ah, another point - this was Madeleine Robins' first book, and first Regency. I think I caught a few anachronisms (not sure - words and phrases that may not have been in use in period, or that she got slightly wrong - Canterbury tale rather than Banbury, for instance). ( )

Having purchased the Georgette Heyer novels that Amazon had at a fantastic price a couple of years ago, and having started to reread some (… and who knew until I read some intros to the Liaden Universe books by Lee & Miller that they too reference Heyer!), I’m of the opinion that although Madeline Robbins may not be as sharply witty and deliciously observant of Regency culture as Heyer she surely continues in that delightful tradition. Althea by Madeline Robbins certainly is a novel for all Regency Romance lovers

A LibraryThing early reviewer book ( )

I did enjoy this story of Althea and Tracy and the rest of the cast. I could see sequel bait in her brother, and while I did like Althea she was also occasionally irritating, particularly when she decided to test Tracy about his love.

The story opens with Althea arriving in her sister Marie's house to escape the assumption by her father and brother that she's going to be the permanent housekeeper for them. She's determined to live and not under their strictures of familial expectations. Tracy finds her interesting and diverting, different to the run-of-the-mill girls his sister-in-law keeps presenting him with. She also gets involved in the love lives of other people.

The story includes a few of the typical tropes of romance novels and I did notice a few typos, but I enjoyed the read overall. ( )

I probably should have looked into the author first. I'm not really big into romance novels. That said, it was difficult to get into at first. It ended up being an okay book, despite all that. Predictable but okay. ( )