Ilze

Jeannie McVinnie, the heroine and title character, is a soldier's widow living in Scotland with her father-in-law. Her life is rather circumscribed and boring, so when a letter arrives inviting "Jeannie McVinnie" to London to be a companion to a naval officer's niece, who is making her come-out, she grabs the opportunity, even though she knows that the "Jeannie McVinnie" to whom the letter was addressed is her husband's late aunt. So she arrives in London, under somewhat false pretenses, and the mayhem starts. The naval officer, Captain Summers, is the hero of the story, and members of his household - his snob and harridan of a sister, his immature "mean girl" 18 year-old niece, his supposedly sickly, housebound 14 year-old nephew, and his 4 year-old possible daughter that he brought back with him from Portugal and dumped on his sister, are the other characters in it. Jeannie, our heroine, spends the book sorting out their lives for them and setting everyone she meets, including Beau Brummell and some of his cronies, on the right track.

What struck me most about this book is that EVERYTHING that happens in the story, once the heroine arrives in London, is completely over the top. Every time the heroine steps out of the house, some completely unlikely coincidence or mishap happens - either a disaster or a triumph, one after another in relentless succession. The settings of the story are also over the top, especially the description of a naval hospital where a former quartermaster of the captain's is convalescing, having been grievously injured at the battle of Trafalgar. Carla Kelly certainly enjoys rubbing the reader's face in the general dirtiness of life in early 19th century England, especially the horrendous conditions endured by common soldiers and sailors. I complained about a Grace Burrowes' book that I recently read that nothing interesting happens in it - well, this one is the exact opposite - far too many things happen in this one!  IMHO, some of the subplots in this book should have been edited out - I could easily have done without the appearance of Beau Brummell as a character, for example. This would have allowed more room for character development and reflection, especially by the heroine Jeannie, and more room for the love story itself, which the hero and heroine barely have any time for, given the frenetic pace of events in the story and the demands of the other characters.