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These Old Shades

Saturday, October 2, 2010

These Old Shades (1926) Georgette Heyer

Justin Alastair, the Duke of Avon, is walking through Paris one night when a youth dashes out of an alley and runs into him. After first checking for his purse, the Duke starts to berate the boy when a large burly man who claims to be the older brother of the pale and slender youth comes out of the alley and takes the youth to task. Justin–who is called Satanas by friends and enemies alike–decides he is going to buy the young Leon from his brother.

This was marvelous. Justin is a cad and a rake and a cold-hearted SOB. Leon seems very unlike the child of farmers and then the brother of a Parisian tavern owner, and with his fiery red hair, seems entirely too temperamental to be the page Justin as decided he will be.

All of the characters were distinctive, the plot took many twists and turns, and although I knew it was a romance, I was not certain for quite a while precisely who the romantic leads were going to turn out to be.

But what I think I liked most were the changes in Justin over the course of the story, and the fact that although it seems that Leon blindly worships his savior, in many ways Justin begins to live up to being the man Leon see him to be.

Lovely, and almost immediately engrossing, and highly recommended.
Rating: 9/10

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanc

Categories: 9/10, Historical, Paper, Romance

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