Like, okay, Regency plots and gambling, right? I get it. Bread and jam.
But sometimes you just want bread and butter, you know? I mean, c'mon, Heyer.
Really.The Convenient Marriage is a charming Heyerian romance, but it steps rather heavily on that innocent childish heroine kink, with a semi-squicky fatherly vibe from the hero. I dislike that vibe a lot, but have become, shall we say, inured, through a lifetime of reading Regencies.
"I was drunk," said the Viscount, "and I took a dislike to Crosby's hat - Damn it, what's he want with pink roses in his hat? Answer me that!"
"Just what I said myself," agreed Sir Roland. "Fellow can wear a hat at Almack's if he likes. Do it myself sometimes. But pink roses - no."
This heroine is Horry (for Horatia) Winwood, a memorably artless and kind of bratty seventeen-year-old with a stutter. She's quite engaging despite that, and although most of the plot involves her being spoiled and foolish in the fast-paced town life for which she's too unsophisticated (mistresses, greed, cicisbeos, jealousy, etc - all these things are beyond her comprehension), which can be frustrating to read, the emotional storyline between the principals is remarkably sweet.