Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 Stars, for now rounded up. This ended on a 4 star note, but took a while to get there. The beginning was slow, and conversations were boring in places. It didn't even arrive in Bath until about page 60, which is where things finally started to move forward. What kept me reading was the opening scene, which hooked me on one relationship after only one exchange between the two. Once I was interested in what would happen between them, the anticipation kept me waiting and hoping for the entire book. I love how Heyer manages to do that.
The main hero and heroine are both extremely tempestuous, possibly even unlikeable at times, and lose their tempers constantly, especially with each other. They somehow have remained friends even after she jilted him a few years ago - so they have history and you feel it right away. What saves them is their ability to laugh in the middle of an argument, and the fact that they don't hold a grudge. I do wish that the hero had been present more often, since the scenes with him were the best, and kept the whole thing going.
Basically all the other characters are insipid and wishy-washy (on purpose), which adds to the boring parts during the first half. But that's only the setup. It starts to get interesting once everyone's love lives get all tangled up, with everyone falling in love or getting engaged to the wrong person. The ending was exactly what I was hoping for, and worth the wait. This was another good Heyer, even if you have to skim some of the society details and wade through a slow beginning.
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