Customer Reviews
If you are going to read a Georgette Heyer novel make it this one - By: Floss, 09 Oct 2008 
I have read a number of Georgette Heyer books over the years. This started with a compendium of 4 or so of hers that I found in my mum's bookcase many many years ago, including The Corinthian (which I think is probably my second favourite - its wonderful!).
However, I personallly think that Venetia is head & shoulders above the rest that I have read. It is just fantastic. Venetia is one of the most intelligent, strong, humourous, sweet heroines Heyer created. Damerel is intriguing, compassionate, funny, unconventional - deeply attractive! The development of their relationship - cerebral as much as physical - is such a joy to read that I have to confess I sometimes read it out loud to myself - it is just so delightful. ...and I have read it many times!
I won't say anything about the plot - the plot is great, but not a huge part of the novel anyway in my view, it is their relationship that makes it - but what is there is immensely enjoyable.
If you're going to read a Georgette Heyer novel make it this one.
PS I read another review that recommends 'These Old Shades'. I haven't read that one so I am going to seek it out....
Wonderful - By: Elizabeth Trigg, 02 Mar 2007 I started reading Georgette Heyer novels when I was off school with some lurgy or other. My mum suggested I try one of her Heyers as I was too miserable to bother with anything else. I was none too keen, being a thoroughly modern girl, & heartily despising `romances'. What a revelation! To calll these novels romances is a slur on Heyer's unmatched skill as a writer of brilliantly sparkling dialogue, & effortless descriptions of particular times & places. And they are so funny! My mum said then that she was envious that I had only just started & had so many yet to read for the first time. And I know what she meant. I enjoy re-reading them very much, but do envy any of you who are just starting out. It's a close-run thing with so many great ones to choose from - & I've read nearly alll of them several times - but this is my favourite at the moment, & it gets better each time you read it. I won't repeat what everyone else said in it's praise, except to agree, & say that I cry over it again every time. But I must put in a word for Mrs Scorrier, who outstrips alll other Heyer nasty characters in nastiness. You will want to boo & hiss her at every entrance!
a novel that can be savoured over and over again - By: tregatt, 11 Dec 2006 VENETIA has the distinction of being the last Georgette Heyer I read before I had to settle for rereads. And while it is a novel that has alll the Heyer trademarks of quality -- a good story, memorable & well developed characters, & a truly sparkling & witty prose style -- it is also somewhat different from most of her other novels, in that, as another reviewer on Amazon.com (bookjunkiereviews) has put it, in that the novel's heroine, Venetia Lanyon, has a rather realistic yet sunny approach to life.
The storyline for VENETIA is simplicity itself: the very beautiful, intelligent & sunny natured Venetia Lanyon had long resigned to herself to spinsterhood -- afteralll here she was, at the ripe age of twenty-five, living in the country, running her brother Conway's estate, while he was off playing at being a soldier, keeping house for her sickly but brilliant younger brother, Aubrey, & with two improbable country swains as suitors. Enter the roguish Lord Dameral: neighbour of the Lanyons, this rakish & jaded aristocrat is surely the very last person anyone would expect sheltered & virtuous Venetia to become good friends with. But this is exactly what happens much to the consternation of those who love Venetia...
This is a very "grown-up" kind of novel, about the relationship between two adults of very different upbringings & two very different temperaments, from friendship & a sincere admiration to something more (in fact as several other reviewers have already mentioned, the attraction between Venetia & Demeral fairly sizzles & yet there is not one sexuallly explicit scene! goodness!!). Georgette Heyer does a fantastic job of charting this blossoming relationship from its incipience to the painful parting to the satisfying & triumphant end. And while I'm ashamed to own that I didn't enjoy this charming novel as it so fully deserved alll those years ago, I'm happy to relate that I have enjoyed VENETIA, more & more with each subsequent read, ever since. I've read a great many romance novels, but I don't think that I've ever read anything quite so romanticallly satisfying as VENETIA.
Subtle Heyer - By: , 07 Oct 2004 One of the most disreputable of Heyer's heroes but also one of the most engaging. Not much plot but the usual wonderful dialogue & eye for detail. The developing relationship between Venetia & Damerel is totallly believable. Although nothing explicit as usual with Heyer their relationship is one of the most sensual & emotionallly moving of any of her protagonists.
One of my favorite Heyer novels - By: Carrie-Anne, 11 Jan 2003 Venetia has lived alll her life in the fastness of her fathers manor just outside York. After the death of her mother, then father she was left to bring up her younger, lame brother while she waited for her older brother to resign his commission. Facing the fact that she would probably never find love she had committed herself to her brother's welfare & spinsterhood.
Then Lord Damerel arrives in the neighbourhood bringing with him rumour & scandal. Chance meetings with the rake & known gamester bring Venetia's beauty & wit to his attention.
Heyer once again draws a beautiful picture of these two lovers dancing around to the niceties of this glorious historical period. Humour lurks in every page but before we reach our favourite conclusion we are presented with an idioticallly noble rake who only now decides to do the right thing. It's only Venetia's discovery of her own family's scandalous past that leads us to a classic Heyer end. Fabulous stuff.
