The plot started out fine. Kitty Charing is a penniless orphan cared by the wealthy curmudgeon Matthew Penicuik. Mr Penicuik declares he would bestow his massive fortune to any of his nephews who married Kitty. Naturally, his great-nephews came scrambling to his home to offer for Kit's hands. There's the Reverend Hugh Rattray, a handsome but droll and strict reverend. There's the Earl of Dolphinton, an Irish peer who's kind of strange in the head. Both of them offered to Kit - Hugh, due to pity and Dolph due to his overbearing mother - but they are both rejected by Kit since she's insulted by their offers and anyway she's waiting for Jack Westruther, Uncle Matthew's and Kitty's favorite. But he doesn't arrive when Uncle Matthew calls for him, because he feels that he'll marry Kitty anyway sooner or later, so why not make it later? He still wants to have some fun and he dislikes the old man to force his hand so. Humiliated and disappointed, Kitty sets off to run away but on his way he meets The Hon. Freddy Standen, one of Uncle Matthew's great-nephews. Freddy is the heir to a viscountcy and is independently wealthy himself, so he doesn't need to answer Uncle Matthew's summons, but he goes there anyway since on his letter to him Uncle Matthew doesn't disclose his true intentions. When dining in an inn, he encounters the distressed Kit. Hatching a scheme, she begs him to be pretend to be engaged to her. The reason that she told him was that she wanted to go to London and Uncle Matthew wouldn't allow her to go if she weren't engaged. An ulterior reason is ostensibly to make Jack jealous. So the pretend-couple sets forth to London.
I've told you before that Pretend Lovers are one of my favorite tropes. But this book is glorious for other reasons. because Freddy Standen is such a great and atypical hero in romance.
You see, Georgette Heyer and romance novels in general have two kind of flavors for a hero: the dashing wealthy rake who's very much in the petticoat line and the older smarter (but still dashing) heroes, What I like about Freddy is that he's neither of those. Freddy is wealthy, but he's neither a nonesuch or a rake or a dashing hero or very much in the petticoat line. He's a dandy, the Pinkest of the Pinks, and he cheerfully admits that he's not very clever or sardonic. Everybody likes Freddy; he's everyone's friend. And although he doesn't do much dashing rescue to maidens from odious gentlemen, he's sweet and he has address, which is very useful if you want to get out of a dreaded social engagement without offending anybody. I like what Kitty said in the end: Freddy might not be the typical heroes in the novel who snatches maidens from a mansion all willy-nilly, but no one is like that, and if Kitty meets that kind of hero in real life, she would think of him as very odious indeed! Freddy might not have any accomplishments, but he has some thing better than an accomplishment: a kind heart.
Freddy undergoes a lot of character development in this book. When the novel starts, he seems like a scatterbrained ditz, although I can see that he's a sweetie deep inside since he agrees to Kitty's scheming just so that she won't cry. Freddy's a bit lazy in the beginning, in my opinion, but as the novel progresses, he begins to take a more active role. Freddy doesn't think of himself highly at first but Kitty manages to make him see himself in a different light. His and Kitty's exploits made him realize that he can actually do something meaningful in the world.
Kitty, on the other hand, also learn some lessons in the ways of the ton, But I think the biggest lesson she's had is how she manages to see Freddy for the good man that she really is. As she becomes more acquainted with Jack, she realizes how odoriferous his behavior really is and how they're not really suited in the end after all. I also enjoy seeing Kit blooming into a confident woman by wearing clothes that she likes and fits her instead of the plain and dowdy gowns that she's had when living with the miserly, penny-pinching Uncle Penicuik.
Cotillion, at its heart, is a character-driven novel. There's not much in the way of plot (or romance) but the humor and overall sweetness makes up for it. It's a good book for a first-time foray into Georgette Heyer or a comforting palate cleanser after reading a particularly depressing historical novel.
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