This was ok but not great. I wouldn't recommend this as the first Heyer book to attempt. The language was typical for Heyer which I imagine could be completely alienating for some readers... how many times was "stoopid" used as a term of endearment? I guess it's good to know/remember that Heyer wrote her first novel when she was 17 and it was published in 1921. Her books are historical romance that are clean (not bodice rippers) and also usually a comedy of manners and therefore not meant to be taken seriously and to add to the mix they are actually really good historical novels in that there is a lot of historical detail and it's accurate. These elements are evident throughout Venetia in particular the two main characters Venetia and Damerol were great, and secondary characters too but it lacked plot, and what plot there was was slow. Venetia is 25 and buried in the country having been bought up by her reclusive father, who died a few years earlier, but Venetia felt obligated to remain on her family's estate to look after it and her younger bother while her older brother was overseas in the army. Venetia is smart but green having never ventured far from home or into high society. Her absent neighbor Lord Damerol, who has a bad reputation and is 'shunned' from good society, suddenly arrives for a visit and they hit it off but Lord Damerol knows an idyllic country romance over a month can't be taken seriously...