Ella Fairmont is in her fourth season. She hasn't made much of an impression on the ton because she is bookish, shy and no great beauty. But as the anonymous Miss Prattle, social columnist, she's formidable. Her Aunt Sara wangles an invitation to a house party given by the arrogant and very eligible Duke of Clare, long the topic of Ella's most critical columns. Also gathered at the house party are three eligible young ladies, all of them dangling for a proposal.

This was light, frothy and entertaining. ( )

Puella Fairmont has little interest in society after her first Season. With her keen observation powers and her sharp wit, she sees little to admire and much to poke fun at in the young beaus of the ton, and she believes her time would be much better spent working on a novel. But her aunt, Lady Sara Mantel, has a stroke of inspiration - Ella shall become Miss Prattle, a hugely influential gossip columnist who delivers scathing set-downs of those she finds most ridiculous (hidden behind her secret identity, of course). And the butt of most of Miss Prattle's columns is the handsome, but insufferably arrogant Duke of Clare.

To escape Prattle's sharp tongue, Clare decides upon a house party in the country and unwittingly invites the columnist - in the form of Ella and Lady Sara - along. As the party goes on, Ella comes more and more out of her reserved shell, entertains the guests, charms Clare's mother, and refuses to give Clare the time of day - and what man could resist that challenge?

Escapade was a fun novel, and perfect for what I had in mind - namely secretly reading it in class when lectures got too terribly dull. Ella comes up with some wonderful schemes - a frog race and a jousting tournament that certainly had me stifling giggles behind my notes. The dialogue was witty, the hero just insufferable enough to be great fun, and Ella certainly had spirit - a quality I was a little hesitant whether I would find in a novel written in the late 70s.

Clare is arrogant, but not horribly overbearing; Ella is a bit of a spitfire when roused, but says nothing completely unforgivable. Though there is a Great Misunderstanding, it isn't drawn out and angsty, and it certainly doesn't dominate the book - that honor falls to Ella's charming escapades.

I was a little annoyed at her 'competition'. It would have been nice if at least one of them hadn't been completely one-dimensional to give Ella a run for her money. Honor, in particular, struck me as implausible. But all told, I enjoyed this one - it was sweet. And while I don't normally like romances without love scenes, this one involves a scene when they finally get together that certainly promises passion. And who can resist a novel with frog races? ( )

Hours and hours of fun! Lovely and tangled, reminded me a lot of ARABELLA. ( )