Not the most exciting or funny of Heyer novels, but generally amusing just the same, and perfectly enjoyable. ( )

I’m not done with it yet, but I have two words: Dysfunctional families!

Sheesh!
I am enjoying it and caught on to the twist fairly early on.

Done. Except for the awful slang at the front of the book, very satisfying. ( )

A young and lovely runaway alone on the road to London Miss Charity Steane is running away from the drudgery of her aunt's household to find her grandfather. Not expecting her visit, the old gentleman is not in London but is away in the country. The first time the young Viscount Desford saw the girl, he thought she was a child. A child in trouble, running away. But she was a girl nearly seventeen and when Viscount encounters her walking to London alone, he feels honor bound to assist her. But after Desford rescued her, everyone assumed that he had run off with her. A scandal broth in the making, and dashing about the countryside together, the Viscount must prevent his exasperating charge from bringing him ruin upon herself... and him. Now in disgrace, Desford had to find the truth behind Cherry's strange behavior--before his own life came apart....

Who else should he turn to in such a scrape but his childhood playmate, Henrietta Silverdale? And although they refused to oblige their parents by marrying, they have always been the best of friends. But as Desford pursues Cherry's grandfather and father around the seedier fringes of society, Hetta is forced to wonder if he might not, at last, have fallen in love. Without the timely intervention of his brother and Hetta's suitor Gary Nethercott, Desford is in danger of making a jumble of his affairs.

Escaping a miserable life under her tyrannical aunt, Charity decides to take her chances with her estranged grandfather in London. Now it’s just a matter of finding him… And as a ‘charity girl’, with no dowry and no options, hope can only get her so far.

But with the help of the dashing and kind-hearted Desford, it seems like Charity’s fortunes might be about to change. ( )

[Charity Girl] begins with Viscount Ashley Desford making a summer visit to the family estate in Hertfordshire, where his father, Earl of Wroxton, is laid up with gout and exceedingly grumpy. From there, our hero proceeds to his aunt's house party in Hampshire. He accompanies her to a country ball hosted by Lady Bugle whose daughter is the local beauty. Taking a timeout in the hall after waltzing with the beauty to check his appearance, he encounters Charity Steane, known as Cherry, the poor cousin living with Bugles, who is spying on the ball from the stairs. And thus the adventure begins.

The day after the ball, Desford heads for London in his curricle. He encounters Cherry running away from home. Treated as a despised servant and accused by her maternal aunt of attempting to steal Desford from the beauty, she decides that she'll have better luck with her estranged paternal grandfather in London, who disowned his son before Cherry was born. Concerned what could happen to an innocent teenager on her own, he gives her a ride, but alas, her grandfather's house is closed up. Now what to do? The only option he sees is to track the old man down and meanwhile leave Cherry with his childhood playmate and lifelong friend Henrietta Silverdale, who still lives at home with her mother at the neighboring estate of Inglehurst Place. He's annoyed to see that Hetta is being courted by Cary Nethercott, a new neighbor who recently inherited yet another nearby estate.

A comedy quest ensues. Who ends up with whom? Is Cherry really an orphan? No one's heard from her disreputable father for years. Will her grandfather refuse to take her in? Has Desford fallen for the pretty little innocent? Will Hetta finally get married? What could go wrong? What misunderstandings ensue? It's a standard Regency rom-com from Heyer. ( )

Amusing but a little too similar to 'Sprig Muslin' for my liking. Entertaining scenarios as the two [eventual] lovers discover their depth of feeling for each other. Some tedium in passages that didn't particularly add to the main theme, such as [Spoilers] Desford's ill-fated travels to find Charity's (Cherry Stean) grandfather. More development of the backstory could have been included to characterize the relationship of Henrietta and Desford. ( )