Captain Cupid Calls the Shots

by Elisabeth Fairchild and Eden O'Neill

Book Overview

Captain Alexander Shelbourne was known as Cupid to his friends for his uncanny marksmanship in battle. But upon meeting Miss Penny Foster, he soon knew how it felt to be struck by his namesake's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451201981
• ISBN13: 9780451201980
• Release Date: December 2000
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.2" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Targets of Scorn and Gossip Triumph

Captain Alexander Shelbourne--Cupid to his friends--carries a wounded heart from the battlegrounds of France with little hope of mending it until he meets quiet, tormented Penny Foster whose reputation is not what people would paint it to be.A moving, sometimes wrenching story of the damage inflicted by mistaken assumptions. Fairchild weaves an evocative, layered spell of language, setting, theme, and characterization rare to find in today's romances. Magical!

Excellent. Moving and thought provoking.

The other reviewers have made valid and careful comments and summed up the plot. I would only add that I found this book to be very moving and it raised some uncomfortable issues which were very well handled. I have read the "masculine" regencies, eg Cornwell, Kent, Mallinson et al, and felt that the author portrayed her two main male characters very well, particularly with respect to their experiences and feelings about their actions in the Peninsular campaign. I work with the suicidal through a well-known charity so found Val an especially poignant character who fully deserves to have his own tale told to see if he is able to redeem himself and come to terms with his experiences thereby moving on to accpetance of himself and, hopefully, ultimate happiness.Well done, Ms Fairchild and thank you.

One of the best of 2000

Two warnings for potential readers:1) Ms Fairchild's style is very distinct, and not to everyone's taste2) This is a very sad book - deeply emotional and heavy with issuesThe other reviewers have described the plot well, so I won't rehash it.In terms of style, Ms Fairchild's work is either love it or hate it. Readers need to be patient, and need to be willing to succumb to its rich and elaborate phrasing. Ms Fairchild makes the reader work for the story, never overstating or over-explaining. I like this but I know some people find it difficult.The landscape - Cumbria - is brilliantly rendered. It's wet, it's cold, it's rugged, it's beautiful. Without it the book would not have such an emotional pull."Captain Cupid Calls the Shots" is probably the most compelling rendition of shell-shock and the effects of war on soldiers that I have read in the genre. We have lots of stories of heroes returned from the Peninsula, some of them traumatised, some not, but this one makes the point well, poignantly and without undue angst.As in "The Silent Suitor", there are some very sexy bits in here. Without the h/h engaging in anything more physical than caresses and kisses there are some very sensual moments. Sexiness in a book is all in the timing and the description, rather than in what is actually done. Ms Fairchild has complete command of this technique.The heroine has an abiding devotion for a historical figure named Lady Anne. The interest is, as the hero suspects, unwholesome, and this is never resolved. It makes her, as heroines go, a bit weird, but probably harmless for all that. While off-putting, this is a very, very small concern.Captain Cupid is one of the best heroes I've read in a long time. He's manly and yet sensitive, and not quick to judge others, even when the circumstantial evidence seems conclusive. He clearly loves Penny from early in the book and one senses that his devotion will not wane.The ending, as one other reviewer pointed out, is troublesome. Not, for me, because it's badly written or orchestrated, but because it doesn't give quite the solid resolution and happy aura we expect from romances. Without giving spoilers I can't say more than that while the h/h are sorted out, the other issues in the book are not satisfactorily resolved.Don't be fooled by the frothy title. This is a substantial book. One of the best Regencies of 2000.

Troubled Hearts Find Happiness

Elisabeth Fairchild's books are evocative of place and time and this one is no exception. One can see and feel the rain and mists, the rugged scenery of Cumbria, and how this fits the state of mind of the main characters. Alexander Shelbourne, the ex-officer who is known as "Captain Cupid", has come home sick at heart over the killing he had to do, traveling with two of his friends. He meets Penny Foster, the young woman looked upon by the townspeople as fallen from grace because of family secrets, the foremost being the little girl in her care. I was enthralled and engrossed in this book as I read, felt all the pain of the trio of troubled souls, and sighed with satisfaction at the outcome.