Blessing in Disguise is Jenna Mindel’s debut book, and any time I read a debut I always hope I am discovering the next star in the Regency sky. Well, not this time. This book starts poorly, and though it makes up some ground in the middle, it basically descends into kitchen sink plotting by the end.

Peter Blessing is a second son in a noble family. He’s afraid to try the traditional occupations for second sons, so he has made his living on the roll of the dice and the turn of the card. Predictably, he begins the book by asking his brother to bail him out of debt. His brother John (Lord Blessing) has helped him too many times before, so this time he tells Peter to marry an heiress and straighten his life out.

Almost immediately, Peter sets his sites on Winifred Preston, the wealthy daughter of a merchant. Winifred is in town for the season, but she isn’t really looking for a husband herself. She is more concerned with finding a husband for her (you guessed it) prettier, sweeter, younger sister. She knows that Peter only wants her money, so she tries to disgust him by loading up he plate with too much food, tripping him, and wearing a dress that is two sizes too small. Try as she might, she falls for Peter anyway, probably because he loves to call her “Athena” and whisper sexual innuendos in her ear. But although Winifred is determined not to marry a fortune hunter, Peter can’t seem to fix his attention on any other woman. He really likes Winifred, and suddenly it just isn’t about the money anymore. But how can he convince her of his affections?

Well, he does it, but it takes virtually the whole book. I wasn’t really wild about either Peter or Winifred, but Peter at least has his moments, and by the end I almost liked him. I never did warm up to Winifred. Granted, anyone would be concerned about a prospective husband with a gambling problem, but she goes to almost unbelievable lengths to disgust him. Towards the end of the book her behavior is peevish and shrill, and when there are consequences for a mistake she and Peter make together, she is quick to blame only him.

The main reason that this book didn’t work for me is that it contained behavior that was completely unbelievable for the Regency period, yet paradoxically hit upon most of the genre’s clichés. Winifred knows she’s supposed to have an attractive sweet younger sister, but she is somehow unaware that she’s not supposed to show her ankles (or ask about Peter’s former mistress, or trip people at parties). As if to make up for these lapses, the reader is hit with a barrage of common plot devices in the last third of the book. The veritable hit parade of clichés includes a stupid misunderstanding that goes on forever (It involves Peter’s former mistress, and anyone can see it coming from a mile away), an ill-timed separation, and help from an “unexpected” quarter. The book even goes on for ten pages past the usual Regency length so the heroine can dress like a man and intrude upon the climactic card game.

The only bright spot for me was the secondary romance between Lord Blessing and Winifred’s pretty sister Melanie, which was far more interesting than the main plotline. Perhaps we are due for a romance in which the pretty sister actually is the heroine. In the meantime, I’d give this one a pass.