Minerva: Six Sisters Series    by M. C. Beaton Order:  USA  Can Robinson, 2012 (2012) Paperback     Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth Minerva Armitage has been given a less than pleasant task. She must journey to London from the small country village where she has lived her entire life, to stay with old Lady Godolphin, who will present Minerva to society during a week of festivities. Her task is to find a very rich husband. Since this is where many such liaisons are made, her father, the local vicar, has high hopes that Minerva will save the family from financial ruin. The vicar has five younger daughters, all of whom will eventually need dowries; twin sons whose school fees must be paid; a pack of superb hunting dogs that need constant care and breeding by a handsomely paid keeper of the hounds; an old house that demands constant upkeep; a stable of hunters; and a wife who is constantly in a state of vapors. Minerva, feeling like a piece of meat at the butcher's, is not happy to place herself on the market. But she is a dutiful daughter and sets off for London to meet the disreputable Lady Godolphin who is to present Minerva at Court. What ensues for poor Minerva forms the plot of this delightful Regency romance (there are five more novels about the Armitage sisters in the series). Minerva meets and greets potential suitors. Her 'country bumpkin' ways endear her to several men whom she would not take home to Papa. She has her eye on one, but he seems off limits to her. And besides, he laughs at her too much and he's too old. Minerva, written by extremely prolific author M.C. Beaton, is the first of her many series. She also writes the Hamish Macbeth mysteries about a constable in a small Scottish village. This series, as well as another about Agatha Raisin (who has retired from the business world to kick up her heels in a small village in England) vie to make her top of my list of favorite authors. Beaton has afforded me many hours of pleasurable reading. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Romance books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews