Imprudent Lady - Joan Smith

PRUDENCE HAD SEEMED SUCH A PROPER NAME FOR HER... UNTIL SHE STARTED WRITING NOVELS AND BEGAN DREAMING ABOUT A LOVE AFFAIR WITH A WORLD-FAMOUS AUTHOR.


Prudence had fallen in love with the celebrated and dashing Lord Dammler from the moment she read his first book. Then she began to have fantasies about him. Then she actually met him!

Suddenly Prudence was not living up to her name anymore....

This is my first read by Joan Smith and I found it intriguing, sometimes amusing but hardly a traditional regency romance. It's more of a friend’s story than a love story... but it does have a HEA.

Prudence, the title's imprudent lady, becomes a writer with some success. She shares a publisher with the famous Lord Dammler, the time's most celebrated writer, and ends up being introduced to him. Although she is a bit critic of his work, Prudence can't help but admire him.

Lord Dammler, alas, finds Prudence quite unremarkable but a series of events lead them to spend more and more time together and as she falls in love with him he just sees her as a friend. Prudence naiveté in terms of the ton's social behaviour does lead her to some trouble with an admirer without ever realising it. Her social awkwardness does make for some humourous moments as does her silly uncle. Lord Dammler is quite unhappy with Prudence's admirers and they become an object of discussion between them leading to some witty dialogue.

Eventually Dammler realises what his feelings for Prudence really mean but for a moment there it seems all may well be lost and where he previously commanded Prudence's emotions he will now have to work for his happy ending.

An interesting read, much different from your typical romance novel which is always a plus. However the lack of empathy that I felt with both main characters made it a slow read for me and while recognising its value and originality it doesn't come close to being a favourite.

Grade: 3.5/5

The Constant Heart - Mary Balogh

THE ROGUE'S RETURN


Miss Rebecca Shaw had lost her heart once in her young life - lost it and had it broken.

At last it had mended - mended enough for her to say yes when the handsome, high-minded young Reverend Phillip Everett asked her to be his wife and share a life of the purest propriety and best of good works.

But now Christopher Sinclair had returned. He was fee now of the marriage that had given him fabulous wealth at the price of leaving Rebecca behind and betrayed. He was free now to turn Rebecca's head again... away from the man who soon would be her lawfully wedded husband. And Rebecca was also free to change her mind - but was she foolish enough to turn toward a love that had proven faithless once and now could be utterly ruinous. . . .?

Another one of Balogh's oldies The Constant Heart tells the story of Rebecca Shaw, a young woman who suffered a big disappointment a few years before when her beau tells her that he is marrying a rich heiress he met in town and leaving her behind. Now she is engaged to be married to the village Reverend but the return of the man who betrayed her, now a rich widower, does make her heart feel divided.

 

Besides her disappointment with him Rebecca keeps hearing about how Christopher mistreated his wife. But she can't seem to stay away from him as they keep seeing each other everywhere and he is always very civil to her. When they meet by accident in the forest and Christopher tells her he still cares for her Rebecca has a hard time dealing with the feelings that his declaration bring to surface.

 

But soon she finds out that maybe not all that has been said about him is true, that he has been helping her through the years without her knowledge and the real reasons behind his actions.

 

I thought this plot had great potential for an angst ridden story. Unfortunately, although there are some emotional moments, that potential is not fulfilled. Maybe because we only know Rebecca's side of it or because Christopher actually does seem like a nice guy and there isn't much misunderstanding on that score. That lack of emotion prevented me from being totally engaged in the story and it didn't quite work as I was expecting it to.

 

The secondary characters were really nice and the love stories they developed also made for a good read. They were the kind of people I wouldn't mind revisiting at a later date to see how well they deal with each other.

Grade: 3.5/5

An Improper Proposal - Anthea Malcolm

It had only been six weeks since her brother was named the Eighth Marquis of Parminter, but already Rachel's life seemed but a farce played out to please the ton. Suddenly she was Lady Rachel, and her ambitious sister Christine was betrothed to a future duke! And in the midst of it all, their cousin Guy had returned, Guy, whom Rachel secretly loved beyond all reason. Hunted by Bow Street these last two years for a crime he hadn't committed, he had risked imprisonment to prevent his beloved Christine from marrying another. Rachel had to save him-from Christine as well as Bow Street. And what better protection could a Lady offer than the wealth and respectability of an aristocratic marriage?

 

I had heard good things things about Anthea Malcolm and since the traditional regencies are one of my favourite genres I finally decided to pick one up.

 

I was quite surprised by it because there was a lot more to the story than just a romance between two people. In fact, I think An Improper Proposal is mostly a mystery with a strong element of romance. It's also the story of a family - Rachel, Christine and Magnus and their extended family - and I ended up wondering if there were books about the other characters mentioned.

 

When the story opens Rachel has just become a widow and her sister Christine lost her fiancée when both men and some friends died in a fire. Christine accuses their cousin Guy, whom she had a romantic relationship in the past, of being the murderer and he disappears for two years.

 

Guy returns when the three siblings situation was bettered because Magnus has inherited the family's title and Christine is engaged to a duke's son (the brother of her dead fiancé). The Bow Street Runners are still after him becaure of the deaths and when he asks for a month to find out the truth before being arrested, they agree on the condition that Magnus guarantess his good behaviour. seeing her brother is going to reject the request Rachel tells them they are engaged, even though she believes him in love with her sister still.

 

Guy and Rachel eventually decide that the best thing is to actually marry, Rachel will have a father figure for her children and Guy will be free to investigate who actually set fire to the theater. The theather is also an interesting theme in the story because not only Guy is a play writer but Rachel actually owns and manages the theater making her a woman of independent means.

 

Most of the book is devoted to the mystery and I thought that was actually very well done. The men who died were part of a radical group that contested some political actions and while their ideas might have been a motive for murder the author manages to make more intriguing and less obvious than that. I was quite surprised in a good way with the detecting skills of the main characters.

 

What I didn't like was the lack of communication between Rachel and Guy. She spends most of the book, almost to the last page actually, believing that he loves her sister and I thought that was really sad. Since she was the one who suggested their marriage it seemed obvious to me that she loved and that he should be the one to talk about his feelings first. Instead he kept putting up with her sister's demands for attention and leaving Rachel with the impression that he still loved Christine. Not only that but I really disliked his attitude when their mother came to visit, the mother had left them 25 years before and while making the peace was the best thing for all of them he should never have shown all that familiarity with her and seemingly putting himself on her side, against Rachel.

 

In a way, because they talked so little, I found it hard to empathise with Guy and Rachel. I would have been much happier if we had more time devoted to the secondary romance of Magnus and Margaret who seemed nice people who fell for each other when they started getting to know one another better. They were a prime example of a couple that changed for the best by having a relationship. Magnus became less cold and Margaret more self assured. Unfortunately they are not given enough time in the story and my disappointment with the main romance leads me to give this one a lower grade. But I was intrigued enough with the story and the fact that there were so many different plots in it to want to read another Malcolm and see how I like it.

 

Grade: 3.5/5

Come Be My Love - Diana Brown

IMPOSSIBLE ALEXANDRA
Beautiful, brilliant and headstrong Alexandra Cox-Neville was a thoroughly impossible young lady--with an even more impossible dream of love. If she could not wed Darius Wentworth, heir to the neighboring barony of Blandon, she would have no husband at all.
Thus when Darius took another for his wife, there was but one place for Alexandra to go: London, where a woman could make her living with her pen if she did not fear the censure of society and the scandal of being on her own. Unfortunately, Darius soon followed her to that capital of fashion and folly, and--as Alexandra soon found out --where Darius went, trouble was sure to follow. So it shouldn't have been a shock to a young lady who broke all the rules to find there was no escape from the one man who could break her heart....

I'm having a hard time writing a review of this book. It is definitely my least favourite Brown book so far but there were still some good interesting things in it.

I think my first problem is that Alexandra's love for Darius sounds too much like hero worship, she doesn't really know him, since he spends most of his time at school, and he does see her as a sort of younger sister so while I could understand those feelings in a teenager Alexandra I think she should have grown out of it after he married. But she doesn't.

Darius ends up unhappy in his marriage and when his wife dies in child birth leaving an orphan son everyone believes that he doesn't pay attention to the child because he is heartbroken. I immediately guessed where the author was leading us and I wasn't wrong. Alexandra refuses to wed another and fights with her parents about it. She has always been fond of reading and writing and after secretly publishing a book decides to run away to London to avoid marrying the neighbour her father wanted her to. She first attempted to declare her love for Darius and convince him to marry her but, after a mortifying scene he refuses her.

Alexandra writes powerful novels about women's feelings and passions that first make London's society curious and then leads them to condemn her when her poetry becomes too revealing. It seemed to me that it echoed a bit the reaction the Bronte sisters had when their first published their works that also seemed too passionate and coarse to society. But there the similarity ends because Alex, even after warned that she can be disgraced in the eyes of the world, persists in publishing the damaging poetry. This sets in motion a turn of events that could lead to hers and Darius destruction.

But the fact is that Darius never seemed worthy of such love and devotion, and for most of the book he just isn’t interested. And Alex proved to be immature by not measuring the consequences of her actions and in not accepting salvation when it was offered just because of her pride. Where previous books like The Emerald Necklace or St Martin's Summer had poignant moments where the character's misery really touched the reader, here such moments where merely humiliating and miserable for them.

I did feel the story had potential, the idea of a writer heroine was really good, but that the way it was developed wasn't the best one. Not to mention that Alexandra's father was a tyrant and in the end we are supposed to reach the conclusion that he was right after all. Too weird... But I do like Brown's writing, a lot, and I will definitely continue reading her books and see if the rest of her backlist proves to be winners like all the previous ones I read, or so so reads like this one.

Grade: 3.5/5

A Father For Christmas - Paula Tanner Girard

A COACH, A CASTLE AND A CATCH -- FOR THE LADY WHO ISN'T LOOKING FOR LOVE...

Widowed Lady Millicent Copley rejoiced at the invitation from the Copleys in Devonshire: Christmas at their magnificent castle on the faraway moors. A visit to the remote estate was sure to distract her mischievous six-year-old son, Rupert, from an impossible yuletide wish. But how to get to Devonshire? The distance was great, the roads were snowy, and a highwayman was kidnapping noblemen for ransom. Then a fellow guest, the Marquis of Wetherby, offered Millicent his coach and company. One of the most sought-after bachelors in London, the rakish Wetherby thought Millicent a perfect...mouse. Millicent though him a handsome...gadabout. And Master Rupert thought the Marquis the answer to his prayers. Now this determined young boy was about to put into action an outrageous scheme to help him get his wish: a new father just in time for Christmas!

Another Christmas read and another new author to me. This was a very light story with the hero and heroine being thrown together because the hero must accompany the heroine and her son to the Christmas party of a relative. On the way they get to know each other better and end up being kidnapped by an outlaw who has been holding noblemen for ransom.

While some of the scenes were actually very funny, like the time they spent with the outlaws or later in the farmer's cottage, I couldn't help feeling the heroine was too naive and too good to be true, she was almost annoying in how she kept seeing the best in everyone even in the rival for the hero's affections... a woman that was actually pretty decent to the heroine when she didn't have to... I'm guessing she will be the heroine of a future book.

The hero was also the usual kind, a rake decided to change his ways, and nothing really stood so I just enjoyed it for the fun romp that it was with being extraordinary.

Grade: 3.5/5

A Gift For a Rogue - Julia Parks

His Reputation Was Abominable...


After years as one of London's most notorious rakes, Alexander Havenhurst, Earl of Foxworth, has decided to settle down. He longs for the sort of storybook marriage his brother enjoys, but his reputation keeps most suitable ladies from taking him seriously. With pride bowing to need, Alex has but one option left--to consult a professional matchmaker who can give him the polish he lacks. And the only matchmaker who will agree to help him is the lovely widow Lady Isabelle Fanshaw, whose sparkling green eyes and ready wit do nothing to help his efforts to reform.

...And Very Tempting

Lady Isabelle has guided many a young lady through the pitfalls of the social season. But how can she tame such a rake as Alex Foxworth, a man with manners more suited to a brothel than the drawing room? When the lout insists that he must flirt with someone, or go mad, Isabelle agrees to let him engage in some harmless repartee with her, as long as he behaves as a perfect gentleman in public. But as an important Christmas house party draws near, Isabelle realizes that her tutoring may be succeeding all too well. For she soon has no desire to see her beloved rake in any woman's arms but her own.

Continuing with my Christmas reading I picked this traditional regency. I had no expectations about it, had never read the author, and while I didn't love it I ended up finding it a pretty decent story.

The hero and the heroine are both widowers. The hero, who after losing his wife had become a sort of a rake, wants to change his ways and find a new wife and settle down. The heroine, having been disowned by her father after her marriage, has supported herself and her young daughter by becoming a companion to young ladies who are to be presented in society. She is a friend of the hero's sister in law and since she is engaged to help his two wards in their coming season Grace suggests that she helps him achieve his goal.

They were both rather likeable characters although the heroine seemed to have an infinite dose of patience to deal with a rude and annoying ward, I kept wishing she would give the girl a set down. Both of them have children although the hero's relationship with his sons is a bit distant and it was nice, since this is a Christmassy read set during a house party, to see the family members interacting with each other and both children and parents worrying about each other and spending time together.

One thing annoyed me though and that's what made me lower the grade a bit. We know the hero is a confirmed rake but since he mentions reforming he really is a nice guy. But even after their feelings are acknowledged the heroine keeps complaining about rakes and how that can't be trusted to change their ways. While I understood she had been hurt by the events of her past her behaviour seemed a bit too much.

Grade: 3.5/5

April Lady - Georgette Heyer

When Lord Cardross marries the young Lady Helen he also finds himself coping with her father's financial disasters and the pressing gambling debts of her scapegrace brother. Many escapades must be resolved before the much-tried Earl can smooth the course of true love in his own marriage.

April Lady is, like several Heyer novels, a comedy of errors.

Lady Cardross, recently married, is very much in love with her husband but tries to hide as her mother told her on the eve of the wedding that she was merely a convenience to Cardross and his sister mentioned to her he had a mistress thus making her even more sure of his lack of love for her. Lord Cardross is madly in love with his wife but fears she only married him because he is very rich and her family of gamesters was very much in need of funds.

When the story starts Helen (Nell) has incurred in a great deal of debt not only to help her brother but also with the dress makers. Seeing her worried Cardross tells her he will pay all the debts but she forgets to give him one and after promising him she will take better care of her purchases she doesn't have the courage to ask him to pay one more. She tries to find a way to have the money needed asking for her brother's help but she finds herself unable to look her husband in the eye for fear he will discover the debt. At the same time, finding her behaviour odd Cardross starts to believe she just married him so she can pay the family's debts and feels nothing for him.

Heyer always writes fun lines and vivid characters but although I enjoyed the book I think Nell needed to sparkle a bit more, say like Leonie in These Old Shades or Horatia in The Convenient Marriage. Two books where we have a younger heroine paired up with an older man but in which they steal the scenes they appear in. Cardross also seems to lack the condescending and sometimes sarcastic and self deprecating humour those heroes had.

There are quite a few adventures involving Cardross's sister and her beloved that lead to an even bigger misunderstanding between Lord and Lady Cardross but everything gets solved in the end and I almost laughed out loud with the set down Dysart gives Cardross about him not taking care of his wife. Dysart is after all a carefree rogue always involved in new adventures and without a feather to fly with so hardly the type to be giving lectures but in this case Cardross has to accept it with grace.

Grade: 3.5/5

A Christmas Charade - Karla Hocker

Elizabeth Gore-Langton was hardly in a position to refuse to accompany Lady Astley to the Christmas party at Stenton Castle. After all, a paid companion must follow her employer's wishes. It scarcely signified that Elizabeth would be forced to face the man who had unknowingly broken her heart years ago during her first season. Most likely, the Duke of Stenton wouldn't even recognize her. But once she looked up into his dark piercing eyes, she knew this was a man who forgot very little..and forgave even less. Well, she was no longer a blushing schoolgirl, and the dashing duke would soon find that a broken heart, once mended, could be formidable, indeed! Clive Rowland, Fifth Duke of Stenton, was in no mood for a holiday gathering. But the Christmas gala would provide the perfect cover as he investigated reports that French agents were doing a brisk trade in stolen documents along the Sussex coast. It would be devilishly difficult to play the host while tracking down traitors, but Clive was up to the task--provided he kept his wits about him and didn't get distracted by yule logs and Chirstmas folderol..or the delightful charms of the disturbingly familiar Elizabeth. The little minx was hiding something, to be sure, and she was about to learn that he liked nothing better than unveiling a lady's secrets!

Another Christmas story from a new author this A Christmas Charade is my final entry for the 2009 Holiday Reading Challenge. I have been trying a lot of new authors for these Christmas challenges and if not all of them are winner they at least are entertaining for an afternoon of leisure.

I found that this story suffered from the same problem that many other Christmas reads where there are too many things going on. Here we have a house party, a search for lost family jewels, smugglers and French spies, a secondary romance and a ghost all in one book.

I was particularly interested in this story because, from the blurb, it seemed a "second chance" kind of story and I do love those (I blame it on Austen's Persuasion). However I found that particular side of the story ends up being one of the least important ones and the hero doesn't remember the heroine almost till the end so it was like they were getting to know each other for the first time.

What really made it entertaining for me was the presence of the ghost, I normally complain of paranormal elements in my traditional regency reading but I must confess that this time I found the ghost of Annie Tuck fun and a good addition to the story. Especially when she helps the secondary characters reunite.

I think the smugglers and the spies really weren't needed, although the search for a French spy was the reason for Stenton to reunite the family at his home I thought he could have searched for him better without them and so the story could have been just their reunion because of the Christmas festivities and their interaction with each other.

With so many things going on it is only natural that Clive and Elizabeth don't have that much time to interact and their relationship seemed to me a bit superficial. But it was still entertaing and pleasant.

Grade: 3.5/5

Under The Kissing Bough - Shannon Donnelly

Shy Eleanor Glover is astounded when wickedly handsome Geoffrey Westerly, Lord Staines, asks for her hand. Yet he makes it plain that he wants nothing more than a sensible wife—and a Christmas Eve wedding to please his dying father. With three beautiful sisters and a dearth of suitors herself, Eleanor does not refuse—yet she soon fears that despite Geoffrey's generous promise to give her anything her heart desires, he won't offer the one thing she truly wants…his love. Eleanor's reserve is a challenge to Geoffrey—he once loved another woman, and believes his passionate nature scared her away. Yet when he finds Eleanor seated beneath a mistletoe bough, tradition demands that he pluck a berry and kiss her. He doesn't anticipate his lovely bride's warm response, but as the wedding draw nears, he resolves to present the surprisingly strong-willed Eleanor with a gift far more meaningful than a betrothal ring…his heart.

When I first read the blurb I thought the story had great potential for a nice Christmas read. It mentioned a marriage of convenience and I could see how two people could get to know each other during a Christmas house party and surrounded by family. I was a bit worried though about the mention of the hero scaring a past love interest with his passionate nature, that sounded weird... and I'm afraid it was...

Eleanor is our common plain, intelligent and shy heroine that the hero never notices at first but learns to value in time. She accepts a marriage of convenience because her parent's tell her to. She finds the hero charming and attractive but sees that he only offered for her because his father is dying and wants to see him wed. And she soon finds out that he has loved another in the past and people believe he is still in love with her. Geoffrey is marrying because his father wants him to; he wants a sensible wife and a marriage with no emotional entanglements. He loved a woman in the past and she run away from him when he tried to embrace her and he still feels deeply the pain of her rejection.

Now everything would be well if we just had them getting to know each other and falling in love. But that's no exactly what happens, we see Geoffrey learning that Eleanor is a generous, intelligent woman but we don't really get to see her knowing him all that well except that he hurts inside. And the woman from his past does appear several times and while there's an attempt to explain why she rejected him (sounded pretty weak to me) I was left wondering why she married that weird man, he could be less passionate but he was weird. Eleanor and Geoffrey never really speak of their feelings till they are married and I would much preferred to have them address their problems before, because there are several scenes where Eleanor is jealous of Geoffrey and Cynthia and because the situation of Geoffrey's father being revealed was the perfect opportunity for them to speak of their feelings.

I am curious about Eleanor's sisters, especially Emma who seemed the opposite of her sister...

Grade. 3.5/5

A Rogue For Christmas - Kate Huntington

Even though he is not on the guest list for the Blakelys' elegant Christmas Ball, notorious rogue and gamester Lionel St. James attends the party just to see the stunning Miss Mary Ann Whittaker, a woman he had encountered years ago who changed his life forever.

I picked up this book because I had previously loved the book I read by Kate Huntington about Christmas. That one really struck a chord and I had high expectations for this one but I'm afraid they were left unfulfilled.

When the book starts Mary Ann is a fourteen year old girl who is going to pawn her only jewel so her family can have Christmas dinner. On the way to the pawn shop she is attacked by a thief and saved by Lionel St James who ends up accompanying her to the pawn shop and later to buy her family a nice Christmas dinner. Fast forward 5 or 6 years and not only Mary Ann hasn't forgotten Lionel, but she is convinced she will find him again and they will marry.

They do meet again and while Mary Ann's family is much better with one of her sisters having married and wealthy viscount Lionel is much worse living his life as a gambler and having had no luck in the recent months. Mary Ann and her sisters ask him to spend Christmas with them in the country after having seen how alone he was, not only that but they manage to invite his estranged family to go too without him knowing to try and help them make peace. But her brother in law is less than thrilled, he knows Lionel for a gamester and a rake and doesn't want him around the young ladies of his family. To add to the awkward situation Lionel's stepmother brings along her sister with whom Lionel was involved in the past and who actually made up the situation that estranged him from his family.

I felt the story had two problems, one that Mary Ann is just too open for a regency Miss, and her behaviour was a bit too modern and liberated. And the second that there was too much going on at the same time, Lionel and Mary Ann, the story with his parents, the problems with the woman from his past that lead him to believe she was going after Mary Ann's sister in law this time... There were so many secondary characters that I ended up thinking this book must be a part of a series and it is.

It's not that I disliked it, it was a pleasant Christmas story and I had an enjoyable afternoon reading it. But it was not memorable has the previous book I had read by her.

Grade: 3.5/5

Mistletoe Mischief - Sandra Heath

A Christmas Match

A lovely orphan who was unfairly dismissed from her last place of employment, Megan Mortimer can't believe her luck when the notoriously eccentric Lady Evangeline Radcliffe hires her as a companion. Evangeline is well aware of the unjust accusations that ruined the unfortunate girl's reputation-but she fully intends to make this Christmas one Megan will remember forever. ...

Arriving at her home in Brighton with Megan in tow, Evangeline is surprised but delighted to find her distant cousin, Sir Greville Seton, already in residence. As the date of her annual holiday theater extravaganza draws near, Evangeline grows ever more determined to bring Megan and Greville together-despite the fact that Greville despises women who work as companions. But when this bitter bachelor embraces the spirit of the holiday season, his old grudges quickly give way to a joyful and precious new love. ...

Another Christmas read and traditional regency by Sandra Heath, an author I keep reading even if not all her books work for me. This one was a so so, nice enough but not memorable.

Miss Megan Mortimer is a Lady's companion. She is dismissed from her last job after being blamed for the advances the Lady's son and is then employed by Lady Evangeline. Lady Evangeline was actually a really nice character, an older woman decided to right a past wrong and to marry her two nephews happily, who is in love with a family friend and speaks with ghosts. Yes, this story has a ghost, Heath seems to be fond of adding these magical elements to her stories and I keep reading them even if they don't work for me.

One of Lady Evangeline's nephews is Sir Greville, who hates companions because his father run off with one. From the rest of the story one gathers that Sir Greville's mother wasn't happy even before the father run away so may the companion did her a favour but he doesn’t' t seem to see it that way. In the blurb much is made of his attitude but I felt her overcame his dislike for Megan really quickly and from then on the happy ending in sight.

The story revolves around Megan and Sir Greville, how he at first believes what is being said in polite society about how she was dismissed but then believes her and stands by her but also about Lady Evangeline's other nephew Lord Rupert Radcliffe and his problems after realising he may have let slip the woman he loves through his fingers as she is now being courted by another man (and a nasty piece at that). And around the ghost who we realise is a Shakespearean actor waiting to be reunited in death with his lover and that Megan can also see. His actions will give her a help in a much needed situation.

The book has some funny moments but I think it never really stands out; it's entertaining but not memorable. I wish more time would have been devoted to Lady Evangeline's romance with her neighbour and maybe if there weren't so many stories and main characters things would have felt more solid.

Grade: 3.5/5

Regency Christmas Magic - Anthology

5 Regency Christmas short stories with a magical twist, this made for a pleasant afternoon reading.

Amanda McCabe - Upon a Midnight Clear

This story has an original heroine, a Jamaican girl who makes soaps and perfumes. She has come to England to accompany a childhood friend. Then she meets a British naval officer who thinks he is unworthy of love because of his scars and they fall in love with each other. Grade: 3.5/5

Allison Lane - The Ultimate Magic

I was left with the feeling that this was part of a series as the h/h actively dislike each other when the story opens due to events of the past. The heroine is a governess who has to control her charge, a spoiled heiress, till she weds but things are complicated because the heiress keeps flirting with someone other than her fiancé. The hero ends up helping with the charge and looking at the heroine in a new light. Grade: 4/5

Edith Layton - Two Dancing Daughters

This story does have a larger magical element as two girls keep slipping away from their bedrooms at night to meet with a strange character that presents himself as a foreign duke and wants to take them to another world. The worried father hires an ex soldier to investigate and him and one of the daughters fall in love. Grade: 4/5

Barbara Metzger - The Enchanted Earl

I'm not too fond of magic in my regencies and this one has the aggravating problem that the hero is under a spell. The heroine decides to organise a big Christmas party at her late husband home and the hero ends up helping her and protecting her from spells and other magical creatures after she makes a wish for a magician for the party. Grade: 3.5/5

Sandra Heath - The Green Gauze Gown

This one was nice although it included a magical being that could, among other things, change the colors of dresses. It's a second chance story and I actually liked the detail of the letters stolen by the heroine's late husband who wood and proposed with words not his. Of course that if the hero hadn't been so shy the first time around... Grade: 4/5

Victoire - Clare Darcy

A Delightfully Impudent Impostor

Sparkling young Victoire Duvernay made her first appearance in Regency England posing as her cousin who had been shamefully wronged by the dashing, devastatingly handsome rake, the Marquis of Tarn. But soon she emerged under her own name as the leading light of the London season, with the hot-blooded, hot-tempered Tarn dancing attendance upon her, and a host of gallants, fortune-hunters, and rogues swarming around her.

Victoire seemed such a defenseless innocent in this sophisticated world of elegant snobbery and cruel deception. But Victoire had no intention of becoming anyone's pawn or prey. Instead this captivating young lady was determined to give the most arrogant gentleman in all the realm an unforgettable lesson in love!

I have been curious about this author ever since Ioanna wrote a review of one of her books. So when I had the opportunity to read one I was quite happy. I did like the book although I felt the type of story asked for more banter, more witty and humorous dialogue to really work out.

Victoire is a french young lady, daughter of an officer in the Napoleon Wars, who, after her father dies and her mother remarries finds herself shipped to England to live with an Irish relative. Unfortunately the relative is not entirely comme i'l faut and leads Victoire to pretend to be her cousin Nancy, recently deceased, so they can blackmail Lord Tarn's relatives by telling he has broken a promise of marriage. The success of such ploy is based on the fact that Tarn is supposed to be out of the country and can't unmask her. But he does unexpectedly return and after a few adventures that include the relative kidnapping Tarn and Victoire saving him, the Marquess of Tarn decides that he owes a debt of gratitude to Victoire and to pay it he offers her marriage.

Now it maybe be because I recently read Heyer's The Convenient Marriage but I did feel that there were some similarities between the two stories - namely the older heroes who let no emotions show and the young and sometimes naive heroines who are constantly getting into trouble.

Being this one a regency romance we know that they are on their way to a happy end, however that path isn't always smooth and in this case several people are interested in breaking them apart. One of Tarn's cousin's and his portuguese mistress who both set different suitors on Victoire just to make trouble. Since Tarn and Victoire both are hot tempered and don't run from a good fight this could have been the perfect opportunity for showing some tension and their emotions towards one another but it is never fully explored. Even when Victoire is kidnapped in the end and Tarn rushes to save her I felt his proposal was a bit bland. I wanted more emotion in their courtship to make me believe that Tarn really had fallen for Victoire. As it was I felt it was a nice story but that it could have been better.

One detail that annoyed me was that Portuguese's mistress had a spanish name and spoke spanish instead of portuguese. Most of you wont probably notice it but for a native portuguese speaker it's totally distracting.

Grade: 3.5/5

A Makeshift Marriage - Sandra Heath

When lovely young Miss Laura Milbanke was asked for her hand in marriage in romantic Venice, the irresistibly handsome Sir Nicholas Grenville was at death's door. He had fought a disastrous duel to defend Laura's honor, and now he would defend her from poverty by leaving her his estate when he died.

But Sir Nicholas did not die. He lived to bring Laura home to King's Cliff manor. Waiting for him was the fabulously beautiful Augustine Townsend, whom Nicholas had long adored and who would be his - if only Laura did not stand in the way.

Should Laura try to fight this ravishing rival? Or should she give her husband his freedom by giving herself to the temptingly attractive Daniel Tregarron, who offered her all the love Sir Nicholas denied her? Never did a young bride find herself in a greater dilemma - as a marriage that broke all the rules threatened to break her heart . . .

This book had no magic, unlike my previous read by the author,  and I liked it a lot better for it. It features a marriage of convenience in which both the h/h believe he will die. They marry so the heroine can have finantial security and since he survives she decides to bring him back to England to recover.

As soon as they arrive it becomes clear that Ausgustine, Nicholas previous fiancee, is determined to separate the newlyweds and gain back her status after an annulment. She starts turning Nicholas' mind against his wife and unable to tell him the truth due to doctors orders, Laura decides to implement in the property some changes that Nicholas wanted to bring about, knowing they won't go well with Augustine and the neighbours. Feeling lonely Laura strikes a friendship with Nicholas' doctor and friend that will end up ruining her reputation and damaging her marriage.

I thought this had the potential to reach keeper status but in the end it didn't. I felt Nicholas was too easily manipulated by Augustine and Laura kept seeing the doctor (and getting into trouble) when she should have realized that that was only making things worse. And even if Laura was the wronged party it was she who ended up making the first steps to the reconciliation. Too much heart ache and not enough happy moments was my final take on the story.

Grade: 3.5/5

The Devil's Bargain - Karen Harbaugh

THE ENDANGERED INNOCENT . . .
Lovely Eveline Seton knew that she could never be a proper match for Lord Richard Clairmond. The devastatingly handsome blueblood would never dream of taking a merchant's daughter as a wife. Why then did he whisper words that made her heart beat faster? Why did he gaze at her with a heat that melted her to the core? Eveline feared her ardent suitor was hiding something.

THE IRRESISTIBLE RAKE . . .
Not for nothing did the Viscount Clairmond keep a list of ladyloves that testified to his supreme skill as a seducer. But it was not as a wife that this reckless gambler wanted Eveline. To be relieved of embarrassing debts and a certain future of pauperism, he had sold his soul-and Eveline's virtue-to Satan. And unless this extraordinarily persuasive young woman proved an equal match for him in the thrust and parry of his campaign of conquest, she most surely would become his all - too - willing victim. Or he hers . .

I've been in the mood lately for stories featuring nobility and the so called Cit's. The merchants and tradesmen who became rich enough to save a title from ruin.

That's why I picked this one to read and it didn't disappoint me in that, it had nice and interesting characters who behaved in a believable way. Especially Eveline who seemed a fairly level headed woman, not the one to go into hysterics but in fact to make the best of her situation and indeed believe in who seems to have betrayed her. I had more trouble believing Clairmond who lost his money in a foolish game, believes his neighbour is harassing his sister just because the devil tells him so and then proceeds to ruin Evangeline when he could just have married her and used her money.

My main problem was the "devilish" side of the plot. I prefer my historicals without paranormal or supernatural elements and have the Devil struck a bargain with the hero that he would ruin the heroine and in exchange win the money he badly needed to restore his estate was a bit too much for me.

I think the story would have been perfect without that, it had all the elements for a nice marriage of convenience story and at least for me it would have worked better.


Grade: 3.5/5

DARING MASQUERADE - MARY BALOGH

BETWEEN TWO FIRES

Beautiful young widow Katherine Mannering vowed that no man would ever possess her. Her brief but brutal forced marriage left her with profound distaste for what went by the name of love.

But that was before she met Nicholas Seyton, a devilishly dashing highwayman who kidnapped her person and stole her heart. And that was before she met the infuriating yet attractive Sir Harry Tate, whose manner made her blood boil yet whose touch lit flames of passion.

The outlaw and the lord... Katherine knew so little about either, except that each taught her a different lesson in love -- and presented her with a more and more difficult choice....

Who could have been the author to tempt me to finish my break in reading traditional romances?! Mary Balogh, of course… I don’t know why, but I was never tempted to read this book, and I had it for quite a while… I think it was the suggestion of masquerade in the title and the fact that the hero passes himself for 2 different persons that put me off…

Anyway, I read it and I’m glad of it. Something about the plot: well, you have the heroine, who works as a companion for the daughter of an earl who is terrified of highwaymen (the daughter, that is). The heroine, Kate, has been married to a somewhat nasty character who choked on a bone and died (yes, I don’t know why that’s funny, but it is) and she claims that she doesn’t want nothing from men from now on! On the road to the family’s estate, she, her employer and her brother, are held up by a highwayman, who abducts Kate believing she is the daughter of the earl.

The highwayman is of course the hero. Nicholas Seyton, wearing a mask and a wig. He has been wronged by the earl and asks for some answers – hence the kidnapping. He doesn’t get too fierce in his role and somehow manages to tell Kate all about his life and sufferings, she believes him and offers her help. They meet now and then, he is always using his mask, and they start and affair and concludes in a one memorable night of smuggling and making love!!! That’s fine of course, it could happen in romances , but exactly the next day the hero arrives at the earl’s estate as a different man, Sir Harry Tate. A very interesting character, actually the best in the book, and my personal opinion is that for him only it’s worth reading it. The heroine doesn’t recognize him and every time they meet, sparks start flying. He is quite obnoxious, really . Anyway, the rest is for you to discover…

It was an entertaining read, sometimes funny characters, not such a clever plot, but the strongest point were the nice dialogues. As a proof of that, I really have to show here, one of my favorite scenes, with Kate and Harry:

“G-go away then!” Kate said crossly on a shuddering inward breath. “I am not looking for your sympathy. And I would not be crying now, sir, but that I had a sleepless night and have not been feeling quite the thing today. I never cry.” She blew her nose loudly in the handkerchief and glared at him out of reddened eyes.
“Hm,” he said. “Quite disgusting. Your nose and your eyes vie over which are the redder. I do believe the nose wins because it also shines”
“Oh!” Kate stamped her foot crossly. “I might have known you would not have an ounce of gallantry for a poor female in trouble.”
“Now, think a moment, Mrs. Mannering,” he said on a sigh. “If I had taken you in my arms and held your head against my shoulder and crooned soothing inanities into your ear, do you not think you would still be bawling? As it is, your emotion has been converted to anger, and your chin and cheeks have perhaps been saved from the same fate as your eyes and nose”

In the end, it is worth reading for fans of the genre, but only if you’re willing to ignore the big white elephant in the room – the fact that the heroine has an affair with 2 different men, never knowing it is actually one single person.

Grade: 3.5/5

Lord Rotham's Wager - Ann Elizabeth Cree

HIS BRIDE BY LOTTERY...
Lord Jack Rotham was not a betting man when it came to marriage. But when his great-uncle's will ordered Jack to marry, a bride by wager seemed the logical solution. And so Jack picked the winning wife out of a lottery. However, fate dealt him a cruel hand, for his new bride was the woman who'd left him broken-hearted to marry another man!

HER SECOND-CHANCE HUSBAND...
Claire Ellison had suffered a miserable marriage and didn't want to repeat the experience, particularly to a man who wasn't sure whether he hated her -- or loved her! But when a devious element threatened their new marriage, could Claire finally fight for the man she'd always loved...?

And another story about a second chance at love!

When Lord Rotham meets Claire again - at a ball where gentleman chose the lady by choosing her fans (I had never heard of this)- he decides he wont let her escape again. He had once proposed marriage only to be refused by her brother and learn that she was promptly married to another man. Now he decides he will court her again and convince her to marry him.

The premise was good but it seemed to me that there were too many misunderstandings keeping them apart that could have been easily explained if they had only talked to one another. Instead the problems and tension between them seems to go unresolved for too long. Besides I never really understood why her brother refused him in the first place, yes he had a bad reputation but he compromised her and he proposed. Wasn't that the right thing to do? And her friend who kept sabotaging his efforts and interfering was pretty annoying too.


Grade: 3.5/5

A Matter of Duty - Sandra Heath

ALTAR-BOUND

Handsome and wealthy Lord Christopher Highclare made it painfully clear why he was asking a virtual nobody like Miss Louisa Cherington to be his wife. He had made a promise to her dying brother to do so, and was honour-bound to keep that vow.

Proud and beautiful Louisa made it just as clear why she was accepting this man who not only made no pretence of loving her, but made no secret of the ravishing woman who was his mistress. Louisa, too, was bowing to the wishes of her late brother, who wanted to rescue her from poverty and the peril of Captain Geoffrey Lawrence, the notorious rake who was in hot pursuit of her.

Thus these two were bound to marry - and bound to wonder what would happen then.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this story. Both the main characters were nice, sensible people. They were ready to enter in a marriage of convenience and making the best of it.

Although they marry because the hero has made a vow to Louisa's brother and she wants some security after being dismissed from the house she works in as a governess they find themselves pleased with each other and ready to develop warmer feelings to one another. However Louisa had been dismissed because the older brother of the girl she teached was pursuing her and his young stepmother was jealous (yes the stepmother was having an affair with the stepson). Looking for revenge the woman sends Louisa a gift pretending to be her stepson. This originates a huge misunderstanding between Louisa and her husband and everything goes bad after that. Louisa discovers her husband had a mistress and doesn't believe that it is over between them. And Christopher refuses to believe that Louisa did not accept gladly Captain Lawrence's advances.

The tension rises when all four meet for a regatta on the Island of Wight, it made for an interesting setting, and Louisa believes Christopher to be enamoured of Thea still and he still thinks she might have responded to Captain Lawrence's advances. It doesn't help that Thea is determined to get Christopher back and does everything to make Louisa jealous.

Although I do like some conflict I thought this one went on for too long. If they had just talked to one another many a misunderstanding and harsh words could have been avoided. Also the happy ending was a bit rushed as everything is solved in one final scene.

Grade: 3.5/5

A Love For All Seasons - Edith Layton

I usually like Edith Layton's stories and when I discovered she had an anthology out in which all the stories were written by her I couldn't resist till I found it. I had no idea though that all the stories were connected and it was fun to discover it as I went along.

SPRING'S PROMISE
The story of Felicia, a diamond of the first water who unexpectedly sees the man that was courting her marry another and to have a little revenge on fate decides to engage a known rake who is a neighbour of her father's estate. The rake does see through her scheme and ends up being more honourable than his reputation and the two fall in love.

SUMMER'S FRUIT
The story of Adela who married a navy officer and on the few days after the wedding and before he went away become pregnant. Now Adela's time is almost due, she is heavily pregnant and moody and her husband does not know how to deal with the woman she has become. It will take them some adjusting and talking to finally reach their HEA. Adela's husband and Felicia's fiancé are old schoolmates.

AUTUMN LEAVES
Bronwen Penny had been a rich young lady till her father's fortune vanished and she had to become a governess. One day she meets Nick, the Earl of Fairlie and one of her old childhood friends. Bronwen and Nick are attracted to each other but he sees himself has jaded and unworthy. This story had a bit of a magical feel to it and eventually the prince does realise he can't let the damsel get away.

SNOW BROTH
This story starts with the improbable premise that a young lady - Marjorie - attends the wrong wake. She becomes friends with 3 other young people with whom she visiting the city's entertainments. She and one of the gentleman feel attracted to each other and she feels sad and confused when she realises that he is engaged to another young lady but he is eventually released from that commitment and the two reveal their feelings. Marjorie spends part of the action in Felicia and her parent's house.

A LOVE FOR ALL SEASONS
This is Rachel, Felicia's mother story, and how after many years of marriage she and her husband find themselves drifting apart and knowing different people till they eventually have to rethink and work on their relationship. A story of how people change and sometimes have to fall in love with each other again to be happy.

While none of the stories captivated me completely I felt this was a really nice read, maybe not unforgettable but the kind to spend an afternoon reading with a cup of tea by your side and end with a smile on your face.

Grade: 3.5/5

The Soldier's Bride - April Kihlstrom

A Marriage of Convenience

Lisbeth Barlow has never much cared for the notion of marriage--all duty and appearances and submitting to one's husband. But when Lord Thomas Kepley arrives one morning to ask for her hand, he has none of those conventions in mind. He wants only to evade the marriage his father has arranged for him. And for her help in this matter, Lisbeth can enjoy all the benefits of marrying quality without suffering any of the bother--as Lord Thomas will be off to rejoin Wellington's army in Portugal the next day.Kepley's father, the Marquess of Aylsham, hasn't the slightest patience, however, with Thomas's defiant behavior, and when Lisbeth bears a child who does not have the Kepley birthmark, Aylsham believes he has more than sufficient reason to discredit her. But the more the marquess tries to break them apart, the more Lisbeth and Thomas learn how much trust, love, and happiness can be found in their all too practical union.

Lisbeth Barlow's has a special magical locket where the women of the family look and that shows them the face of the man they will marry. That is why she is not surprised when Lord Thomas asks her to marry him all of a sudden and she happily accepts. However Thomas wants to marry right away not because he loves Lisbeth but because he wants to avoid the marriage his father planned for him.

He quickly leaves for the battle front and stays away for many months during which his parents do not accept his marriage or the baby that Lisbeth gives birth to and she has to leave in his old and ruined estate sewing clothes to make ends meet.

When Thomas finally returns he also refuses to accept that the baby is his and believes Lisbeth played him false. Despite that he wants to make the marriage work and only asks her to tell him what happened and why she betrayed him. Lisbeth has a hard time understanding what is happening and feels rightfully wounded that no one believes her. Unfortunately the lack of a birthmark that all male babies of her husband's family bear prevents her husband from believing her.

The story seemed to be stuck at this point with both of them stubborn and determined to maintain their view of events. It is clear that they do deal well with each other but since they are determined not to bend the HEA seems difficult. But the author does manage to solve this with a plot twist that I have to confess I did not see coming. It's always nice in this sort of book to be pleasantly surprised and just because of that I'm going to grade it a bit higher than I initially thought of...

There's a subplot involving Thomas being a spy and another about Lisbeth's aunt but I have to confess I didn't feel they added much to the story.

Grade: 3.5/5