A Regency Homespun Christmas - Anthology

It is a sad thing when one starts a new anthology thinking it will be full of new stories and then realises you've read them all. It was nice to revisit them but I would have preferred new ones.

The Wexford Carol - Emma Jensen

This one was a really nice story about a woman who is trying to keep her ancestral home in order and good repair despite the fact that it has been sold by the cousin who inherited it and the man sent by the new owner to oversee the property. Some funny secondary characters helped keeping this a light story. Grade: 4/5

Mistletoe and Folly - Sandra Heath

A pair of young lovers meets again after 5 years. The hero had his heart broken by the heroine when she left to marry another and now that they meet again he is engaged to be married. A rival for the affections of his current fiancee creates a misunderstanding to have their engagement broken which leads to an explanation of what really happened 5 years earlier. I liked this story, it had an unusual plot, a bit more mystery than you usually find here and an unexpected ending for some of the secondary characters. A 4/5.

An Object of Charity - Carla Kelly

Captain Lynch unexpectedly finds himself taking charge of his dead first mate niece and nephew. He plans to return home to visit the mother and brother he hasn't speak with in 20 years and develops a fondness the Sally Partlow, the mentioned niece. I found this the best story of the book mainly due to the hero who was wonderful. I have two complaints though, Sally is at first shown as a very young girl when she is in fact 25 years old and as in all of my previous Kelly reads I wanted a bit more emotion. Grade: 4/5

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

Anthology grade: 4/5

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