Tag Archives: historical romance

One Night in London and Blame It On Bath by Caroline Linden

book review August 28, 2015 Leave a comment

Their father dead and the Durham dukedom falling to a charming wastrel of an eldest son, three brothers’ grief is complicated by a blackmail scheme which threatens the exposure of family secrets that will take away their birthright. In each book in The Truth About the Duke series, one brother takes the lead in investigating the claims against their paternity and trying to find their origin.

Although the de Lacey brothers spend little time together, what time they do establishes their relationships, rapport, and the family dynamics well. I first read all three books a few years ago and re-read the first two last fall and again recently in anticipation of this review. Liking the first two novels best, I am going to review only them. One Night in London was a free and highly rated historical romance I took a chance on with Amazon. It is therefore responsible not only for my discovery of Caroline Linden, but for my increasingly frustrated hope that lightning will strike twice and I will make another such gratis discovery. That has not gone well.

One Night in London

As the second son and family gate-keeper, Edward de Lacey has run his father’s estates as a good and dutiful child. When the duke died and the blackmail landed in the brothers’ laps, Edward decided to quickly lawyer up – or solicitor/barrister up given it is Regency London – and he lands the best attorney in London for the job. In doing so, he displaces another client, Lady Francesca Gordon. A widow, she is involved in a custody battle for her niece and had just found the only counsel in the city willing to take her case. She decides that this means Edward owes her assistance and when informed of this he decides to provide it,  even if it is more because he is attracted to her than in sympathy with her plight.

Opposites attracting, both Edward and Francesca (mostly) act like sensible grown ups and the conflict in their relationship comes from their respective situations and the difference in their social position. Francesca’s subplot resolved itself with a refreshing twist and Edward decides it is time to get out from under some of his obligations and live a little. I liked both of them very much and they made sense together. What Happens in London is simply a genuinely enjoyable romance with a generous dose of spark and a level of steam I have not found in Linden’s later works.

And speaking of steam…

Blame It on Bath

Edward’s younger brother, Gerard, is a military man, strapping, practical, and focused. Realizing his inheritance is threatened, he marries himself off quickly to wealthy widow Katherine Howe. Seemingly a mouse of a woman, but one whose stiff composure Gerard is eager to crack,  she has been using all of her strength, having survived one awful marriage, to refuse a second. Her marriage to Gerard is a leap of faith and a stomp of her foot for the right to choose her own life; however, she has more reasons for choosing Gerard than he realises.

Moving post-haste to Bath in pursuit of the family blackmailer, Gerard and Kate have an immediately successful marriage in terms of physical intimacy, but the partnership that will satisfy them both takes longer to arrive. Gerard is in the military habit of deciding his wife is on a need-to-know-basis and that there is nothing she actually needs-to-know. Ignoring her by day and overwhelming her by night (hence the steam), Kate works diligently and successfully to win Gerard’s attention until her beautiful and belittling mother arrives to go out of her way to make her daughter feel small, and the extortion plot simultaneously thickens and distracts Gerard. Fortunately, these two crazy kids manage to work things out.

I enjoyed What Happens in London more than Blame It on Bath, but recommend both of them. On re-reading, they reminded me of what it is I like about Linden as a writer and what I specifically enjoy as a reader. Her newer works have left me a little flat simply because they are less my taste than these two books and I hope that in her next series she will return to the tone of The Truth About the Duke.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

All’s Fair in Love and Scandal by Caroline Linden

book review August 11, 2015 Comments: 2

I read Caroline Linden’s best book first. It’s One Night in London from the trilogy “The Truth About the Duke”, but I haven’t gotten around to reviewing it yet, although it is on my “Re-Read and Review List”. (Linden books I have gotten around to reviewing can be found here.) Having enjoyed that first book so much, I bought the trilogy and now everything else she writes, but her most recent efforts took a turn that has left me wanting something more from her. It’s not that the writing went south, I really like Linden, but that she went in a different direction. In that first series the main characters, especially the women, had more grit and in her current Scandal series they are younger and less tried by life and therefore simply less my taste.

From Amazon: Douglas Bennet can’t resist a good wager, especially not one that involves a beautiful woman. When a friend proposes an audacious plan to expose the most notorious woman in England, Douglas agrees at once. After all, it would be quite a coup to discover the true identity of Lady Constance, author of the infamous erotic serial scandalizing the ton, 50 Ways to Sin…Madeline Wilde is used to being pursued. For years she’s cultivated a reputation for being unattainable and mysterious, and for good reason: her livelihood depends on discretion. When Douglas turns his legendary charm on her, she dismisses him as just another rake. But he surprises her—instead of merely trying to seduce her, he becomes her friend…her confidant…and her lover. But can it really lead to happily-ever-after…or are they about to become the biggest scandal London has ever seen?

I liked Douglas, he was charming and Constance provided a nice counterpart to his smooth moves. Of course, I forgot this was a novella while I was reading it and wondered why things were moving so quickly before I clued in and the story ended. Those two events were virtually simultaneous.

As I noted in my review of It Takes a Scandal: Linden’s Scandals series has a running joke about an erotic publication that young women are trying to get their hands on. It’s a monthly pamphlet they must scour the bookstores for and not get caught. Did such a thing really exist? I find it hard to believe and, while I appreciate the effort to bring greater sexual awareness to the inexperienced heroines, ready access to erotica seems extraordinarily unlikely… but I am not a historian so maybe sheltered debutantes were devouring Fanny Hill once their maids braided their hair for sleeping, but I think it unlikely (again, with nothing to go on other than my admittedly vague and now skewed-by-romance understanding of 19th century mores).

I will likely continue to read Caroline Linden’s novels, but not necessarily pay for them, and hope that the next series she writes is closer to my tastes. To be fair, I say the same thing of Tessa Dare at the moment, so let me be clear: It’s not you, dear, wonderful authors, it’s me.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

The Desperate Duchesses Series: Desperate Duchesses, An Affair Before Christmas, Duchess by Night, This Duchess of Mine, A Duke of Her Own, and Three Weeks with Lady X by Eloisa James

book review June 6, 2015 Leave a comment

Tired of waiting for new books from authors on my autobuy list and even more tired of trying random new authors, I waded into the back catalogue of one of the most successful writers in the historical romance genre. Eloisa James has been publishing steadily for sixteen years and my crash course on her novels moves her comfortably to my B+ List. That means I am unlikely to pay for her books, but will read them if they are available at the library, or very cheaply for Kindle. My friend, Rochelle, an avid and long-term romance reader, described them perfectly, “Oooo. I like Eloisa James, but never as much as I feel like I ought to like her,” which is both succinct and accurate. James is a consistently good writer but, while her books are entertaining, they lacked emotional resonance for me. She gives good smolder, she’s witty, and not afraid of hijinks, but I felt no inclination to buy my own copies of these novels. On an up-note, some of these stories are set in the late eighteenth century which is a departure for me. On a down-note, I find the men’s costume of this period off-puttingly effete and the manner in which people flit to France only serves to remind me that their aristocracy had it comin’ and that the English lords could probably have used a housecleaning as well.

Thus far, I have read seven James books and six of them have the word “duke” or “duchess” in the title. Everyone in these books is securely entrenched in their status as titled, deeply monied, or likely both. Given this preponderance, I actually ventured to far off Wikipedia to find out exactly how many dukes there really are in the United Kingdom. It seems they are not so thick on the ground as James’s books would suggest.

The Desperate Duchesses Series:

  1. Desperate Duchesses – below
  2. An Affair Before Christmas – below
  3. Duchess by Night  – below
  4. When the Duke Returns
  5. This Duchess of Mine  – below
  6. A Duke of Her Own – below
  7. Three Weeks with Lady X – below
  8. Four Weeks with the Duke

Desperate Duchesses

In a world in which I am smarter, I would have read this book first instead of last as it lays all of the groundwork for the rest of the series. Lady Roberta has arrived in London looking for a husband – she has one in mind – and throws herself on the hospitality of her cousin umpteen times removed, Jemma, Duchess of Beaumont. Also in residence are Jemma’s estranged but co-habitating spouse; Jemma’s brother Damon, Marquess of something; and Damon’s illegitimate six-year-old son.  Coming and going from the house are men who wish to consort with Jemma including the Duke of Villiers who also has a prominent role in the series and meets his match in book six, A Duke of Her Own.

Desperate Duchesses is somewhat of a farce and kind of comedy of manners with people flirting and consorting, and playing chess which has a strong subtext of consorting and flirting. The love story of Damon and Roberta took a secondary role to the other events. Chapters would go by without a single appearance. It made for a decent read, but not the amount of romance I was looking for, despite all of the wit and repartee on display.

An Affair Before Christmas

This entry into the Desperate Duchesses series made me particularly grateful for my public library as if I had paid for An Affair Before Christmas, I should have been most put out. I read most of the novel, but I admit to skipping swathes of it and I must tell you that in doing so I don’t believe I missed any significant content. The story could have been a slow burn, but instead was a sluggish fizzle. It’s a shame because I actually really liked the main characters, especially the heroine, just not their book.

Poppy and Fletch (as in Duke of Fletcher) fell instantly in love and got married in a rosy glow. Unfortunately, despite their mutual attraction, Poppy’s mother and the way in which she had molded her daughter interfered with Fletch and Poppy’s sex life. Poor Poppy tries to be perfect for everyone around her, but always fails. Fletch is devoted to her, but after several years of marriage he is both worn down and het up enough to seek a mistress. An outburst of frustration from Fletch leads to his abandonment by Poppy and then the inexorably slow pace of their reunion. The novel drags this on and on. Any interesting character development is lost to the “on and on” factor.

The Duke of Villiers’ storyline continues its thread through this novel. It’s interesting, but distracting, and, like the other elements in An Affair Before Christmas moves at a glacial pace.

Duchess by Night 

Harriet, Duchess of Berrow, widowed and bored with behaving herself, sees fit to venture to the endless house party of Lord Justinian (Jem) Strange. Not willing to court the scandal that would result in the discovery of her attendance, she decides to travel disguised as a man. Only her friends and fellow revelers, Leopold, Duke of Villiers and Isidore, Duchess of Something, know the truth. When Villiers encourages their host to make a man of the milquetoast Harriet is pretending to be, hijinks ensue.

Harriet’s manliness lessons – fencing, riding, ale and roast beef for breakfast – are quite entertaining as is the juxtaposition of debauchery and sensible home life that Jem is attempting. He has a daughter he adores, but is raising somewhat ineptly in a salacious atmosphere he is genuinely, but wrong-headedly, doing his best to protect her from. Harriet breaks through the depraved illusion Jem has created and helps him overcome his antipathy towards the aristocracy, or at least against this particular member of it.

I found Duchess by Night very enjoyable when I read it. James’s writing has a kind of elan that creates a breezy atmosphere and often uses witty turns of phrase, but there are no scenes that really stayed with me after I finished the book. “Enjoyable, but not memorable” is the theme of these reviews.

This Duchess of Mine 

I freely admit that This Duchess of Mine never really caught my interest and I read through it quite quickly. If I had read Desperate Duchesses first instead of last, I would have gotten a lot more out of this book. I may need to revisit it.

The Duke and Duchess of Beaumont (Jemma and Elijah) were betrothed by arrangement, married, and quickly, scandalously estranged. Nine years later, Jemma has had a lovely time gallivanting about and creating a naughty, mostly false, reputation for herself. Elijah reappears in her life when it is time for an heir. Jemma is willing to reconcile, but their reunion is complicated by their respective secrets.

My strongest memories of this novel are that there is a lot of chess and that series regular Villiers  makes another memorable appearance. He traipses through several of these books being brilliant and roguish whilst advancing the plot or adding to the merriment.

A Duke of Her Own

Of the six Eloisa James books I have read, this is one I would recommend along with The Duke Is Mine.

Eleanor wanted to be a duchess. Not just any duchess, mind you, she had just the duke in mind. Unfortunately, he married someone else and left her behind. Now there is only one unmarried duke left in all the land, Leopold, Duke of Villiers, and he is a man of well-earned notoriety and spectacular fecundity. Villiers, for his part, has realised it is time to settle down and take care of his family and future. He has two options in the aforementioned Eleanor, and Lisette. The latter is also the daughter of a duke and eccentric in the way that falls short of institutionalization, but requires a close eye be kept on her. Events unfold at Lisette’s family estate as Eleanor and Villiers dance around each other.

Despite being 15 years younger than him, Eleanor is a mature, appropriate, and delightful companion for Villiers. Their love story was very entertaining in a romp sort of way; moreover, waiting for Lisette’s inevitable loss of her sh*t kept a hum of gleeful anticipation going.

Three Weeks with Lady X

At this point, the Desperate Duchesses series jumps ahead about 15 years to a book featuring Villiers’ son Tobias, now inexplicably called “Thorn”, and his efforts to marry a nice lady while counting on his unimpeachable wealth to override his bastardy (which is literal and not metaphorical). To help him in the process, he hires the Regency’s version of a professional organizer and interior designer, Lady Xenobia India. She takes the challenge of making his newly acquired home acceptable to the top drawer, but impecunious, young lady who he has chosen as his potential bride. India puts Thorn’s house and heart in order.

As with the other James books, Three Weeks with Lady X was frequently very funny and not particularly memorable. The leads had great chemistry and bantered well, James even managed a not-terribly-annoying plot moppet and made India’s competition likeable, but I didn’t find myself revisiting any scenes. As with many romance novels, it had a nonsensically condensed timeline which is fine for the falling in love aspects, but the idea of decorating a manor house in three weeks in 1812 strained all of my credulity.

Some story choices in these books were ones I had not seen very much before. James seems to enjoy a protracted estrangement and has no qualms about infidelity therein. I found this honest because I have never, not for one second, bought into the “I kept myself only unto you” trope in books involving healthy people in their prime who are apart for extended periods of time.

I have also reviewed The Duke Is Mine and The Ugly Duchess from James’s Fairy Tale series.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful which includes the aforementioned observations.

The Survivors’ Club: The Proposal and Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh

book review June 2, 2015 Leave a comment

Mary Balogh’s lovely and touching Survivors’ Club series has what I am beginning realise is the central theme of many of her historical romances: Shuttered and broken people finding new lives and unexpected happiness. Who better to be given these second chances than soldiers and those who have seemingly lost everything? Six friends, five military men and one woman, and their host, formed a close relationship while recovering from their experiences in the Napoleonic Wars at Pendarris Hall in Cornwall. Now back out in the world, each book features a group reunion as the six protagonists find love. The stories I have read so far have a sincere sweetness and while the characters have all been through the wringer, the stories are not maudlin and Balogh shows a deft touch in sharing their trials without wallowing in them; moreover, despite the potential for drama, her leads act so consistently as mature adults, even ones befuddled by love’s appearance on their doorstep, that any potentially overwrought elements are managed well.

The Survivors’ Club Series:
The Proposal  (Hugo/Gwen) – pleasant
The Arrangement  (Vincent/Sophia) – very sweet, understated
The Escape (Benedict/Samantha) – meh
Only Enchanting (Flavian/Agnes) – Wonderful, read this one. Read it twice.
Only a Promise  (Ralph/Chloe) – very good
Only a Kiss (Percy/Imogen) – meh
Only Beloved – sweet

The Proposal

One would think that the eponymous proposal would a small element in a book, but this book’s title is pretty accurate as to its content. The main characters, Hugo and Gwen, come from different worlds and this tension, “We can’t, can we? Maybe a little? No, it won’t work, but maybe it will” is central to the story.

Gwendoline is a widow in her early 30s settled down into a quiet, happy life as the family member beloved of adults and children alike. Visiting a recently widowed friend, she falls and is rescued a la movie Willoughby by Hugo, Lord Trentham. Recently “elevated” to the peerage, he was a career military man lauded for his work on the battlefield and, having recovered from his war wounds, looking for a wife. How convenient! As she is hurt, Gwen must stay at the great house of the Duke hosting Hugo and the Survivors’ Club. Hugo and Gwen spend time together and are drawn to each other even as they are reluctant to give up their expectations of what their lives should and will be.

Only Enchanting

Flavian, Viscount Posonby (I know, but he is aware it is an absurd name and comments on it himself.) was left seriously wounded, but visibly unscathed, during his war time experience. He had a brain injury to his language centers and he needed to learn to process and produce language again when brought home. Three years on, he has recovered speech except for an occasional stutter and his memories are largely intact. The latter is hard for him to determine as how can one sort out what one does not know?

At a Survivors’ Club reunion, Flavian is brought together with an unassuming local widow, Agnes Keeping. They are drawn to one another and, even though she feels out of her depth, Agnes agrees to marry the seemingly louche, blond god of a man in one of the few impulsive decisions of her life. When they travel together to London, Flavian’s family, neighbours, and former fiancee are all lying in wait to pounce on him for his hasty marriage. This brings Agnes and her new husband to an instant crisis which they sort through, despite some bumps, in a mostly mature fashion.

The Proposal and Only Enchanting were sweet without being treacly, dramatic in a grounded and unhistrionic fashion, the characters are sensible adults, and the dynamic of the six core characters is a great source of character detail and humour. While I don’t rank the novels as great (though that might change as I adored Flavian), I would say that they are very good and I recommend finding them at your local library.

Update March 1, 2016: Since I have borrowed it again from my library and added it to my Amazon wishlist, I have indeed upgraded Flavian and Agnes’s story to “great”. It is now on  my shortlist list of recommended romances for new readers.

I have reviewed two other books in this series: The Arrangement and The Escape. Balogh has other popular series and her novel Slightly Dangerous is, to my mind, a classic of the genre. Also by Mary Balogh is A Handful of Gold  for which I created a romance review template.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful which includes the aforementioned observations.

The Wedding Journey by Carla Kelly

book review April 14, 2015 Leave a comment

The Wedding Journey is another lovely and highly recommendable Carla Kelly Regency romance about genuinely kind and likable people falling in love against the backdrop of war. I really enjoyed it at the same time as I realised that I have read too many of her novels too close together. All of Kelly’s best elements can be found here, as well as her one besetting sin minor shortcoming.

Profoundly shy, Doctor Jesse Randall has loved Nell Mason for years. She and her family have followed the drum at the behest of her gormless father and working in the hospital tent is Nell’s contribution to their income. In debt to a moustache-twirling bastard of a villain, Nell’s father plans to offer her up in  payment for gambling debts once Nell’s mother – and the protection she affords – is gone. When his long-suffering wife dies, Jesse steps in to marry Nell and prevent her sacrifice on the altar of matrimony, or at least offer a significantly better altar. It is a bittersweet gesture for him given his feelings. The moustache-twirling bastard “accidentally” leaves the medical personnel behind when his troop retreats, so newly wedded and even more recently abandoned, Jesse, Nell, and their small band of misfits make their way through rural Spain back to safety behind British lines. Along the way, they encounter rapscallions, batty aristocrats, and villagers just trying to survive living on an ever-shifting battle front. The moustache-twirling bastard has left damage in his wake that creates even more challenges for the group. Jesse and Nell find time, along with the urgent clarifying reality of their situation, to come together as a couple and in appreciation of each other.

There are two problems with The Wedding Journey. The first is mine as I feel like I have read versions of this book by Kelly already: A nice soldier is thrown together with an unassuming young woman and the two must make their way to a new location. There is nothing wrong with this trope. Nothing. Kelly writes gratifyingly sincere prose without being overly sweet and adds enough danger and harrowing detail to bring everything together well. It’s a great formula and I am not complaining. That would be like saying, “Lisa Kleypas, could you please do something about all those deliciously sardonic men?”, or “Julia Quinn, could you ease up on the wit?”.  Carla Kelly writes a specific kind of romance and she does so beautifully. I just need to stash her books lower on my To Be Read pile.

The second problem with The Wedding Journey, and let me just pause to replace “problem” with “quibble”, is that Carla Kelly might be too nice. She has a tendency to wrap things up very neatly.

“The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means.”

Yes, thank you, Mr. Wilde, I am aware of that, but while I have no objection to moustache-twirling bastards receiving comeuppance, the redemption of others and some deus ex machina Kelly indulges in were over the line. She creates such a convincing and honest world for her characters that it actually works against the story when things are neatly resolved at the end of the book.

Oh, one last thing: I would have liked just a few more pages of epilogue with the characters once they were safe and sound, mostly because I liked them so much that I wanted to have time with them enjoying domestic bliss.

My summary of Carla Kelly’s catalogue can be found here. Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

 

Bar Sinister by Sheila Simonson

book review April 1, 2015 Leave a comment

Short Version: Long on historical, short on romance.

This novel came to me through a recommendation on my list of books sorted by author with a comment from Jorry saying she/he thought someone was missing from my reading list: Sheila Simonson. Always willing to look into a suggestion, I found one of this new-to-me author’s books available on e-loan from my library.

Bar Sinister surely had the most authentic feeling historical elements of any romance I have read. (I say feeling because I am not a historian, just a pretentious reviewer.) I wasn’t expecting any [insert funky bassline here],  but I was disappointed that the two leads were rarely in the same room house town county country. It wasn’t even an epistolary romance, despite letters passing back and forth, and I found myself frustrated that the only time the hero and heroine spent any real time together was in the Epilogue when, spiff-spoff, they decided to marry.

Set during the Napoleonic Wars, Emily, widowed with a four-year-old son, has decided to become a baby farmer to generate income and to provide a larger family for her child. She takes in the baby boy and three-year old daughter of Captain Richard Falk.  Also widowed (widowered?), his Spanish wife has passed away and he has returned to England to place his children in care that is meant to be temporary, but may become permanent depending on his survival in the Wars. He drops the children and the baby’s wet-nurse off with Emily and returns to the Continent.

The portion of the novel in which Richard’s children, Tom and Amy, settle in was very difficult. Amy is a three-year-old which makes her of an age to understand that her Papa has disappeared, but not really why, and she doesn’t speak English, nor Emily Spanish. When the grown ups clue in that Amy thinks her father is dead (like her mother), Emily and Richard start writing letters which include adventure stories Richard incorporates into each missive. The arrangement goes on for years, with Richard making rare, brief appearances between postings and sending letters full of tales for the children.

Richard’s perilous existence is complicated by his parentage. An admitted by-blow, his biological family is divided between wanting him to disappear forever and come for visits. This element is crucial to the plot progression and provides much of the action. While it did create character development, it didn’t add much to the romance element. I wasn’t expecting a lot in that department, or even any smolder full stop, but the characters were too removed from each other to make the ending seem like much more than a marriage of convenience that concluded rather than started the story, despite their protestations of love.

Despite the lack of romance in Bar Sinister, Simonson is a very good writer and I enjoyed the historical immersion feeling of reading her prose. I picked up Lady Elizabeth’s Comet at my library since it is the novel specifically recommended by Jorry. The hero is a supporting character in Bar Sinister and such a charmer that I want to read his story, but it will have to wait as Julie Anne Long has released a new book and that gets priority for now.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner

book review March 25, 2015 Comments: 4

As a romance reader, I rely on recommendations since it’s a genre full of authors of wildly varying quality. Like any other group, there are a few greats that land on one’s autobuy list, then the excellent, very good, reliable, guilty pleasures, desperate measures, and so on. Finding good new-to-me authors always feels like a coup. My romance spirit guide, Malin, has pointed me in many the right direction, as have others. Writer Courtney Milan suggested this author on her blog and who am I to turn down the opportunity for a good book and a good turn bringing attention to a new author.

Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner is set in Lively St. Lemeston and has the most interesting political intrigue of any historical romance I’ve read. It’s not spies or fighting Napoleon, but the prosaic reality of nineteenth century voting rights which create the impetus for the story. Widowed Phoebe is being courted by opposing political parties. She can’t vote (I know), but the man she marries will be able to. Given a sudden motivation for financial security that a husband is her best bet of providing, Phoebe declines, then agrees to politically motivated matchmaking. I have never read anything like that before, have you? Nick Dymond has been charged by his family with finding a suitable partner for Phoebe. The local baker seems a good choice, but he and Phoebe don’t really connect, nor does Nick’s opposition have more luck. Since I have mentioned his name twice now, I am sure you can guess who Phoebe ends up with.

Sweet Disorder had strong historical elements and vocabulary, and I really liked that it felt grounded in believable history. Phoebe is a zaftig heroine which is a bit of a departure and appreciated since many times in romance the heroine is either upset that her lush curves are not the fashion, or that she is slim and therefore doesn’t have much chest, the poor dears. I must admit though that I found myself skimming passages of the book, that the tone was a bit uneven, and I was surprised by the love scene choices. I tried another of Lerner’s books, True Pretenses, and did not finish it. I may try again with another of her novels given that the historical elements are so strong, and, after looking at these two novels, she embraces unconventional heroes and heroines.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

The Bridgertons Series: It’s In His Kiss by Julia Quinn

book review March 24, 2015 Comments: 2

My reviews of the best of Julia Quinn continue with It’s in His Kiss. The penultimate book in the Bridgerton series, if you don’t count the catch-up novella, it has one of my favourite heroines in romance, and the hero is not so bad either. The writing is, as always, deft and witty, and the banter is especially good, even for a Julia Quinn novel.

The youngest child of eight, Hyacinth Bridgerton was born one month after the untimely death of her father. Surrounded by a loving family, she is confident, intelligent, and, to quote those who love her, “diabolical”. No shrinking violet, but not a brat either, Hyacinth has learned to hold her own as the baby of the family and, just maybe, is therefore uncomfortable in situations in which she does not feel in control of her environment. This kind of situation arises in particular when she is faced with an appealing young man who can keep up, or perhaps even challenge her.

Charming, droll, and a bit of a rogue, Gareth St. Clair’s family life is almost the opposite of Hyacinth’s. As he points out, he has but one person in the world to love. Fortunately for him, it is his grandmother, and Quinn fan favourite, Lady Danbury. Terrifyingly direct and more than a bit managing, Lady Danbury is delighted to encourage Gareth’s interest in Hyacinth, especially as the women have in many ways the same personality. Despite but one relation he can rely on, Gareth does have a father and the elder St. Clair not so much twirls his moustache, but pushes every single one of his son’s buttons every time they meet. Gareth is his legitimate heir by law, but not by conception, and his father does what he can to make Gareth’s life miserable, including cutting him off and taking vindictive delight in emptying the family coffers.

Gareth’s ability and joy in stopping the force of nature in her tracks is a delight and, naturally, the main event, but beyond the love story, It’s in His Kiss  is a treasure hunt. When his paternal grandmother’s diary falls into his hands, Gareth asks Hyacinth to translate the Italian and she discovers that the unhappily married woman had stashed a set of jewels somewhere in Gareth’s family home – the one that he was kicked out of years before.They spend their time skulking around Mayfair late at night and falling in love.

The novel has some minor glitches, but the characters are so winning it’s hard to object. Bridgerton series followers have watched Hyacinth grow up and here her bravado and vim are in full flower; having Lady Danbury as a counterpoint is a smart character choice since Hyacinth mirrors her so well.  With an excellent match in Gareth, the reader can be confident that theirs will truly be a marriage of equals and that Gareth and Hyacinth genuinely delight in each other.

A summary of Julia Quinn’s catalogue can be found here. Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

With This Ring by Carla Kelly

book review March 20, 2015 Leave a comment

Here I am with a review of a novel published in 1997, but a good romance remains so and is always worth a look. eBooks are a boon to people looking for stories they would otherwise be unable to get their hands on. With This Ring was recommended by a friend and while it didn’t completely work for me, overall I have found all of Kelly’s Regency romances worth a read, if only for her faith in humanity and a writing style which makes the reader feel settled securely in the story’s time period.

This is the second Carla Kelly book I’ve read, the first being the truly lovely The Lady’s Companion, in which a financially beholden young woman decides to break with her family and Society to strike out on her own. I always enjoy a nice raised middle finger to snobs and convention, but then who doesn’t? After visiting a makeshift military hospital on a lark with her sister, Lydia Perkins goes back day after day to help the wounded as best she can. Lydia finds both a purpose and a kindred spirit in looking after Major Sam Reed’s men. When the Major proposes a marriage of convenience to satisfy a series of outrageous falsehoods about having a wife he has told in his letters home, Lydia is flattered but refuses until her awful mother belittles her for what Lydia decides will be the last time. Running away to quickly marry the still recuperating Sam, the two settle down to get their story straight before facing his familial inquisition.

Because she has been alternately overlooked and demoralized by her family, Lydia may be a good person, but she has no self-confidence. Sam decides, as the reader learns later, that she must learn believe in herself, so he engineers a situation for her to appreciate her own value. I wouldn’t have minded his “stand on your own” hokum, if he had not withheld crucial information which a. created an extremely stressful situation for Lydia, and b. things had not then gone almost perfectly for her. It was all too bibbity-bobbity-boo for me.

Like another Kelly book, The Admiral’s Penniless Bride, I enjoyed most of the novel and was disappointed by the ending. Kelly is one of those authors whose I books I would rather read even with a letdown than forgo altogether. I have worked my way through her highest rated books and will likely make my way through the rest of her Regency romance catalogue as well.

With This Ring did have one shocking element that I want to mention as its inclusion was baffling to me. Sam has told his family that he and his trumped-up wife have a child. To give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative (H/T WS Gilbert), they visit a foundling home and adopt/buy a random baby girl. They purchase an orphan to sell the lie. Granted she’ll have a better life as a result, but they BUY A BABY! I was all astonishment.

My summary of Carla Kelly’s catalogue can be found here. Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.

The Bridgertons Series: Romancing Mr. Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

book review March 19, 2015 Leave a comment

Because starting with the eight book Bridgerton series is what I suggest, other than Courtney Milan, to anyone who wants to try out a historical romance, it seemed like a good idea to provide reviews of her best novels. Herewith are my go-to Julia Quinn review adjectives: light, deft, witty, clever, convivial, bright, romantic. I use them every time I discuss a Quinn book, and, as this review benefits from being of one of her less recent novels, I get to express all of my love and approbation without any of the pesky misgivings her later catalogue brings out.

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton is a wonderful novel about a woman who finds herself with the man she has been in love with for many years. Penelope fell in love with Colin Bridgerton at first sight, Colin takes about a decade plus 200 pages longer, but ends up in the same place.

A protector trapped in a rake’s body, Colin happens to be the best-looking son in a family of handsome men, as well as being incredibly charming, laid-back, and, not to underestimate the power of this, nice. As his sister Eloise’s best friend, Penelope is a frequent visitor to their family home. Colin has been coming and going, traveling the world with the freedom that comes with wealth and a y-chromosome in Regency England. Penelope has been wending her way towards spinsterhood in London, and this time when he comes back something in their relationship shifts. She is a classic wallflower, overlooked and with a wearying family, but a marvelous woman for those paying attention, and mostly satisfied with her life. Her “mostly satisifed” is about to change and she will help Colin with his disgruntlements, too.

Each chapter opens with a gossip article from Bridgerton series fixture Lady Whistledown. Never seen, she has been commenting on London society for a decade. Acerbic, but fair, determining her true identity becomes the crux of the story and the agent of Penelope’s transformation to someone with confidence speaking her mind honestly and without fear. Helped along by series favourite, the redoubtable Lady Danbury, Penelope comes out of her shell and Colin quickly comes to appreciate her. As this is a Quinn novel, their courtship takes the form of simply delightful banter mixed in with growing flashes of attraction and sincere romance. It is such fun and extremely satisfying.

penelope

I will be reviewing Hyacinth Bridgerton’s book next.

A summary of Julia Quinn’s catalogue, including a complete summary of the 8.5 Bridgerton novels, can be found here.

Links to my other reviews can be found on my complete reading list of books sorted by author or Author Commentary & The Tallies Shameful.