Belle [Mass Market Paperback]

Melanie Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2002

What happens when an elopement goes completely awry? It should have been a simple elopement to Gretna Green, but Fate had other plans. Belle and Stephan were headed to the altar via the scenic route which included highwaymen, cattlethieves, homicidal innkeepers, and one very dogged Bow Street runner.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Belle is a bit of departure from the seriousness of the Jacobite trilogy, but I hope everyone will enjoy this romp through the late regency period.

From the Inside Flap

La Belle Du Jour... With the letter breaking his engagement, Stephan Kirton's hopes for respectability -- and his chance at happiness -- went up in smoke. He supposed it was inevitable; his travels abroad, his "interaction with the lower classes", had put him beyond the scope of polite society. Oh, those and the fact that he was a bastard. He could still find consolation, though. Ormstead Park was a place for dancing and flirting, for drinking and gambling-- and those came before less innocent sports. It was a place where he could find a woman for the night. Instead, she found him... He didn't recognize her at first; real ladies didn't come to Lord Duncan's masked balls, and this young beauty -- as he recalled from his youth -- was just that. Her descent into this netherworld had brought her within reach, yet this was no girl of the day. Annabelle Winston was sublime. And if he had to trick her, bribe her, dare her, or get her drunk... if he had to protect her, server her, save her, whatever -- one way or another he would make an honest woman out of her. And she would make a happy man out of him.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 305 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0843949759
• ISBN-13: 978-0843949759
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,809,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Melanie Jackson is the award-winning author of more than fifty novels, novellas and poems published in various languages. She lives with her writer husband, her bossy cat and spoiled dog in the Sierra foothills where it is almost impossible to grow pumpkins (or anything else the deer like). Besides gardening, she is involved with animal charities.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A WONDERFUL book!, March 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Belle (Mass Market Paperback)

Stephan and Annabelle (Belle) are a delightful couple who are perfect for each other. Stephan realizes this rather quickly, he just has to convince Belle...while avoiding Scottish Reevers and a myriad of other troubles on their way to Gretna Green.

Ms Jackson proves with this book that she can write with a lighter voice and still maintain her beautiful writing style. Readers will connect quickly with this engaging couple and truly enjoy this troubled journey to true love.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars warm historical romance, April 11, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Belle (Mass Market Paperback)

If life was fair and simple, Stephen Kirton would be happily married to a respectable lady. However, as far as Stephen is concerned life is unreasonable and complex so he knows his dream will never happen, as Polite Society will never accept a person born on the wrong side of the sheets let alone his commerce with the "lower classes".

Instead, he seeks a night of revelry at the hedonistic Ormstead Park where he is shocked to see Annabelle Winston, an unattainable fantasy from his less complicated youth. They share drunken kisses at night, but that morning she rejects his proposal of marriage to avoid scandal. BELLE flees, but Stephen follows because he knows she is the one person who could bring happiness into his bleak dismal world.

BELLE is a warm historical romance though readers will wonder if the hero is a Regency adult or a disenchanted 1960s youth failing to score during the summer of Love. Stephen is the duel edge sword of the exciting plot. Readers will either moan along with him as a charmer who deserves the love of a good woman or tell him to get a life. Belle is an intriguing individual whose fall from grace contrasts with her letters to her mother. Melanie Jackson provides a well-written tale, but readers need to decide whether Stephen is an immature whiner or a misfortunate antihero.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what a romp!, April 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Belle (Mass Market Paperback)

Melanie Jackson has fashioned a fun romp, laced with historical detail and a lyrical feel. Stephen and Annabelle fall into each others' arms when they are nothing short of "foxed." Both have been jilted and are looking for what love really means. The opening, where we slowly discover through the characters' own points of view, just how incapacitated they are becoming, is really excellent writing. When they wake the next morning, compromised in reputation, if not in fact, and feeling the worse for wear, the chase begins with each trying to save the other from him or herself. Reavers, poison, and a series of delightful card games where the lovers play for stakes much higher than money, are barriers to their final bliss. But we know they are going to get there. Ms. Jackson has obviously spent time in the English country-side and in some wonderful inns. You can feel the reality of the settings right along with the characters as you join them on their wild ride to love.