My Lady Domino and A Commercial Enterprise (Signet Regency Romance) [Paperback]

Sandra Heath (Author)

Book Description

Series: Signet Regency Romance | Publication Date: December 7, 2004

Two wonderful regencies at one wonderful price

Readers can experience Sandra Heath's "rare talent for crafting unusual but intriguing tales" (Romance Fiction Forum) with two of the award-winning author's stories-together for the first time.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Signet (December 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451213718
• ISBN-13: 978-0451213716
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,144,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Have you ever read a book and wished you could write one too? Have you ever followed someone else's characters and thought you would have them behave differently? Well, that's how I was. I read and read and read, especially historical fiction, but I secretly yearned to write a title of my own. Strangely, it took my three-year-old daughter's urgent admission to hospital with meningitis to finally get me going. She was so ill and I was so distracted, that after a while my father gave me a little portable typewriter 'to help take my mind off things'. By the time my daughter Sarah came out of hospital, well on the road to recovery, my first book was also well on the road.

I wrote and wrote and wrote, standing in the kitchen on one leg like a stork, with the typewriter on a work surface while my daughter played around my feet. My first ten books were medieval historicals set in England, and since then I have mostly written in the English Regency period - for which living in Britain is a definite advantage! I love romantic stories, and if I can weave history, traditions, myths, legends and sometimes Gothic elements into them, I'm happiest of all. These were the sorts of story I couldn't get enough of before I became a writer, and I'm glad to say my readers like them too.

Sandra Heath isn't my only pen name, for you'll also find me as Sandra Wilson, Jeannie Machin and Sarah Stanley. Some of these titles you'll recognize from before, but some you won't. Most of my medievals were written as Sandra Wilson, and as Sarah Stanley I've produced two new sensuous Regencies, STAR-CROSSED SUMMER and MIDWINTER MARRIAGE, which follow the same characters and should be read in the order of the titles. I hope to follow them with two more in the same series, but at the moment I have so much else to write that it may be a little while.

Sooo, over sixty-five books after my first ever title, I'm still wearing out keyboards, and loving every minute of it.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Double the Pleasure -, December 5, 2004

By 

kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lady Domino and A Commercial Enterprise (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

MY LADY DOMINO

Once upon a time, Adele Russell had been the belle of the ball, engaged to David Latimer, with Society's doors thrown open to welcome her. But then, life intervened: David had to make a sudden trip to India, with no time to advise Adele that he still loved her and would return. The letter went astray, and the betrothal was broken.

As if that wasn't enough of a blow, four years later, her father died in disgrace, leaving her nearly destitute and forced to find employment A friend who was a haberdasher was pleased to employ Adele, but her new life style bore little resemblance to the one she had expected to be leading.

Set in Bath, the story is light-hearted yet serious, a reminder to all of us that life can change in the blink of an eye. In spite of hardships, wonderful villains and other traumatic events, all comes right in the end.

A COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE

An unexpected inheritance can open-or close-doors. When Caroline Lexham found herself to be the new owner of an elegant London mansion, she knew it would take a major effort to maintain both herself and her new abode. So, she turned it into a first-class (five-star?) hotel. Her chance to shine in Society's light is a celebratory banquet honoring the Duke of Wellington in the spring of 1818.

It's hardly to be wondered at that a cousin takes exception to this plan, as do several rivals, but Caroline will not easily give up her dream. When Harry Seymour appears on the scene, she knows she's made the right choice.

There is a lot of action in this story, and just enough romance to keep things interesting. How neat to have these two books in one volume. Adele and Caroline would have been great friends, had they ever met. Each of them is true to her own self, while forging ahead in ways new to the times in which they lived, yet never exceeding the boundaries established by society. And in the end, their dreams come true.

As usual in any book by Sandra Heath, the settings, the costumes, the characters, the events depicted are all true to the Regency era. This one provides double the pleasure. Hooray!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars two super Heath novels for price of one!, October 27, 2005

By 

Deborah MacGillivray "Author," (US & UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Lady Domino and A Commercial Enterprise (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

Ah, sigh...such a pleasure to read excellent Multi-POV that lets all the characters of the book come to life. US has this enforced single Point of View thing going the last 10 years. That is fine for those who like it. Guess what not all of us do. I love knowing all the characters in the book and find that missing so much in American writers today. Heath is British and the comforting Brit style of POV usage made me smile. Heath has this down to a pat and it's so enjoyable to read this wonderful style again.

These are two excellent Heath books in one! My Lady Domino finds Miss Adele Russell living in reduced circumstances. She was once the only daughter of a rich Bath banker and engaged to the devilishly handsome David Latimer, Earl of Blaisdon. The evil Duke Bellingham conspired with her father's clerk to rob the bank blind. When her father was ready to expose them, the secretary set a fire and killed her father, destroying her home. Adele was left to deal with the scandal when her father was accused to stealing the money. No one ever stopped to ask where it went. No one listened when she tried to expose the men who killed her father. Especially absent from supporting her in this time of troubles as her fiancé. David Latimer barely had the courtesy to send a dear john note before decamping Bath.

Broken hearted, Adele now lives with her former governess. The governess runs a fashionable store in bath and Adele works there as a clerk. Life goes along well, it rather dull until news that David Latimer has returned. Adele is distress everyone is saying he is going to marry the daughter of the Duke of Bellingham.

As the night of the masquerade at the Bellingham manor arrives, Adele takes the risk. She alters her mother's gown and slips into the mansion, just to live in the manner she once had. David Latimer dances with her, but he doesn't recognize her as his former love. Hurt, she dances with the son of the Duke, which sets off a chain of events that nearly destroys all their lives.

It's a skillfully woven tale, that touches the heart and done with a beautiful use of multiple-POV. Wish American readers would once again embrace this beautiful style. It's just so "full", instead of paint-by-numbers it's a masterpiece of light and shadow.

In the second full book, A Commercial Enterprise, it's about choices within oneself. Caroline Hexham's father was the black sheep of the Hexham family. He was a good man who married for love. As such, Caroline has been shunned by the powerful Hexham family her whole life. She is tried of life as a country mouse, so when her uncle dies, and his solicitor requests Caroline's presence in London, she jumps at the chance. On the journey she travels with Sir Henry Seymour, an aid and spymaster under Wellington.

Caroline is attracted to the handsome man, but has a lot on her plate at the moment. In a fit, her uncle gave the family manor in London to Caroline as long as she meets several stipulations. It's obvious to Caroline, he is being used as a prod against her cousin, but she seizes the chance to turn it into a thriving hotel for the elite.

There is romance abound, a temperamental French cook and a plot to assassinate Wellington. All done with Heaths charm and detailed style.

Two wonderful books for the price of one! A great treat.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved them both, December 29, 2005

By 

DN "Regency Romantic" - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Lady Domino and A Commercial Enterprise (Signet Regency Romance) (Paperback)

This is the first book I've read by the author and I really enjoyed them both. My favorite was My Lady Domino which I didn't want to put down. A Commercial Enterprise was good too but I would probably rate it a 4 instead of a 5. I'm excited to read more books from Heath.