Customer Reviews

A Homespun Regency Christmas

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was very disappointed when I discovered that all the stories in this book were published in previous Signet Regency Christmas anthologies. I have them all from the very beginning and re-read most of them every Christmas. I was excited when I saw this advertised. I checked the copyright date -- 2008. Well this particular combination may be 2008, but none of the individual stories are. If you have the whole collection skip this one because you already have them. If you didn't buy them all, or you didn't keep them and would like to re-read them then you might feel it would be worth it as they are good stories.

Okay, it's my fault for not reading the fine print. I read everything Carla Kelly writes and was very happy to see a Christmas anthology coming out. When I eagerly opened it, of course I realized it was a previously published novella from The Christmas Present. For now, I'm giving it a three star just because I feel ripped off. I still love Carla just as much, of course, but darn!

I LOVE Christmas anthologies and I also was excited to see that there might be a new one. I think they no longer bring those anthologies out anymore.
Anyway - a rip off. Old stories. I have them all and I read them every year. Know them all.
Dont cheat people why dont you just contract for new ones?

I, too, looked forward to this book and when I pre-ordered it, there was no indication that all of these were recycled stories. And, when you actually look at the book, the copyright dates for the individual novellas are given on a page at THE BACK of the book - now that's what I call sneaky! I am giving this two stars only because I wish to warn others - it's not a comment on the content which is fine - it includes the wonderful Carla Kelly even if I've read it before. Please, publishers, stop doing this. Why not commission some new work - there are lots of trad-regency fans who would adore to have a new regency Christmas anthology.

I, too, am sick of having to look everywhere on a site to find if stories have been printed previously, especially when they turn out to be ones I've read before. (As I recall, when I first saw the paperback site months ago there was no mention about "previously published"; that fact was added later from the Kindle site.)

This is the only book I've ever returned to Amazon because even though the shipping cost me a good percent of the price, I was so angry that I didn't even want to have it around. Since Christmas short stories seem to be the most prone to "recycling", I plan to NOT buy any again without first seeing the book in person. Not a good way to sell books, Amazon!!

These stories all seemed to be repeats of ones I've read in the past, or at least forgettable. Not awful, just not really worth it.

Not only did I get caught buying this re-issue of an anthology I'd already read, but I also got caught buying the re-issue of Diane Farr's ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS. Also by published by Signet, I might add. Buyer beware.

My rating is not based on the fact that I'm angry at Signet (which I am), but on the stories which are nice and entertaining--for those reading them for the first time. Nothing outstanding, but worth reading once, and a nice seasonal escape from the Christmas rush.

A Homespun Regency Christmas is an anthology. I was hesitant to pick it up since I was burned* by the last anthology that I read. I really wanted to get in the Christmas spirit and hadn't been disappointed by a Signet Regency yet, so I bit the bullet. I STILL haven't been disappointed. =) Each story is around 70 pages. I'll review them in the order they appear in the book.

An Object of Charity by Carla Kelly - "A lonely naval hero assumes the responsibility if an orphaned brother and sister -- and discovers unexpected salvation in the young girl's giving heart." Captain Michael Lynch has lost this first mate, David Partlow, in a terrible accident at sea. Sally Partlow and her younger brother, Thomas (niece and nephew to David) have lost their father and have traveled from the Highlands of Scotland to Portsmouth, England to enter their Uncle David's care.

The Wexford Carol by Emma Jensen - "An enterprising woman throws a party to save her family home from being razed -- only to fall for the seemingly coldhearted man behind the demolition." Set in Ireland, this is the story of Elizabeth Fitzhollis, her family home and Captain Lord Rhys Edward-Jones. The premise is a bit convoluted, but it all comes together at the end. At the end there is a letter that was written before the actual story starts that explains the confusing bits.

Mistletoe and Folly by Sandra Heath - "A nobleman crosses paths with the young woman who years before broke his heart when she married a wealthier man." Another set in England. The story of Sir Richard Curzon and his past love Mrs Robert Beaumont (formerly Miss Diana Laverick). There is an element of intruige added to the mix in this story. This is the only one without a (current or former) captain of a ship. Still really interesting.

Upon a Midnight Clear by Amanda McCabe - "A moonlight encounter unexpectedly changes the lives of an emotionally scarred sea captain and the daughter of a freed slave." I'm not sure why, but this one was by far my favorite of the 4 (they are all good though). Maybe it's how much these people are so sad, so desperate for comfort. Both Antoinette Duvall and Mark Payne think they are settled and 'happy' in their lives, but really each needs something more. Something to, for lack of a better phrase, complete them.

Carla Kelly's "An Object Of Charity", included in "A Homespun Regency Christmas", should have been written only after she'd read a few books by C. S, Forester (Horatio Hornblower). Dudley Pope, (Ramage), Patrick O'Brian, (Aubrey/Maturin), or Alexander Kent, (Richard and Adam Bolitho). They were written by sailors and/or scholars who had access to Great Britain's Naval chronicles of the period in question.

Then, she might not have incorrectly described absolutely everything about life in the British Navy, for midshipmen to captains, during the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815).

The first thing that any British ship's captain did when he got into port after leaving the British blockade of France, was to take his ship's books, and a bundle of blockade admiral's dispatches, to the port Admiralty office. Since the captain in this book landed at Spithead, that was the London Admiralty, which was the biggest business operation in Great Britain at that time.

Weevils don't crunch when you bite them. They're soft, and taste cold.

On blockade duty, only scoundrels and martinets used four-on, four-off duty rosters. It was normal to use the three-watch system, so that everyone could get a full night's sleep. Otherwise sailors only got 14" of headroom in which to sling hammocks when they slept.

Captains were never responsible to stand watch as described here, year after year. Sailors, lieutenants, and midshipmen stood watch at night. Captains usually awoke for a minute or two when ship's bells were rung during the night. Sensing nothing out of the ordinary, they'd go right back to sleep.

Post captains commanded frigates, so no landlady would have called Captain Michael Lynch "Commander". Even commanders of brigs or sloops of war were called "Captain", by everyone, except by admirals.

A captain who would become an admiral in time might quit; but only if he inherited an estate or a peerage.

An heir to an estate would never doom himself and his family to a lower class life or to outright poverty, by both quitting his Navy position and rank, and signing away his rights to his future inheritance. These actions wouldn't be considered by anyone in a Britain dominated by position, place in society, and monied inheritances, unless they were someone who was no better than a Bedlamite!

Only the young and the poor with no position or ties to which would give them a way to earn a living or inherit one in Britain, or businessmen or shipowners with offices on both sides of the Atlantic, would have thought of moving to America at that time.

A British captain at that time would never have thought of emigrating to America as it was in a state of belligerency as quasi-enemies of both the French and the British at that time. The War of 1812-1814, near the end of the blockade of France, was a final boil-up of the running arguments between the US and Britain that had been going on all during the Napoleonic wars.