Customer Reviews

Regency Holiday

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I picked this book up on a whim...I like regencies and especially Christmas anthologies, but I had heard of only two and read only one of the authors. Three of the tales are light and amusing...two are shining stars. Judith Nelson's "Christmas at Wickly" and Martha Power's "The Kissing Bough" are heart-warming tales of the beauty of love and the power of Christmas. These two stories alone make this a 5-star book and are worth the price and effort to find a copy.

I originally read this collection of holiday Regency love stories years ago when I borrowed it from my local library branch. I enjoyed it so much that it was with great reluctance (and moral integrity) I returned it to the library. I now have my own copy thanks to Amazon's used bookseller program. An enjoyable read ANY time of the year.

This collection contains 5 stories:
1. The Girl with the Airs, by Elizabeth Mansfield
A beautiful proud bluestocking, Caroline Wolcott, reluctantly falls in love with the Corinthian set scot Lord Dunvegan, George David McAusland (Geordie) at his aunt's Christmas party at Teale Court.

Geordie, sent to Oxford and London by his father 6 years ago to get some town bronze, is longing to return to his beloved home Kincardine for Christmas after being banished for 6 long years. However his father has written to his Aunt Teale asking her to find an English bride for Geordie just as she did for him many years ago before allowing Geordie to return to Scotland. His aunt has chosen Caroline Wolcott for Geordie, not knowing that they have met once before in London and dislike each other. Geordie's previous picque soon turns to love but Caroline continues to remain disdainful.

Rating 5 Stars: My husband is part scots so I have, since marrying, become enchanted with things scottish. It is the character of the lovable scotsman Geordie (his delightful on again, off again, scots brogue) that make this story charming.

2.Proof of the Pudding, by Monette Cummings
Deryk Richardson has loved the beautiful Christine Douglas (of a neighboring estate) since they were children. Her ambitious aunt, Lady Cora Douglas, convinces her selfish husband and Christine's uncle and guardian, Sir Matthew Douglas, to send Christine for a season in London before agreeing to the betrothal of Deryk and Christine.

In London, the captain sharp, Virgil Clive, a nephew to an earl (but not in line for the earldom), becomes fixated with the heiress Christine. Despite her obvious disdain (Virgil is too puffed up in himself to realize that he really is a nasty & totally unlikeable person), Virgil devises a scheme to use her uncle Matthew's selfishness and an ancient silver drachma coin (won by cheating in a card game) to gain agreement of a betrothal of himself to Christine instead of her beau Deryk.

Rating 2 Stars: This story is more about the vile Virgil's efforts to wed Christine against her will than about Christine and Deryk. The villian in this story occupies more pages than anyone else. I found the prolonged wallowing in the antics of Virgil distasteful (both literally and figuratively). Lady Cora and Sir Matthew are both mildly unpleasant too.

3. A Christmas Spirit, by Sarah Eagle
The scholarly Ian Fitzwalter has unexpectedly ascended to the title of Earl of Denham. His new duties to family and estate sit uneasily on Ian's shoulders. The ghost of Denham Abbey, Sir Lancelot FitzWalter, has been charged through eternity of finding just the right bride for each unmarried Earl of Denham.

The ghostly Sir Lancelot misdirects Miss Serena Dodd's coach, lost in a snowstorm on its way to Oxford for Christmas with her family, to Denham instead. Serena had a school girl's crush on Ian when he was a young lad in Oxford studying with her father, a tutor. It's been years since she has seen him and she hopes he does not remember her and her foolish crush.

Sir Lancelot is enchanted with Serena. He now must work on getting Ian to become enchanted with her too.

Rating 4 Stars: Serena, Ian, and some of the other characters (including the ghostly Sir Lancelot) make for an enchanting story.

4. Christmas at Wickly, by Judith Nelson
Edward, the Earl of Wickham, hopes to spend some time by himself at Wickly. He has unexpectedly become Earl after the death of older brother. He has spent years in India earning his own fortune, since as the younger son, he had nothing due to the entail.

His Grandmother, the Dowager Countess Wickham, without prior approval of Edward (who did not stop to visit her when he returned from India), has invited members of the ton, especially beautiful young debutantes, to a Christmas party at Wickly. She has brought along with her the resourceful Miss Cassandra Worthington, grandaughter of her best friend when a debutante herself, to help her ready Wickly for the Christmas party.

Cassandra is a down to earth, calm, spinster of 28, with a sense of humor and an eye for the ridiculous. She has been caring for her sister-in-law Alicia and niece Leticia when they were left in dire straits 10 years ago when Cassandra's brother Richard died unexpectedly.

As Cassandra works on readying Wickly for the Christmas party, Edward, the Earl, finds himself drawn to her despite her assurance that she is not one of the ladies his grandmother had in mind for him as a wife. Her skill at making Wickly beautiful for Christmas, her horsemanship, her unconventional reading habits, her calm good sense, her wit, her humorous outlook on life, her lovely natural singing voice, as well as her excellent chess playing skills, all endear her to Edward. He falls in love with her. However Cassandra turns skittish and begins to avoid him for she has responsibilties -- she must care for her sister-in-law and niece who are sweet but bumble headed.

Edward's Grandmother is determined that somehow her Grandson Edward will marry Cassandra.

Rating 5+ Stars: I love this story. For this story alone the book is worth buying. I hope you will love it as much as I do. Edward, Cassandra, and his Grandmother are all characters I enjoyed reading about. Mostly humorous and witty, this story made me a little misty eyed toward the end.

5.The Kissing Bough, by Martha Powers
Gillian Foster is the hoyendish daughter of Professor Ethan Foster. He owns a small estate near the Earl of Elmore's estate, Maynard. As a young girl, Gillian first meets Chadwicke (Chad) Kendale, the heir, in a barn when she saves him from a beating by the town bully, Lester, by pelting Lester with apples she has been collecting for a kissing bough for her father. Besides the prologue, each of the 5 chapters is named for the kisses exchanged by Gillian and Chad over the years: The First Kiss, the Second Kiss, etc.

Is there any hope that the daughter of a professor with a very small estate would be thought worthy by Chad (whom she loves) to be his countess? Each chapter is a peek at them as they grow up to be man and woman.

Rating 5+ Stars: Another wonderful Christmas story. Excellent. This one had me weeping sentimentally near the end. Another story I hope you will enjoy as much as I did and another one that is worth the price of the whole book. All characters (except for the very brief parts of Lester, the bully, and Edwina, Edward's one time fiancee) are likeable, even lovable.

Overall, probably the best collection of Regency Christmas stories ever published.