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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
terrific Regency romance anthology, January 6, 2007
"Ten Reasons to Stay" by Sabrina Jeffries. Students are leaving Mrs. Harris's School for Young Ladies to go home for the Yuletide holidays. However, not all want to go home as Eliza Crenshawe knows awaiting her there is her odious Uncle Silas who plans to wed her to Minyard, a sot like he is. Eliza tries to steal a horse from Earl Colin Hunt, used to the balmy weather of his native India, but he catches her.
"After Midnight" by Liz Carlyle. Out of guilt, her uncle Lord Rothewell sent Martinique, a courtesan's daughter, from her West Indies home to attend Mrs. Harris' school. However, the female hellion knows no one wants her in England or the Caribbean, but goes to the Rothewell home for the holidays. Rakish guest Lord St. Vrain mistakenly enters her room, but instead of screaming, she welcomes the rogue.
"The Merchant's Gift" by Julia London. In Leeds, Grace Holcomb, the daughter of a wealthy wool merchant, has high expectations to marry amongst the bluest of the bluebloods. However, to her chagrin she is attracted to a non titled nobody Barrett Adlaine when she has Lord Middleton in her greedy grasp.
"Mischief's Holiday" by Renee Bernard. No matter how hard she tries to stay out of mischief, Alyssa Martin always ends up in trouble. She vows to end these escapades because she feels if she fails to do so, logical businessman Leland Yates will only notice her as a pest not his loving wife.
The Mrs. Harris' novels (see NEVER SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL) are always fun to read and this four novella anthology affirms that belief, as each entry is a terrific Regency romance starring likable lead characters.
Harriet Klausner
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Vastly different writing styles of four authors ultimately brings this one down, December 30, 2006
Ten Reasons to Stay -Sabrina Jeffries
One night, the newly minted Earl of Montieth, Colin Hunt stumbles upon a horse thief. Eager to defend his property, he captures the thief easily and is shocked to discover that it is in fact a young woman. Desperate not to reveal her circumstances that forced her to 'borrow' his horse in an attempt to flee to London, Miss Eliza Crenshawe commences a battle of wits with the Earl, trying to prevent him from learning the truth of her identity. For surely he would send her back to her drunken uncle. But Colin is not easily swayed by the sharped tongued beauty and when he finally learns her circumstances -he doesn't believe her! Desperate for his aid, Eliza offers him a 'trade' of sorts; getting her to London in exchange for ~pleasuring~ him.
****4 STARS- Jeffries story is definitely the best of the bunch. Matching saucy and uninhibited (for a virgin that is) Eliza with the jaded and guarded Colin is a hoot. Eliza matches wits with the Earl and creates a palpable sexual tension, especially when she finds his erotic indian prints ;). And the 'ten reasons to stay'?, well lets just say that fans of Jeffries steamy writing style won't be dissapointed.
After Midnight -Liz Carlyle
Miss Martinique Neville, resident hellion of the school of heiresses, is given a her last lesson on the day of her departure -learn to value yourself. Her whole world turns upside down when during a simple country furlough, before entering London society, she is caught in a compromising position and is forced into a betrothal with the scandalous Lord St. Vrain. Neither wants marriage. His past still haunts him (as well as shuns him in most of decent society) and her heritage is not exactly one would expect to find in a lady. So they form a pack to pretend to accept the betrothal until the scandal passes. Only then do things take a turn when they fall in love with eachother and neither is willing to let go.
*1 STAR- Yeah it was that bad! No likeable characters whatsoever. And please, please don't have the hero *canoodling* with someone other than the heroine and then expect me to like him later -UGH! And the heroine? I'm sorry, virgin teenagers don't talk like 40yr old experienced women, even with a french accent. Don't get me started on the cold hearted family (who's explanations didn't pacify me at all). A semi-depressing story that really never recovers. Skip this one.
The Merchant's Gift -Julia London
Miss Grace Holcomb, a pretty heiress from Leeds, had anything and everything a titled gentleman suitor could want in a wife; poise, grace and training from the exclusive school for heiress, except for the fact that her family attained their wealth from <GASP!> TRADE! And sheep trade unfortunately, which caused a bevy of snide remarks behind the poor girls back and led to several unsuccessful seasons. Now home again with her family until the new season starts, she meets again her childhood crush Mr. Barret Adlaine, who tempts her in ways she'd rather not think about. After all, as a man in trade, he is wholly inappropriate according to her father's (who is determined for a titled match) standards. But that doesn't stop their little run-ins and when Grace returns to London and finds a real titled suitor she must decide between matters of the heart and matters of the family.
****4 STARS. Great underdog story. Plenty of sexual tension, Barret really goes out of his way to court Grace and his gifts are very touching. The only part I didn't like was that Grace was a bit too cruel/mean to him. Over and over she reminded him of what his station in life was and what was expected of her. But the author sort of made up for it in the end with a grand romantic gesture -done by the heroine surprisingly!
Mischief's Holiday -Renee Bernard
Surviving the holidays without incident proved too difficult a task for the accident prone Aylssa Martin. Disaster seemed to follow her everywhere she went, even home to a small gathering of her beloved father's friends for the holidays. Only the sinfully handsome guest Mr. Leland Yates would'nt mock her when she tumbled into the mud or snicker when embarrassing childhood stories where repeated. But what were her chances with him? Especially when her beautiful cousin Violet arrived?
****3 stars. I liked this one? Don't know, but its a cute story. Alyssa's bumbling was funny, but some of the guests comments were cruel. The story strangely lacked steamy love scenes compared to the others in this anthology. And the ending was kind of abrupt, your kind of left hanging -with your own imagination to fill in the gaps. Just kind of bland really.
These four stories were supposed to flow well together but didn't. The writing styles of these authors are way too different and ultimately brought down the whole anthology for me. A disappointment really considering that each can write full novels very well. I guess they should just stick to those.
For some really well matched stories in an anthology, check out Lady Whisteldown Strikes Back and The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
2 out of 4 stories were good!, November 12, 2009
With the grand exception of Renee Bernard, I have read (and enjoyed) books by the three 'known' authors. A quick search on google, amazon and fantastic fiction (a wonderful site I urge everyone to go to) showed that Miss Bernard hasn't had a new book published in quite a while (nor does there seem to be another mentioned...but she admits to being a bad blogger so maybe that's why there's no info?). The three she has out (part of the 'Mistress Trilogy') I've never heard of nor read, so this was my only sampling of her work.
"Ten Reasons To Stay" is a continuation to a subplot in Only a Duke Will Do. In Duke Simon mentions wanting to help his half-indian cousin reclaim his rightful inheritance as the Earl of Monteith and by the end of the book has helped to find evidence for that. Ten Reasons picks up a few months or so after that when Colin has just moved in and trouble besets him. From the way Colin was described in Duke I had expected someone...less brash? Less intimidating?...and was pleasantly surprised by the rather piratical Colin Hunt. The story is quick and has more plot conveniences then in the other Heiress titles--but its a short story so that's forgivable. I liked Colin a lot and I mostly liked Eliza. She was very ready to jump to conclusions, so that kind of grated on me. I guess only Eliza's Uncle Silas can really be considered as another character since he has the third most lines...our of four characters who talk, probably deserved less latitude then Eliza gave him. He was damned lucky. I would have tarred, feathered and sent him ot Newgate previous affection or not.
No familiar faces pop up, but Louisa, Simon and Mrs. Harris are all mentioned. I found it amusing that the original creator of the Heiress books used none of her own creations in the story while the other authors felt free to.
"After Midnight" is like viewing a courtship in reverse. Martinique (who's name gives me issues to keep typing) is feisty, playful and both very aware of her good looks and not really aware of why she is sought after (she assumes because of her money, which I guess helps). Justin, St. Vrain, is a little off-putting at first, through no real fault of his own, but is charming quick enough. He honestly doesn't mean to be quite as disreputable as his reputation makes him out--yes he ran off with his stepmother, yes he likes to bed women, but when push came to shove he genuinely wanted to do the right and honorable thing by Martinique. Martinique however, was a different story. If I ignore the somewhat cliche sex scenes (though interestingly its really a role reversal--Justin is saying 'No, let's make this honorable!' and Martinique is saying 'Let's just go make love--no strings attached!') I quite enjoy the story itself. Reading as Justin does everything in his power short of kidnapping Martinique to agree to make an honorable man out of him was really fun.
Martinique was a vixen--she wasn't above blackmailing Justin into coming to her bed and she doesn't deny their attractive to each other. I wish there had been more about why her Uncle was such an odd duck in regards to her--some explanation was given, but there still lacked a sufficient motivation honestly--but was content enough. It was a short story, so of course surrounding characters were given less attention then our central two.
"The Merchant's Gift" Oh I wanted to slap Grace until she begged for mercy. Arrogant! I felt so bad for poor Barrett. Grace didn't mean anything malicious by her actions or words, but she didn't give any thought to them either. She was such a puppet of her family's expectations (or at least her father's expectations) that it was a little hard to stay mad at her for long though. Barrett was beyond understanding in my opinion--the man deserved a medal for his patience. Other then minor irration over Grace's thoughtlessness I didn't give the story too much thought otherwise. It was good, but perhaps needed a longer format.
"Mischief's Holiday" This kind of stood out from the other three stories. I can't really tell if its because I was not used to Bernard's writing style, or if it was really just so different. In all honesty I was rather indifferent to the characters and final outcome. I felt bad for Alyssa, because she really does have a lot of extraordinary circumstances, but that's all. I really liked the letter at the end though, from Alyssa to Mrs. Harris detailing all that transpired during her holiday. That was cute and funny.
So overall I enjoyed half the book's stories. I think that both the end stories would have been more interesting given more space and fleshing out--certainly Julia London's story was fun, but suffered from making Grace look like such an arrogant priss I couldn't understand her sudden turn around.
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