Family Guardian (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Surrounded by the most beautiful scents and potions in the world, The Honorable Miss Clarissant Behn toils away, unconcerned with romance. She doesn't spend her days planning a wardrobe for the Season or wonder who she will marry. Against all conventions and Society's rules, Miss Behn spends her days engaged in trade.

If anyone learns that her perfume business is the source of her family's prosperity, the scandal will ruin both her business and her chances of marriage. Years ago she loved her sister's forbidden betrothed, Tristan Apking. But he disappeared five years ago and is presumed dead.

But when Tristan returns to England, alive and mysteriously prosperous, keeping secrets could cost Clarissant his love and possibly their lives. Overcoming his deep sense of loss at her sister's heart seems to be an impossible feat. Juggling everything for everyone else, Clarissant tries to keep the balance while finding love and happiness for herself.

From the Publisher

Winner of the 2006 OKRWA National Readers' Choice Awards for Regency romances.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Avalon Books (August 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803497970
• ISBN-13: 978-0803497979
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,857,953 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Regency Romance, November 16, 2006

By	Barbara Warren - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

At a time when a young lady of society wouldn't dream of going into trade,the Honorable Miss Clarissant Behn has a secret life. People who know her belive she's living on the generosity of her brother-in-law. but in reality, she's running her own private business, a perfume factory. Clarissant distills the fragrances she uses from fresh flowers and makes some of the scents used by the noble ladies who would swoon at the idea of being a woman of business. She supports her family with no help from her brother-in-law or anyone else. If the truth becomes public, she can forget about marriage. No man in her social class would want a wife who was in trade.

Clarissant has another secret. Tristan Apking, who was betrothed to her sister Rowena, left for sea to make his fortune. Rowena, who promised Tristan she would wait forever, married three months later. Five years passed and everyone assumed Tristan was dead. Although Clarissant never told anyone, she has always loved Tristan, even though he never considered her more than just a very good friend. Then Tristan comes home, expecting to find Rowena waiting. To Clarissant's dismay, keeping her secrets becomes even more difficult in the rumors and intrigue swirling around the man she loves.

I fell in love with Georgette Heyer's Regency novels years ago, so Laurie Alice Eakes Family Guardian was a special treat. Her heroine is spunky, self-willed, and loyal. The hero is the kind of man women dream about, and the writer does a good job of capturing the era and pulling the reader into the story. There's romance, humor, and suspense. Family Guardian is Regency at its best.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Original Traditional Regency, October 15, 2006

By	M. Rondeau (West Springfield, MA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Every so often if one is lucky, they will come upon a rare jewel when they least expect it. Finding FAMILY GUARDIAN by Ms. Eakes was one of those lucky finds.

The Honorable Miss Clarissant Behn is much too busy to spend her days in leisurely pursuits like most young women of her class, she's secretly and busily working in trade. Clarissant had been blessed with a `nose' when she accidentally stumbled upon the means to save her family from poverty. For the last three years, through the efforts of her perfumery business she managed to hide from society the source of her family's sudden prosperity. Now her older sister Rowena was insisting it was time for Clarissant to marry but the only man she had ever loved was once her sister's betrothed, Tristan Apking. Unfortunately, Tristan had disappeared six years ago and was presumed dead.

Without any warning Tristan reappeared very much alive, as handsome as ever, and very prosperous. Clarissant was torn between wanting to spare Tristan the heartache of discovering the faithlessness of her sister, as well as hiding her love from the man who would only view her as his little sister.

This was a sweet story with a heroine that will positively steal your heart. Clarissant was a remarkable twenty-three year old young woman who was the family guardian in more ways than one. She was blessed with the `nose' of a perfumer and used it to her advantage in order to save her family. Only a few family members knew of her sacrifices with most thinking that the family's prosperity was at the behest of her elder sister's advantageous marriage. It was a great subterfuge that hid Clarissant's secret and let everyone think what a marvelous person Rowena was. It was also an effective lie that worked well in easing the heartache Clarissant was determined to shield Tristan from should he ever discover that the girl he'd dreamed of as so angelic - selfishlessly marrying to save her family - was really concerned only with saving herself from poverty.

Along with the lovely romance Eakes crafts a well-plotted secondary story of a traitor desperately trying to silence Tristan from revealing him that balanced well in keeping a bit of intrigue while wrapping up the story nicely in revealing Clarissant's secret perfume factory. This was well written, lively and for those traditional Regency die-hards like myself -- one lovely jewel you won't want to miss.

Marilyn Rondeau, RIO - Reviewers International Organization