Dawn T. (dawnkvt) reviewed A Regency Christmas VI (Signet Regency Romance) on + 32 more book reviews
Old English Christmas love stories. Quick reads.
Lil G. (foggydaze) reviewed A Regency Christmas VI (Signet Regency Romance) on + 46 more book reviews
Christmas in Regency England, very warm and romantic.
Collections of short stories can be a mixed bag. Generally, I'm happy to try a couple of new authors to go with favorite authors from the past (that are in the same book). Here are five diverse authors who published this in November 1994. Mary Balogh is a favorite of mine and I recently read a great short story by Emma Lange. I'm not so familiar with the other three authors.
CHRISTMAS MAGIC (Emma Lange) -- 3 stars
Rebecca's early history must have been depressing; she was sold in marriage to a very old man (by her uncaring father with huge gambling debts). After a short marriage to that very loving (but old) man, Rebecca is a widow with a 6-month-old daughter. She's been invited to a country house party for Christmas. Who should she meet but the handsome Earl of Bedford, the same man she was tempted to sin with while visiting in London (with her husband)? She convinced her husband to return home to the country the next day, so she could avoid the very attractive earl. Now the Earl wants answers and a second chance.
The Earl of Bedford was written as too much of a womanizer for me to accept that he'd suddenly changed his stipes to become a devoted, faithful husband. It was just too unlikely to be realistic.
DINNER AT GRILLION'S (Sandra Heath) -- 2 stars
Fleur runs away from her husband, Guy, and back to America because someone told her that her husband had a mistress and two children. Actually, Imogen had hired an actress to fool Fleur. Now Imogen (companion to Aunt Patience, living in the same home with Guy, and the one who had entrapped Guy in her machinations to marry him) almost has her tentacles into Guy.
He has sent a letter to the US telling Fleur that he was divorcing her for abandonment. Fleur, her uncle (and Christopher, Guy and Fleur's baby {that Guy doesn't know about}) decide to return to England.
This story is even worse than the last. This is a totally unrealistic story; utter nonsense.
THE BEST GIFT (Mary Balogh) -- 4 stars
This trope has been done before but Balogh handles it nicely. Jane is not a lady (she obviously was the illegitimate child between a woman and a wealthy man who supported Jane in a school until she was 17). Then she became a (not very appreciated) teacher at the same school. Lord Warren, who doesn't celebrate Christmas, is saddled with his 15-year-old niece for the holidays while her parents go to Italy. He doesn't know what to do with her and asks if there is someone at the school to help him tend to his niece. The only one left is Jane and she accepts his offer.
When Warren gets home, he finds out that his former mistress has died and left him their daughter (4-years-old). Warren is really frightened now. But Jane takes them all in hand and devises the Christmas she's always wanted (but never had). The warm kind of Christmas story readers will enjoy.
CHRISTMAS KNIGHT (Emily Hendrickson) -- 3 stars
Alisandra and her younger, fragile sister, Joan, are willing captives to their baron father, who believes in the 'old ways.' The girls dress in 16th-century clothing. They welcome their brother Thomas and two friends (Sir William and Max) for the Christmas holidays. Alissandra is interested in the stranger Sir William and tries to give him a potion; but it is drunk instead by her old friend, Max. He seems to be paying a great deal of attention to Alisandra and she worries that she has caught him under sneaky circumstances.
This story was so slow-plodding that I almost gave up on it. Average, at best.
IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR (Sheila Walsh) -- 2 stars
Most of these stories are about men and women who have known each other for some time and find they are in love. However, this is one in which a man, Vyvian Tremaine, decides he's in love with an emigre, Mercedes, who is being sold to an earl because her father owes the earl a great deal of money (gaming debts) and the earl promises to return the father to France to be killed (it's the French Revolution and heads are flying off) if Mercedes does not marry the earl.
On the basis of fewer than 3 days, Tremaine decides he must have Mercedes. Also, there were ghost-monks and paranormal interference. Awful.
CHRISTMAS MAGIC (Emma Lange) -- 3 stars
Rebecca's early history must have been depressing; she was sold in marriage to a very old man (by her uncaring father with huge gambling debts). After a short marriage to that very loving (but old) man, Rebecca is a widow with a 6-month-old daughter. She's been invited to a country house party for Christmas. Who should she meet but the handsome Earl of Bedford, the same man she was tempted to sin with while visiting in London (with her husband)? She convinced her husband to return home to the country the next day, so she could avoid the very attractive earl. Now the Earl wants answers and a second chance.
The Earl of Bedford was written as too much of a womanizer for me to accept that he'd suddenly changed his stipes to become a devoted, faithful husband. It was just too unlikely to be realistic.
DINNER AT GRILLION'S (Sandra Heath) -- 2 stars
Fleur runs away from her husband, Guy, and back to America because someone told her that her husband had a mistress and two children. Actually, Imogen had hired an actress to fool Fleur. Now Imogen (companion to Aunt Patience, living in the same home with Guy, and the one who had entrapped Guy in her machinations to marry him) almost has her tentacles into Guy.
He has sent a letter to the US telling Fleur that he was divorcing her for abandonment. Fleur, her uncle (and Christopher, Guy and Fleur's baby {that Guy doesn't know about}) decide to return to England.
This story is even worse than the last. This is a totally unrealistic story; utter nonsense.
THE BEST GIFT (Mary Balogh) -- 4 stars
This trope has been done before but Balogh handles it nicely. Jane is not a lady (she obviously was the illegitimate child between a woman and a wealthy man who supported Jane in a school until she was 17). Then she became a (not very appreciated) teacher at the same school. Lord Warren, who doesn't celebrate Christmas, is saddled with his 15-year-old niece for the holidays while her parents go to Italy. He doesn't know what to do with her and asks if there is someone at the school to help him tend to his niece. The only one left is Jane and she accepts his offer.
When Warren gets home, he finds out that his former mistress has died and left him their daughter (4-years-old). Warren is really frightened now. But Jane takes them all in hand and devises the Christmas she's always wanted (but never had). The warm kind of Christmas story readers will enjoy.
CHRISTMAS KNIGHT (Emily Hendrickson) -- 3 stars
Alisandra and her younger, fragile sister, Joan, are willing captives to their baron father, who believes in the 'old ways.' The girls dress in 16th-century clothing. They welcome their brother Thomas and two friends (Sir William and Max) for the Christmas holidays. Alissandra is interested in the stranger Sir William and tries to give him a potion; but it is drunk instead by her old friend, Max. He seems to be paying a great deal of attention to Alisandra and she worries that she has caught him under sneaky circumstances.
This story was so slow-plodding that I almost gave up on it. Average, at best.
IT CAME UPON A MIDNIGHT CLEAR (Sheila Walsh) -- 2 stars
Most of these stories are about men and women who have known each other for some time and find they are in love. However, this is one in which a man, Vyvian Tremaine, decides he's in love with an emigre, Mercedes, who is being sold to an earl because her father owes the earl a great deal of money (gaming debts) and the earl promises to return the father to France to be killed (it's the French Revolution and heads are flying off) if Mercedes does not marry the earl.
On the basis of fewer than 3 days, Tremaine decides he must have Mercedes. Also, there were ghost-monks and paranormal interference. Awful.
Christmas stories!
