3.5 stars Miss Elise Fountain used to be a teacher at the school for wayward girls in Pennyroyal Green, but was fired after she spoke inappropriately to one of the patrons. Now she’s managed to get a recommendation from the powerful Redmond family and is desperate to secure a position as housekeeper to the formidable Lord Philippe Lavay, an exiled Bourbon prince recovering from a near-fatal robbery in the village. He gives her a two week trial, expecting she will be gone before one has […]
What makes a ‘perfect soldier’, and how does that translate into a ‘marriageable man’?
I don’t know how popular author Grace Burrowes is – I’ve heard her name a few times on book sites, but I don’t get the impression that she’s a well-known, go-to regency author, and – if The Soldier is anything to go by – that’s a damned shame. Because what struck me about this book, which deals with a lot of heavy things (most notably a soldier with very definite PTSD symptoms and both a heroine and a young girl who are trying to pick […]
A historical romance with melodrama
3.5 stars Sir Richard Kenworthy has less than a month to find a bride, and secure her hand in marriage. She can’t really be an heiress or a diamond of the first water, because it’s really quite imperative that she accept his proposal, no matter what. When he spots Miss Iris Smythe-Smith suffering behind her cello at her family’s infamous annual musicale, he is intrigued. Very blond and pale-skinned, she should be unremarkable, but she’s clearly good at playing her instrument, which can’t be said […]
A historical romance with wedding planning…and lots of cake
For eight long years, Miss Clio Whitmore has been waiting for her betrothed, Piers Brandon, now the Marquess of Granville to stop travelling the globe and avoiding her. They’ve barely seen each other since they got engaged, and Piers has never even kissed her. Then there’s the fact that Clio’s frighteningly ambitious mother did everything in her power to make sure Clio was the perfect Marchioness and diplomat’s wife, making sure that her entire life was a training exercise, to the point of starving her […]
A historical romance with abductions and a drafty castle
Taran Ferguson has decided that if left to their own devices, his two nephews are never going to get their act together and find suitable brides. So just before Christmas, he takes matters into his own hands, rallies his faithful retainers, rides over to the neighbouring estate where there is a house party at present and kidnaps the three likeliest young women. Only because it’s dark and things got rather confusing, they end up with four ladies and one really rather pissed off Duke, who […]
A YA historical romance you’d be better off skipping
2.5 stars Lady Alexandra Stafford is the only daughter of some nobleman or other (I can’t be bothered to go back and check what her exact rank is). She has several tall and attractive brothers who delight in teasing her and generally try their best not to have to accompany her to society events during her first Season. She also has two best friends, Ella and Vivi. They were fairly interchangeable. All three are opinionated, bookish, not really all that interested in marriage and have […]