The Heiress and the Spy by Julia Donner

My Experience:  B-
Synopsis:  Rich widow, Elizabeth Shelton, secretly yearns to break free from the confinements of her placid life. Her late husband died a hero in the Peninsular Wars, leaving her childless and badgered by his greedy parents. Leaping into love and a dangerous scheme to serve king and country had never entered her mind, but she’s unable to resist the impoverished and dashing Lord Asterly when he asks her to become his wife and aid him in intrigue.


A lively, character driven story, with a plausible plot and more than a few surprises along the way. The writing is smooth, there are a few typos or conversion errors, and the transitions were nicely handled.  The pacing in the first 2/3 of the book was perfect; the last 1/3 was rushed and suffered for this. There was just enough character background as the story progressed to feel like I was genuinely getting to know them instead of having their history repetitiously rammed down my throat.

Secondary characters were intriguing, dialog both enjoyable and propelling, sense of time and place well done.  The romance, despite an instant attraction, was given time to develop from interest to friendship then moved along in a way that didn't feel rushed.  The intimate moments were tastefully handled and, considering circumstances, portrayed pretty accurately.  Do not expect a detailed adventure of spy vs spy or mystery to solve; this is, as I said, all about the characters.  Enjoyable enough to prompt me to purchase 3 more of the stories in the series.
 I skipped the first because 'brat stories' just make me want to vomit.

Regency Road Trip, a Novella, by Joyce Harmon

My Experience: B-
Synopsis: After a long absence and a premature declaration of death, Colonel Lord Salford returns from the dead to find his estate in ruins, thanks to his cousin and presumptive heir, a gambler and a scoundrel. In order to protect his estate from future ruin by his corrupt cousin (and avoid a marriage of convenience), the Earl enlists the aid of his friend, retired governess Eliza Merryhew, in a quest to locate a missing heir. 
Miss Merryhew’s former pupil set her up for life, and never has she been more comfortable....or more bored. Years of travel, while often precarious and even dangerous, gave her a taste for adventure, and now she is restless with the sedate gentility of her daily routine. So she is eager to join Lord Salford on his mission. 
To keep their search from public notice, they travel incognito -- Miss Merryhew as a Baron’s widow, and the Earl as her devoted manservant Gervase. 
Together these two will prove you’re never too old for adventure, or for romance.

Part of The Feather to Fly With Series  You don't need to read it first - but you'll want to read it after.

“I’m sure I must have mentioned this before, so perhaps it’s slipped your mind that I did not intentionally get shot in the head.” - The Earl of Salford

No spoilers, you're safe to click

Exceptional Read: Lord Ramsay's Return by Elisabeth Fairchild

I define an Exceptional Read as a well written book that shakes me up, emotionally or mentally. It stops me in my tracks for some reason; challenges me to consider things that really - in my ordinary existence -  make no difference. An Exceptional Read challenges my thoughts, emotions, and spirit. I'm convinced, even if only for the span of the book, it should matter to Every Being in the Universe.  There are qualifiers to exceptional reads.  The label I apply depends on my mental engagement and my emotional response.  Your mileage may vary.

My Experience: A-
Synopsis:  Prudish Prudence Stanhope tests the wisdom of her name seeking to cure headaches with the magical massage of the King’s official “body shampooer.” What she finds in the hands of the notorious Rash Ramsay, just returned from the Orient, is a seductive cure for heartbreak.


As a first experience of Ms. Fairchild's writing I was delightfully intrigued by the sample chapters and totally bowled over by all that followed.  Overall, the story is solid, the pacing excellent, the dialog sumptuously suited to the characters, and atmosphere -- ooh it is luscious.  Secondary characters are well drawn and essential to the tale without stealing the thunder or devolving to cut outs.  Ms. Fairchild's  writing involves all the senses, all of them, wow.  Some readers might find this distracting if they are used to staccato descriptions and rapid fire dialog mingled with introspection all of which seems to have a specific formula based on current marketing trends that I, as a mere reader, have yet to figure out.

[I believe there must be an algebraic equation out there that defines these parameters and many a ragged writer sits at her word processor trying to make the story fit the factors until she decides - screw this, I'm gonna go scrub the toilet]


No spoilers below the cut ...

True Story by Jayne Fresnia

My Experience: B++
Synopsis: Olivia Monday, an impoverished widow, has taken a position as "secretary" to an eccentric, scandalous rake - a divorced man with a brood of eight children and at least two gun-shot wounds. For one year, against the advice of her remaining family members, she agrees to live in his remote Cornish castle and put pen to paper on his behalf. 
Despite everything she's heard about him, she's unafraid. Olivia welcomes the distraction this unusual post will provide— as well as the large fee— because the alternative of relying on relatives to put a roof over her head is intolerable. 
True Deverell has decided it's time to set the record straight. He means to dictate his memoirs to this little widow who, according to the instructions he sent to his solicitor, should merely be plain and have a neat hand. Those are his only requirements. He doesn't want any distractions, has endured his fill of scandal and intends now to leave the "True Story" on paper so that perhaps, one day, people will forgive his mistakes.
But when Mrs. Olivia Monday arrives on his doorstep in her leaky boots and crumpled bonnet, True realizes that perhaps his story isn't over yet. 


I enjoyed the narrative, the dialog, the setting, secondary characters, and even the children.  I especially like the standard tropes uniquely interwoven and the dangling threads ending.  Life is seldom neatly tied up with ribbons and bows, there is always a bit of raveling needing attention. The fact they do not marry at the end - aside from being a come on for the next book - speaks to more historical accuracy than we have enjoyed in a long time.  I was very impressed by the *truth* of the situation, though I know she'll cave in the end to reader demands and the wedding bells will chime.  I'm even pretty sure True will end up a lapdog by the time the series is done, hovering over a pregnant Olivia as she endures the beautiful natural process ... but that is MY cynicism, not a known fact.

The Fellingham Minx: A Regency Novella by Lynn Messina

My Experience: B++++
Synopsis:  Miss Evelyn Fellingham does not need to see the admiration in the Earl of Halsey’s eyes to know she is attractive—most men find her violet eyes and porcelain skin irresistible—but she wants to. Yet every attempt to impress him with her playful wit and lively banter ends in sullen silence, for she is too much in awe of the handsome lord to form a coherent sentence. No doubt he thinks she’s a beautiful ninnyhammer. 
Indeed, that’s exactly what the earl thinks, and he dismisses her as yet another simpering society miss. 
Then an out-of-control hobby-horse in Hyde Park knocks her over in front of everyone, including Halsey. The mortified young lady, her cheek bruised and her dress stained, can barely bring herself to raise her eyes from the ground—which is a shame. For if she did, she might finally see the light of admiration begin to glow in the capricious lord’s eye.


It is difficult to turn the spoiled brat of a previous book into a heroine of another, moreso in a novella.  But Ms. Messina pulls it off.  If I was a better person, I'd applaud this fact but frankly, I wanted more!  Of course, I have said that about all the books she's written and I've read, so maybe I will be forgiven. No, never mind, I don't want to be forgiven, I want to be honest and speak my mind, politely of course.....

Alphabet Regency Classics by Kasey Michaels

I was in the mood for Classics this summer and I indulged fully.  Part of my indulgence was some of the Alphabet Regency Classics by Kasey Michaels.  No, they aren't written in alphabetical order, but the titles are alliteratively amusing.  Originally published in the 80's and early 90's these books would more properly belong on Back in the Day Reviews if they had not been re-issued by the author beginning in 2011.

These books are not only fun, the omniscient narrator is completely charming.  If asked what I miss most about the good ole days, this must be up there in the top ten: a narrator that was a character whispering Great Secrets only the reader was privileged to know.  It was such a brief period (to my aging hindsight) between the inscrutable hero that had no thoughts except those the heroine misinterpreted and the years of romance being all about the lust at first sight that neither hero nor heroine really bothered to control since of course, romance without sex isn't *real*.  Best of all, these books have secondary characters that amuse, annoy and enchant.  I adore heroines and heros that don't exist surrounded by cut outs barely shading their glittering days.

I've listed the title/ pub date/ synopsis of each behind the cut with my comments on the ones I enjoyed the most.  Keep in mind, these are classic/ traditional romances.   The plots are all tweaked with humor, the writing allusion without over-dramatics and the angst so low key you'll need to have a squint to find it.  I have only read one of Ms. Michaels newer books and it wasn't to my taste but when a friend mentioned these I took a chance on Ms. Michaels once again.  I'm so glad I did!

Miss Fellingham's Rebellion by Lynn Messina

My Experience:  A
Synopsis:  Twenty-four-year-old Catherine Fellingham keeps a low profile—in society and in her family. A practical young woman, she leaves the spotlight to her beautiful younger sister and prefers quiet pursuits such as reading. But all that changes the moment she learns of her mother’s very excellent scheme to keep the family out of debtors’ prison. The scatter-brained Lady Fellingham has been selling commissions in the king’s army, and Catherine must shake off her indifference in order to save her family from a potentially ruinous scandal. Lady Arabella, her mother’s partner-in-crime, readily agrees to abandon the plan but only because she finds a more absorbing project: nabbing a husband for Catherine. 

Catherine pays no head to her ladyship’s lavish claim that she’ll have her engaged by the end of the season, but that’s before she overhears Arabella instructing the handsome nonpareil, the Marquess of Deverill, to flirt outrageously with her and bring her into fashion. Mortified, Catherine resolves not to be taken in by the charming marquess's cruel game—and even implements a very excellent scheme of her own. This sensible young lady seems to have everything well in hand. Or is she about to learn that her heart is a great deal less practical than her head?


I *love* late bloomer romances.  Add in a family that excels at unremarkable thoughtlessness, understandable irritability with foibles and I am a happy reader.  Miss Fellingham's Rebellion fit my craving for a fun, sensitive read quite nicely.  The first paragraph of the sample snagged me and I didn't bother to read more just hit "purchase with 1 click."  I was not disappointed.

The Other Harlow Girl by Lynn Messina

Note:  I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
My Experience:  A
Synopsis:  A woman in the British Horticultural Society! The very idea horrifies everyone, including ardent horticulturalist Lavinia Harlow, whose own name has been put forth for membership by the provoking Marquess of Huntly. He does it as a joke, of course, to get back at her for an imagined slight—well, to be fair, she had insulted his writing—and Vinnie, older sister to the infamous Harlow Hoyden, is far too sensible to rise to his ridiculous challenge.

Determined to head off further scandal (her name has already been recorded in the betting book at Brooks's!), Vinnie dashes off a polite note refusing the honor—which she has every intention of sending. Really. Only she can't help but chafe at the way everyone keeps demanding that she decline at once, even the marquess. Oh, especially the marquess, whose perfection she finds intolerable. Who ever heard of a gentleman being so handsome and so intelligent and so well informed about foreign flora? Clearly, the man needs to be taken down a peg, and somehow, despite all twenty-four years of faultless propriety, Vinnie is just the hoyden to do it.

I enthusiastically recommend this book both as a follow up to The Harlow Hoyden and even as a stand alone.  You do not need to read the first to appreciate the second but you’ll want to.  Definitely a Keeper.

But first, I must confess....

The Harlow Hoyden by Lynn Messina

Note:  I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My Experience:  B
Synopsis:  Miss Emma Harlow hasn’t earned the reputation as a hoyden for nothing, so when the Duke of Trent discovers her in his conservatory stealing one of his orchids, he’s isn’t surprised—charmed, delighted and puzzled, yes, but not surprised. It is Emma who is amazed. She has naturally concluded that the man reading in the conservatory must be the country cousin (who else in London would actually read?) and is quite vexed to discover that he is the Duke of Trent himself—imagine, stealing the duke’s prize Rhyncholaelia digbyana under his very nose! 
But her vexation doesn’t last long. For Emma is a practical young lady with a mission: to end her dear sister Lavinia’s engagement to the villainous (and dreadfully dull!) Sir Waldo Windbourne, and she thinks that the famous libertine is just the man for the job. If he would only seduce her sister away from Sir Waldo…. Well, not seduce exactly, but flirt mercilessly and engage her interest. Perhaps then Lavinia would jilt the baron. The Duke of Trent is resistant, of course. Despite his reputation, he does not toy with the affections of innocents. And besides, it’s not her sister he longs to seduce.


"Oh, what good is a libertine if he won't toy with your sister's affections and then ruthlessly drop her!" ... "I'm a bachelor, not a libertine." And so begins the Regency romp of the Harlow Hoyden, Miss Emma Harlow, and her Most Trusted Ally, Alexander, the Duke of Trent. Yes, it's another tale of twins but our author boldly proclaims her usage of the current cliché with a dollop of comfort that made me laugh out loud. "Don't look so horrified, my dear. Lavinia and I are twins. What good is an adventure about twins without a case of mistaken identity?"