The Revels Continue… by the sea—she hopes to rebuild her life. Lord Gilbert Narron leases a seaside house to hide from his memories of war. Charity’s refuge is Gil’s bolt-hole… but what both are seeking is a home for their hearts.
A Memorable Christmas Season –The last thing Lady Roekirk expects at her Christmas party is a dead traitor in her parlor… or the Crown’s Spymaster helping her hide the body. Thirty years earlier, she’d been forced to wed another and Lord Keyminster became a spy. After this long, does their love stand a chance?
A Perfectly Unforgettable Christmas – Every day, Lucien Rollinsby endures a memory of Christmas Eve. Not even his lovely new neighbor can make him forget that horrible night five years ago. Caroline McAlasdair remembers that Christmas Eve, too. But if Lucien recalls her presence there, it will destroy their only chance at happiness forever.
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Christmas Revels IV : Four Regency Novellas
by: Anna D. Allen, Hannah Meredith, Kate Parker, and Louisa Cornell
I have been a fan of all the Christmas Revel Anthologies. Each year I am surprised by the excellence these authors exude.
Anna Allen captured my heart with her story, The Sergeant’s Christmas Bride. Ms. Allen managed to give her readers a heroine who was both strong and vulnerable. Elizabeth FitzWalter is a woman of courage and determination and Sergeant Jacob Burrows is the hero she doesn’t realize she needs.
After her brother dies she inherits the title and all the burdens and responsibilities that come with it. Jacob is surprised by her proposal but he is determined to live up to what his friend, Matthew FitzWalter would want him to be.
This couple should not be together and yet, they are a perfect fit. A truly beautiful love story.
I have enjoyed reading Ms. Allen’s stories but I feel this has been her best so far. I can hardly wait to see what she writes next year.
Home For Christmas by Hannah Meredith was a fun story of second chances and hope. Charity Fletcher was doomed to be a spinster dependent upon the largesse of her family until a surprise inheritance gave her the prospect of a different future.
When Colonel Lord Gilbert Narron rented a house in the wilds of Bristol he didn’t expect it to already be occupied. The new owner isn’t willing to give up her independence and he is unwilling to leave this temporary haven.
They manage to find a way to share the old house. While Gil devotes time and money into making the much-needed repairs, Charity searches for clues as to why she was named in a stranger’s will.
Adventure and attraction become too great a temptation. Ms. Meredith has us flipping pages to learn whether they allow themselves to be pulled apart or they give into the desires simmering in the fires of winter.
I’ve been a fan of Hannah Meredith’s for several years and she hasn’t let me down. I look forward to Christmas Revels V and whatever else these ladies write.
I was not surprised that Kate Parker’s novella, A Memorable Christmas Season started with a dead body. I was surprised that she had three romances intertwined in this wonderful holiday story.
Like an onion, we peel off another layer to learn the juicy details of this rich romantic mystery. Young love, first love and undying love are all represented. Susanna Dunley is the Dowager Countess but when her first love, Will Marsden the Earl of Keyminster sees her with a dead man in her parlor, she is once again the young girl who loved him.
Will Marsden has spent years as a spy and now he is a master of the art. He knows Susanna is hiding something but he is still willing to risk it all to save her. The story is revealed with seduction and banter as old friends rediscover each other and learn what has led to the murder of a traitor.
A mother’s love, friendship and the power of true love overcome all the evils to bring hope to a new year. Kate Parker is the master of layering plot and character to lead us through the maze to discover the truth of the story. I am a fan of her mysteries, especially her “Deadly Series”.
Louisa Cornell makes me laugh and makes me cry and keeps me turning pages well after my bedtime in her novella, A Perfectly Unforgettable Christmas. Ms. Cornell weaves mystery and romance with the added twist of a great supporting cast.
Viscount Debenwood, Lucien Rollinsby’s butler, Redford and his dog are only outshined by the little girl, Lily who steals his heart (and mine) and brings her mother, Lady Caroline McAlasdair into his seclusion.
Lily is precocious and unable to stay away from the grumpy viscount nor his little dog, Bonaparte. Like her mother, she is able to see the good man hiding in a haze of alcohol and guilt.
Love heals and Caroline McAlasdair has the Midas touch turning even the worst situation into a chance for happiness and beauty. Without even trying, she and her daughter give Lucien new hope but she too holds a secret and it might be the very one to send him over the edge.
This ensemble of rich characters makes the story come alive. I can hardly wait to see what Louisa Cornell does next. I am a fan, I hope I don’t have to wait a whole year to read another of her fabulous stories.
What a wonderful anthology – Four sweet, clean, happy stories with lovely HEA’s. If you want steam, you won’t find it in these stories, but they are very sweet and romantic. I was only familiar with one of the authors, but they were all great, so I’ll be looking for more of their books!
The Sergeant’s Christmas Bride by Anna D. Allen
While the scenario is highly improbable, it was a delightful story. I just loved Jacob. He is one of the sweetest and most caring heroes I’ve read in a long time. Sergeant Jacob Burrows has just returned from fighting in America. He’s tired to the bone and just wants to sleep before he continues on to his destination. He has just bedded down when he’s rudely awakened by someone holding a gun on him. Imagine his surprise when he finds out that the person with the gun is a woman and he’s at his destination.
Elizabeth FitzWalter needs a husband – quickly. She’s a Viscountess in her own right since the death of her very much-loved brother. It is amazing who and what comes out of the woodwork when a female inherits wealth and a title – she needs to avoid all of that. I like her very much. She is brave, intelligent, self-sufficient and loving. What a pair Elizabeth and Jacob make.
Home For Christmas by Hannah Meredith
Charity Fletcher lived her whole life squirreled away at her father’s country estate. She was totally neglected by him. She was lonely, but she didn’t actually realize that. Then, her father, a Baron, dies without leaving her anything at all and she is at the mercy of her cousin, Horace, who inherited. So, imagine her surprise and delight when she receives a bequest of a cottage by the sea and five-thousand pounds from someone she’s never heard of. She packs her belongings and she and her servant, Lucy Dibble, head to their new home. What they find is a shock. The cottage is much larger than Charity expected and is in a sad state of disrepair.
Colonel Lord Gilbert Narron has returned from the wars where he was wounded. His leg pains him horribly and he just needs a place where he can be alone and recuperate. So, he rents a seaside cottage and he and his servant, Sergeant Holly, set out. Finally, after many grueling days of traveling, he finally arrives at the cottage. As he enters the cottage he catches a glimpse of an intruder who is trying to cudgel him. He reacts automatically and punches the culprit. Yes, you guessed it – his attacker was a woman.
It takes Charity several days to recover enough to get out of bed – and by then, Gil has taken over the house, the repairs, hiring servants, etc. He even hired a companion to live with them and told everyone he was her cousin.
It is lovely to watch these two forge a truce and come to work together to solve a mystery. Then, of course, it is also lovely to see them grow to love each other.
I thought the Epilogue was the absolute best part of the book. I love the brothers bantering and seeing their lives several years down the road.
A Memorable Christmas Season by Kate Parker (one of my favorite authors)
I enjoyed this story of second chances, but I really wish it had been longer because a couple of things left me hanging. For instance – Susanna Dunley, Dowager Countess of Roekirk is supposed to be a very sympathetic character and she really is given all she’s been through. However, she had a chance at real love and turned it down. What left me hanging was that the story says she was ‘forced’ for marry Roekirk, however, there was no mention of how or why other than Will had nothing to offer. Say what! So, I liked the hero much more than I liked the heroine.
This story includes murder, a spymaster, blackmail and a traitor – Oh! My!
Will Marsden, newly minted Earl of Keyminster, came from nothing to have the King bestow an earldom on him for services rendered to the crown. Thirty years ago he was totally in love with Susanna only to have her turn him down and marry the Earl of Roekirk. Will was devastated and immediately chose to leave England as a spy and later a diplomat. He was totally surprised when he received an invitation to a Christmas Ball at the new Earl of Roekirk’s home.
When he arrives, it is to be drawn into hiding a body and possibly covering up a murder. Is Susanna a murderer? Will he protect her? Who is the dead man and why was he in Susanna’s home? Will Susanna and Will renew their love and finally get their HEA? You’ll just have to read the story to find out.
A Perfectly Unforgettable Christmas by Louisa Cornell
This was actually my favorite of the four stories!
Wounded in body and spirit during a drunken, midnight carriage race, Lucien Rollinsby, Viscount Debenwood wanted nothing but peace and quiet and to be left alone. Imagine his dismay when he awakens (at three in the afternoon) to the clanging of the gate next door – constantly back and forth accompanied by several loud thumps- and also the screeches of a querulous banshee.
Lady Caroline Chastleton McAlasdair, daughter of a Duke, is dismayed to see that the small, quiet, off-the-beaten-path home that she had asked her brother to find for her stay in London was actually in the middle of Mayfair. She wanted to be obscure so that she could be sure that her father would not learn of her stay in London. He is a selfish, hateful, uncaring, mean-spirited man and she wants nothing to do with him, after all, he forced her into an unwanted marriage when she was only fifteen.
Both Caroline and Lucien have some very deep and dark secrets. They can share those secrets and either ruin their budding relationship or find forgiveness and love. They have much to overcome and it is a lovely thing to watch them grow.
I loved all of the supporting characters in this story, but I particularly liked Lily, Caroline’s daughter. She is a real little hoyden and is delightful. Then, there is the long-suffering Redford, Lucien’s butler. The banter between Lucien and Redford is absolutely priceless
“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”