The second book in the Jasmine Cottage Victorian Romance series follows Grace Moore as she matches wits with writer Carter Beckett, the Earl of Wainwright.Grace Moore has avidly followed the career of Carter Beckett, who pens pieces for a London newspaper. Never shy to contradict him, she has sent him several letters about his work. What she didn’t expect was for the man himself to visit the … visit the country not far from where she lives, even more handsome in real life than his pen and ink picture in the paper.
Carter Beckett is restless. He is attempting to write a novel, but the words simply will not come. However, once he meets the lady who has been his most outspoken critic, he realizes he has finally found his muse. Once the two begin writing letters to each other through alter egos, love of the written word turns into the love of a lifetime.
WHERE DREAMS MERGE is the story of two people reaching beyond their day-to-day lives to find love. This book contains explicit language and graphic sexual scenes. If you don’t like sex with your books, this one isn’t for you, though the author hopes all readers end up with their soul’s mate.
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Grace Moore has avidly followed the career of Carter Beckett/Earl of Wainwright, who pens pieces for a London newspaper. Never shy to contradict the Earl, she has sent him several letters about his work. She did not expect him to visit the country not far from where she lives. He is even more handsome in real life that his pen and ink picture in the paper. Carter is restless. He is attempting to write a novel, but the words will not come. Once he meets Grace, his most outspoken critic, he realizes he has finally found his muse. The two begin writing letters to each other through alter egos, and love of the written word t urns into the love of a lifetime. – The prologue is hilarious. Mrs. Canterbury, the local gossip, talks about everyone, and I laughed more than once. Grace is a sweet person who lives in the country and is not familiar with society. Carter is charming, and I enjoyed his and Grace’s writing sessions. The book is even better when they go to London. This is a fun historical romance with a twist. The characters are interesting.
Such a charming story. Both MCs so likable. Loved the main characters’ romantic development as they shared their mutual feelings via their letters to each other as their literary alter egos of Miss Millicent and Lord Stormpenny. Laugh-out-loud humor in a story always garners an extra star from me. Very good writing & editing.
This is a fun read.
Dreaming Their Dreams Together
Her entire life had been comprised of her sister and friends, within a small cottage in a small village. That is until Grace Moore met Carter Beckett in person. Instead of being just an entity that wrote for the Broadsheet, and one with whom she had debated politics through her letters, he was now someone who made her catch her breath.
Maureen Driscoll is an exceptional writer, and Where Dreams Merge is not only an interesting title, it is a captivating and tender read with an inspired quirky facet.
Carter and Grace are both strong and opinionated, and totally perfect for each other. Together they are a whole and their chemistry is off the charts. Of course true love must have a few obstacles, and this entertaining story has them in spades. Thankfully, Ms. Driscoll deftly guides the reader through each twist and turn while maintaining that close personal connection between the leading and supporting characters. This delightful novel is mostly character driven, but with a strong plot and a very happy ending that is truly smile worthy.
Content alert: This book only a few mild (h*ll and d*mn) swear words. It also has some suggestive thoughts and a couple of moderately described sexually intimate scenes.
Great story, wonderful characters. I loved the story within the story that the author so cleverly wove into the book. One of my favorite parts!
Good story, enjoyed this book
It kept me guessing.
loved t;he book
I have enjoyed all of Ms. Driscoll’s books. I can’t wait for the next book in this series. I have gone back and re-read the other series while waiting to complete the Jasmine Cottage books. Please write faster.
A fun read and in this troubled world it is nice to escape to just a fun read.
I really enjoy the entwined characters of the Emerson series (previous series) in this one. But the unexpected love between Grace and Carter, especially through the characters of a novel they are writing, is all you could dream about. The characters are rich in honesty and dignity, they have all the qualities you can admire – love for family, wisdom, kindness. The addition of Lady Endicott added shrewdness and laughter. The sub plot of danger only adds to the thrill of their romance!! Excellent story and had me wishing for a Carter!! Ms Driscoll creates magic with her pen – her stories are original and enchanting! Don’t miss any! She has added joy and dreams to my life!
Grace Moore and Carter Beckett, Earl of Wainwright meet for the first time at Arabella and Jonathan’s wedding (Where Hearts Meet), but the two are known to each other because Carter writes political articles for a London paper and Grace delights in writing to him to comment on his work and to correct his spelling errors. When Carter finally meets her, he realizes he has met his muse.
Carter has been staying with Christopher Aston, Lord Audsley trying desperately to write his novel, but the words will not come – that is until he meets Grace. He convinces her to work with him as his editor and the two form a friendship and exchange some very amusing letters. Carter is attracted to Grace, but a long standing family agreement prevents him from declaring himself to her. He hopes that he will be able to work things out so he might be able to offer for Grace, but until he does, he cannot make her any promises.
Grace is aware of Carter’s prior understanding and wishes with all her heart that they could be together, but she also concedes that she is not of his world and they will probably never be anything more than friends. When Carter tells Grace he must return to London for the Holidays, she believes that will be the end of their relationship – but Carter insists that she and Emma come to London, he promises to help the sisters contact their grandfather’s solicitor and try to help them contact their parents. He makes arrangements for them to stay with Audsley and has Audsley’s widowed cousin, Lady Endicott chaperone them.
In anticipation of Grace’s arrival, Carter meets with Lady Cecile – the woman his parents hoped he would marry, though no formal betrothal was ever made, there has always been an understanding between the families. Carter believed that when Lady Cecile became linked to another Lord, that their “understanding” had ended, but he is dismayed to find that Cecile has been jilted and expects Carter to marry her. He tells her in no uncertain terms that he will not marry her and that he has met another woman, he asks Cecile to release him from the “understanding”. Cecile agrees, but begs Carter to pretend to court her for a few weeks to help ease her back into society after being jilted. Carter is reluctant, but feels he owes her that much and decides to recruit his brother Jeremy to escort Grace while he attends Cecile.
Enter Jeremy Beckett, the younger brother, dashing, handsome and a former spy – the man has hero material written all over him! Jeremy and Grace become fast friends – which leads to a lot of hilarious scenes with Carter becoming jealous and imagining all the ways he beat his brother to a pulp. But when Jeremy’s life is threatened and by extension Grace – Carter will stop at nothing to save them both.
I really loved this book, it is well written, it flowed well, it has some laugh out loud moments, a little bit of angst, some nail biting moments, a couple of plot twists that change everything for the sisters, a little bit of steam and finally a beautiful soulmate type of love.
While this is the second book in the series, it could easily be read as a stand alone title. I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to reading the next installment!
I’ve never been a big fan of romances of any kind where the characters behave and speak in ways that contradict the norms of the periods they’re set in, but this book broke that down. Driscoll has written an excellent regency romance with wit, sarcasm, and all the other things that make a book easy to read and hard to put down.
The plot is familiar – wallflower type heroine meets steadfastly single nobleman and falls in love against her better judgement. There are balls, jilted lovers, competing suitors, and intrigue. Having read my fair share of regency romances, I was on the edge of my seat when the ordinary plot devices had not been used when I was 80% through the book. There was a red herring though, that will, most likely, be fleshed out in the next book in the series.
The characters weren’t as well developed as I’d like, there really aren’t strong arcs to show their development. They were however, predictably endearing, which allowed me to put that peeve aside.
Definitely a great poolside read, and my TBR pile remains frustrated as I search out the other books in the series rather than tackling books I’ve had for years, but haven’t read.
I loved this book. I’ve read it multiple times and the whole series. It’s one of my favorites. She is one of my favorite authors.
The only problem I had was that I didn’t feel that the cover matched the story
I loved the story especially with the story within the story! What a nice touch. And since he’s a writer it is quite eloquent and funny. Hard story to put down!
Carter writes political essays for a London paper but longs to write a novel. He goes to stay in the country with his friend Audsley, hoping the quiet and privacy will help his writing. Then he meets Grace, though he feels he already knows her from the critiques she’s written about his essays. The most charming part of the story begins when Grace reveals that she’s also writing a novel. Carter and Grace start sending notes to one another in which they pen installments for each other’s novels. The notes are funny and insightful, showing their blossoming relationship.
I liked the idea of two writers falling in love. I loved the imaginative conversations, the delightful descriptions and the well developed characters. One of the reasons I enjoy historical romance stories is to experience the different culture of the past, including conversations that were vastly different from conversations today. The book delivers a great story and the excellent writing allows the reader to experience another time and place with hugely enjoyable results. I definitely recommend this book.
Enjoyable read. I liked the witty interaction between the two main characters.
Charming