BETH

by Barbara Hazard

The blizzard outside The Bird and Bottle Inn could hardly compare with the storm brewing within?The niece of a duke herself, Miss Beth Cummings showed little more than passing interest in the headstrong Duke of Barrington, stranded together or not. Beth felt quite content to watch the other young female guest and her managing mama attempt to snare the nobleman.But even the modest Beth could not ignore the duke's warm looks toward herself. So when one of Barrington's secret war documents disappeared, Beth was cut to the quick to find she was not above suspicion. Could Barrington ever again convince her of his regard?It seemed fighting England's enemies had ill prepared him for dealing with a woman scorned!

Genres: Romance, Regency, Regency Romance

Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 1980

About the author

Barbara (Booth) Hazard, a resident of Exeter, NH, died on October 25, 2019 in Boston, MA surrounded by family. Born in 1931 in Fall River, MA, the daughter of Albert L. and Lillian (Holland) Booth, she was raised and educated in New England. She graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1953 and was briefly employed by Ginn & Company in Boston as a Technical Editor. She married Donald T. Hazard in 1954 and next worked as a Graphic Designer/Artist for a Concord, NH advertising firm.

Originally trained as a musician, Mrs. Hazard also studied oil painting with Amy Jones and for a time had several shows in New York and Vermont. She began to write historical fiction in 1978. First published in 1981, she went on to write and publish 48 books, several of which are also in circulation abroad. She won several awards for her writing.

Mrs. Hazard wrote that there were several things in her life that she was most proud of; being Concertmaster of the MA All State Orchestra in Symphony Hall in Boston, having a successful career as an artist and as a writer, which was her greatest love besides her husband, three sons and their wives.

She loved New England and in particular, Cape Cod, which she visited every year for most of her life. Her other loves included her family, reading and music. She also wrote under the pen name of Lillian Lincoln.

Reviews

[Ivy H]

Unable to finish this, because the storyline focused too much on the minor characters' drama. And, even though I love History, I couldn't drum up any interest in the mystery storyline of *who took what, when, and for whatever reason that might've been linked to... spying ? ...🤔*


The storytelling is too long winded, the ensemble cast is uninteresting, the annoying characters seemed more like caricatures, the heroine was just a trifle too self righteous and sanctimonious, while the H just wasn't my type.


The good part: I borrowed it from Open Library online.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the book, love this author's writing style. She writes with richness of detail, even the secondary characters feel like real people. I especially liked the part of the story that takes place in the inn.

[HistoricalHussy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

Most of the book focuses on secondary characters, the main pair doesn’t have much chemistry, very little romance develops between the H/h who spend most of their time together locking horns and not in a particularly fun way

[Claire S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun book right until the very end, and then it was a mess. It reminded me a bit of Joan Smith with the one-liners, especially the duke's sotto voce comments.

The basic premise is that a group of people get stranded by a snow storm in an inn and are forced to get along with each other. There's the forceful and rude Duke of Barrington (35 years of age and my favorite character), Beth (25) and her father the Reverend Mr. Comings, the twin sons of a Duke, Tony and Dolph, and horrid mushroom Mrs. Orvis-Ryder and her ninnyhammer but beautiful young daughter Letty.

I love stories with stranded people and this one was so much fun. I love that the staff of the inn are part of it and discuss the dynamics of their guests. There are some hilarious attempts of Mrs. Orvis-Ryder to discover which twin is the oldest, and therefore the heir, so her daughter can flirt with him as well as the recurring joke of the same lady claiming to be one of the distinguished Orvis-Ryder's but no one knows who they are. Despite the abundance of Duke relations, this part of the book is just a riot. Unfortunately, the author decides to put a damper on the romance between the Duke and Beth by turning this sensible heroine into an idiot. The setting shifts to London, and I had to skim a lot of it to finish the story.

It just makes me sad when authors ruin good characters for the sake of plot, especially when it's such a poor plot. Oh well, I still loved the Duke and his brusque ways (but who really had a great capacity for love). I thought he and Beth were great together until, as mentioned, the very end. Then, I just wanted him to move on and find someone else. The twins were fun and Tony, in particular, was such a good guy. I actually thought he was going to be the love interest at first.

I do recommend the book but be prepared to be irritated with the final part. I thought the solution to their problem pretty ridiculous although I can see some might have fun with it. This is a clean story, but there's a very short scene with secondary characters that was a bit warm.