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The Grand Hotel
London's luxurious Grand Hotel is the perfect setting for romantic rendezvous, glittering celebrations--and Cupid's good works. The impeccable staff and a host of most intriguing--and attractive--guests, will pamper, entertain, and romance readers in five heartwarming stories of love by five award-winning writers.
Anne Barbour is a popular bestselling author and winner of the Romantic Times Award for Best Regency.
Elisabeth Fairchild won the 1995 Romantic Times Best Regency Novel Award and is a favorite among readers.
Carla Kelly received a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times as well as two RITA Awards.
Allison Lane won the 1996 Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best First Regency.
Barbara Metzger, one of the stars of the genre, has won numerous awards, including a Reviewers' Choice Award for Best regency and a National Readers' Choice Award.
340 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2000
52 people want to read
About the author
Anne Barbour
25 books17 followersAnne Barbour developed an affection for the Regency period while living in England. She now lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband, a retired lieutenant colonel. She is the mother of six children, all grown, and she loves to boast of her five grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 23, 2018
Story #1 is "The Background Man" by Carla Kelly. Charles Mortimer is a "background man," always standing in the background and making certain everything at the Grand Hotel runs smoothly. Except when he meets Millicent Carrington, Mortimer wishes to be seen. I liked the idea of stepping from the shadows and finally be seen.
Story #2 is "Love Will Find the Way" by Elizabeth Fairchild. Lieutenant James Forrester and Miss Annabelle Grant have never met, but they do know each other through a series of letters. I adore stories where strong letters build a relationship before one lays eyes on the person.
Story #3 is "The Castaway" by Anne Barbour. Martha Finch claims to be the Marquess of Canby's long-lost granddaughter. There have been other imposter previously, and so Gabriel Storm, the Earl of Branford, cautions the marquess to move with caution. I was a bit confused on this story at times, simply because it felt almost too contrived. I like a bit of drama, but I also like for the details to fit tightly together. They do not in this story.
"The Management Requests" by Barbara Metzger is story #4. Captain Arthur Hunter, Lord Huntingdon, comes to stay at the Grand Hotel in the capacity of a German translator for Princess Henrika's stay in London. Miss Hope Thurstfield arrives from America and whose reservation at the Grand Hotel has been lost. She supposedly has an intended. There are LOTS of twists and turns in the story, some of them a stretch of the imagination. The author also often switches points of view between paragraphs, which make it harder to discover who is speaking.
Story #5 is "Promises to Keep" by Allison Lane. Maggie Adams is from Halifax and hopes in her journey to London to bring about a resolution to the rift in her father's family. Marcus Widner is the younger son of a baron's youngest son. The family wishes him to take of some sort of "gentleman's position," while Marcus wishes to work in the trades. Marcus ends up protecting Maggie against the more despicable members of her late father's family. The author sums up things too quickly at the end of the tale. She lists the incidents she blames on "Uncle William," but there was no mention of such incidents earlier in the tale. Just bam! There they are. Also, during this time, inheritance laws were not set to permit females to inherit, unless the original letters patent were set up that way. Finally, a marriage at sea would not be looked upon as legal by the Church of England unless there was an English vicar aboard ship, and even then it could be brought into question.
I liked the idea that there was an overlap of the minor characters in each of the stories. The fire at the Grand Hotel also tied all the stories together. In truth, I would have given the book a 3.7 or 3.8, but a 3 was too low. Some stories were exceptionally well done, and some were simply "okay."
Story #2 is "Love Will Find the Way" by Elizabeth Fairchild. Lieutenant James Forrester and Miss Annabelle Grant have never met, but they do know each other through a series of letters. I adore stories where strong letters build a relationship before one lays eyes on the person.
Story #3 is "The Castaway" by Anne Barbour. Martha Finch claims to be the Marquess of Canby's long-lost granddaughter. There have been other imposter previously, and so Gabriel Storm, the Earl of Branford, cautions the marquess to move with caution. I was a bit confused on this story at times, simply because it felt almost too contrived. I like a bit of drama, but I also like for the details to fit tightly together. They do not in this story.
"The Management Requests" by Barbara Metzger is story #4. Captain Arthur Hunter, Lord Huntingdon, comes to stay at the Grand Hotel in the capacity of a German translator for Princess Henrika's stay in London. Miss Hope Thurstfield arrives from America and whose reservation at the Grand Hotel has been lost. She supposedly has an intended. There are LOTS of twists and turns in the story, some of them a stretch of the imagination. The author also often switches points of view between paragraphs, which make it harder to discover who is speaking.
Story #5 is "Promises to Keep" by Allison Lane. Maggie Adams is from Halifax and hopes in her journey to London to bring about a resolution to the rift in her father's family. Marcus Widner is the younger son of a baron's youngest son. The family wishes him to take of some sort of "gentleman's position," while Marcus wishes to work in the trades. Marcus ends up protecting Maggie against the more despicable members of her late father's family. The author sums up things too quickly at the end of the tale. She lists the incidents she blames on "Uncle William," but there was no mention of such incidents earlier in the tale. Just bam! There they are. Also, during this time, inheritance laws were not set to permit females to inherit, unless the original letters patent were set up that way. Finally, a marriage at sea would not be looked upon as legal by the Church of England unless there was an English vicar aboard ship, and even then it could be brought into question.
I liked the idea that there was an overlap of the minor characters in each of the stories. The fire at the Grand Hotel also tied all the stories together. In truth, I would have given the book a 3.7 or 3.8, but a 3 was too low. Some stories were exceptionally well done, and some were simply "okay."
October 5, 2021
Anyone who knows me, knows that if Carla Kelly's name is on a book, I will read it. This is a Regency anthology, one of my favorite sub-genres. This one revolves around the goings on at a brand new luxury hotel in London, taking place sometime during Napoleon's brief exile on Elba. All the authors do a great job of continuity and the stories are the delightful froth most of us need now and then.
May 19, 2020
I read it for the story by Carla Kelly.
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July 1, 2020Very happy to have discovered Barbara Metzger through this collection. Delightful voice!
June 16, 2019
All the stories in this anthology are about folks who work at (or take rooms at) the Grand Hotel. It is a new London hotel for the fashionable and those who want-to-be. The hotel has just opened and is already booked solid because of the parades and parties celebrating the end of the long war with Bonaparte.
THE BACKGROUND MAN (Carla Kelly)
I'd already read this story in another book but enjoyed reading it again. It is about an extremely dedicated deputy manager, Charles Mortimer, who has risen to the role of manager of the new Grand Hotel because of the extended illness of the regular manager. Charles is never been known to take a day off until Miss Millicent Carrington arrives at the hotel. Enjoy.
LOVE WILL FIND A WAY (Elisabeth Fairchild)
This was a well-written, poignant story about a widow (her husband died in the war about 18 months before the opening of the tale) meeting Lt. James Forester, best friend to her husband, Archie Grant. Archie died under awful circumstances and James is at the Grand Hotel to give Annabelle Grant her husband's effects. The reader soon understands that James is already in love with Annabelle, through the daily letters she sent Archie. Her husband lost his eyesight before dying and James read to and wrote letters for Archie in the weeks before he died. Absolutely beautifully written!
THE CASTAWAY (Anne Barbour) This short tale started off brilliantly. Martha Finch comes to London to prove that she is Lord Canby's long-lost granddaughter. Because Lord Canby is elderly and feverish to find his lost granddaughter (and would accept just about anyone who claimed the part), younger Lord Branford acts the role of gatekeeper and fact-checker. So many have applied over the years that Bran has become cynical. However, the solution is so contrived; I was disappointed.
THE MANAGEMENT REQUESTS (Barbara Metzger)
This author has a way with delightful dialogue and she shows her stuff in this short story. The plot is quite complicated, so let me just say that it was well worth my time and I really enjoyed it. After Carla Kelly's story, this takes next honors.
PROMISES TO KEEP (Allison Lane)
Essentially, this is a story about a young woman sent to England (by her dying father) to make peace with his grandfather. Her parents never mentioned their early lives (how?) until, on his deathbed, her father speaks of them. She finds the problems to be much more complicated than even her parents dreamed. The couple didn't help me to like them; the story left me indifferent.
THE BACKGROUND MAN (Carla Kelly)
I'd already read this story in another book but enjoyed reading it again. It is about an extremely dedicated deputy manager, Charles Mortimer, who has risen to the role of manager of the new Grand Hotel because of the extended illness of the regular manager. Charles is never been known to take a day off until Miss Millicent Carrington arrives at the hotel. Enjoy.
LOVE WILL FIND A WAY (Elisabeth Fairchild)
This was a well-written, poignant story about a widow (her husband died in the war about 18 months before the opening of the tale) meeting Lt. James Forester, best friend to her husband, Archie Grant. Archie died under awful circumstances and James is at the Grand Hotel to give Annabelle Grant her husband's effects. The reader soon understands that James is already in love with Annabelle, through the daily letters she sent Archie. Her husband lost his eyesight before dying and James read to and wrote letters for Archie in the weeks before he died. Absolutely beautifully written!
THE CASTAWAY (Anne Barbour) This short tale started off brilliantly. Martha Finch comes to London to prove that she is Lord Canby's long-lost granddaughter. Because Lord Canby is elderly and feverish to find his lost granddaughter (and would accept just about anyone who claimed the part), younger Lord Branford acts the role of gatekeeper and fact-checker. So many have applied over the years that Bran has become cynical. However, the solution is so contrived; I was disappointed.
THE MANAGEMENT REQUESTS (Barbara Metzger)
This author has a way with delightful dialogue and she shows her stuff in this short story. The plot is quite complicated, so let me just say that it was well worth my time and I really enjoyed it. After Carla Kelly's story, this takes next honors.
PROMISES TO KEEP (Allison Lane)
Essentially, this is a story about a young woman sent to England (by her dying father) to make peace with his grandfather. Her parents never mentioned their early lives (how?) until, on his deathbed, her father speaks of them. She finds the problems to be much more complicated than even her parents dreamed. The couple didn't help me to like them; the story left me indifferent.
November 12, 2022
1.5-3.5 stars
The premise: In this collection of 5 short stories, Sir Michael's newest of his line of hotels has just been built and is attracting business at a good rate.
Miscellaneous notes: The quality of these stories varied immensely. We start out with the best, Carla Kelly's, and finish off with the worst, Ms. Lane's. I really do feel that the tales got worse as the book progressed. I would recommend reading only first 3. If you're not picky, the first 4.
The premise: In this collection of 5 short stories, Sir Michael's newest of his line of hotels has just been built and is attracting business at a good rate.
Miscellaneous notes: The quality of these stories varied immensely. We start out with the best, Carla Kelly's, and finish off with the worst, Ms. Lane's. I really do feel that the tales got worse as the book progressed. I would recommend reading only first 3. If you're not picky, the first 4.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews