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Almost A Spinster
An omnibus of Jenna Petersen's wildly popular "You Tell Me the Story" online interactive novellas.
In "Her Every Desire" Lady Jane asks her old friend Wesley to do a favor for her, seduce the fiance of the man she believes she loves. Instead he proposes that they pretend to be engaged to make the other man jealous and please Wesley's "dying" grandmother. But what starts as a pretended engagement leads to true feelings. And a choice that must be made that could change both their lives forever.
In "A Scandal to Keep", Felicity Ellis made a terrible decision that ruined her when she gave her innocence to a scoundrel. But after his death, his younger brother Gabriel inherits the title... and the sins of his brother and father. Felicity cannot believe the two brothers could be so different, but after they kiss, she finds herself entertaining more than just Gabriel's offer to make amends with a marriage of convenience.
Finally, in "A Woman Scorned", Madeline was humiliated and ruined after her engagement was broken. Now she is in the country helping her aunt with a difficult pregnancy when she is nearly run down by Nathan and his horse. He believes she is a servant and Maddie lets him continue that misconception. But they are from very different worlds, and by the time he realizes her deception, it may be too late.
In "Her Every Desire" Lady Jane asks her old friend Wesley to do a favor for her, seduce the fiance of the man she believes she loves. Instead he proposes that they pretend to be engaged to make the other man jealous and please Wesley's "dying" grandmother. But what starts as a pretended engagement leads to true feelings. And a choice that must be made that could change both their lives forever.
In "A Scandal to Keep", Felicity Ellis made a terrible decision that ruined her when she gave her innocence to a scoundrel. But after his death, his younger brother Gabriel inherits the title... and the sins of his brother and father. Felicity cannot believe the two brothers could be so different, but after they kiss, she finds herself entertaining more than just Gabriel's offer to make amends with a marriage of convenience.
Finally, in "A Woman Scorned", Madeline was humiliated and ruined after her engagement was broken. Now she is in the country helping her aunt with a difficult pregnancy when she is nearly run down by Nathan and his horse. He believes she is a servant and Maddie lets him continue that misconception. But they are from very different worlds, and by the time he realizes her deception, it may be too late.
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First published May 22, 2011
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About the author
Jenna Petersen
19 books229 followersJenna Petersen now writes historical romance exclusively as Jess Michaels. Please check out her self-published and Samhain publishing books here:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Jenna no longer supports her HarperCollins/Avon books due to price gouging and refusal to return author rights.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
Jenna no longer supports her HarperCollins/Avon books due to price gouging and refusal to return author rights.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
August 1, 2011
Cute collection of novellas involving characters whose lives were intertwined. In the first story I particularly enjoyed Jane's explanation to Wesley about how, why, and when she had fallen love with him. In the second story, A Scandal to Keep, Felicity (a friend of Jane's from the first story) was a "fallen" woman who was pursued by the brother of her seducer. Gabriel was attempting to restore the honor of his family. I thought she resisted him a bit too long and I got impatient with her. However her confession to him at the end was quite nice.
The third story featured Madeline, who had her engagement ended in the first story by her father when he discovered that her fiancé was a cad. Madeline is the daughter of a duke and has a generous dowry but her broken engagement tainted her position in Society. Oh aren't we glad to be women in this century! I am reminded of that with just about every historical romance I read.
Madeline meets someone who is "unsuitable" but he loves her for herself--and of course she loves him but things go awry because she conceals her identity from him. But of course we get our HEA!
The third story featured Madeline, who had her engagement ended in the first story by her father when he discovered that her fiancé was a cad. Madeline is the daughter of a duke and has a generous dowry but her broken engagement tainted her position in Society. Oh aren't we glad to be women in this century! I am reminded of that with just about every historical romance I read.
Madeline meets someone who is "unsuitable" but he loves her for herself--and of course she loves him but things go awry because she conceals her identity from him. But of course we get our HEA!
March 13, 2023
Rated 3.5
January 1, 2016
As a fan of historical romance, especially set during the Regency period, this novella collection appealed to me. How I felt about the stories, which were crafted as sort of 'interactive' stories wherein the readers of Jenna's blog could choose which way the story went at the end of each chapter, varies a great deal. I don't know what the other choices could have been, or the direction the author could have gone otherwise unfortuantely.
"Her Every Desire" - Kind of sucks to be Jane, though there is nothing to recommend David at all so I don't know why she chased him. His good looks alone? She seems smarter then that. Anyhow Wesley was a charmer and I can only think better of him that he wanted everything and would stand for nothing less. The time frame seems really quickly paced--not rushed exactly, but Petersen definitely relied a bit too heavily on the friendship Jane and Wes had to build their relationship depth/development. Still I was happy at the end with how neither was ready to back down and held to their guns (so to speak).
"A Scandal to Keep" - Gabriel cracked me up. From when he first tells his mother who he's going to marry to his logic as to why he must marry Felicity its all rather funny. Plus I heartily applaud him for his ability to soothe a kerfuffle she seemed too inclined to start near the end. The man knew how to be convincing, thank goodness he was nothing like his brother or father. Felicity for her part is definitely more a feisty one here, pretty much telling everyone within hearing distance to get out because she was tired of their 'help'. This story definitely had an easier pacing with less of the 'and so much timed passed!' feel.
"A Woman Scorned" - I think I enjoyed this novella the best. Maddie and Nathan suited each other so well. They were both damaged by others, through no fault of their own, and they found a solace with each other. This novella did stretch the credibility factor moreso then the others (she was a Duke's daughter after all), but that's not in the spirit of romance anyhow. This was also the longest I think, not by much, but by enough to make a difference in how the chapters laid out and actions.
All three novellas tied into each other (Felicity was Jane's best friend, Madeline was the woman Jane wanted Wes to initially ruin) nicely and I admit I wanted to know more about Felicity and Madeline after Jane's story so that was nice. As I mentioned above it was a bit hard to see how these could have been interactive--the story's pace and structure seemed to be set quite firmly, which is a compliment to Petersen that the stories didn't feel 'chopped up' and interchangable. Of the three I think "A Woman Scorned" would have made the best full length novel, I definitely liked Maddie the most and would have liked to see her and Nathan's courtship play out over a couple hundred pages rather then a couple dozen.
"Her Every Desire" - Kind of sucks to be Jane, though there is nothing to recommend David at all so I don't know why she chased him. His good looks alone? She seems smarter then that. Anyhow Wesley was a charmer and I can only think better of him that he wanted everything and would stand for nothing less. The time frame seems really quickly paced--not rushed exactly, but Petersen definitely relied a bit too heavily on the friendship Jane and Wes had to build their relationship depth/development. Still I was happy at the end with how neither was ready to back down and held to their guns (so to speak).
"A Scandal to Keep" - Gabriel cracked me up. From when he first tells his mother who he's going to marry to his logic as to why he must marry Felicity its all rather funny. Plus I heartily applaud him for his ability to soothe a kerfuffle she seemed too inclined to start near the end. The man knew how to be convincing, thank goodness he was nothing like his brother or father. Felicity for her part is definitely more a feisty one here, pretty much telling everyone within hearing distance to get out because she was tired of their 'help'. This story definitely had an easier pacing with less of the 'and so much timed passed!' feel.
"A Woman Scorned" - I think I enjoyed this novella the best. Maddie and Nathan suited each other so well. They were both damaged by others, through no fault of their own, and they found a solace with each other. This novella did stretch the credibility factor moreso then the others (she was a Duke's daughter after all), but that's not in the spirit of romance anyhow. This was also the longest I think, not by much, but by enough to make a difference in how the chapters laid out and actions.
All three novellas tied into each other (Felicity was Jane's best friend, Madeline was the woman Jane wanted Wes to initially ruin) nicely and I admit I wanted to know more about Felicity and Madeline after Jane's story so that was nice. As I mentioned above it was a bit hard to see how these could have been interactive--the story's pace and structure seemed to be set quite firmly, which is a compliment to Petersen that the stories didn't feel 'chopped up' and interchangable. Of the three I think "A Woman Scorned" would have made the best full length novel, I definitely liked Maddie the most and would have liked to see her and Nathan's courtship play out over a couple hundred pages rather then a couple dozen.
November 26, 2017
Quick read
This was awful read. The three stories were interlocked but still exclusive. I loved the stories and characters. If anything was missing it was more of the spice that I have become used to. It was still a page Turner though.
This was awful read. The three stories were interlocked but still exclusive. I loved the stories and characters. If anything was missing it was more of the spice that I have become used to. It was still a page Turner though.
September 29, 2017
While I felt the first short story was well developed, the speedy transition from strangers to love in the second and third short stories seemed a little ridiculous and hard to believe. Cute nonetheless.
July 28, 2011
This is a collection of 3 short stories all revolving around 3 ladies who are connected to each other. The stories are really sweet and kinda just make you go "awwww."
In "Her Every Desire" Lady Jane asks her best friend Wesley to help her out by seducing the lady who has become engaged to the man (David) who has been courting her for the last 2 years. Wesley refuses, but counteroffers by telling her that being courted by him will make other men notice her and make David jealous. Wesley tells her this will also help him out because his sick grandmother wants to see him involved with someone and it will make her happy before she dies. Lady Jane agrees, not knowing that Wesley really is in love with her and is trying his best to win her over.
In "A Scandal to Keep" Lady Jane's best friend, Felicity, is the main character. Five years ago she barely avoided being shunned by the ton when she was bedded and then abandoned by the heir to a dukedom. Now the Duke and his heir are dead and the youngest son, Gabriel, is back to take over. Gabriel runs across his older brother's diaries and figures out what his father and brother did (ew!) and to make amends he tries to offer marriage to Felicity. Felicity is understandably enraged, and Gabriel in unexpectedly entranced. Can Gabriel convince Felicity he really does care?
In "A Woman Scorned" Lady Maddie takes center stage, she is the girl who becomes engaged to David (from the first story) and then her engagement is broken off by her father when he overhears David's indecent proposal to Lady Jane. It is two years later and Maddie has gone to visit her aunt out of town who is bedridden until the birth of her first child. Maddie is sitting out in the fields one day reading when she is almost trampled on by Nathan (and his horse), the steward for a neighboring estate. They strike up a conversation and without really intending to, Maddie allows Nathan to assume she is her aunt's companion (ie. NOT a lady). They get along splendidly until he finds out she is of the gentry and then Nathan is furious with her for what he thinks is her trickery and his inability to entertain his love for her with so disparate social positions.
In "Her Every Desire" Lady Jane asks her best friend Wesley to help her out by seducing the lady who has become engaged to the man (David) who has been courting her for the last 2 years. Wesley refuses, but counteroffers by telling her that being courted by him will make other men notice her and make David jealous. Wesley tells her this will also help him out because his sick grandmother wants to see him involved with someone and it will make her happy before she dies. Lady Jane agrees, not knowing that Wesley really is in love with her and is trying his best to win her over.
In "A Scandal to Keep" Lady Jane's best friend, Felicity, is the main character. Five years ago she barely avoided being shunned by the ton when she was bedded and then abandoned by the heir to a dukedom. Now the Duke and his heir are dead and the youngest son, Gabriel, is back to take over. Gabriel runs across his older brother's diaries and figures out what his father and brother did (ew!) and to make amends he tries to offer marriage to Felicity. Felicity is understandably enraged, and Gabriel in unexpectedly entranced. Can Gabriel convince Felicity he really does care?
In "A Woman Scorned" Lady Maddie takes center stage, she is the girl who becomes engaged to David (from the first story) and then her engagement is broken off by her father when he overhears David's indecent proposal to Lady Jane. It is two years later and Maddie has gone to visit her aunt out of town who is bedridden until the birth of her first child. Maddie is sitting out in the fields one day reading when she is almost trampled on by Nathan (and his horse), the steward for a neighboring estate. They strike up a conversation and without really intending to, Maddie allows Nathan to assume she is her aunt's companion (ie. NOT a lady). They get along splendidly until he finds out she is of the gentry and then Nathan is furious with her for what he thinks is her trickery and his inability to entertain his love for her with so disparate social positions.
October 3, 2015
One story, three couples, and true love...
Almost A Spinster is a compilation of three couples whose fate is set at the start of the very first story.
Her Every Desire is the story of Jane Davenport who truly believes she's absolutely and desperately in love with a poor excuse of a man, David. For the last couple of years, he's encouraged her and let her believe he will one day propose. Well that is all great and good until one night, he announces his engagement to Maddie.
Wesley Hughes is David's best friend, as well as he is Jane's. He's been secretly in love with Jane and has never approached her on that subject because all along he thought David had an interest in her. Little did he and Jane know, David's only interest is to make her his mistress naught else.
Jane thinks herself broken hearted, until Wesley presents her with a proposal she can't deny. That is where the discovery of their true feelings begins.
A Scandal to Keep is the story of Felicity Ellis, Jane's best friend. There is a secret Felicity and her family have kept from the ton for years. Her secret would be the ruin of her and her family if it ever gets out, and luckily the only other two that knew about it are long gone, buried six feet deep. Or so, she thinks, until Gabriel, the new Duke shows up at her very own soiree.
A Woman Scorned is the story of Maddie Reynolds. Her ex-fiance's indiscretions tainted her. She still rubs elbows with the best of society but things have never been the same. She's resigned to be a spinster, and her only dream is to be the best aunt she can be. Little does she know, destiny had something else in store for her when she leaves for the country. A lie turns into a web of white lies, that lead to her true love.
Overall I thought all three stories were very well told. I do have to admit, Her Every Desire is the one of the three I enjoyed the most. However, I also think all three stories could be blown out into full length novels, and readers would enjoy them.
This review is also found at: /
Almost A Spinster is a compilation of three couples whose fate is set at the start of the very first story.
Her Every Desire is the story of Jane Davenport who truly believes she's absolutely and desperately in love with a poor excuse of a man, David. For the last couple of years, he's encouraged her and let her believe he will one day propose. Well that is all great and good until one night, he announces his engagement to Maddie.
Wesley Hughes is David's best friend, as well as he is Jane's. He's been secretly in love with Jane and has never approached her on that subject because all along he thought David had an interest in her. Little did he and Jane know, David's only interest is to make her his mistress naught else.
Jane thinks herself broken hearted, until Wesley presents her with a proposal she can't deny. That is where the discovery of their true feelings begins.
A Scandal to Keep is the story of Felicity Ellis, Jane's best friend. There is a secret Felicity and her family have kept from the ton for years. Her secret would be the ruin of her and her family if it ever gets out, and luckily the only other two that knew about it are long gone, buried six feet deep. Or so, she thinks, until Gabriel, the new Duke shows up at her very own soiree.
A Woman Scorned is the story of Maddie Reynolds. Her ex-fiance's indiscretions tainted her. She still rubs elbows with the best of society but things have never been the same. She's resigned to be a spinster, and her only dream is to be the best aunt she can be. Little does she know, destiny had something else in store for her when she leaves for the country. A lie turns into a web of white lies, that lead to her true love.
Overall I thought all three stories were very well told. I do have to admit, Her Every Desire is the one of the three I enjoyed the most. However, I also think all three stories could be blown out into full length novels, and readers would enjoy them.
This review is also found at: /
August 27, 2018
An omnibus of Jenna Petersen's wildly popular "You Tell Me the Story" online interactive novellas. In "Her Every Desire" Lady Jane asks her old friend Wesley to do a favor for her, seduce the fiance of the man she believes she loves. Instead he proposes that they pretend to be engaged to make the other man jealous and please Wesley's "dying" grandmother. But what starts as a pretended engagement leads to true feelings. And a choice that must be made that could change both their lives forever.In "A Scandal to Keep", Felicity Ellis made a terrible decision that ruined her when she gave her innocence to a scoundrel. But after his death, his younger brother Gabriel inherits the title... and the sins of his brother and father. Felicity cannot believe the two brothers could be so different, but after they kiss, she finds herself entertaining more than just Gabriel's offer to make amends with a marriage of convenience.Finally, in "A Woman Scorned", Madeline was humiliated and ruined after her engagement was broken. Now she is in the country helping her aunt with a difficult pregnancy when she is nearly run down by Nathan and his horse. He believes she is a servant and Maddie lets him continue that misconception. But they are from very different worlds, and by the time he realizes her deception, it may be too late.
August 15, 2011
I wasn't sure i was going to write a review of this until someone just left me a comment asking what I thought and it gave me a chance to sit down and thing. I liked the stories to an extent don't get me wrong. But I had a hard time with the believability of them - yeah, you laugh, because i do read a lot of romance, but these ones just seemed to be missing something. I never really got the feeling that each couple fell in love with the other - I think if the author had broken them up into 3 longer stories and developed the characters and situations a bit more they would have been better reads. That isn't however going to stop me from reading stuff by Ms. Petersen in the future - I'm intrigued enough by her writing style to do just that.
February 28, 2013
This is a collection of three short stories from Jenna Petersen's early writings. Mostly they're ok, but would have been better with different timing. The first two stories all happen with in days, but the characters act as if had been weeks, or even months. Jane and Wesley's story would have been truly fabulous all flushed out in a full length novel. I would have loved to see so much more of them!
ETA: These stories were, at one point in Ms. Petersen's career, a "You tell me the story: interactive stories" So I suppose the entirety of it's pages aren't necessarily her choice.
However, that doesn't make me long for any less the something that is missing that would of made these unions more believable.
ETA: These stories were, at one point in Ms. Petersen's career, a "You tell me the story: interactive stories" So I suppose the entirety of it's pages aren't necessarily her choice.
However, that doesn't make me long for any less the something that is missing that would of made these unions more believable.
June 18, 2011
One book, three novellas. And not all of them so good.
I liked the first one. It was snappy and spunky and had good characters. Making it a pretty good read. The second story wasn't as good as the first one. Still alright, but left me with a meh-kinda feeling. The final story was boring. The characters were bland and it was hard to wrap my mind around the plot.
I ended up with a 3/5 review more because I'm feeling generous today and liked the first story, than because of the other two stories.
I liked the first one. It was snappy and spunky and had good characters. Making it a pretty good read. The second story wasn't as good as the first one. Still alright, but left me with a meh-kinda feeling. The final story was boring. The characters were bland and it was hard to wrap my mind around the plot.
I ended up with a 3/5 review more because I'm feeling generous today and liked the first story, than because of the other two stories.
June 27, 2011
All 3 short novellas are a bit shallow honestly. Seems like there's really no explanation on why they fell in love with each other aside from the fact that they both got together. And I hate the fact that all of a sudden they realize that all the while they've been in love with the heroine ever since years back. Seems a bit unrealistic to me.
October 2, 2011
This is 3 short stories, and each has a related theme of the heroine is "almost a spinster". I enjoyed the stories, but found myself wishing for a little bit more particularly the middle story where the "falling in love" was almost non-existent. Having said that, I really like this author's style.
September 3, 2011
This was cute but I think that there wasn't enough pages dedicated to each story. As a result I never felt like I got into any of the stories. The first story was cute and the story was more developed than the last two. I particularly thought that the middle story was completely unrealistic. I did not feel that their relationship was plausible.
June 15, 2011
I would rate 3 1/2 out of 5. The first story is spectacular, and I enjoyed the last. The middle seemed rushed and unrealistic. I thought the writing was spectacular in it's descriptions and plot as well as pace. Worth the read!
March 17, 2012
Three really sweet short stories (all related) that the author apparently let people vote on the outcomes. I really enjoyed reading these. Ebook did not have a proper contents page - no chapter markers or story markers for that matter!
Especially like the opening " I want you to seduce ...."
Especially like the opening " I want you to seduce ...."
June 2, 2012
Enjoyable Regency romance stories. The introduction says that the direction of the stories was based on comments/votes on the author's website where she posted them as serials, but I couldn't find that. (I was curious enough to want to follow-up and see what the other potential plotlines were.)
March 23, 2013
I also would've loved to see Jane and Wesley as well as Madeline and Nathan as a full length story. I love Jenna Petersen's writing, so it makes me sad when a story is too short. But great short stories!
April 24, 2014
Fast reading. The stories were cute, maybe a bit too short. I would have love to see a longer story for Felicity and Gabriel. She could have put some beautiful pranks to make him go away.(Better than disguise herself) Just thinking about it make me laugh.
April 25, 2017
Love all of her work would recommend any of her books in a heartbeat
September 27, 2011
I quite liked these 3 books. They were an easy read with likeable characters.
May 26, 2012
Just okay.
December 11, 2011
Didn't realize it was three short books in one. Overall, ok
January 23, 2012
Good, quick read. Not a lot of character development but that is to be expected in short stories.
May 27, 2012
I believe this was another free list book. It was pretty much boiler plate historical romance. Not bad for a bit of escape, but nothing very deep. I enjoyed it though.
July 29, 2012
Laugh out loud funny, sometimes. Typical regency romance throughout, minus (most of) the smut as they're novellas rather than full lenght.
February 22, 2016
Three entertaining short stories that link up. I do like all three, but my favourite is the last one "Scorned".
January 20, 2015
It was a really good book. all the stories were linked and all the characters have depth... I liked it
Want to read
March 10, 2016OVERALL:
Her Every Desire
A Scandal to Keep
A Woman Scorned
Her Every Desire
A Scandal to Keep
A Woman Scorned
June 1, 2021
There is 3 short stories. Very short about 40pgs. .... not enough pgs to make a good story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews