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Draycott Abbey #0.6
Bewitching Love Stories
A selection of four stories of romance, passion, and the supernatural includes tales of a vampire and a governess, an altruistic witch, and a ghostly protector
420 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1992
1 person is currently reading
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About the author
Rebecca Brandewyne
61 books175 followersBorn in Knoxville, Tennessee, Rebecca lived in Knoxville and then, later, Chattanooga for the first few years of her life. After that, she and her family moved to Kansas, where she grew up, spending her summers in Alabama, visiting both sets of her grandparents. She says she's just a country girl with a dash of big city sprinkled in for spice. But having traveled extensively in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Caribbean, she moves easily between the publishing world of New York and her hometown.
Rebecca graduated cum laude with departmental honors from Wichita State University, earning a B.A. in journalism, minors in history and music (theory and composition), and an M.A. in communications [mass (broadcasting) and interpersonal (dyadic relationships):]. During the course of her education, she was fortunate enough to study at various times under, among several other distinguished instructors, three Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and one of the foremost authorities in the field of interpersonal communication. Twice a recipient of the Victor Murdock Scholarship, Rebecca taught interpersonal communication at the university level before becoming a published writer.
She was twenty-one when she started work on her first novel, No Gentle Love. She finished the book a year later and sold it to Warner Books some months after her twenty-third birthday, making her, at that time, the youngest romance author in America, a record that stood for ten years before finally being broken. To date, Rebecca has written over thirty consecutive bestselling titles, including novels and novellas on the following lists: New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Magazine & Bookseller, Ingram, B. Dalton, and Waldenbooks, among many others.
Her books have been translated into a number of foreign languages, including Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish; and they have been published in over sixty countries worldwide. Many have been selections of the Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild. Hardback editions of several titles have been published by Severn House, and large-print editions of some books are also available from Macmillan Library Reference and Thorndike Press. Rebecca currently has millions of books in print in the United States alone.
From Affaire de Coeur magazine, she has won: the Classic Award for Classic Romances, for Love, Cherish Me, 1990; the Golden Quill Award for Best of the '80s Historical Romances, for Love, Cherish Me, 1990; the Bronze Pen (Wholesalers' Choice) Award, 1989; the Silver Pen (Readers' Choice) Award, 1988, 1987, and 1986; and a Gold Certificate for The Outlaw Hearts, 1987.
From Romantic Times magazine, she has won: the Reviewer's Choice Nominee for Best Historical Romantic Mystery, for The Ninefold Key, 2004; the Reviewer's Choice Certificate of Excellence for Victorian Historical Romance, for The Jacaranda Tree, 1995; the KISS (Knight in Shining Silver) of the Month for Best Hero, for The Jacaranda Tree, 1995, and for Swan Road, 1994; the Career Achievement Award for Futuristic Romance, 1991, for Passion Moon Rising and Beyond the Starlit Frost; the Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Historical Gothic, for Across a Starlit Sea, 1989, and for Upon a Moon-Dark Moor, 1988; the Historical Romance Novelist of the Year Award, 1987; and the Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Western Romance, for The Outlaw Hearts, 1986. Rebecca has also been named one of Love's Leading Ladies and inducted into Romantic Times magazine's Hall of Fame.
http://www.brandewyne.com/castle/gall...
Rebecca graduated cum laude with departmental honors from Wichita State University, earning a B.A. in journalism, minors in history and music (theory and composition), and an M.A. in communications [mass (broadcasting) and interpersonal (dyadic relationships):]. During the course of her education, she was fortunate enough to study at various times under, among several other distinguished instructors, three Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and one of the foremost authorities in the field of interpersonal communication. Twice a recipient of the Victor Murdock Scholarship, Rebecca taught interpersonal communication at the university level before becoming a published writer.
She was twenty-one when she started work on her first novel, No Gentle Love. She finished the book a year later and sold it to Warner Books some months after her twenty-third birthday, making her, at that time, the youngest romance author in America, a record that stood for ten years before finally being broken. To date, Rebecca has written over thirty consecutive bestselling titles, including novels and novellas on the following lists: New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Magazine & Bookseller, Ingram, B. Dalton, and Waldenbooks, among many others.
Her books have been translated into a number of foreign languages, including Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish; and they have been published in over sixty countries worldwide. Many have been selections of the Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild. Hardback editions of several titles have been published by Severn House, and large-print editions of some books are also available from Macmillan Library Reference and Thorndike Press. Rebecca currently has millions of books in print in the United States alone.
From Affaire de Coeur magazine, she has won: the Classic Award for Classic Romances, for Love, Cherish Me, 1990; the Golden Quill Award for Best of the '80s Historical Romances, for Love, Cherish Me, 1990; the Bronze Pen (Wholesalers' Choice) Award, 1989; the Silver Pen (Readers' Choice) Award, 1988, 1987, and 1986; and a Gold Certificate for The Outlaw Hearts, 1987.
From Romantic Times magazine, she has won: the Reviewer's Choice Nominee for Best Historical Romantic Mystery, for The Ninefold Key, 2004; the Reviewer's Choice Certificate of Excellence for Victorian Historical Romance, for The Jacaranda Tree, 1995; the KISS (Knight in Shining Silver) of the Month for Best Hero, for The Jacaranda Tree, 1995, and for Swan Road, 1994; the Career Achievement Award for Futuristic Romance, 1991, for Passion Moon Rising and Beyond the Starlit Frost; the Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Historical Gothic, for Across a Starlit Sea, 1989, and for Upon a Moon-Dark Moor, 1988; the Historical Romance Novelist of the Year Award, 1987; and the Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Western Romance, for The Outlaw Hearts, 1986. Rebecca has also been named one of Love's Leading Ladies and inducted into Romantic Times magazine's Hall of Fame.
http://www.brandewyne.com/castle/gall...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 4, 2017
Devil’s Keep – Rebecca Brandewyne – 1/5 – Here we go again with this author. I read a novella by this same author and despised the story…it seems a pattern. Basic premise – a governess is hired by this dark and dangerous count who turns out to be a vampire and so is his 7-year-old son. She has no idea. This story turns out very rapey. She’s repeatedly drugged. She’s seduced (she goes along with it the first time and then he pretty much rapes her when she later begins to regret her decision). Even the language in the story suggests it, “…long after I had fallen asleep, he came to force himself upon me, urgently, barbarously, without any preliminaries.” That doesn’t sound so romantic to me. And all the while, this woman is in a daze, he’s raping her nightly and drinking her blood (which eventually allows him to read her thoughts - which she has not consented to). She’s basically held captive, not allowed to change her mind and leave because he’s going to keep her there forever. And somehow, she falls in love with the guy. I just can't fathom the reason...he wasn't even been remotely nice to her. I can handle the asshole heroes and the bodice ripper plots, but there has to be more interaction, more reason for the action and the heroine has to be conscious (or at least not in a dazed stupor for 2 weeks). Color me flabbergasted and done with this author.
Vanquish the Night - Shannon Drake - 3/5 - This one is like Dracula on the American frontier with romance. Anne, a widow, and Michael, a former soldier and head of the militia, love each other and have just become lovers, but Anne refuses to marry him until he agrees to quit the militia. And this is a major source of tension between them. And along comes Drago and eastern European Count who has an aura of evil...only the women can't feel it because he has hypnotizing abilities. Pretty much all the evil things that we learned about vampires (pre-Twilight) this vampire does. He sucks blood, he kills and decapitates, he seduces innocents, he hypnotizes and sleeps in a coffin. Drago wants Anne and although Anne loves Michael she feels drawn to Drago (hypnotizing). So it's up to Michael and Anne's uncle Jem to do something about it. (And it's not rapey! Yay for Shannon Drake not writing a rapey story!)
My Aunt Grizelda - Kasey Michaels - 2/5 - This was cute and sweet and totally didn't fit with the rest of the stories in this anthology. It was also rather silly...and this is a subjective rating, because I don't really care for silly romance. A mother is telling her children a fairy tale story about a governess and a friendly but inept witch who needs to finish successfully perform 3 spells, but in the doing wreaks absolute havoc. In the process the Earl and the governess fall in love (or is it a spell?) It's a clean romance and nice (rather tepid actually), but not my cup of tea.
What Dreams May Come - Christina Skye - 3/5 - This is where things start to get confusing. To the best of my knowledge, Adrian Draycott lived in the 1700s or something...but apparently he remembers a prior previous life in which he loved Gray Mackenzie. I have lost track of Adrian Draycott's previous incarnations, what he did in them and who he knew in them...I give up and accept whatever the author tells me. And while I understand why this particular book had to end as it did, I still wasn't particularly happy about it.
Vanquish the Night - Shannon Drake - 3/5 - This one is like Dracula on the American frontier with romance. Anne, a widow, and Michael, a former soldier and head of the militia, love each other and have just become lovers, but Anne refuses to marry him until he agrees to quit the militia. And this is a major source of tension between them. And along comes Drago and eastern European Count who has an aura of evil...only the women can't feel it because he has hypnotizing abilities. Pretty much all the evil things that we learned about vampires (pre-Twilight) this vampire does. He sucks blood, he kills and decapitates, he seduces innocents, he hypnotizes and sleeps in a coffin. Drago wants Anne and although Anne loves Michael she feels drawn to Drago (hypnotizing). So it's up to Michael and Anne's uncle Jem to do something about it. (And it's not rapey! Yay for Shannon Drake not writing a rapey story!)
My Aunt Grizelda - Kasey Michaels - 2/5 - This was cute and sweet and totally didn't fit with the rest of the stories in this anthology. It was also rather silly...and this is a subjective rating, because I don't really care for silly romance. A mother is telling her children a fairy tale story about a governess and a friendly but inept witch who needs to finish successfully perform 3 spells, but in the doing wreaks absolute havoc. In the process the Earl and the governess fall in love (or is it a spell?) It's a clean romance and nice (rather tepid actually), but not my cup of tea.
What Dreams May Come - Christina Skye - 3/5 - This is where things start to get confusing. To the best of my knowledge, Adrian Draycott lived in the 1700s or something...but apparently he remembers a prior previous life in which he loved Gray Mackenzie. I have lost track of Adrian Draycott's previous incarnations, what he did in them and who he knew in them...I give up and accept whatever the author tells me. And while I understand why this particular book had to end as it did, I still wasn't particularly happy about it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2018
This book is for all of those people who are looking for a slimy streak of erotica, which unfortunately is passing off as romantic in the book publishing world of today. Vampires forcing human human beings, that is not erotica that is sickening. The first story. After three pages I started gagging. Forgot about reading any more of it, because I do not go in for any sort of Gratuitous violence, even if the author considers it to be romantic. Especially when escapism Should not mean bodice rippers in this day and age. And porn masquerading as soft corn is definitely not romantic.
Then I decided let us read Kasey Michaels,some of her books were rather humorous,like the tenacious Miss Tamerlane. And then I noticed that this particular author does not have any rhyme or reason to her stories. They are just a collection of random incidents held together tenaciously, with a number of characters coming in and of course their stories end abruptly because the author does not know what to do with them.
I say to myself-Let me continue reading it, because I Do not have anything else to do, and want to see how bad this story really is, especially when this author has absolutely no idea of the social customs and norm of Regency England. She of course did not disappoint me. Especially with a sentence like,He winked lovingly at her, and she wanted to sit down on the grass and wail.
They were in a room at that time.
Give me one reason why I should continue reading this author.
Enough was sufficient. This writer does not know that in Victorian England, an aristocrat winking at a woman meant that he considered her to be a streetwalker and a harlot.They never winked at a good woman, because this gesture meant that he wanted to have sex with her and what was her price? I believe that is the reason why she wanted to sit down on the grass, in a room, and wail. Or because she was a nitwit. or because she did not have anything else to do because her swooning was done. Or perhaps her friend swooned away. Who cares?Incidentally, they were surrounded by enemies at that time.
I wonder whether they still use this gesture in Casey Michael's Modern-day social circle as an invitation to bed sport, well, they may do that in the 21st century, even though it is considered to be playful. It was not considered a polite gesture in Regency England.So I decided to look at a number of her other books and noticed that there was one character with this affliction in the eye, in all her books, either a servant or a friend of the hero or the hero, wink, wink wink. So not funny.So that is why she gets a one star rating because she has an ignorant editor and an Equally ignorant proofreader. Naturally, I have never bought any of her books. One star.
Then I decided let us read Kasey Michaels,some of her books were rather humorous,like the tenacious Miss Tamerlane. And then I noticed that this particular author does not have any rhyme or reason to her stories. They are just a collection of random incidents held together tenaciously, with a number of characters coming in and of course their stories end abruptly because the author does not know what to do with them.
I say to myself-Let me continue reading it, because I Do not have anything else to do, and want to see how bad this story really is, especially when this author has absolutely no idea of the social customs and norm of Regency England. She of course did not disappoint me. Especially with a sentence like,He winked lovingly at her, and she wanted to sit down on the grass and wail.
They were in a room at that time.
Give me one reason why I should continue reading this author.
Enough was sufficient. This writer does not know that in Victorian England, an aristocrat winking at a woman meant that he considered her to be a streetwalker and a harlot.They never winked at a good woman, because this gesture meant that he wanted to have sex with her and what was her price? I believe that is the reason why she wanted to sit down on the grass, in a room, and wail. Or because she was a nitwit. or because she did not have anything else to do because her swooning was done. Or perhaps her friend swooned away. Who cares?Incidentally, they were surrounded by enemies at that time.
I wonder whether they still use this gesture in Casey Michael's Modern-day social circle as an invitation to bed sport, well, they may do that in the 21st century, even though it is considered to be playful. It was not considered a polite gesture in Regency England.So I decided to look at a number of her other books and noticed that there was one character with this affliction in the eye, in all her books, either a servant or a friend of the hero or the hero, wink, wink wink. So not funny.So that is why she gets a one star rating because she has an ignorant editor and an Equally ignorant proofreader. Naturally, I have never bought any of her books. One star.
March 30, 2020
4 stars... because this book is a mix between really good stories and not so good stories.
That is, you just have to make sure you appreciate the excitement of borderline rape and coercion and find sexual excitement in uncontrollable almost animalistic desire.
The description of a vampire's seductive and lustful nature was... impressive. I really appreciated that.
The first two stories were pretty legit; an exciting plot with an subtantial build up... and either a cheesy or a good lesson at the end.
The third story, Aunt Grizelda, was nothing but cheese (super cheesy!) I felt it came out of the mind of a creative middle schooler.
It's cute...
The last story, What Dreams may Come, definitely takes the cake. I was left astonished at the insight, the irony, the mystery... such complexity in such a small amount of pages.
Although it did not have the quality of bestial lust as the vampires, it did dig deep into the instinctual passions of the heart.
That is, you just have to make sure you appreciate the excitement of borderline rape and coercion and find sexual excitement in uncontrollable almost animalistic desire.
The description of a vampire's seductive and lustful nature was... impressive. I really appreciated that.
The first two stories were pretty legit; an exciting plot with an subtantial build up... and either a cheesy or a good lesson at the end.
The third story, Aunt Grizelda, was nothing but cheese (super cheesy!) I felt it came out of the mind of a creative middle schooler.
It's cute...
The last story, What Dreams may Come, definitely takes the cake. I was left astonished at the insight, the irony, the mystery... such complexity in such a small amount of pages.
Although it did not have the quality of bestial lust as the vampires, it did dig deep into the instinctual passions of the heart.
May 30, 2017
Adrian meets Gray. Wants her but has a problem. He is dead. See how this turns out for the guardian of Draycott Abbey.
November 9, 2025
Devil’s Keep 3🌟
Vanquish The Night 4🌟
My Aunt Grizelda 5🌟
What Dreams May come 3 1/2🌟
Vanquish The Night 4🌟
My Aunt Grizelda 5🌟
What Dreams May come 3 1/2🌟
April 22, 2008
Emjoyable
November 4, 2009
A collection of nice romance stories with a supernatural theme.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews