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The Diamonds of Welbourne Manor: An Anthology

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Justine and the Noble Viscount by Diane Gaston

Guardian to the unconventional and newly orphaned Fitzmannings is not a role that brooding Gerald Brenner relishes. But Justine, the illegitimate daughter who strives to hide her shame, calls powerfully to something deep within him....

Annalise and the Scandalous Rake by Deb Marlowe

House party guest Ned Milford can see the inner passion and beauty that Annalise Fitzmanning hides. But how close should they become when his reason for being at Welbourne Manor would prompt a society scandal, not a society marriage!

Charlotte and the Wicked Lord by Amanda McCabe

Charlotte may be the youngest Fitzmanning girl, but she knows her own mind--and she wants Lord Andrew Bassington! Drew requires an eminently proper bride, something free-spirited Charlotte has never been. So how can she make him see the beautiful woman she has become...?

375 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

24 people are currently reading
261 people want to read

About the author

Diane Gaston

175 books127 followers
Diane Gaston’s dream job had always been to write romance novels. One day she decided to pursue that dream and has never looked back; she is now writing full-time. Her books have won Romance’s highest honour—the RITA Award, the National Readers Choice Award and the Golden Heart. She lives in Virginia with her husband and three very ordinary house cats. Diane loves to hear from readers and friends.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
Profile Image for Harlequin Historical.
938 reviews63 followers
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May 9, 2009
I highly recommend this anthology.

Diane Gaston definitely had me loving all those living in Welbourne Manor and anyone connected with it. Ms. Gaston set the stage beautifully while giving her readers a complete romance that gives you that special little smile and twinkles in your eye while devouring the pages.

Deb Marlowe wrote the perfect middle for an anthology. Her heart-uplifting story has the correct blend of deep emotions you would expect from the middle of a full length novel and yet she gave full attention to the new love that blooms within her tale. I don't want to offer spoilers so all I can say is that there is a scene involving Annalise that had me crying. I really connected with the character.

Amanda McCabe wrapped things up for this book. I say this because I hope to see more. I think I would have wanted to be friends with Charlotte, Ms. McCabe's heroine. She intrigues me the most. So watching her love story unfold was exciting, the way you want a good book to end.

The three separate stories mesh so well together it is almost as if one author wrote the book but each individual novella is a fulfilling romantic adventure all on its own.
Profile Image for Monique Takens.
650 reviews14 followers
July 16, 2014
3 korte verhalen van een leuke familie waar ik ook wel bij zou willen horen .Wanneer ik de 2 vervolgdelen : How to Marry a Rake - Deb Marlowe en The Shy Duchess - Amanda McCabe , voor een redelijke prijs kan kopen dan zal ik dat zeker doen . Het vervolgdeel van Diane Gaston - A Not so Respectable Gentleman heb ik al voor dit boek gelezen .
Profile Image for Michelle.
719 reviews13 followers
July 4, 2017
For being novellas each story felt pretty well developed and complete. However each story had a sex scene jammed awkwardly into it as if it had to be there. I felt like it ruined the stories considering the time period they were based in.
1,123 reviews4 followers
January 24, 2025
Good read. I like that these three short stories of the same family were combined into one book. I liked these characters and the plot of each story. Looking forward to seeing if these authors come out with another book about the remaining family members.
Profile Image for Mike.
1,174 reviews30 followers
December 25, 2018
Three Regency novellas of an illegitimately devil-may-care family

Justine and the Nobel Viscount
Perhaps the best part of this romantic novella was establishing the wide range of characters within the Fitzmanning Miscellany. The romantic journey of the heroine (of the most scandalous birth but the most respectable behavior in the clan) and the hero (the proper but entirely separated and alienated half-brother to the rest of the brood) was sweet and a nice regency escape.

Annalise and the Scandalous Rake
I absolutely loved the characters and the relationship obstacles/setting for this novella, but the sudden/immediate resolution at the end fell flat for me. While this is a novella-length story (so there isn't time for extended drama at the end), and the author avoids the extended "miscommunication" trope, it still was a much too easy compared to the much more nuanced character and relationship interplay of the rest of the story.

Charlotte and the Wicked Lord
The weakest of the three for me, it was still an enjoyable and quick romance that was a nicely diverting read, and rounded out the stories of the three sisters.
Profile Image for Lexie.
2,066 reviews357 followers
February 7, 2010
Of the three authors I was looking forward to Marlowe the best. I've read her previous titles (An Improper Aristocrat by Deb Marlowe , Her Cinderella Season by Deb Marlowe) and enjoyed them immensely. McCabe and Gaston I know I've read before as well, but not as recently.

As a concept I think it was intriguing and full of possibilities. Its also possibly one of the more outlandish premises I've read in any historical novel. Its a 'Yours, Mine and Ours' set up--Manning had his 2 legal sons by his legal wife (Nicholas and Stephen), and his out of wedlock daughter Justine (from a previous liaison), the Duchess has her one legal son by her legal husband (Brenner) and together Manning and the Duchess had 3 children--2 girls and 1 boy (Leo, Annalise and Charlotte). Of all the children Brenner is the only one not to have grown up as part of the 'Fitzmanning Miscellany' as the group is called.

Gaston tackles the story of Brenner, made messenger by his recently departed mother the Duchess (having died on her honey moon trip with Manning) and his romance with Justine. Its a rather dry romance, with both being uncertain and afraid for their own reasons, but sweetly responsive to each other. The more interesting tale was of the Fitzmanning brood and how Brenner dealt with them. His stable, steadfast personality is a wonderful thing for the household and all the children had grown up in awe and respect of him even though they never met him.

Marlowe's story about Annalise and Ned, a friend of Nicholas', is far more spirited though still oddly subdued. The title is misleading as Ned is less of a rake and more like a regular young man of the ton. He doesn't purposely set out to seduce Annalise and is almost resistant because of the secret he harbors. The story takes place roughly a year later, but things haven't changed overmuch with the brood it would seem.

McCabe's story is about the youngest, Charlotte and her long time crush Drew. This story rather hot and cold for me. On the one hand I'm always in favor of long time crushes coming to fruition--who doesn't want their first crush to turn out to be their true love? On the other I think that Charlotte came off less of an ardent admirer and more of a stalker at times. It wasn't any one thing exactly, but she just seemed obsessive in a bad way.

I would have preferred if this had been a series of novels instead of three short stories--this easily could have been 6 books long, one for each kid's romance and it would have given me a better view of each of their individual personalities and traits. As it stood however the three boys--Nicholas, Stephen and Leo--were almost interchangeable at times. Less so in Marlowe's story, where Stephen is clearly the one who plays the most jokes on his siblings, but the fact remained that the overall premise didn't feel like it ended.
Profile Image for Sabrina (Soter) Sally.
2,174 reviews70 followers
May 19, 2014
3 e 1/2
"Charlotte Fitzmanning era la cosa più bella che avesse mai visto, la fugace apparizione di pura, vibrante vitalità che passa davanti agli occhi di un uomo in fin di vita."

Tre storie molto carine (e molto brevi XD), come spesso succede il mio ordine di gradimento rispecchia l'ordine delle storie XD La prima, che funge da presentazione della famiglia "Miscellanea
Fitzmanning" con vari figli illegittimi e legittimi che vivono tutti insieme e sono uno più scatenato dell'altro e introduce le collane di diamanti che danno il nome al volume, è stata un po piatta per quanto riguarda la storia d'amore tra il visconte Brenner (sfortunatamente diventato tutore della scatenata family XD) e la maggiore Justine: entrambi sono responsabili e cresciuti con l'abitudine a dominare le emozioni e rispettare il contegno e si può ben dire "chi si somiglia si piglia" XD Avrei voluto maggiore approfondimento sul passato di Justine, possiamo certo intuire come si sia "rovinata" ma ci viene detto ben poco u.u La seconda storia mi è piaciuta di più, Annalise e Ned sono entrambi artisti, seppure in campi diversi, e il tutto è movimentato dalla sparizione della collana e dal "misterioso" mestiere di Ned che inevitabilmente verrà alla luce scatenando un vero putiferio ;P Annalise mi ha convinto meno di Ned come personaggio, ha un carattere un po ambiguo XD La terza storia è senza dubbio la mia preferita, adoro i vecchi amori infantili che finalmente trovano coronamento *__* Charlotte è senza dubbio il componente della famiglia più vivace di tutti, e per quanto si sforzi di comportarsi da perfetta gentildonna gli incidenti per lei sono all'ordine del giorno XD Drew è stato la sua prima cotta, il solare amico dei suoi fratelli maggiori, ma ora che è tornato sembra irriconoscibile: la morte del fratello, che gli ha lasciato non solo il titolo ma anche la responsabilità della vedova e del nipote, l'ha come invecchiato nello spirito, convincendolo di aver bisogno di una donna pacata e posata accanto a sè...tutto il contrario di Charlotte, la sorellina dei suoi amici che però ha sempre attirato il suo sguardo! *__* Per coronare il loro sogno d'amore ci vorrà l'intervento di tutta la famiglia, e il finale "raduna" tutte le storie in un trionfo di fiori d'arancio! ;D certo anche qui rimane in sospeso qualcosina (mancanza di spazio, ahimé XD) riguardo appunto la cognata vedova di Drew, che sembra incontrare un gentiluomo di sua vecchia conoscenza con cui potrebbe allacciare una romantica storia ma tutto rimane in sospeso...peccato!
Profile Image for Becca.
703 reviews119 followers
April 29, 2014
I have been enjoying novellas lately when I am in the mood for a happy endings without a lot of drama or drawn out misunderstandings. This book contained three novellas about a blended family and focused on the stories of the illegitimate daughters. Now, I am a bit skeptical that all three illegitimate daughters would find marriages with highly respectable men, but I didn't think too hard on it so I could enjoy the stories.

I could not finish the first story. The writing style didn't suit me at all and felt very choppy so I was never pulled into the story. I even read the epilogue and still didn't like it.

The next story, by Deb Marlowe, was sweet and my favorite of the three. It was about Annalise and Ned who are both artists. I liked how their shared interest tied them together. It was predictable but a nice read.

The last story by Amanda McCabe was also nice. It was about Charlotte and her brothers' friend Drew. Charlotte had loved Drew for a long time and was always trying to change herself to be what she thought he wanted in a wife when really he just wanted her. Now, I did not buy the line that the brothers were helping to to pair up their friend with their sister...brothers typically protect their sister from their friends, not throw their sister in a room alone with them. However. I also let that go.

Needless to say, I did not think too hard about historical details do I enjoyed the stories. However, they are very predictable and unlikely, so if this bothers you, I wouldn't recommend them. For me, they were easy afternoon reads.

Also, there are a few stories linked to this that tell the stories about the legitimate siblings. I did not look for the first author becuase I didn't care for the writing style, but I did find these other linked stories:

Regency Christmas Proposals is a collection of short stories, one by Amanda McCabe that includes the story of Mary Bassington, Drew's sister, a woman widowed too young, and Lord Amesby, both characters introduced in McCabe's story.

How to Marry a Rake by Deb Marlowe is about Stephen Manning and Charlotte's friend Mae.

The Shy Duchess by Amanda McCabe is about Lady Emily Carroll and Nicholas, the Duke of Manning.
Profile Image for Roxie.
72 reviews
November 27, 2013
In my opinion, the value of a romance novel lies pretty much solely in escapism. By necessity, the majority of romance novel heroines are empty slates, so you the reader can insert yourself into their (physically perfect) place and be swept off your feet by the Manliest, Most Unreal of Perfect Manly Men (sometimes With A Past). The plot is usually a grab-bag of cliches and overused devices, just a series of inconveniences that you have to sort through to force your breeding pair together (because PWP only works in fanfiction, I guess).

All of that is true about this book, a collection of three short stories (so very, very short; it annoys me how short each story is) about three interchangeable sisters and their incredibly contrived romances. To be honest, I usually skip past Justine (I'm not a fan of Brenner) and Annalise (I find this story unforgivably boring); it's Charlotte's tale that I read over and over again. I'm not even certain why I keep coming back to her; the plot feels half-baked and incomplete, almost like it was meant to be a full novel on its own but the author ran out of time and so just tacked it into this book half-finished.

Maybe Charlotte and Drew remind me of two of my own characters (well, no, they definitely remind me of two of my own characters, minus the angst and a good deal of the personality). Maybe Drew reminds me in a weird way of my first love. Maybe I'm a complete sucker for the "boy falls in love with his friends' little sister" story. Maybe it's an example of "so bad it's good". I don't know. Either way, the egregiously misnamed Charlotte and the Wicked Lord (seriously, I can't think of anyone less wicked than Drew) is one of my favorite guilty pleasures.
Profile Image for JoAnn.
167 reviews22 followers
June 3, 2011
Three enjoyable stories about the three illegitimate daughters of a Duke who had just married the mother of two of the girls and one of his sons before the first story begins. Also before the first story begins, the Duke and his new Duchess have died of a fever while on their honeymoon in Italy.
The book starts with the Duchess' legitimate son from her first marriage that had ended 20 years earlier when she became involved with the Duke, coming to tell his mother's three illegitimate children, his half-siblings, who he has never met before that their parents have died. He ends up telling the Duke's two legitimate sons and his illegitimate daughter by yet another woman at the same time as they are all living in the same house at the time.
The romances are all well written and satisfying even though they are each only novella length. My favorite part, though, is the way this blended family works together.

There are at least two more books in the series and I would like to read them if I run across them, but I will probably not search for them specifically.
Profile Image for Anne Patkau.
3,715 reviews69 followers
February 19, 2011
*** "The Diamonds of Wellbourne Manor" are either three lovely sisters born illegitimate, orphaned when their ducal parents fall to plague on their honeymoon in Venice, or the necklaces bequeathed to them for their weddings. Three house parties have three talented romance authors: Diane Gaston, Deb Marlowe, and Amanda McCabe. With four brothers, two legitimate, the relaxed loving family undergoes the Prince Regent at a funeral and wedding, a necklace lost then found, betrayal by broadsheet caricatures, and matchmaking a tomboy trying to mature. I wish the parents could have survived and not the pugs, but adversity is supposed to strengthen. A stern selfish father, a greedy thieving publisher, and teasing siblings are the worst villains, making time we read a holiday in their home, with requisite interludes of passion.
Profile Image for Roberta .
1,295 reviews28 followers
May 9, 2013
Actually a little better than I expected from three connected stories by three different authors. I liked "Justine and the Noble Viscount" by Diane Gaston the best and "Charlotte and the Wicked Lord" by Amanda McCabe the least. The first story felt the most original of the three, probably because it contained most of the complicated background information about who slept with who and begat who.

The third story sounded like it was originally intended to be the second story in a different series because two of the minor characters have a past with each other that predicts a future relationship, neither of which are in this book. The other possibility is that they were using the third story to start selling us another book featuring those two characters.
Profile Image for Michaela.
393 reviews1 follower
March 10, 2012
Justine and the Noble Viscount - It was generally ok but some minor characters annoyed me and some of the 'drama' was unnecessary.

Annalise and the Scandalous Rake - When reading this I cant help but feel this story was done a million times better by Julia Quinn in Romancing Mr Brighton

Charlotte and the Wicked Lord - Every 3 or 4 pages I was bored, it felt so rushed and dull. The only thing that interested me in the whole story was Marys side-story/prologue to her own story which hopefully will be much better.

Generally this got worse as it went on but I feel it was more down to the characters as I have read the Shy Duchess and generally like it.
Profile Image for Laurie.
1,555 reviews34 followers
February 23, 2012
All three stories were sweet, if a bit predictable. I was worried that since all three novellas featured the same characters but were written by different authors, I would end up being annoyed by inconsistencies in the characters' behavior and personalities. Fortunately, the anthology was fairly cohesive, so I was able to just sit back and enjoy the stories. Overall, it was a nice, quick read, but probably not a keeper for me. I will look for the spin-off books featuring Stephen and Leo, though (I've read Nicholas and Emily's story already).
3,334 reviews42 followers
Read
September 27, 2013
Three novellas by three different authors. I suspect I mooched it because I've enjoyed Diana Gaston in the past. I have a number of books to read for work or rings and rays here, and so stubborn soul that I often am, I read one novella between each other book. Just a question of choosing what I feel like reading when, I guess. Light and entertaining, totally predictable but enjoyable nonetheless.
Profile Image for Amber Leigh Williams.
Author 55 books571 followers
July 25, 2010
So glad I got the chance to read this anthology! It rekindled my love for the Regency genre, Diane Gaston's story in particular. I loved the joyful tones of the freespirited family. The love stories were so smoothly and joyfully written and still poignant and heartfelt.
Profile Image for Amy.
3,733 reviews96 followers
May 12, 2014
Three fun stories by three delightful authors make up this book. All of the stories are related so you do not want to read them out of order.
Profile Image for Vicki Jaeger.
992 reviews3 followers
August 13, 2009
Not bad for a Harlequin. It's 3 short stories, which I normally am *not* a fan of. But the 3 authors worked well together, and there wasn't too much purple prose.
Profile Image for Carrie.
1,013 reviews25 followers
February 9, 2015
"Justine and the Noble Viscount" by Diane Gaston
3.5/5

"Annalise and the Scandalous Rake" by Deb Marlowe
Did not read.

"Charlotte and the Wicked Lord" by Amanda McCabe
4/5
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews

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