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True Gentlemen: 3 Novellas
True Southern romance to sigh over. From small-town charmers to the elite of New Orleans, these three novellas capture all the grit, passion and allure of the Deep South, as well as its buried lies and secrets. Meet Adam, Rip and Three true gentlemen—fiercely protective, devoted and capable of the deepest love, with the integrity to do the right thing no matter the consequences. Three Southern men true to themselves and true to the women they desperately want to love and to be loved by. RIP Rip was a dirt-poor kid from the wrong side of town when he first saw Anna in the shining costume of a Christmas fairy and fell head over heels in love. Although he always knew she was above his touch, he became her self-appointed protector. Until he was falsely accused of robbing a service station and railroaded into prison. Now he’s back, and determined to redeem himself. But the same enemy that sent him to prison in the first place will stop at nothing to keep him away from Anna—and away from past secrets too painful to be revealed. HUNTER Adrienne is only at the Mardi Gras masked ball to help her father succeed with his first case as a PI—an adultery investigation of their society hostess—and to distract the woman's too handsome possible lover. Hunter is there for his own purposes, but doesn't mind the distraction. Because the closer he gets to Adrienne, the more determined he becomes to discover her secrets. As the evening advances, the two of them whirl closer and closer in their intricate game of cat-and-mouse. But who is seducing whom, and what will happen at midnight when their masks come off? ADAM Adam Benedict is certain Lara Bancroft is hiding her aunt, a woman wanted for murder, in the old mansion she's inherited in the small town of Turn-Coupe. Lara's Aunt Kim shot her abusive husband, yes, but in self defense. And given the dead man’s crime family connections, Lara fears her aunt won't make it to a trial. When mafia goons show up, it's a fight for survival, one in which only trust in the unique psychic connection Lara shares with Adam can keep them alive. But reading Adam's mind could be even more dangerous to her heart.
307 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 26, 2017
393 people are currently reading
243 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Blake
177 books542 followersA pseudonym used by Patricia Maxwell.
Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.
Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.
Jennifer Blake has been called a “pioneer of the romance genre”, and an “icon of the romance industry.” A New York Times and international best selling author since 1977, she is a charter member of Romance Writers of America, member of the RWA Hall of Fame, and recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Rita. She holds numerous other honors, including two “Maggies”, two Holt Medallions, multiple Reviewer’s Choice Awards, the Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BookReviews Magazine, and the Frank Waters Award for literary excellence. She has written over 60 books with translations in 20 languages and more than 30 million copies in print worldwide.
Jennifer and her husband reside in a lakeside Caribbean-style retreat in North Louisiana where they often entertain family and friends. Always a gardener, she spends much of her time encouraging her garden to bloom with her favorite daylilies and antique roses. She also enjoys walking her two dogs, Buffy and Lucky, and indulging in needlework, painting, and travel.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 5, 2017
The boxed set with the belt around the middle is daggy beyond belief. I usually try to review separately but these have never been released by themselves.
Rip
John Peterson was a kid from the wrong sides of the tracks with Spanish and Native American ancestry, who grew up with Tom and Anna Montrose. The three were great friends and often played in the abandoned ante-bellum plantation house, Blest, that used to belong to the Montrose family. Anna nicknamed him ‘Rip’ after finding him asleep in the family graveyard, after Rip van Winkle.
In one awful night, Tom disappears and Rip is caught robbing the service station. He refuses to speak up for himself at the trial and goes to jail for three years. And Tom hasn’t been seen since.
Years later, he’s a self made man who has secretly bought the old house. Now, he makes Anna an offer to help him repair and renovate it, and to get him accepted into ‘society’; proven by membership of the Old Bon Vivant Club. But there’s a catch
But Anna’s mother is not pleased to see him back in town.
But the old house caretaker, Papa Vidal, might know more about what happened that awful night.
Either way, Anna is conflicted about what she really wants. She loves the old house, and to get both it and Rip might be a dream too far.
***
First published in June 1998 - people wear caftans… I kid you, not. I mean that was out of date in 1998.
Half the town fall over each other to ingratiate themselves with the newly rich Rip. The other half hate him and cut him dead. Anna’s mother is particularly vicious, accusing him of murdering her son.
Anna is not so sure. The case never made sense to her, Rip worked at the garage, had a key and had no need to break in to rob it. But she can’t work out why Rip refused to talk. Her mother tried desperately to squash their young affection for each other and Rip going to jail was the final straw.
Tom had got into drugs and she’s pretty sure that he’s dead; having never shown up again. But it would be nice to know.
Rip is a far better gentleman than almost anyone else in the book. Which is, I suppose, the point.
3 stars
***
Hunter
A retired police captain sets up an investigation company and ropes his daughter, Adrienne O’Banyon, in to attend the annual New Orleans masked ball. The host thinks his wife is having an affair with a younger man, Hunter Sutherland, and after she sees the bill for a white hoop gown, the wife thinks her husband is having an affair with a younger woman.
The two younger parts of this confused equation meet at the masked ball, and sparks fly.
***
“Hunter” was first published as “Love in Three-Quarter Time,” in the Unmasked anthology, MIRA Books, July 1997. Three stories by three authors on three different couples at the same masked ball [oooh… nice idea.]
Ah, yes. Twue luuurve in one evening…
She’s an archaeologist, he a wealthy adoptee with an inherited family business plus the inherited philanthropy organisation. They are busy being at cross purposes until those purposes end up with them retiring to one of the upstairs bedrooms… gasps.
I don’t know. It all felt a bit sudden. She’s got to be pushing thirty and is a virgin. She was just too busy for sex. Uh- huh. And she’s been engaged before. The what now?
And what are the odds that an unwanted multiple home foster kid will be adopted by a very wealthy family to be treated as a virtual plaything and then be left everything? Tragic, that that’s my issue, I know.
There were a few references to prince charming, and lost slippers and so on, but as I said it all felt too sudden; especially for this unadventurous heroine.
I liked the hero, but the heroine just didn’t work for me.
2 stars
***
Adam
“Adam” first published in With a Southern Touch anthology, MIRA Books, June 2002
Adam is doing a favour for a friend. On his way home, he checks in at an old house to ask about the current location of a the owner’s aunt. But as he’s driving up, he sees a vision of a naked woman in a cape on the drive. The woman, Lara Kincaid, is hiding her aunt, Kim Belzoni, after she shot her mob boss husband.
But Lara is a psychic and she knows exactly what Adam is thinking. What he saw was an image from her own mind, and that could be an issue.
***
I had to dnf this one… the aunt makes me feral. She’s just too dumb… and she was really annoying.
So I guess all up it averages out at 2 stars.
Rip
John Peterson was a kid from the wrong sides of the tracks with Spanish and Native American ancestry, who grew up with Tom and Anna Montrose. The three were great friends and often played in the abandoned ante-bellum plantation house, Blest, that used to belong to the Montrose family. Anna nicknamed him ‘Rip’ after finding him asleep in the family graveyard, after Rip van Winkle.
In one awful night, Tom disappears and Rip is caught robbing the service station. He refuses to speak up for himself at the trial and goes to jail for three years. And Tom hasn’t been seen since.
Years later, he’s a self made man who has secretly bought the old house. Now, he makes Anna an offer to help him repair and renovate it, and to get him accepted into ‘society’; proven by membership of the Old Bon Vivant Club. But there’s a catch
“Either I help you become a respected citizen of Montrose or you’ll bulldoze Blest to the ground. As proof of success, you require membership in the Bon Vivant Club. If that fails, you expect me to—become your wife.” (Kindle Locations 288-290)
But Anna’s mother is not pleased to see him back in town.
But the old house caretaker, Papa Vidal, might know more about what happened that awful night.
Either way, Anna is conflicted about what she really wants. She loves the old house, and to get both it and Rip might be a dream too far.
***
First published in June 1998 - people wear caftans… I kid you, not. I mean that was out of date in 1998.
Half the town fall over each other to ingratiate themselves with the newly rich Rip. The other half hate him and cut him dead. Anna’s mother is particularly vicious, accusing him of murdering her son.
Anna is not so sure. The case never made sense to her, Rip worked at the garage, had a key and had no need to break in to rob it. But she can’t work out why Rip refused to talk. Her mother tried desperately to squash their young affection for each other and Rip going to jail was the final straw.
Tom had got into drugs and she’s pretty sure that he’s dead; having never shown up again. But it would be nice to know.
Rip is a far better gentleman than almost anyone else in the book. Which is, I suppose, the point.
3 stars
***
Hunter
A retired police captain sets up an investigation company and ropes his daughter, Adrienne O’Banyon, in to attend the annual New Orleans masked ball. The host thinks his wife is having an affair with a younger man, Hunter Sutherland, and after she sees the bill for a white hoop gown, the wife thinks her husband is having an affair with a younger woman.
The two younger parts of this confused equation meet at the masked ball, and sparks fly.
***
“Hunter” was first published as “Love in Three-Quarter Time,” in the Unmasked anthology, MIRA Books, July 1997. Three stories by three authors on three different couples at the same masked ball [oooh… nice idea.]
Ah, yes. Twue luuurve in one evening…
She’s an archaeologist, he a wealthy adoptee with an inherited family business plus the inherited philanthropy organisation. They are busy being at cross purposes until those purposes end up with them retiring to one of the upstairs bedrooms… gasps.
I don’t know. It all felt a bit sudden. She’s got to be pushing thirty and is a virgin. She was just too busy for sex. Uh- huh. And she’s been engaged before. The what now?
And what are the odds that an unwanted multiple home foster kid will be adopted by a very wealthy family to be treated as a virtual plaything and then be left everything? Tragic, that that’s my issue, I know.
There were a few references to prince charming, and lost slippers and so on, but as I said it all felt too sudden; especially for this unadventurous heroine.
I liked the hero, but the heroine just didn’t work for me.
2 stars
***
Adam
“Adam” first published in With a Southern Touch anthology, MIRA Books, June 2002
Adam is doing a favour for a friend. On his way home, he checks in at an old house to ask about the current location of a the owner’s aunt. But as he’s driving up, he sees a vision of a naked woman in a cape on the drive. The woman, Lara Kincaid, is hiding her aunt, Kim Belzoni, after she shot her mob boss husband.
But Lara is a psychic and she knows exactly what Adam is thinking. What he saw was an image from her own mind, and that could be an issue.
“All right, the personal question was out of line and I withdraw it. But I’ll tell you what I’m looking for in a woman anyway. I want someone who will laugh with me and let me hold her when she cries, someone who values love and desire, tolerance and compassion, who doesn’t mind work and can take pleasure in its rewards. I want a woman who can look at life, and at our lives together, as the greatest adventure in the world.”
***
I had to dnf this one… the aunt makes me feral. She’s just too dumb… and she was really annoying.
So I guess all up it averages out at 2 stars.
June 4, 2017
Read this as part of the on-going project to help a friend develop a booklist for her group to benefit adult children with a parent(s) with PTSD.
Only the first story, Rip, qualifies for the above, however, I read the other two because Rip is very well-written by an author who knows how to develop a backstory and world-building without wasting any words. Hard to do in a novella.
I am intrigued by the title of the collection, True Gentlemen, because I don't believe I have ever met a gentleman of this ilk. Do they only occur in Lousiana? Would I find them charming or a little too alpha?
Hunter is possibly the least likable of these stories, in my opinion. For one thing, if people would just sit down and have a conversation, and cease to make assumptions based on their own insecurities, life would be better. On the other hand, that is the source of the conflict in this story. The other thing about this story was the heroine slut-shaming herself for wearing an historically correct costume. Let's just get past the slut shaming, shall we?
Adam I found a delight to read, possibly because I love the paranormal.
Only the first story, Rip, qualifies for the above, however, I read the other two because Rip is very well-written by an author who knows how to develop a backstory and world-building without wasting any words. Hard to do in a novella.
I am intrigued by the title of the collection, True Gentlemen, because I don't believe I have ever met a gentleman of this ilk. Do they only occur in Lousiana? Would I find them charming or a little too alpha?
Hunter is possibly the least likable of these stories, in my opinion. For one thing, if people would just sit down and have a conversation, and cease to make assumptions based on their own insecurities, life would be better. On the other hand, that is the source of the conflict in this story. The other thing about this story was the heroine slut-shaming herself for wearing an historically correct costume. Let's just get past the slut shaming, shall we?
Adam I found a delight to read, possibly because I love the paranormal.
October 14, 2017
I don't normally care for novellas. Everything just happens too quickly.
Rip - bad-boy comes back to town. I liked his internal dialogue, and how long he'd cared for her.
Hunter - lots of confusion and misunderstandings in this one. I have to say that I LOVED that she was still a virgin (though I'm sure I'm in the minority here)
Adam - this is the one that really dropped my rating. The aunt was beyond irritating and self-centered. I almost stopped reading because of her. I decided to force myself to finish it and, in the midst of running through the woods to escape some mafia thugs, they do a "mind meld" thing and have sex?!?! I mean really!!
Rip - bad-boy comes back to town. I liked his internal dialogue, and how long he'd cared for her.
Hunter - lots of confusion and misunderstandings in this one. I have to say that I LOVED that she was still a virgin (though I'm sure I'm in the minority here)
Adam - this is the one that really dropped my rating. The aunt was beyond irritating and self-centered. I almost stopped reading because of her. I decided to force myself to finish it and, in the midst of running through the woods to escape some mafia thugs, they do a "mind meld" thing and have sex?!?! I mean really!!
March 14, 2019
One wanna be, one well practiced and one born to be a gentleman
I loved the first story bad boy makes good but was he and boy, the second d story was way too quick great mix up too and everyone wrongly reading the signs and the last book would have made a great mystery but cocky Adam didn't know he too bad ability to read the signs, she could but it seems she miss read them, she didn't want or need a man then she did , oh boy way to quick however though I only have a 3 star these are fun reads maybe bed time story
I loved the first story bad boy makes good but was he and boy, the second d story was way too quick great mix up too and everyone wrongly reading the signs and the last book would have made a great mystery but cocky Adam didn't know he too bad ability to read the signs, she could but it seems she miss read them, she didn't want or need a man then she did , oh boy way to quick however though I only have a 3 star these are fun reads maybe bed time story
October 19, 2017
I'm going to be generous and give this boxed set of novellas 4 stars even though the stories came off rather juvenile and the editing is atrocious. Each of the short stories borders on a slightly different aspect of the romance genre, but they are all romance through and through. The back stories are very contrived, but it doesn't really take away from the romantic aspect of the story. Overall, a nice light read and entertaining.
June 27, 2017
RIP - 4*
There is just something about a rich girl falling for a boy from the wrong side of the tracks trope that always gets me. For such a short story, the characters and the setting were well developed and the fact that it felt kind of "old school" was an added bonus. It was sweet yet tragic and I loved every single page of it. Recommended!
There is just something about a rich girl falling for a boy from the wrong side of the tracks trope that always gets me. For such a short story, the characters and the setting were well developed and the fact that it felt kind of "old school" was an added bonus. It was sweet yet tragic and I loved every single page of it. Recommended!
June 30, 2017
Average
When I saw that this series had only one review for three stars, I decided to read them ahead of my other books and see if I could give a higher rating. Unfortunately I can't. I kept losing interest in the stories. They were OK but needed something more. Excitement? Romance? Intrigue? I don't quite know, but something.
When I saw that this series had only one review for three stars, I decided to read them ahead of my other books and see if I could give a higher rating. Unfortunately I can't. I kept losing interest in the stories. They were OK but needed something more. Excitement? Romance? Intrigue? I don't quite know, but something.
October 1, 2017
Gentlemen
I read all three novellas and thought they were ok. I didn't care for Rip in the first one and I really didn't feel a connection between the H and h from him. I just felt the other two were ok as well. The writing was ok but I just didn't feel anything great between the characters and I'm not sure why these guys were considered True Gentlemen.
I read all three novellas and thought they were ok. I didn't care for Rip in the first one and I really didn't feel a connection between the H and h from him. I just felt the other two were ok as well. The writing was ok but I just didn't feel anything great between the characters and I'm not sure why these guys were considered True Gentlemen.
October 24, 2017
What every lady needs.
A true southern gentleman is unfortunately so,so,hard to fine. Boy these three guys really meet the mark. A fun read,but Hunter is my favorite, read and choose your own favourite southern gentleman.
A true southern gentleman is unfortunately so,so,hard to fine. Boy these three guys really meet the mark. A fun read,but Hunter is my favorite, read and choose your own favourite southern gentleman.
January 15, 2021
Worthwhile Read,
I had help picking this as my most recent read. This is not something I usually appreciate but in this case I am
pleased that I followed instructions.
I found each of the 3 novellas to be quite enjoyable.
I had help picking this as my most recent read. This is not something I usually appreciate but in this case I am
pleased that I followed instructions.
I found each of the 3 novellas to be quite enjoyable.
October 14, 2017
Pure male...
These novellas met my expectations. Old fashioned flirtation, good chemistry and satisfying stories. I would read this author's full length works.
These novellas met my expectations. Old fashioned flirtation, good chemistry and satisfying stories. I would read this author's full length works.
October 16, 2017
Gentlemen
Each of the tree story have strong gentlemen characters that understand that the women they want to settle down with are also strong. Eachg story is great.
Each of the tree story have strong gentlemen characters that understand that the women they want to settle down with are also strong. Eachg story is great.
October 18, 2017
Great read.
All three stories are so different and I enjoyed each gentleman in these stories. Each female made them respect women so much more.
All three stories are so different and I enjoyed each gentleman in these stories. Each female made them respect women so much more.
April 7, 2018
Wow
These guys were awesome and the girls were too hard to resist! A great book, with drama and romance! Everything that belongs in books! A must read
These guys were awesome and the girls were too hard to resist! A great book, with drama and romance! Everything that belongs in books! A must read
February 3, 2019
This was a great book
Their was so much excitement in the reading of this book. I was intrigued by the. Characters in these stories
Their was so much excitement in the reading of this book. I was intrigued by the. Characters in these stories
May 8, 2019
Very interesting stories.
Each is different and unexpected. There is action, mystery and complex people. But the love in each is gripping and enjoyable.
Each is different and unexpected. There is action, mystery and complex people. But the love in each is gripping and enjoyable.
June 19, 2019
Gorgeous
Gorgeously written! Three wildly different men and story lines. The women are just as fascinating. Loved how each story left one wanting more.
Gorgeously written! Three wildly different men and story lines. The women are just as fascinating. Loved how each story left one wanting more.
October 14, 2017
I tried...I really tried but I can’t get into the first story so I can’t make myself even attempt the next
Read
October 18, 2017Again: no rating for a DNFed book. I read the first story and enjoyed it, but I just couldn't make myself read on for some reason. It probably didn't help that I happened upon a review that said the first story was the best and the novellas went downhill from there. The mother in the first story was unbelievable, but not in a good way - she was a bad mother caricature, basically, which I found cheapened the story.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews