Miss Wolfraston's Ladies Collection

by Jenny Hambly

Marianne has disconcertingly open manners and a liveliness that Miss Wolfraston deplores. When she visits her aunt in Cheltenham, these traits inevitably lead her into a series of scrapes.

Lord Cranbourne has already been disappointed in love once and is in no hurry to find a bride. Annoyed at his sister’s matchmaking attempts, he accompanies his friend Sir Horace Bamber to Cheltenham. He expects to be heartily bored. Then he meets Marianne.

Both have lessons to learn; not least that no one is quite what they seem.

Seven years ago, Miss Hayes’ world was turned upside down when she lost her father, her betrothed, and any prospect of a comfortable future. Forced to make her own way in the world, she became a teacher at Miss Wolfraston’s Seminary for Young Ladies.

She has no wish to re-enter the society that turned its back on her. But when she is asked to be a companion to her pupil, Miss Charlotte Fletcher, for the summer, her affection for the young lady overcomes her reservations.

As ghosts from her past come back to haunt her, feelings long buried begin to surface. By confronting her demons, can she begin to forge a new future?

Georgianna bids adieu to her friend Marianne and returns home with a heavy heart. Before their friendship blossomed, she had been a stranger to affection.

Her mama is enraged when she discovers Georgianna has spurned the advances of an extremely eligible man and sends her to her impoverished aunt, hoping that she will realise just how much a lady needs a wealthy husband, regardless of her feelings for him.

Georgianna embarks on a journey of self-discovery and meets two very different gentlemen who are far from dull. Her head tells her one is ineligible and her heart that the other would never make her happy.

When she suddenly finds herself facing disgrace, it seems she must make a choice. But should she listen to her head or her heart?

Genres: Romance

698 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 12, 2020

About the author

I love history and the Regency period in particular. I grew up on a diet of Jane Austen, Charlotte and Emile Bronte, and Georgette Heyer.

I now write traditional Regency romance novels. I like to think my characters, though flawed, are likeable, strong, and true to the period. Rosalind is the first in my Bachelor Brides series. Sophie and Katherine complete the series. The books are linked by characters introduced in each. They can be read as stand-alone novels, but are best read in order.

I live by the sea in Plymouth, England with my partner, Dave. I like reading, sailing, wine, getting up early to watch the sunrise in summer, and long quiet evenings by the wood burner in our cabin on the cliffs in Cornwall in winter.


Find out more about me, join my mailing list, or just see what I am up to, at www.jennyhambly.com

Reviews

[Jane Porter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jenny Hambly is a new author to me and I very much enjoyed the collection. I tend to be a very critical reader and put down a lot of books unfinished, but Hambly charmed me, and her first book hooked me--loved the set up--and each of the three novels held my attention. Her stories and settings were entertaining and sweet, with the requisite happy ever afters. She writes appealing heroines and heroes, loved the connections between heroines (friends) as well as their larger social circles. I have just one criticism and it is so petty I shouldn't say it, but it bugged me enough during the series that I commented to my husband and a writer friend. Jenny would be even better if she gave up the word 'gently'. She's such a good writer that she doesn't need the adverb in her dialogue/speech tags, and then when its used in the narrative, readers (like me) won't obsess. Otherwise I look forward to reading more from her. Excited to have a new author on my like to read list, and impressed by her talent!

[Pamela D. Gannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's All Good!

I enjoyed meeting all of these ladies and their gentlemen. Their family issues and learning to cope with them as well as learning about themselves was so very good. I'm looking forward to more. Oh, and just the right amount of love and romance. Thank you Jenny Hambly.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

sweet and clean

All these stories were a delight to read and I enjoyed them immensely. The trio of stories followed the lives of three young ladies after they leave the seminary. There are also a number of sweet romantic endings throughout this collection.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Averages out at a 3. The first one I couldn’t finish, like her S&S namesake Marianne was really annoying. The second was fun but formulaic. The third was actually really enjoyable and sweet and I loved both heroine and hero who were both refreshingly competent and level headed.

[Jean Follington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable Regencys

I liked all these stories very much, the characters were all well described and kept in character. They were well written engaging stories with lots of secondary characters for extra interest. Highly recommended.

[sharee douglas · Rating 5 out of 5]

good stories

Each story was a complete telling of each girl. Plenty of strife, anger, resentment, understanding and forgiveness. I would have liked to see more romantic passion in each story but the lack of it didn’t lower my rating. These stories were well worth reading.

[Patricia Fic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Likeable characters

Enjoyed the story of each of the three girls however each ending was a little anticlimactic. Perhaps an epilogue was needed

[Margherita Morgante · Rating 5 out of 5]

The five stars refer to the audio version of this collection.

[Carôle Ceres · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first and third stories best. The second story just seemed too dragged out, for me. And not necessarily very interesting. I listened to the audiobook version of this title.

[Rod · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clean trio of stories. They can be read in any order but ideally read in order. My reviews of each book can be found under their respective titles.

[Moji Bello · Rating 5 out of 5]

All3 books were a great read
One criticism though is that they all finished abruptly l would have liked an epilogue to round off how the loves blossomed

[Sybil Mcguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marianne finally grew on me (although it was a close run thing for awhile), Miss Hayes is a favorite and Georgiana deserves better art (as do they all).

Improved.