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Birmingham #1.1 - The Kiss
Three Weddings and a Kiss
Everyone loves a wedding...
Nothing lifts our hearts like the joyous peal of wedding bells. Or the sight of a happy couple being showered with confetti and good wishes. Now the most exciting new names in romantic fiction and the bestselling author who started it all -escort you down the aisle to a place of honor at four glorious celebrations of everlasting love:
KATHLEEN E. WOODIWISS reintroduces us to the beloved characters from THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER including Jeff Birmingham, who seals an impetuous proposal with one brief, precious and passionate kiss.
CATHERINE ANDERSON calls us to meet a tempestuous pair of wild western hearts, in a tale of a frontier revenge that backfires.
LORETTA CHASE melts our hearts with a story of an unconventional young woman's offer of marriage to a "mad" and presumed dying earl.
LISA KLEYPAS shows us how true love will always win in a romance about one stubborn lady -and the persistent suitor who opens her heart.
So come join the celebration and experience THREE WEDDINGS AND A KISS
Love for now...and always.
389 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
256 people are currently reading
2619 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
52 books1,924 followersKathleen Erin Hogg was born on June 3, 1939, in Alexandria, Louisiana, she was the youngest of eight siblings by Gladys (Coker) and Charles Wingrove Hogg, a disabled World War I veteran. She long relished creating original narratives, and by age 6 was telling herself stories at night to help herself fall asleep. At age 16, she met U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant Ross Eugene Woodiwiss at a dance, and they married the following year. She wrote her first book in longhand while living at a military outpost in Japan.
She is credited with the invention of the modern historical romance novel: In 1972 she released The Flame and the Flower, an instant New York Times bestseller that created a literary precedent. The novel revolutionized mainstream publishing, featuring an epic historical romance with a strong heroine and impassioned sex scenes. The Flame and the Flower was rejected by agents and hardcover publishers, who deemed it as "too long" at 600 pages. Rather than follow the advice of the rejection letters and rewrite the novel, she instead submitted it to paperback publishers. The first publisher on her list, Avon, quickly purchased the novel and arranged an initial 500,000 print run. The novel sold over 2.3 million copies in its first four years of publication.
The success of The Flame and the Flower prompted a new style of writing romance, concentrating primarily on historical fiction tracking the monogamous relationship between a helpless heroines and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger. The romance novels which followed in her example featured longer plots, more controversial situations and characters, and more intimate and steamy sex scenes.
She was an avid horse rider who at one time lived in a large home on 55 acres (220,000 m2) in Minnesota. After her husband's death in 1996, she moved back to Louisiana. She died in a hospital on July 6, 2007 in Princeton, Minnesota, aged 68, from cancer. She was survived by two sons, Sean and Heath, their wives, and numerous grandchildren. Her third son, Dorren, predeceased her.
She is credited with the invention of the modern historical romance novel: In 1972 she released The Flame and the Flower, an instant New York Times bestseller that created a literary precedent. The novel revolutionized mainstream publishing, featuring an epic historical romance with a strong heroine and impassioned sex scenes. The Flame and the Flower was rejected by agents and hardcover publishers, who deemed it as "too long" at 600 pages. Rather than follow the advice of the rejection letters and rewrite the novel, she instead submitted it to paperback publishers. The first publisher on her list, Avon, quickly purchased the novel and arranged an initial 500,000 print run. The novel sold over 2.3 million copies in its first four years of publication.
The success of The Flame and the Flower prompted a new style of writing romance, concentrating primarily on historical fiction tracking the monogamous relationship between a helpless heroines and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger. The romance novels which followed in her example featured longer plots, more controversial situations and characters, and more intimate and steamy sex scenes.
She was an avid horse rider who at one time lived in a large home on 55 acres (220,000 m2) in Minnesota. After her husband's death in 1996, she moved back to Louisiana. She died in a hospital on July 6, 2007 in Princeton, Minnesota, aged 68, from cancer. She was survived by two sons, Sean and Heath, their wives, and numerous grandchildren. Her third son, Dorren, predeceased her.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 219 reviews
April 30, 2011
Straight to the point...
The first story, "Fancy Free" by Catherine Anderson, was funny, entertaining and, sometimes, rather silly, but it was OK.
The second story, "The Mad Earl's Bride" by Loretta Chase, was great and the best of this set of short stories. I loved the characters, the setting and the unusual and emotional plot. I dare say this story alone is worth buying the book.
The third story, "Promises" by Lisa Kleypas, was good but not up to par with her usual standard. I expected something a little more, I don't know, angsty from LK.
The last story, "The Kiss" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, was not good all. The "plot" - if there was one, that is - was boring and the characters were less than interesting.
All in all, I'd say the first three stories were worth reading and you can just skip the last one.
The first story, "Fancy Free" by Catherine Anderson, was funny, entertaining and, sometimes, rather silly, but it was OK.
The second story, "The Mad Earl's Bride" by Loretta Chase, was great and the best of this set of short stories. I loved the characters, the setting and the unusual and emotional plot. I dare say this story alone is worth buying the book.
The third story, "Promises" by Lisa Kleypas, was good but not up to par with her usual standard. I expected something a little more, I don't know, angsty from LK.
The last story, "The Kiss" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, was not good all. The "plot" - if there was one, that is - was boring and the characters were less than interesting.
All in all, I'd say the first three stories were worth reading and you can just skip the last one.
March 6, 2025
Contains three novellas and a short story.
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson 1 star
This story was fatally handicapped by one of the top ten silliest, stupidest FMC’s of all time. Forget that it was a slight story hastily told; a brilliant tale could not have overcome this heroine.
The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase 3 stars
I thought Loretta Chase could do no wrong, but this story comes perilously close. The exposition that introduced our hero was incoherent, although the novella had sorted out the most confusing aspects by the end, and the story didn’t hit its stride until after the sensible, straightforward heroine arrived. Even then, this was devoid of Chase’s sly wit and deft way with words and the shorter format didn’t serve this story well. But bonus! Bertie Trent, Dain, and Jessica from Lord of Scoundrels made guest appearances, so there’s that.
Promises by Lisa Kleypas 2.5 stars
Too much story crammed into too little space. The heroine starts this in love with another man and must fall out of love with him and meet and fall in love with the hero in a short novella format and, while some moments between them are well-written, the whole feels awkward and unconvincing. To make matters worse, Kleypas tries to shoe horn a secondary romance into the mix and that fails also.
The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss 1.5 stars
A man buys the woman of his dreams from her brutish uncle on the streets of Charleston and marries her before nightfall. Need I say more?
In summary, this compilation of the worst works of four superstars of the genre is best avoided.
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson 1 star
This story was fatally handicapped by one of the top ten silliest, stupidest FMC’s of all time. Forget that it was a slight story hastily told; a brilliant tale could not have overcome this heroine.
The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase 3 stars
I thought Loretta Chase could do no wrong, but this story comes perilously close. The exposition that introduced our hero was incoherent, although the novella had sorted out the most confusing aspects by the end, and the story didn’t hit its stride until after the sensible, straightforward heroine arrived. Even then, this was devoid of Chase’s sly wit and deft way with words and the shorter format didn’t serve this story well. But bonus! Bertie Trent, Dain, and Jessica from Lord of Scoundrels made guest appearances, so there’s that.
Promises by Lisa Kleypas 2.5 stars
Too much story crammed into too little space. The heroine starts this in love with another man and must fall out of love with him and meet and fall in love with the hero in a short novella format and, while some moments between them are well-written, the whole feels awkward and unconvincing. To make matters worse, Kleypas tries to shoe horn a secondary romance into the mix and that fails also.
The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss 1.5 stars
A man buys the woman of his dreams from her brutish uncle on the streets of Charleston and marries her before nightfall. Need I say more?
In summary, this compilation of the worst works of four superstars of the genre is best avoided.
September 15, 2018
O frumoasa poveste de dragoste. Ne demonstrează încă o dată, dacă mai era nevoie, că după greutăți și lupte vine și fericirea.
November 3, 2013
Reviewed for THC Reviews
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson – Fancy Free was a cute story, but nothing particularly unique to a long-time fan of Catherine Anderson like I am. It features her usual small, historical western town in Oregon as the setting, and one of her typical, mostly alpha cowboy/rancher heroes who happens to have a big family of brothers. In fact, parts of the story reminded me of Keegan's Lady, although since it was written after Fancy Free, it looks as though the author may have borrowed a few things from this story while writing Keegan's Lady. She also seems to be partial to certain names, as the heroine of Fancy Free shares the same one, Rachel, with the heroine of Summer Breeze. The one different thing about this Rachel though is that she is not nearly as tormented as most Catherine Anderson heroines. She does have low self-esteem due to her poor eyesight that requires her to wear Coke bottle spectacles in order to see well. This, in turn, makes her feel ugly, so that she avoids wearing them except when absolutely necessary. When her glasses break and she is too embarrassed to admit she is as blind as a bat without them, it does lead to some household catastrophes that were good for a few laughs. As with most of Ms. Anderson's heroes, Clint is pretty patient with Rachel's foibles and her virginal skittishness, and eventually is able to make her feel beautiful in spite of the unattractive glasses.
The story moved along fairly quickly, and even though it was spread out over a two month time period, I just didn't quite feel the blossoming love between Clint and Rachel the way I would have liked. They also had what was in my opinion a silly misunderstanding which could have been solved with a simple conversation, but of course they both acted stubbornly, causing them to be separated for a month. I guess I can mostly forgive it though, because it led to a sweet HEA. I also found myself with several questions throughout the story, but surprisingly, all but one about how a respectable young lady like Rachel happened to be friends with a saloon girl, were answered to my satisfaction. The sexual tension in this novella was somewhat high, but there were no detailed love scenes, which should make it appropriate for most romance readers. Fancy Free did have a few weaknesses, and for the most part, it followed the typical Catherine Anderson formula. It may not have been one of her absolute best stories, but overall, it was a fairly entertaining read that held my attention, and the lack of any truly tortured characters made it an unusually light and pleasant story by this author. Star Rating: ****
The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase – A couple of years ago, I read and loved Loretta Chase's incomparable Lord of Scoundrels, but the next two of her books I read, definitely did not catch my fancy. Because of that, I went into reading The Mad Earl's Bride with a bit of trepidation, but this little novella has put Ms. Chase back on my watch list. I really enjoyed the uniqueness of the plot and characters.
Dorian, the hero believes that he is dying of the same incurable brain disease that apparently killed his mother, but not before making her go mad. He is tortured both by the knowledge of his impending madness and demise, as well as by ghosts of the past which haunt him. His grandfather tried to control the entire family, but I admired Dorian for standing his ground and not allowing the old earl to get the best of him even though it meant living in near poverty and performing menial labor for years. Dorian has a very acerbic wit that I enjoyed too. I loved Gwendolyn, the heroine. She has untamable red hair and isn't particularly attractive by the standards of the time. To make matters worse, Gwen is a woman aspiring to be a doctor in an era when that wasn't allowed, but she is a far more talented healer than most of the trained doctors they encounter. She is a total geek who absorbs medical knowledge like a sponge and can get really wrapped up in her studies, but she also has a lovely bedside manner, treating Dorian with the utmost care and concern. I thoroughly enjoyed Gwen's spunkiness and no-nonsense manner about everything, and how her passionate nature matched Dorian's measure for measure.
The interactions between these two are full of humor and refreshing honesty. Gwen admits right up front that she wants to marry Dorian to realize her dream of building a hospital, and he boils his acquiescence to marry her down to wanting sex after a year-long, self-imposed celibacy. I love how they both seem to intuitively understand each other, and a large part of their dialog was very snappy and witty. The geek in me can't resist citing this quote from Dorian to Gwen: “I spent hours yesterday talking of little but medical symptoms and insane asylums. And you listened as though it were poetry and all but swooned at my feet. It is too bad I don't have any medical treatises about. I'm sure I need read a paragraph or two, and you will become ravenous with lust and begin tearing my clothes off.” There was another similar passage, both of which showed an understanding of classic geekiness at it's best, and made me totally LOL. In spite of some great dialog, there were a few places that it was a bit sluggish, and there were some narration heavy areas of the story that I thought also slowed the pace. I did figure out what Dorian's malady was fairly early on, but his mother's mysterious death kept me guessing.
Overall, I really liked The Mad Earl's Bride, mainly for it's unusual storyline, but also for the exploration of medical and psychological conditions in a historical setting, which fed my own geeky fascinations. The Mad Earl's Bride is the fourth story in a group of books usually known as the Scoundrels series. It is preceded by The Lion's Daughter, Captives of the Night, and Lord of Scoundrels, and followed by The Last Hellion. Gwen is a cousin of Jessica and Bertie Trent, and another unconventional granddaughter of Genevieve, all of whom first appeared in Lord of Scoundrels. The amusing, dim-witted Bertie plays a big part in this novella, and Dain the scrumptious hero of that book makes a cameo as well. After reading The Mad Earl's Bride, I am now finally looking forward to finishing the series. Star Rating: ****
Promises by Lisa Kleypas – For a Lisa Kleypas novella, I found Promises to be a rather lackluster read. There just wasn't a lot to it plot-wise, so I had a hard time becoming invested in the outcome for the characters. In addition, the characters themselves were uncharacteristically weak, so I had an equally difficult time relating to them. The story was somewhat on the melodramatic side too.
I admired Lidian on some level for standing by her mom and helping to run their estate after her father died of a heart condition, but ultimately, she seemed rather naïve. Eric was very much an alpha male who reminded me of the bodice-ripper heroes of old, the way he essentially forced kisses on Lidian at first and declared that he would make her forget her other love. I've just never been much of a fan of heroes who behave this way, but of course, Lidian slowly begins to eat it up. I did enjoy their visit to Vauxhall, but overall, I just didn't feel enough of a connection between Lidian and Eric to buy into their blossoming love. There was a secondary romance between Lidian's mother and Eric's uncle, but there wasn't enough development to that relationship to suit me either. The “villain” lacked any real bite. His reason for kidnapping Lidian was kind of silly, and he was dispatched with little fanfare.
I detected some passivity in the narration which is quite unusual for Lisa Kleypas. Even the one love scene was very mild and the sexual tension throughout was minimal, definitely not up to her typical standard of steaminess. Promises was written somewhat early in her career, so perhaps she hadn't fully developed her trademark style yet. I would call it a worthwhile read for Kleypas fans, but in my opinion, definitely not one of her best efforts. Promises is sometimes listed as part of the Gamblers series because of a brief appearance by Derek Craven and Eric visiting Craven's gambling hell, but from everything I can tell, this novella has no real bearing on the series and can easily be read as a stand-alone story. Star Rating: ***
The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss - This short novella is the second story in Kathleen E. Woodiwiss's Birmingham Family series, and the first in a trio of stories about Jeff Birmingham and his lady love, Raelynn. The Flame the the Flower, the first book in this series, will never be a favorite of mine like it is with so many other romance readers, but while reading it, I did admittedly fall for Jeff. He was a dashing Southern gentleman who truly knew how to treat a lady with respect, and I'm glad to see his charm carried over to the beginning of his own story. In one fell swoop, this confirmed bachelor falls madly in love at first sight with the ragged, but becoming Raelynn when she literally runs into him. He then saves her life, and also rescues her from the clutches of her unscrupulous uncle who was about to sell her to another equally unpleasant man. Of course, Jeff was only trying to be kind and chivalrous, but the minute he realizes how badly his actions have compromised the lady, rather than trying to make her his mistress as everyone expects, he immediately offers to marry her and even to delay his claim to conjugal rights until they've had a chance to get to know one another. With Jeff so grandly proving his gallantry, it's no wonder Raelynn instantly fell in love with him too. Normally, the love at first sight trope doesn't work very well for me, but this time, I was completely convinced that these two were meant for each other. Their meeting was pure serendipity.
The Kiss is only about the length of a chapter, and essentially, that's exactly what it is, the opening chapter in Jeff and Raelynn's love story. Raelynn is a sweet young woman who's had a run of bad luck, and Jeff becomes her white knight, taking her away from her troubles and giving her a life of luxury she'd never dreamed of. This novella was a quick but very enjoyable and satisfying read that has me looking forward to the next two stories in this couple's saga, Beyond the Kiss and A Season Beyond a Kiss. Star Rating: *****
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson – Fancy Free was a cute story, but nothing particularly unique to a long-time fan of Catherine Anderson like I am. It features her usual small, historical western town in Oregon as the setting, and one of her typical, mostly alpha cowboy/rancher heroes who happens to have a big family of brothers. In fact, parts of the story reminded me of Keegan's Lady, although since it was written after Fancy Free, it looks as though the author may have borrowed a few things from this story while writing Keegan's Lady. She also seems to be partial to certain names, as the heroine of Fancy Free shares the same one, Rachel, with the heroine of Summer Breeze. The one different thing about this Rachel though is that she is not nearly as tormented as most Catherine Anderson heroines. She does have low self-esteem due to her poor eyesight that requires her to wear Coke bottle spectacles in order to see well. This, in turn, makes her feel ugly, so that she avoids wearing them except when absolutely necessary. When her glasses break and she is too embarrassed to admit she is as blind as a bat without them, it does lead to some household catastrophes that were good for a few laughs. As with most of Ms. Anderson's heroes, Clint is pretty patient with Rachel's foibles and her virginal skittishness, and eventually is able to make her feel beautiful in spite of the unattractive glasses.
The story moved along fairly quickly, and even though it was spread out over a two month time period, I just didn't quite feel the blossoming love between Clint and Rachel the way I would have liked. They also had what was in my opinion a silly misunderstanding which could have been solved with a simple conversation, but of course they both acted stubbornly, causing them to be separated for a month. I guess I can mostly forgive it though, because it led to a sweet HEA. I also found myself with several questions throughout the story, but surprisingly, all but one about how a respectable young lady like Rachel happened to be friends with a saloon girl, were answered to my satisfaction. The sexual tension in this novella was somewhat high, but there were no detailed love scenes, which should make it appropriate for most romance readers. Fancy Free did have a few weaknesses, and for the most part, it followed the typical Catherine Anderson formula. It may not have been one of her absolute best stories, but overall, it was a fairly entertaining read that held my attention, and the lack of any truly tortured characters made it an unusually light and pleasant story by this author. Star Rating: ****
The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase – A couple of years ago, I read and loved Loretta Chase's incomparable Lord of Scoundrels, but the next two of her books I read, definitely did not catch my fancy. Because of that, I went into reading The Mad Earl's Bride with a bit of trepidation, but this little novella has put Ms. Chase back on my watch list. I really enjoyed the uniqueness of the plot and characters.
Dorian, the hero believes that he is dying of the same incurable brain disease that apparently killed his mother, but not before making her go mad. He is tortured both by the knowledge of his impending madness and demise, as well as by ghosts of the past which haunt him. His grandfather tried to control the entire family, but I admired Dorian for standing his ground and not allowing the old earl to get the best of him even though it meant living in near poverty and performing menial labor for years. Dorian has a very acerbic wit that I enjoyed too. I loved Gwendolyn, the heroine. She has untamable red hair and isn't particularly attractive by the standards of the time. To make matters worse, Gwen is a woman aspiring to be a doctor in an era when that wasn't allowed, but she is a far more talented healer than most of the trained doctors they encounter. She is a total geek who absorbs medical knowledge like a sponge and can get really wrapped up in her studies, but she also has a lovely bedside manner, treating Dorian with the utmost care and concern. I thoroughly enjoyed Gwen's spunkiness and no-nonsense manner about everything, and how her passionate nature matched Dorian's measure for measure.
The interactions between these two are full of humor and refreshing honesty. Gwen admits right up front that she wants to marry Dorian to realize her dream of building a hospital, and he boils his acquiescence to marry her down to wanting sex after a year-long, self-imposed celibacy. I love how they both seem to intuitively understand each other, and a large part of their dialog was very snappy and witty. The geek in me can't resist citing this quote from Dorian to Gwen: “I spent hours yesterday talking of little but medical symptoms and insane asylums. And you listened as though it were poetry and all but swooned at my feet. It is too bad I don't have any medical treatises about. I'm sure I need read a paragraph or two, and you will become ravenous with lust and begin tearing my clothes off.” There was another similar passage, both of which showed an understanding of classic geekiness at it's best, and made me totally LOL. In spite of some great dialog, there were a few places that it was a bit sluggish, and there were some narration heavy areas of the story that I thought also slowed the pace. I did figure out what Dorian's malady was fairly early on, but his mother's mysterious death kept me guessing.
Overall, I really liked The Mad Earl's Bride, mainly for it's unusual storyline, but also for the exploration of medical and psychological conditions in a historical setting, which fed my own geeky fascinations. The Mad Earl's Bride is the fourth story in a group of books usually known as the Scoundrels series. It is preceded by The Lion's Daughter, Captives of the Night, and Lord of Scoundrels, and followed by The Last Hellion. Gwen is a cousin of Jessica and Bertie Trent, and another unconventional granddaughter of Genevieve, all of whom first appeared in Lord of Scoundrels. The amusing, dim-witted Bertie plays a big part in this novella, and Dain the scrumptious hero of that book makes a cameo as well. After reading The Mad Earl's Bride, I am now finally looking forward to finishing the series. Star Rating: ****
Promises by Lisa Kleypas – For a Lisa Kleypas novella, I found Promises to be a rather lackluster read. There just wasn't a lot to it plot-wise, so I had a hard time becoming invested in the outcome for the characters. In addition, the characters themselves were uncharacteristically weak, so I had an equally difficult time relating to them. The story was somewhat on the melodramatic side too.
I admired Lidian on some level for standing by her mom and helping to run their estate after her father died of a heart condition, but ultimately, she seemed rather naïve. Eric was very much an alpha male who reminded me of the bodice-ripper heroes of old, the way he essentially forced kisses on Lidian at first and declared that he would make her forget her other love. I've just never been much of a fan of heroes who behave this way, but of course, Lidian slowly begins to eat it up. I did enjoy their visit to Vauxhall, but overall, I just didn't feel enough of a connection between Lidian and Eric to buy into their blossoming love. There was a secondary romance between Lidian's mother and Eric's uncle, but there wasn't enough development to that relationship to suit me either. The “villain” lacked any real bite. His reason for kidnapping Lidian was kind of silly, and he was dispatched with little fanfare.
I detected some passivity in the narration which is quite unusual for Lisa Kleypas. Even the one love scene was very mild and the sexual tension throughout was minimal, definitely not up to her typical standard of steaminess. Promises was written somewhat early in her career, so perhaps she hadn't fully developed her trademark style yet. I would call it a worthwhile read for Kleypas fans, but in my opinion, definitely not one of her best efforts. Promises is sometimes listed as part of the Gamblers series because of a brief appearance by Derek Craven and Eric visiting Craven's gambling hell, but from everything I can tell, this novella has no real bearing on the series and can easily be read as a stand-alone story. Star Rating: ***
The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss - This short novella is the second story in Kathleen E. Woodiwiss's Birmingham Family series, and the first in a trio of stories about Jeff Birmingham and his lady love, Raelynn. The Flame the the Flower, the first book in this series, will never be a favorite of mine like it is with so many other romance readers, but while reading it, I did admittedly fall for Jeff. He was a dashing Southern gentleman who truly knew how to treat a lady with respect, and I'm glad to see his charm carried over to the beginning of his own story. In one fell swoop, this confirmed bachelor falls madly in love at first sight with the ragged, but becoming Raelynn when she literally runs into him. He then saves her life, and also rescues her from the clutches of her unscrupulous uncle who was about to sell her to another equally unpleasant man. Of course, Jeff was only trying to be kind and chivalrous, but the minute he realizes how badly his actions have compromised the lady, rather than trying to make her his mistress as everyone expects, he immediately offers to marry her and even to delay his claim to conjugal rights until they've had a chance to get to know one another. With Jeff so grandly proving his gallantry, it's no wonder Raelynn instantly fell in love with him too. Normally, the love at first sight trope doesn't work very well for me, but this time, I was completely convinced that these two were meant for each other. Their meeting was pure serendipity.
The Kiss is only about the length of a chapter, and essentially, that's exactly what it is, the opening chapter in Jeff and Raelynn's love story. Raelynn is a sweet young woman who's had a run of bad luck, and Jeff becomes her white knight, taking her away from her troubles and giving her a life of luxury she'd never dreamed of. This novella was a quick but very enjoyable and satisfying read that has me looking forward to the next two stories in this couple's saga, Beyond the Kiss and A Season Beyond a Kiss. Star Rating: *****
September 3, 2018
3/5
Leído el relato de la Chase, "La novia del Conde loco", no está mal, pero nada como el de Dain.
Para mi gusto, un poco demasiado de tema médico que me ha aburrido un poco.
Lo que me gusta es que también salen Jess y Dain.
Leído el relato de la Chase, "La novia del Conde loco", no está mal, pero nada como el de Dain.
Para mi gusto, un poco demasiado de tema médico que me ha aburrido un poco.
Lo que me gusta es que también salen Jess y Dain.
September 9, 2017
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson - cute but a little too silly for my taste. I give it 3 stars.
The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase - the best in the book in my opinion but it still didn't grab me totally. 3 1/2 stars.
Promises by Lisa Kleypas -my next favorite of the book. I felt it just needed more development to truly pull me in. 3 1/2 stars.
The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss - too short. Maybe if it had a few more pages to tell the story it could have been much better. 2 1/2 stars.
I have enjoyed full length books by all these authors and normally love their work. I blame the fact that the stories were simply too short to really develop the plot and characters.
The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase - the best in the book in my opinion but it still didn't grab me totally. 3 1/2 stars.
Promises by Lisa Kleypas -my next favorite of the book. I felt it just needed more development to truly pull me in. 3 1/2 stars.
The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss - too short. Maybe if it had a few more pages to tell the story it could have been much better. 2 1/2 stars.
I have enjoyed full length books by all these authors and normally love their work. I blame the fact that the stories were simply too short to really develop the plot and characters.
December 9, 2019
Sadece Lisa'nın Promises öyküsünü okudum, puan ona ait.
March 3, 2018
cortito cortito, entretenido y vemos como es segundo de los Birminghan cae en brazos del amor, habrá que leer los siguientes a ver qué pasa con estos dos personajes.
Mi calificación 3.5 ESTRELLAS
Mi calificación 3.5 ESTRELLAS
May 26, 2021
⭐️⭐️💫Only borrowed this to read The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase. Didn’t grab me as much as the other titles in the series.
dnf
March 1, 2025DNF at 36%
The first story I skimmed and the second one is awful already so I’m just going to go ahead and read Lisa’s and mark just that individual story as read!
The first story I skimmed and the second one is awful already so I’m just going to go ahead and read Lisa’s and mark just that individual story as read!
August 4, 2017
It's so hard to assign a star rating to a collection of 4 novellas, when I liked two of them and didn't like the other two! So I've gone with 'in the middle' - 3 stars overall.
The first novella was Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson. It was pretty lame and cheesy. A Western HR story about a very silly young girl who by a stupid mistake, compromises herself. So she marries the guy, who, luckily is kind, hot, and in need of a wife. (Who could have guessed?) He has a farm and lots of younger siblings in need of a woman's care. But the h, who needs very thick eyeglasses, is too proud to be seen wearing her glasses so does lots of dumb things like adding the wrong ingredients to the bread etc etc. Luckily she and H fall in love and all ends well. Overall? TSTL heroine. Ugh. Very corny read. 1.5 stars.
Next was my fav read out of the book, The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase. She's an excellent writer, and even in a novella you start to feel as if you know and like her characters. The h would, today, be a doctor, but it wasn't suitable for a woman in her day so she is frustrated in her intellectual interest in medicine. The H's mother went insane and died, and now the H himself is having terrible headaches and visual disturbances etc. Everyone believes he has the same disease as his mother and will probably die in a few months. But, he wants an heir, so the H and h marry. Without giving spoilers, their nice little story ends well. I liked it and gave 4 stars. It's also set in the same world as Lord Of Scoundrels, and some characters from that world make minor appearances, which is nice.
The third novella was Promises by Lisa Kleypas. I also liked this sweet, if fairly forgettable story. The h in this one is very young and naive. She is sucked into falling in love with a sexy guy who promises he will return for her after his extended trip to The Continent. Everyone tries to tell her he's no good, but she is in love and rejects all others suitors. However, it turns out he IS just as bad as everyone says, and has been back in England for a month without even coming to see her. Luckily a more mature and much nicer man comes into the scene, and falls in love with her. There is a cutesy thing about her calling him with a whistle, (if you read the story you'll see what I mean), but I found that a bit lame. There is a sweet secondary romance between the h's widowed mum and the H's widowed uncle. I almost preferred that to the main story, actually. It seems I prefer more mature MCs, and the H's innocent naivety seemed true to life, but also, for me, a bit painful. Still, it was a nice little novella. 3 stars.
The final offering in this book is actually the headliner for the book, but for me it was the worst one! It was a short story (way too short to be called a novella IMO) by Kathleen Woodiwiss, called The Kiss. Set in Charleston and featuring characters from her famous novel The Flame And The Flower. I've never read that, but if I had, perhaps I would have enjoyed this story more. Idk. I found it tedious, silly, unbelievable, and extremely old-fashioned in style. Jeff Birmingham, a secondary character from TFATF, is the H. A decent, rich, good-looking man, he is still single. In the street he (literally) runs into a dirty but beautiful young girl, Raelynn (Ugh. Terrible name!) who is running away from her creepy guardian (or 'uncle') who is trying to sell her to some random man (whom we never actually meet). Jeff buys her on the spot instead (for a ridiculous amount of money) then decides to marry her. They are somehow already in love, they marry, and the story ends as they close their bedroom door. That's it, folks. Super corny. And the language usage. Ugh. The old-fashioned language seemed so stilted and ridiculous for a story written in the second half of the twentieth century. I guess the writer was trying to emulate the language of the setting (1800s, I presume), but it just seemed silly to me. Too heavy-handed. I made myself finish it, which wasn't too hard as it was so short. But I won't be going out to find Kathleen Woodiwiss' backlist. I know she has many loyal fans, but I'm guessing nostalgia plays a large part there. For me, her books can quietly fade away into the sunset. Their day is past IMO. 1 star.
The first novella was Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson. It was pretty lame and cheesy. A Western HR story about a very silly young girl who by a stupid mistake, compromises herself. So she marries the guy, who, luckily is kind, hot, and in need of a wife. (Who could have guessed?) He has a farm and lots of younger siblings in need of a woman's care. But the h, who needs very thick eyeglasses, is too proud to be seen wearing her glasses so does lots of dumb things like adding the wrong ingredients to the bread etc etc. Luckily she and H fall in love and all ends well. Overall? TSTL heroine. Ugh. Very corny read. 1.5 stars.
Next was my fav read out of the book, The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase. She's an excellent writer, and even in a novella you start to feel as if you know and like her characters. The h would, today, be a doctor, but it wasn't suitable for a woman in her day so she is frustrated in her intellectual interest in medicine. The H's mother went insane and died, and now the H himself is having terrible headaches and visual disturbances etc. Everyone believes he has the same disease as his mother and will probably die in a few months. But, he wants an heir, so the H and h marry. Without giving spoilers, their nice little story ends well. I liked it and gave 4 stars. It's also set in the same world as Lord Of Scoundrels, and some characters from that world make minor appearances, which is nice.
The third novella was Promises by Lisa Kleypas. I also liked this sweet, if fairly forgettable story. The h in this one is very young and naive. She is sucked into falling in love with a sexy guy who promises he will return for her after his extended trip to The Continent. Everyone tries to tell her he's no good, but she is in love and rejects all others suitors. However, it turns out he IS just as bad as everyone says, and has been back in England for a month without even coming to see her. Luckily a more mature and much nicer man comes into the scene, and falls in love with her. There is a cutesy thing about her calling him with a whistle, (if you read the story you'll see what I mean), but I found that a bit lame. There is a sweet secondary romance between the h's widowed mum and the H's widowed uncle. I almost preferred that to the main story, actually. It seems I prefer more mature MCs, and the H's innocent naivety seemed true to life, but also, for me, a bit painful. Still, it was a nice little novella. 3 stars.
The final offering in this book is actually the headliner for the book, but for me it was the worst one! It was a short story (way too short to be called a novella IMO) by Kathleen Woodiwiss, called The Kiss. Set in Charleston and featuring characters from her famous novel The Flame And The Flower. I've never read that, but if I had, perhaps I would have enjoyed this story more. Idk. I found it tedious, silly, unbelievable, and extremely old-fashioned in style. Jeff Birmingham, a secondary character from TFATF, is the H. A decent, rich, good-looking man, he is still single. In the street he (literally) runs into a dirty but beautiful young girl, Raelynn (Ugh. Terrible name!) who is running away from her creepy guardian (or 'uncle') who is trying to sell her to some random man (whom we never actually meet). Jeff buys her on the spot instead (for a ridiculous amount of money) then decides to marry her. They are somehow already in love, they marry, and the story ends as they close their bedroom door. That's it, folks. Super corny. And the language usage. Ugh. The old-fashioned language seemed so stilted and ridiculous for a story written in the second half of the twentieth century. I guess the writer was trying to emulate the language of the setting (1800s, I presume), but it just seemed silly to me. Too heavy-handed. I made myself finish it, which wasn't too hard as it was so short. But I won't be going out to find Kathleen Woodiwiss' backlist. I know she has many loyal fans, but I'm guessing nostalgia plays a large part there. For me, her books can quietly fade away into the sunset. Their day is past IMO. 1 star.
September 27, 2022
Amor de fantasía escrito por Catherine Anderson era el último relato corto que me faltaba por leer. Pertenece a la antología “Tres bodas y un beso”.
De esta autora solo he leído su famoso y espléndido libro “La canción de Annie”, me encanta su forma de escribir y en este relato lo deja palpable.
Los relatos cortos suelen implicar que por su longitud no suelan convencernos, pero aquí tengo un ejemplo de uno bien ejecutado. “Amor de fantasía” es una historia muy entrañable, con personajes que te conquistan y una historia muy dulce.
Ambientada en el oeste, nuestra protagonista Rachel Marie Constantine decide vengarse de uno de los hermanos Rafferty por lo que le hizo a su hermana, pero comete una equivocación y acabará casada con el hermano mayor Clint Rafferty.
Clint se siente atraído por esa joven tan singular y él más que nadie sabe que necesita una mujer para su familia de ocho miembros. Es así como Rachel se ve imbuida en el mundo de Clint, su papel como esposa se le complicará cuando debe lidiar con esa familia tan numerosa y con su pequeño secreto.
Rachel es un personaje adorable, nos gusta la parte inicial tan atrevida, su ignorancia en temas del amor y su empeño en convertirse en una esposa. Ella afrontará muchos retos y un miedo a perder lo que tiene por lo que esconde.
Clint me ha parecido un personaje muy moderno para la época o quizás muy singular. Como cabeza de familia se siente en la obligación de cuidar de sus hermanos y de una granja, pero sabe que no puede hacerlo sin la mano de una mujer, más concretamente de una esposa que se haga cargo de varios quehaceres y lo liberen un poco de la carga. Tras la pérdida de sus padres, Clint se vuelve aún más responsable, pero lidiar con siete hermanos tiene su complicación. Rachel es una mujer que respeta por ser hija del sheriff, pero ve una oportunidad en ese momento en que son pillados. Además, Rachel lo atrae por su inocencia y por algo más profundo.
Rachel me ha gustado, aunque le puede la inseguridad o más bien la cabezonería. Clint es un amor de hombre y pese a todo, se muestra agradecido, es muy dulce y comprensivo con Rachel. Sobre todo me gusta como trata a Rachel con tanta dulzura.
La mayor parte de la novela se desarrolla en la granja de los Rafferty y cómo Rachel lidia con las tareas cotidianas de la granja, con los hermanos de Clint, con su “torpeza” y con sus sentimientos por Clint.
En general, la novela es muy entretenida y muy completa para su corta extensión.
Resto de relatos: https://oceanodelibros.blogspot.com/2...
De esta autora solo he leído su famoso y espléndido libro “La canción de Annie”, me encanta su forma de escribir y en este relato lo deja palpable.
Los relatos cortos suelen implicar que por su longitud no suelan convencernos, pero aquí tengo un ejemplo de uno bien ejecutado. “Amor de fantasía” es una historia muy entrañable, con personajes que te conquistan y una historia muy dulce.
Ambientada en el oeste, nuestra protagonista Rachel Marie Constantine decide vengarse de uno de los hermanos Rafferty por lo que le hizo a su hermana, pero comete una equivocación y acabará casada con el hermano mayor Clint Rafferty.
Clint se siente atraído por esa joven tan singular y él más que nadie sabe que necesita una mujer para su familia de ocho miembros. Es así como Rachel se ve imbuida en el mundo de Clint, su papel como esposa se le complicará cuando debe lidiar con esa familia tan numerosa y con su pequeño secreto.
Rachel es un personaje adorable, nos gusta la parte inicial tan atrevida, su ignorancia en temas del amor y su empeño en convertirse en una esposa. Ella afrontará muchos retos y un miedo a perder lo que tiene por lo que esconde.
Clint me ha parecido un personaje muy moderno para la época o quizás muy singular. Como cabeza de familia se siente en la obligación de cuidar de sus hermanos y de una granja, pero sabe que no puede hacerlo sin la mano de una mujer, más concretamente de una esposa que se haga cargo de varios quehaceres y lo liberen un poco de la carga. Tras la pérdida de sus padres, Clint se vuelve aún más responsable, pero lidiar con siete hermanos tiene su complicación. Rachel es una mujer que respeta por ser hija del sheriff, pero ve una oportunidad en ese momento en que son pillados. Además, Rachel lo atrae por su inocencia y por algo más profundo.
Rachel me ha gustado, aunque le puede la inseguridad o más bien la cabezonería. Clint es un amor de hombre y pese a todo, se muestra agradecido, es muy dulce y comprensivo con Rachel. Sobre todo me gusta como trata a Rachel con tanta dulzura.
La mayor parte de la novela se desarrolla en la granja de los Rafferty y cómo Rachel lidia con las tareas cotidianas de la granja, con los hermanos de Clint, con su “torpeza” y con sus sentimientos por Clint.
En general, la novela es muy entretenida y muy completa para su corta extensión.
Resto de relatos: https://oceanodelibros.blogspot.com/2...
June 16, 2017
1 1/2 stars
I cannot believe that these 4 appallingly bad stories were written by 4 such popular authors. I generally quite enjoy their writings, but not this time.
I cannot believe that these 4 appallingly bad stories were written by 4 such popular authors. I generally quite enjoy their writings, but not this time.
September 14, 2018
Τέσσερις μικρές ιστορίες που συνδέονται με τέσσερις άλλες, μεγαλύτερες ιστορίες, τις οποίες και υπογράφουν γνωστές συγγραφείς του ρομαντικού μυθιστορήματος. Σίγουρα διασκεδαστικά, τουλάχιστον για κάποιον που έχει διαβάσει τα original stories, αλλά σε καμία περίπτωση απαραίτητα για να συνεχίσει να ζει.
May 31, 2014
"Fancy Free" by Catherine Anderson irritated me. I guess it hits a personal note, because I lack respect for anyone who needs glasses and doesn't use them. Without my glasses, I am nearly blind, so no vanity or humiliation or whatever would stop me from using them... I'd rather see. Every time something happened because she 'couldn't see' it plucked my nerves. This plot device may not bother others the way it bothered me.
"The Mad Earl's Bride" by Loretta Chase was unique and quite enjoyable! I was moved to tears by his plight, and by the joy of the ending.
"Promises" by Lisa Kleypas was okay. The characters were a bit irritating. The resolution was as expected.
"The Kiss" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss started out interesting, but ended kind of 'eh.'
"The Mad Earl's Bride" by Loretta Chase was unique and quite enjoyable! I was moved to tears by his plight, and by the joy of the ending.
"Promises" by Lisa Kleypas was okay. The characters were a bit irritating. The resolution was as expected.
"The Kiss" by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss started out interesting, but ended kind of 'eh.'
March 9, 2016
Sometimes one shouldn't do re-reads as some books don't hold up to time. These stories didn't. Wish I wouldn't have picked this up.
April 7, 2013
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson
Setting: Shady Corners: streets, church, ranch outside of town
Theme: falling in love; overcoming self doubts
Characters:
Clint Rafferty: 27 years old; mother died 6 years ago; alcoholic father died 5 years ago; they lost that farm, and moved to homestead – he has care of 6 younger brothers (youngest 6); he’s worked hard to make the ranch work and to care for his sister;
Matthew and 5 brothers: Matthew the next oldest, and he looks a lot like Clint, and he charms the ladies, and he drinks too much;
Rachel Constantine: marshal’s daughter; hot tempered; when believes Matthew embarrassed her sister who has a crush on him, she wants revenge, so she gets dora to help drug him in his whiskey… and Rachel will draw him into the church, get his pants off, and leave him to be found Sunday morning embarrassed; she needs glasses, but a man told her she is ugly with them, so she hides them.
Summary:
Clint goes to try to get Matthew to come home with him, and drinks some of his whiskey so that he won’t – but leaves without him… and Rachel is there to draw him into the church… he is getting droopier and droopier, and she is coming on to him… and submits to his kiss (which is much nicer than the preacher son’s kiss)… and when he passes out (with her blouse undone, and his belt unbuckled), he lands on her, and her head bounces on the ground, and she is knocked out – waking up Sunday morning…
Dad forces them to marry (and Clint’s okay with it – earlier thinking maybe the ranch needs a woman’s touch, and he doesn’t want a homely one, and he remembered liking kissing her). And for a month, she makes the place a home with her heart – but she is a lousy cook (and can’t even read the recipes without her glasses), and not so good at the mechanics of housekeeping… when Clint’s aunt comes, and takes over the house (believing she is helping) and Clint is subdued in lovemaking because is embarrassed to think his aunt can hear them… Rachel leaves, thinking they don’t need her… and Clint lets her, thinking maybe his lovemaking was lacking, and that’s why she left.
But when in town, Dora tells him how she broke Rachel’s heart, and that she is going to leave to go east to a relative – and Clint camps out in the church, and makes a heartfelt confession to her in front of all saying what he never said – he loves her, he needs her, they all need her. ahhhh
The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase
Setting:
1820; Radmore Manor with its quicks and cliffs (with in Dartmoor England; tenement in London, Rawnsley Hall in Glucestershire, - England; asylum
Theme:
Sin; guilt; controlling grandfather; practicality; listening; love
Characters:
Aminta Camoys: married into the Rawnsleys; her sin includes an affair with her brother in law – and in one tryst, when his father returned unexpectedly, he pushes her away, and she falls, hitting her head – hidden because they did not want to explain it (though we don’t know why)… for 6 months she is sickly and getting worse… her behavior is eratic, she gets violent, she ‘confesses’ her sins (and her son’s sins)… and when she takes a knife, the Earl has her committed to an asylum; Dorian is told, goes to his mom, finds her tied to a chair, her hair shaved off, lost weight. He unlocks her, holds her, she seems lucid and tells him of ghosts that come to her, and then attack her, giving her terrible headaches, she tells him of the tortures she endures… he is going to take her out, but his grandfather shows up, and threatens to withdraw his funding, and tells him he knows what is best for her… and his mother dies 2 weeks later, there is an autopsy, and the report shows the asylum did not harm her, that her brain was deteriorating.
Earl of Rawnsley: despot, 4 sons, multiple grandchildren – rules them all with the giving and withholding of money; a tyrant, vocal about no sex;
Dorian Camoys: Aminta’s son; she spoke of her sins with him – they are close. His plan is to do well at Oxford so that his grandfather will finance a year’s travel on the continent, and then he will travel to the new world, and find a way to make a living and not depend on his grandfather. But along with his studies, he is a randy man, but feels very guilty after each encounter. Unfortunately, as his mother spilled the beans, and even though he was first in his class, his grandfather lectures him in front of the whole family, will not finance his travels, wand wants him to cowtow to him… and Dorian refuses, and leaves, with his grandfather telling him stop him from getting a job, threatening anyone who might hire him… he goes to London for 8 years, working the docks by day, letting his hair grow, and performing legal copywriting at night… and then he starts to see ghosts (or at least flashing lights, that then settle in his head, leading to great pain – knives slashing his brain, and nausea; he is convinced he has whatever his mother had, and he returns home, to his mother’s doctor (before grandfather got involved), who gives him great doses of laudanum and tells him he has 6 months to live; He gets a letter from grandfather demanding he appear to the family to defend himself – he does not go… and on the appointed day, a roof collapses killing all there… making him the sole male heir, and now the Earl;
Gwendolyn Adams: a distant cousin, goes to the funeral with her grandfather and parents; her grandfather is asked to sign some papers as representative of the family since the earl refuses to step into his role… and they read the letters exchanged between the two, and get some history, and find out he is dying… and they decide that Gwen should marry him, get pregnant (they are fertile), she can study his illness, and she would inherit his money to open her hospital. She is an intelligent, thoughtful, observant woman who is training to be a doctor – though she has to overcome many gender bias’ against her; she wants to open a hospital in a more practical way. Dr. Eversham is progressive, and recognizes her value and allows her to study with him;
Dr. Eversham: specializes in neurological maladies; Gwen’s mentor; first choice to head her hospital;
Bertie: - ‘his heart bursting with good intentions, would never understand why it was impossible.’ Gwen’s cousin, classmate of Dorian; Down’s syndrome sort of? He joins Gwen and family in going to Dorian – and looks forward to being a groomsman, and ultimately a godfather to their children.
Summary:
The first half of this story was quite dark and sad… where is the romance? Well here it comes…During one of his headaches, Gwen’s grandfather proposes Gwen’s marrying him, and he agrees. But when they show up, he escapes out of the window, and takes his horse flying toward the cliffs, where he thinks he will not be followed… and she does – rolling her eyes. He believes a witch is following him, and he misses a turn, and he falls, rolling down into quicksand… she stops, sees his problem, assesses thing, and get his horse calmed and a rope to pull him out… he is cursing at her the whole time. They rest, she ignores his temper… it starts to rain, they have time to talk… and she listens to him – understanding that he did not remember agreeing to anything… and asserts that she will tell him the truth in all things – and tells him her reasons for marrying him. He notices that he is attracted to her – the sound of her voice, her ankle, her bosom – and as they ride back he advices her to decline, to run far from her… and when he helps her off of her horse, and sees her reaction to his touch, he agrees to marry her.
And a marvelous couple of months they have – they make wonderful love (the first in the bath she puts him in to balance his temperature – ice pack on head, warm his extremities – and as he feels ease from the pain, and a peace, he pulls her into the bath with him, and they make love), she tries different remedies to ease his pain, they talk of their memories, she tells him of her plans for the hospital – and he wants it started now before he dies, to ease the way, and stop detractors; he gets copies of his mother’s medical records for her perusal; she is pregnant, and begs him to live longer, to at least see the birth of their child; he arranges for Dr. Eversham to join them… and the doctor stopped and spoke with Dorian’s mother’s maid… and meets with Dorian, telling him his mother died of a concussion (the maid tells him of when she hit her head), and a concussion is not hereditary – that he has migraines, very painful, but not lethal. ahhhh
Memorable scenes:
Gwendolyn: “much of it, a hodgepodge of twists and bends and corkscrews, each of which had a mind of its own, and all of them demented. Her hair, which was the complete antithesis of her level, steady, and orderly personality, made it very difficult for people to take her seriously… thanks to the crazed mass of red curls and corkscrews, every new person she met represented yet another uphill battle to prove herself.”
“The damp does strange things to your hair, he said gruffly. All the little curls and corkscrews sprout up every which way, making a fuzzy red cloud… What on earth I is her hair doing? The medical men must ask themselves. One can’t be surprised at their failing to attend closely to what you say.”
“She curled her fingers round his neck. “You’ve healed me, too, Cat. You made the doctor part and the woman part fit together.” “Because I love both parts,” he said softly. “All your parts. All of you.”
ahhhh
Promises by Lisa Kleypas
Setting:
England, 1920 – country home, Acland Hall; De Gray House; Vauxhall; a few balls; Craven’s men’s club
Theme:
Falling in love with the right man; risking love
Characters:
Lidian Acland: father passed, leaving them in debt but a small income from their land; she manages it the best she can, but it is hard; she meets Chance at a ball, and he is fun, he is charming, he is adventurous, he tells her he loves her, but that he must go to America and asks her to wait for him; she withdraws from what little society she enjoyed, waiting for him to return, and to her mother’s concern.
Lord Eric De Gray: second son, footloose and fancy free – until his brother died; he is now the head of the family, and he is sought after by mothers and young women; he is handsome, a good man, impatient with the silly girls thrown his way; until he sees Lidian across the room and sees her gentle kindness to his sister (who spilled her punch)… and requests a dance with her.
Summary:
She tells him her heart belongs to another… and yet they begin the mating dance – she finds herself thinking more about him than Chance, he cannot stop thinking about her… she and her mother go to stay with his mother in London for the season…
He is gentle and kind with her when she tracks Chance at Craven’s (after he tells her he saw him), and Chance is condescending to her, hurtful to her, telling her he’d come see her sometime – and Eric takes her to Vaux Hall to have a small adventure – a borderline naughty place where she wears a mask so as not to be recognized, and they walk through the gardens, and watch people… and he kisses her – ahhh
And they spend more time together… he asks her to face her fears and give them up, and to see him… and she finally does… ahh
The Kiss by Kathleen E Woodiwiss
Setting: colony town of Charleston; Oakley Plantation
Theme: a kiss and love;
Characters:
Jeff Birmingham: self made man of means; loves his brother and his wife; has had a dream his whole life of chasing a beautiful woman in a field, and catching and kissing her.
Raelynn Barrett: in London her father died leaving them all but penniless; her uncle shows up from nowhere, and takes charge; they go on a ship to America, her mother dies during the crossing; her uncle has whatever money is left; they land, and he sells her to a man to use as he will… she runs away, running into Jeff…
Summary:
Who recognizes her as the one he has dreamed of… and he rescues her from his uncle, offering to pay more for her… and then realizes that he has compromised her honor, and asks her to marry him – she agrees, but asks that he gives them time to know one another before insisting on his conjugal rights… his brother and sister in law show up after hearing the rumors, and he arranges for clothes for her, and a minister to join them and marry them… and when he kisses the bride, she finds herself melting into his kiss… they dine with his family… he takes her to her room – and asks if she needs anything, and she asks for a kiss… that takes him into her room ahhhh
Memorable scenes:
Gwendolyn: Her hair, which was the complete antithesis of her level, steady, and orderly personality, made it very difficult for people to take her seriously… thanks to the crazed mass of red curls and corkscrews, every new person she met represented yet another uphill battle to prove herself.”
Setting: Shady Corners: streets, church, ranch outside of town
Theme: falling in love; overcoming self doubts
Characters:
Clint Rafferty: 27 years old; mother died 6 years ago; alcoholic father died 5 years ago; they lost that farm, and moved to homestead – he has care of 6 younger brothers (youngest 6); he’s worked hard to make the ranch work and to care for his sister;
Matthew and 5 brothers: Matthew the next oldest, and he looks a lot like Clint, and he charms the ladies, and he drinks too much;
Rachel Constantine: marshal’s daughter; hot tempered; when believes Matthew embarrassed her sister who has a crush on him, she wants revenge, so she gets dora to help drug him in his whiskey… and Rachel will draw him into the church, get his pants off, and leave him to be found Sunday morning embarrassed; she needs glasses, but a man told her she is ugly with them, so she hides them.
Summary:
Clint goes to try to get Matthew to come home with him, and drinks some of his whiskey so that he won’t – but leaves without him… and Rachel is there to draw him into the church… he is getting droopier and droopier, and she is coming on to him… and submits to his kiss (which is much nicer than the preacher son’s kiss)… and when he passes out (with her blouse undone, and his belt unbuckled), he lands on her, and her head bounces on the ground, and she is knocked out – waking up Sunday morning…
Dad forces them to marry (and Clint’s okay with it – earlier thinking maybe the ranch needs a woman’s touch, and he doesn’t want a homely one, and he remembered liking kissing her). And for a month, she makes the place a home with her heart – but she is a lousy cook (and can’t even read the recipes without her glasses), and not so good at the mechanics of housekeeping… when Clint’s aunt comes, and takes over the house (believing she is helping) and Clint is subdued in lovemaking because is embarrassed to think his aunt can hear them… Rachel leaves, thinking they don’t need her… and Clint lets her, thinking maybe his lovemaking was lacking, and that’s why she left.
But when in town, Dora tells him how she broke Rachel’s heart, and that she is going to leave to go east to a relative – and Clint camps out in the church, and makes a heartfelt confession to her in front of all saying what he never said – he loves her, he needs her, they all need her. ahhhh
The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase
Setting:
1820; Radmore Manor with its quicks and cliffs (with in Dartmoor England; tenement in London, Rawnsley Hall in Glucestershire, - England; asylum
Theme:
Sin; guilt; controlling grandfather; practicality; listening; love
Characters:
Aminta Camoys: married into the Rawnsleys; her sin includes an affair with her brother in law – and in one tryst, when his father returned unexpectedly, he pushes her away, and she falls, hitting her head – hidden because they did not want to explain it (though we don’t know why)… for 6 months she is sickly and getting worse… her behavior is eratic, she gets violent, she ‘confesses’ her sins (and her son’s sins)… and when she takes a knife, the Earl has her committed to an asylum; Dorian is told, goes to his mom, finds her tied to a chair, her hair shaved off, lost weight. He unlocks her, holds her, she seems lucid and tells him of ghosts that come to her, and then attack her, giving her terrible headaches, she tells him of the tortures she endures… he is going to take her out, but his grandfather shows up, and threatens to withdraw his funding, and tells him he knows what is best for her… and his mother dies 2 weeks later, there is an autopsy, and the report shows the asylum did not harm her, that her brain was deteriorating.
Earl of Rawnsley: despot, 4 sons, multiple grandchildren – rules them all with the giving and withholding of money; a tyrant, vocal about no sex;
Dorian Camoys: Aminta’s son; she spoke of her sins with him – they are close. His plan is to do well at Oxford so that his grandfather will finance a year’s travel on the continent, and then he will travel to the new world, and find a way to make a living and not depend on his grandfather. But along with his studies, he is a randy man, but feels very guilty after each encounter. Unfortunately, as his mother spilled the beans, and even though he was first in his class, his grandfather lectures him in front of the whole family, will not finance his travels, wand wants him to cowtow to him… and Dorian refuses, and leaves, with his grandfather telling him stop him from getting a job, threatening anyone who might hire him… he goes to London for 8 years, working the docks by day, letting his hair grow, and performing legal copywriting at night… and then he starts to see ghosts (or at least flashing lights, that then settle in his head, leading to great pain – knives slashing his brain, and nausea; he is convinced he has whatever his mother had, and he returns home, to his mother’s doctor (before grandfather got involved), who gives him great doses of laudanum and tells him he has 6 months to live; He gets a letter from grandfather demanding he appear to the family to defend himself – he does not go… and on the appointed day, a roof collapses killing all there… making him the sole male heir, and now the Earl;
Gwendolyn Adams: a distant cousin, goes to the funeral with her grandfather and parents; her grandfather is asked to sign some papers as representative of the family since the earl refuses to step into his role… and they read the letters exchanged between the two, and get some history, and find out he is dying… and they decide that Gwen should marry him, get pregnant (they are fertile), she can study his illness, and she would inherit his money to open her hospital. She is an intelligent, thoughtful, observant woman who is training to be a doctor – though she has to overcome many gender bias’ against her; she wants to open a hospital in a more practical way. Dr. Eversham is progressive, and recognizes her value and allows her to study with him;
Dr. Eversham: specializes in neurological maladies; Gwen’s mentor; first choice to head her hospital;
Bertie: - ‘his heart bursting with good intentions, would never understand why it was impossible.’ Gwen’s cousin, classmate of Dorian; Down’s syndrome sort of? He joins Gwen and family in going to Dorian – and looks forward to being a groomsman, and ultimately a godfather to their children.
Summary:
The first half of this story was quite dark and sad… where is the romance? Well here it comes…During one of his headaches, Gwen’s grandfather proposes Gwen’s marrying him, and he agrees. But when they show up, he escapes out of the window, and takes his horse flying toward the cliffs, where he thinks he will not be followed… and she does – rolling her eyes. He believes a witch is following him, and he misses a turn, and he falls, rolling down into quicksand… she stops, sees his problem, assesses thing, and get his horse calmed and a rope to pull him out… he is cursing at her the whole time. They rest, she ignores his temper… it starts to rain, they have time to talk… and she listens to him – understanding that he did not remember agreeing to anything… and asserts that she will tell him the truth in all things – and tells him her reasons for marrying him. He notices that he is attracted to her – the sound of her voice, her ankle, her bosom – and as they ride back he advices her to decline, to run far from her… and when he helps her off of her horse, and sees her reaction to his touch, he agrees to marry her.
And a marvelous couple of months they have – they make wonderful love (the first in the bath she puts him in to balance his temperature – ice pack on head, warm his extremities – and as he feels ease from the pain, and a peace, he pulls her into the bath with him, and they make love), she tries different remedies to ease his pain, they talk of their memories, she tells him of her plans for the hospital – and he wants it started now before he dies, to ease the way, and stop detractors; he gets copies of his mother’s medical records for her perusal; she is pregnant, and begs him to live longer, to at least see the birth of their child; he arranges for Dr. Eversham to join them… and the doctor stopped and spoke with Dorian’s mother’s maid… and meets with Dorian, telling him his mother died of a concussion (the maid tells him of when she hit her head), and a concussion is not hereditary – that he has migraines, very painful, but not lethal. ahhhh
Memorable scenes:
Gwendolyn: “much of it, a hodgepodge of twists and bends and corkscrews, each of which had a mind of its own, and all of them demented. Her hair, which was the complete antithesis of her level, steady, and orderly personality, made it very difficult for people to take her seriously… thanks to the crazed mass of red curls and corkscrews, every new person she met represented yet another uphill battle to prove herself.”
“The damp does strange things to your hair, he said gruffly. All the little curls and corkscrews sprout up every which way, making a fuzzy red cloud… What on earth I is her hair doing? The medical men must ask themselves. One can’t be surprised at their failing to attend closely to what you say.”
“She curled her fingers round his neck. “You’ve healed me, too, Cat. You made the doctor part and the woman part fit together.” “Because I love both parts,” he said softly. “All your parts. All of you.”
ahhhh
Promises by Lisa Kleypas
Setting:
England, 1920 – country home, Acland Hall; De Gray House; Vauxhall; a few balls; Craven’s men’s club
Theme:
Falling in love with the right man; risking love
Characters:
Lidian Acland: father passed, leaving them in debt but a small income from their land; she manages it the best she can, but it is hard; she meets Chance at a ball, and he is fun, he is charming, he is adventurous, he tells her he loves her, but that he must go to America and asks her to wait for him; she withdraws from what little society she enjoyed, waiting for him to return, and to her mother’s concern.
Lord Eric De Gray: second son, footloose and fancy free – until his brother died; he is now the head of the family, and he is sought after by mothers and young women; he is handsome, a good man, impatient with the silly girls thrown his way; until he sees Lidian across the room and sees her gentle kindness to his sister (who spilled her punch)… and requests a dance with her.
Summary:
She tells him her heart belongs to another… and yet they begin the mating dance – she finds herself thinking more about him than Chance, he cannot stop thinking about her… she and her mother go to stay with his mother in London for the season…
He is gentle and kind with her when she tracks Chance at Craven’s (after he tells her he saw him), and Chance is condescending to her, hurtful to her, telling her he’d come see her sometime – and Eric takes her to Vaux Hall to have a small adventure – a borderline naughty place where she wears a mask so as not to be recognized, and they walk through the gardens, and watch people… and he kisses her – ahhh
And they spend more time together… he asks her to face her fears and give them up, and to see him… and she finally does… ahh
The Kiss by Kathleen E Woodiwiss
Setting: colony town of Charleston; Oakley Plantation
Theme: a kiss and love;
Characters:
Jeff Birmingham: self made man of means; loves his brother and his wife; has had a dream his whole life of chasing a beautiful woman in a field, and catching and kissing her.
Raelynn Barrett: in London her father died leaving them all but penniless; her uncle shows up from nowhere, and takes charge; they go on a ship to America, her mother dies during the crossing; her uncle has whatever money is left; they land, and he sells her to a man to use as he will… she runs away, running into Jeff…
Summary:
Who recognizes her as the one he has dreamed of… and he rescues her from his uncle, offering to pay more for her… and then realizes that he has compromised her honor, and asks her to marry him – she agrees, but asks that he gives them time to know one another before insisting on his conjugal rights… his brother and sister in law show up after hearing the rumors, and he arranges for clothes for her, and a minister to join them and marry them… and when he kisses the bride, she finds herself melting into his kiss… they dine with his family… he takes her to her room – and asks if she needs anything, and she asks for a kiss… that takes him into her room ahhhh
Memorable scenes:
Gwendolyn: Her hair, which was the complete antithesis of her level, steady, and orderly personality, made it very difficult for people to take her seriously… thanks to the crazed mass of red curls and corkscrews, every new person she met represented yet another uphill battle to prove herself.”
December 18, 2019
I only read two of the four novellas: Chase's "Mad Earl's Bride" and Kleypas' "Promises."
Mad Earl's Bride threw me off a bit because it was so much darker than Chase's other books. It does feature characters tied to Lord of Scoundrels and that was lovely. The hero Dorian's best friend is Bertie Trent. The heroine, Gwendolyn is Bertie and Jessica's cousin. Dorian has a terrible childhood and then loses his mother when she's locked away in an asylum by his crazy grandfather. Dorian believes he has his mother's "madness" and is convinced he'll die at any minute. Since he's the last of his family line, his distant French relative finds him a bride, Gwendolyn, who has aspirations to do medical research. The French relative promises her a hospital and an opportunity to research away to her heart's content if she would marry Dorian and produce an heir. Although the book is not entirely to my taste, it's still Chase so it's very good.
I didn't realize how good until I read Kleypas' Promises, which is... bad! Quite, quite bad. The heroine is a ninny who is mooning after some doofus who played her. The hero is the guy trying to remind her she doesn't want the loser, but wants her to make up her mind. It reminds me a little of "Sugar Daddy" now that I think about it (minus the father figure character). The writing is ok, the sex is reasonable enough although seems totally reckless on the heroine's part. Overall, classic Kleypas.
Four for Chase, two for Kleypas, averages to three overall.
Mad Earl's Bride threw me off a bit because it was so much darker than Chase's other books. It does feature characters tied to Lord of Scoundrels and that was lovely. The hero Dorian's best friend is Bertie Trent. The heroine, Gwendolyn is Bertie and Jessica's cousin. Dorian has a terrible childhood and then loses his mother when she's locked away in an asylum by his crazy grandfather. Dorian believes he has his mother's "madness" and is convinced he'll die at any minute. Since he's the last of his family line, his distant French relative finds him a bride, Gwendolyn, who has aspirations to do medical research. The French relative promises her a hospital and an opportunity to research away to her heart's content if she would marry Dorian and produce an heir. Although the book is not entirely to my taste, it's still Chase so it's very good.
I didn't realize how good until I read Kleypas' Promises, which is... bad! Quite, quite bad. The heroine is a ninny who is mooning after some doofus who played her. The hero is the guy trying to remind her she doesn't want the loser, but wants her to make up her mind. It reminds me a little of "Sugar Daddy" now that I think about it (minus the father figure character). The writing is ok, the sex is reasonable enough although seems totally reckless on the heroine's part. Overall, classic Kleypas.
Four for Chase, two for Kleypas, averages to three overall.
Read
July 27, 2020DNF
I wasn't able to finish even one of the four stories in this old romance anthology. Bad writing, flat characters, and boring plots.
I wasn't able to finish even one of the four stories in this old romance anthology. Bad writing, flat characters, and boring plots.
October 19, 2016
The rating is probably misleading. It's an average. Read this for the Loretta Chase;, the others, not so much necessary.
Was looking for something light, went with a set of romance novellas. What I have learned from this is that I think when I'm reading romance novels, if something starts to grate, I should just cut my losses early. Because I think I am probably reasonably particular about my romance novels, and now that I think about it, once a book stops working for me, it rarely starts working later on...
The first I did cut my losses early (maybe a chapter in), so it's possible it got significantly better as it went along. But after a compromising position in a church resulting from a revenge-based scheme gone awry (y'know, one of those schemes where the wrong brother accidentally gets drugged, unbeknownst to one of the women setting the scheme in motion because she's conveniently removed her glasses for reasons of trying to appear seductive), I decided I really could not go on with the story.
The second is the Loretta Chase and is all kinds of delightful. All kinds of delightful. It's a bit of a marriage of convenience (though of a non-traditional type). Woman agrees to marry a dying earl to hopefully produce an heir, and also because the money will enable her to open the hospital she wants. It's just really well done. I realized afterwards that Gwen shares some characteristics with the typical convention-flouting heroine (in the sense that she wants to be a doctor, and is incredibly stubborn), but it didn't even register while I was reading it, because I think this is what I always want convention-flouting to be (and what it so rarely is). This is well-justified convention flouting. Gwen doesn't feel like she's completely out of her time. She just wants to be a doctor. And as such, everything else just works. There's a quiet practicality about it. And there's no constant speeches about how she refuses to fit the mold of other women of the time. In fact, she seems to have learned to get what she wants through slightly roundabout ways. And the way her relationship with Cat (nickname) goes is all kinds of delightful.
This was what I wanted. I may have read it twice.
The third is not terrible, but it's not great. I read the whole thing, all the while being vaguely annoyed by a severe (and somewhat inexplicable) case of one-sided insta-love, tedious pining for a scoundrel, forcing kisses on an unwilling female protagonist (by the hero), much unnecessary convention flouting in the way of sneaking off alone (the heroine could have been ruined a million times over), and culminated in an irritating misunderstanding brought about by an even more irritating abduction (the scoundrel this time). This is the one I probably should have cut my losses with.
The last is just so short, that it becomes something of a non-entity.
But seriously, the Chase is excellent.
Was looking for something light, went with a set of romance novellas. What I have learned from this is that I think when I'm reading romance novels, if something starts to grate, I should just cut my losses early. Because I think I am probably reasonably particular about my romance novels, and now that I think about it, once a book stops working for me, it rarely starts working later on...
The first I did cut my losses early (maybe a chapter in), so it's possible it got significantly better as it went along. But after a compromising position in a church resulting from a revenge-based scheme gone awry (y'know, one of those schemes where the wrong brother accidentally gets drugged, unbeknownst to one of the women setting the scheme in motion because she's conveniently removed her glasses for reasons of trying to appear seductive), I decided I really could not go on with the story.
The second is the Loretta Chase and is all kinds of delightful. All kinds of delightful. It's a bit of a marriage of convenience (though of a non-traditional type). Woman agrees to marry a dying earl to hopefully produce an heir, and also because the money will enable her to open the hospital she wants. It's just really well done. I realized afterwards that Gwen shares some characteristics with the typical convention-flouting heroine (in the sense that she wants to be a doctor, and is incredibly stubborn), but it didn't even register while I was reading it, because I think this is what I always want convention-flouting to be (and what it so rarely is). This is well-justified convention flouting. Gwen doesn't feel like she's completely out of her time. She just wants to be a doctor. And as such, everything else just works. There's a quiet practicality about it. And there's no constant speeches about how she refuses to fit the mold of other women of the time. In fact, she seems to have learned to get what she wants through slightly roundabout ways. And the way her relationship with Cat (nickname) goes is all kinds of delightful.
This was what I wanted. I may have read it twice.
The third is not terrible, but it's not great. I read the whole thing, all the while being vaguely annoyed by a severe (and somewhat inexplicable) case of one-sided insta-love, tedious pining for a scoundrel, forcing kisses on an unwilling female protagonist (by the hero), much unnecessary convention flouting in the way of sneaking off alone (the heroine could have been ruined a million times over), and culminated in an irritating misunderstanding brought about by an even more irritating abduction (the scoundrel this time). This is the one I probably should have cut my losses with.
The last is just so short, that it becomes something of a non-entity.
But seriously, the Chase is excellent.
April 10, 2014
April 10, 2014
THE KISS
I am not going to write a review for the Kathleen E. Woodiwiss story. I am posting this so those that might read this review will know that THE KISS is the first part of the prelude to A SEASON BEYOND A KISS. The second part of the prelude is BEYOND THE KISS. If you have any plans to read A SEASON BEYOND A KISS then you definitely should read the two prelude stories. These stories are about Jeff Birmingham, Brandon's brother from A FLAME AND A FLOWER.
PROMISES
This is probably not going to be a very long review. It is hard to write a good review for such a short story. The characters always seem a little shallow in a novella. It is hard to get to know them and for them to develop a relationship with so few pages. Maybe that is why Eric De Gray and Lidina Acland aren't as wonderful as some of Ms. Kleypas's other characters. The story is a good story but it could have been great with a few more words. There would have been great potential for developing the villain into a really nasty man. Ms. Kleypas does do a pretty good job of making Chance Spencer look like most young woman’s worst nightmare. He is an arrogant, self-centered, misogynist. Eric gives him the thrashing that he deserves.
Eric De Gray is a caring, loving son and brother. He suffers from survivor’s guilt after losing his brother in a hunting accident. He has become a serious man that takes his responsibilities for his family very seriously.
Lidina Acland has taken on the management of the estate her father left. His death hit both her mother and Lidina very hard. Lidina is a little naive and a little too trusting. She has never been courted and has few friends she could talk to about life and men. She is kind and serious and intelligent.
There are several love stories going on in these few pages. It might have been better to just have concentrated on one and written the other at another time. This story is worth the time to read even if it is just to get a taste of Ms. Kleypas's talent for telling a good story that will keep you turning the pages to get to the end.
THE KISS
I am not going to write a review for the Kathleen E. Woodiwiss story. I am posting this so those that might read this review will know that THE KISS is the first part of the prelude to A SEASON BEYOND A KISS. The second part of the prelude is BEYOND THE KISS. If you have any plans to read A SEASON BEYOND A KISS then you definitely should read the two prelude stories. These stories are about Jeff Birmingham, Brandon's brother from A FLAME AND A FLOWER.
PROMISES
This is probably not going to be a very long review. It is hard to write a good review for such a short story. The characters always seem a little shallow in a novella. It is hard to get to know them and for them to develop a relationship with so few pages. Maybe that is why Eric De Gray and Lidina Acland aren't as wonderful as some of Ms. Kleypas's other characters. The story is a good story but it could have been great with a few more words. There would have been great potential for developing the villain into a really nasty man. Ms. Kleypas does do a pretty good job of making Chance Spencer look like most young woman’s worst nightmare. He is an arrogant, self-centered, misogynist. Eric gives him the thrashing that he deserves.
Eric De Gray is a caring, loving son and brother. He suffers from survivor’s guilt after losing his brother in a hunting accident. He has become a serious man that takes his responsibilities for his family very seriously.
Lidina Acland has taken on the management of the estate her father left. His death hit both her mother and Lidina very hard. Lidina is a little naive and a little too trusting. She has never been courted and has few friends she could talk to about life and men. She is kind and serious and intelligent.
There are several love stories going on in these few pages. It might have been better to just have concentrated on one and written the other at another time. This story is worth the time to read even if it is just to get a taste of Ms. Kleypas's talent for telling a good story that will keep you turning the pages to get to the end.
January 20, 2021
The Mad Earl’s Bride by Loretta Chase
– actually the second story but frankly the only reason to buy this anthology, and the only reason I’m giving this 4 stars.
Dark. When he was still in Oxford, Dorian’s mother was locked up in a lunatic asylum for being a scarlet woman/brain wasting – starved, head shaved, given ice baths, yelled “whore” and “Jezebel”, before meeting her death… and Dorian was turned out of the house for being a “whoremonger”. He made his living on his own as a dock worker. After everything that happened, Dorian resented his masculine urges and struggled to be celibate. And eventually, Dorian seemed to suffer the same decline and mental symptoms, including hallucinations. His illness was believed to be inherited, and he was given a short life expectancy.
Around the same time, he was called to perform his duties as the earl. He said he would marry if someone was willing to have him – and that someone was his sensible, sharp-tongued, obstinate cousin (thousandth-removed), Gwendolyn. She needed money to build a hospital and was willing to marry a sickly man in the last days of his life, sight unseen.
I find Loretta Chase’s books to be less easy to read as they suggest or imply more than telling you outright, though the payoff is usually fantastic. I won’t spoil anything for you.
I really loved them both.
I loved Gwendolyn. She was his knight in shining armor: climbing into his window, patiently nursing him, protecting him. She had big dreams and passions to be a physician, encumbered by being born a female. She cared so deeply about all her patients. She was so strong and resilient and exactly what he needed.
But she’d been rejected countless times before, Gwendolyn reminded herself, and it hadn’t killed her yet.
She was transparent, not subtle or coy.
“…I should not have touched you. You have no experience. You do not know how to protect your feelings. Your heart is too soft.” She sank back on her heels. “I see. You are alarmed that my feelings will become engaged.” “They are engaged,” he said. “You have just told me as much. Not that I couldn’t see it for myself. I wish you could see the way you look at me.” Good heavens. Was she so obvious?
“Like a lovesick schoolgirl, you mean?” she asked. “Yes.” “Well, what do you expect? You are shockingly handsome.”
“I didn’t even want to be your patient,” he said as he gazed out into the darkness. “And now I am your lover. And you are besotted. It is macabre.”
I loved Dorian too, with his protective streak a mile long and three miles deep, and his beautiful penmanship.
Saint Peter himself, backed by a host of martyrs and angels, could not have withstood her. He would have let the heavenly gates slam shut behind him and taken her into his arms and devoted body and soul—eternally damned though it might be—to making her happy.
-
And later, as he held his sleeping countess in his arms, he lay awake wondering whether he was dead or alive because he could not remember when his heart had felt so sweetly at peace.
He was always introspective, and I loved it when he had his epiphanies:
Never, in all his life, had he ever done anything that was any good to anybody.
Everyone died, some early, some late. It was nothing to whimper about. But dying with nothing but regret and if onlys was pathetic.
Loved his dry sense of humour:
Dorian looked up and caught her staring at him. “You’re wearing your medical frown,” he said. “Am I foaming at the mouth, by any chance, without realizing?”
They’re just so cute together.
“How can you help liking me?” he said. “I spent hours yesterday talking of little but medical symptoms and insane asylums. And you listened as though it were poetry and all but swooned at my feet. It is too bad I haven’t any medical treatises about. I’m sure I need read but a paragraph or two, and you will become ravenous with lust and begin tearing off my clothes.” All he had to do was stand there—sit there—to make her ravenous with lust, she thought. She drew back. “Would you like that?” “Your tearing off my clothes? Of course I’d like it.” He bent his head and whispered in her ear, “I am mentally unbalanced, recollect.”
-
Dorian had done it for Gwendolyn’s sake, and that was what made her heart ache, unbearably, so that she wept, like the wife she was instead of the doctor she wanted to be.
In the book, we also briefly meet Jessica and Dain (Lord of Scoundrels), and Bertie’s soft heart.
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson - a sweet, respectful (albeit cheesy and silly) tale of first love. 1.5 stars.
This is about Clint, a 27 year old with a brood of 7 younger siblings, and Rachel, an 18 year old, attempting to settle into a domestic bliss. Certainly one of the least glamorous HRs I’ve read. The plot started weirdly, and I don’t typically read cowboy stories as they just don’t appeal to me, but it was charming to read about a gentle, patient hero that does house chores and isn’t burping bags of money. Rachel was so earnestly trying hard to learn to cook and do laundry and do what she could to look after the family. It was alright.
Promises by Lisa Kleypas – Lord De Gray courts a woman whose heart is promised to another. 1 star.
Lidian Acland – she’s faithfully waited for the past year for her first love, Chance, to return from his adventures abroad.
Lord Eric De Gray – his brother passed away 2 years prior, leaving him unexpectedly titled. Fell for Lidian at first sight.
This was an okay story. I liked that it featured Derek Craven and his club, but not much else. Obviously eventually she realizes she was pining for a jackass and ends up falling for Eric, but I couldn’t care less about the story, probably because I didn’t believe that their esteem for one another was much deeper than the superficial.
The Kiss by Kathleen E Woodiwiss – very short story about compromised honor requiring a protector, that led to marriage, that ended with Raelynn asking Jeff for a kiss. The end. 1 star.
Dark. When he was still in Oxford, Dorian’s mother was locked up in a lunatic asylum for being a scarlet woman/brain wasting – starved, head shaved, given ice baths, yelled “whore” and “Jezebel”, before meeting her death… and Dorian was turned out of the house for being a “whoremonger”. He made his living on his own as a dock worker. After everything that happened, Dorian resented his masculine urges and struggled to be celibate. And eventually, Dorian seemed to suffer the same decline and mental symptoms, including hallucinations. His illness was believed to be inherited, and he was given a short life expectancy.
Around the same time, he was called to perform his duties as the earl. He said he would marry if someone was willing to have him – and that someone was his sensible, sharp-tongued, obstinate cousin (thousandth-removed), Gwendolyn. She needed money to build a hospital and was willing to marry a sickly man in the last days of his life, sight unseen.
I find Loretta Chase’s books to be less easy to read as they suggest or imply more than telling you outright, though the payoff is usually fantastic. I won’t spoil anything for you.
I really loved them both.
I loved Gwendolyn. She was his knight in shining armor: climbing into his window, patiently nursing him, protecting him. She had big dreams and passions to be a physician, encumbered by being born a female. She cared so deeply about all her patients. She was so strong and resilient and exactly what he needed.
But she’d been rejected countless times before, Gwendolyn reminded herself, and it hadn’t killed her yet.
She was transparent, not subtle or coy.
“…I should not have touched you. You have no experience. You do not know how to protect your feelings. Your heart is too soft.” She sank back on her heels. “I see. You are alarmed that my feelings will become engaged.” “They are engaged,” he said. “You have just told me as much. Not that I couldn’t see it for myself. I wish you could see the way you look at me.” Good heavens. Was she so obvious?
“Like a lovesick schoolgirl, you mean?” she asked. “Yes.” “Well, what do you expect? You are shockingly handsome.”
“I didn’t even want to be your patient,” he said as he gazed out into the darkness. “And now I am your lover. And you are besotted. It is macabre.”
I loved Dorian too, with his protective streak a mile long and three miles deep, and his beautiful penmanship.
Saint Peter himself, backed by a host of martyrs and angels, could not have withstood her. He would have let the heavenly gates slam shut behind him and taken her into his arms and devoted body and soul—eternally damned though it might be—to making her happy.
-
And later, as he held his sleeping countess in his arms, he lay awake wondering whether he was dead or alive because he could not remember when his heart had felt so sweetly at peace.
He was always introspective, and I loved it when he had his epiphanies:
Never, in all his life, had he ever done anything that was any good to anybody.
Everyone died, some early, some late. It was nothing to whimper about. But dying with nothing but regret and if onlys was pathetic.
Loved his dry sense of humour:
Dorian looked up and caught her staring at him. “You’re wearing your medical frown,” he said. “Am I foaming at the mouth, by any chance, without realizing?”
They’re just so cute together.
“How can you help liking me?” he said. “I spent hours yesterday talking of little but medical symptoms and insane asylums. And you listened as though it were poetry and all but swooned at my feet. It is too bad I haven’t any medical treatises about. I’m sure I need read but a paragraph or two, and you will become ravenous with lust and begin tearing off my clothes.” All he had to do was stand there—sit there—to make her ravenous with lust, she thought. She drew back. “Would you like that?” “Your tearing off my clothes? Of course I’d like it.” He bent his head and whispered in her ear, “I am mentally unbalanced, recollect.”
-
Dorian had done it for Gwendolyn’s sake, and that was what made her heart ache, unbearably, so that she wept, like the wife she was instead of the doctor she wanted to be.
In the book, we also briefly meet Jessica and Dain (Lord of Scoundrels), and Bertie’s soft heart.
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson - a sweet, respectful (albeit cheesy and silly) tale of first love. 1.5 stars.
This is about Clint, a 27 year old with a brood of 7 younger siblings, and Rachel, an 18 year old, attempting to settle into a domestic bliss. Certainly one of the least glamorous HRs I’ve read. The plot started weirdly, and I don’t typically read cowboy stories as they just don’t appeal to me, but it was charming to read about a gentle, patient hero that does house chores and isn’t burping bags of money. Rachel was so earnestly trying hard to learn to cook and do laundry and do what she could to look after the family. It was alright.
Promises by Lisa Kleypas – Lord De Gray courts a woman whose heart is promised to another. 1 star.
Lidian Acland – she’s faithfully waited for the past year for her first love, Chance, to return from his adventures abroad.
Lord Eric De Gray – his brother passed away 2 years prior, leaving him unexpectedly titled. Fell for Lidian at first sight.
This was an okay story. I liked that it featured Derek Craven and his club, but not much else. Obviously eventually she realizes she was pining for a jackass and ends up falling for Eric, but I couldn’t care less about the story, probably because I didn’t believe that their esteem for one another was much deeper than the superficial.
The Kiss by Kathleen E Woodiwiss – very short story about compromised honor requiring a protector, that led to marriage, that ended with Raelynn asking Jeff for a kiss. The end. 1 star.
April 6, 2014
As far as anthologies go, it was ok.
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson
I am a big fan of Catherine Anderson but struggled with this story. As a disclaimer, I am generally not a fan of novella's because I don't get the character development I like. That being said, Fancy Free was too much of a whirlwind. The heroine was a bit annoying in her dogged pursuit of justice and her ineptitude. However, that being said, it was a short and sweet story. I would give this one by itself 3 out of 5 stars.
The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase
This is certainly the best story in the bunch. I occasionally enjoy regency romance but this one really came through. The heroine was practical and brilliant and you sided with her immediately. Generally, I get fed up with regency romance as the characters seem helpless - always needing to be attended to by servants. However, in this story the main characters stood alone. This story was very touching and the characters were likable. 4 out of 5 stars
Promises by Lisa Kleypas
I started out lukewarm with this story, then I started to like it, but the end was completely dissatisfying. The characters were ok, and just when I started to like them, the hero took a weird turn where he decided he didn't trust the heroine. SPOLIER *** the fact that the heroine had to convince him of her sincerity with sex was disappointing *** END SPOILER. 3 out of stars
The Kiss by Kathleen Woodliss
I fully admit to not finishing this story. While the story was intriguing and I wanted to know more, the writing was so flowery I couldn't get past it.
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson
I am a big fan of Catherine Anderson but struggled with this story. As a disclaimer, I am generally not a fan of novella's because I don't get the character development I like. That being said, Fancy Free was too much of a whirlwind. The heroine was a bit annoying in her dogged pursuit of justice and her ineptitude. However, that being said, it was a short and sweet story. I would give this one by itself 3 out of 5 stars.
The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase
This is certainly the best story in the bunch. I occasionally enjoy regency romance but this one really came through. The heroine was practical and brilliant and you sided with her immediately. Generally, I get fed up with regency romance as the characters seem helpless - always needing to be attended to by servants. However, in this story the main characters stood alone. This story was very touching and the characters were likable. 4 out of 5 stars
Promises by Lisa Kleypas
I started out lukewarm with this story, then I started to like it, but the end was completely dissatisfying. The characters were ok, and just when I started to like them, the hero took a weird turn where he decided he didn't trust the heroine. SPOLIER *** the fact that the heroine had to convince him of her sincerity with sex was disappointing *** END SPOILER. 3 out of stars
The Kiss by Kathleen Woodliss
I fully admit to not finishing this story. While the story was intriguing and I wanted to know more, the writing was so flowery I couldn't get past it.
September 12, 2015
The stories are nice. Really. I particularly liked Lisa Kleypas' and Loretta Chase's stories. This shouldn't come as a big surprise as they are both authors that I've read before and have enjoyed immensely. The last story is rather terrible, and unnecessary. It was enjoyable but I wouldn't consider it with a second thought.
July 10, 2010
meh meh...meh!
didn't really care for the characters, the girl came off as silly and too immature. She was pining for a guy she met once, said nice things to her and then left her to see the world because he wasn't ready to settle down... bleh!
didn't really care for the characters, the girl came off as silly and too immature. She was pining for a guy she met once, said nice things to her and then left her to see the world because he wasn't ready to settle down... bleh!
January 30, 2022
No soy fan de las antologías, pero esta fue particularmente divertida. Va por autora:
*Catherine Anderson: Amor de fantasía*
Este es un relato ambientado en el Oeste. Clint es un vaquero a cargo de toda su recua de hermanos desde que murieron sus padres. Le gustaría poder casarse para que una mujer le echara una mano con la casa, ya sabéis, limpiar, cocinar, lavar la ropa, esas cosas.
Pero es un poco difícil, y más cuando su hermano Matt se mete en líos. Clint acude al salón a rescatarlo de una borrachera. Pero quien acaba hasta las trancas es él, por culpa de Rachel, la hija del sheriff, que busca venganza respecto a Matt.
Lo que pasa es que es más cegata que Rompetechos, y eso no ayuda. Se confunde de hermano, acabarán casados y ella es un total desastre como ama de casa.
El Oeste no es mi género favorito, pero esta historia me encantó de verdad. Hermosa la forma en que todos se van adaptando a la nueva situación y la forma en que Rachel se va ganando a todos los hermanos, especialmente el marido. Escenas muy graciosas también.
*Loretta Chase: La novia del Conde Loco*
El joven aristócrata Dorian Camoys ve cómo su tiránico abuelo recluye a su madre en un manicomio, donde la tratan fatal y acaba muriendo. Por azares del destino, Dorian acaba convirtiéndose en el conde de Rawnsley.
Es un hombre muy sensual, pero padece terribles dolores de cabeza y alucinaciones; teme acabar como su madre. Los médicos no le dan más que unos meses de vida, que pretende pasar en el asilvestrado paisaje de Dartmoor, con sus peligrosas turberas. Entra en escena Gwendolyn Adams, prima de Bertie y Jessica Trent (Lord of scoundrels). A esta pelirroja de ojos verdes, no particularmente agraciada, le interesa la medicina, aunque como es mujer no le dejan ser médico. Acepta convertirse en su esposa para que Dorian pueda tener un hijo antes de morir, y a cambio, ella podrá construir un hospital.
Para tan dramático planteamiento tiene sus toques de humor Chase, un poco negro, "como lamento la inconveniencia, pero prefiero que no se suicide hasta después de la boda", "no puedo permitirle morir antes de la ceremonia, o nunca conseguiré mi hospital".
Una historia en condiciones, bien armada y planteada, con personajes fuertes. Me gustó aunq no resultó tan divertida como la historia anterior, pero tal vez sea x lo crippy del tema.
*Lisa Kleypas: Falsas promesas*
Lidian Acland una chica de campo. Entregó su corazón al canalla de Chance y, un año después, aún espera a que él vuelva del continente. Por eso no le hace caso a Eric de Gray, un apuesto (y rico) noble que se ha convertido en el soltero de la temporada. Yo creo que por eso se ha fijado en Lidian, porque es la única que no le ha hecho caso.
Aquí volvemos al macho alfa avasallador que besa y toca sin pedir permiso, y mira a la protagonista lascivamente de pies a cabeza, deteniéndose en el pecho. Teniendo en cuenta que ella está enamorada de otro, la cosa rechina un poco... hasta diría que es una actitud totalmente fuera de lugar.
Hay una historia de amor secundaria entre dos viudos ya de cierta edad. Otro gañán, que besa a la viuda en el momento más inconveniente. Al final todo se precipita un poco, que si los jardines Vauxhall, que si un pícnic, el canalla vuelve, ella en peligro, el héroe al rescate…
Me quedé con un «mñé», esto no tiene mucho desarrollo. Como una historia a medio cocinar.
*Kathleen E. Woodiwiss: El beso*
Charleston. Jeff Birmingham, hermano de Brandon (La llama y la flor) conoce a una chica (Raelynn Barrett) que está huyendo. Se la compra a su tío. Para acallar habladurías ese mismo día se casan. Fin de la historia.
Luego toda la historia de quién es ella, como ha ido a parar allí y tal, ya se la contará Raelynn apresuradamente. En Jeff también tenemos a otro de esos destripaterrones cuya actitud hacia una joven a la que ha conocido ese mismo día y que es, bastante obviamente, virgen, algo así como «tú tira, que ella ya te parará los pies». O sea, mientras no te diga que no, tú ni te preocupes por recabar consentimientos.
Como estaba leyendo en inglés, lo que me vino a la cabeza en ese momento final fue… what’s the point?
Así q, como son 4 historias y me gustaron solo 2 y le puedo dar de 1 a 5, correspondería un 2,5 pero realmente no me gusta eso de calificaciones a medias asi q lo redondeo.
*Catherine Anderson: Amor de fantasía*
Este es un relato ambientado en el Oeste. Clint es un vaquero a cargo de toda su recua de hermanos desde que murieron sus padres. Le gustaría poder casarse para que una mujer le echara una mano con la casa, ya sabéis, limpiar, cocinar, lavar la ropa, esas cosas.
Pero es un poco difícil, y más cuando su hermano Matt se mete en líos. Clint acude al salón a rescatarlo de una borrachera. Pero quien acaba hasta las trancas es él, por culpa de Rachel, la hija del sheriff, que busca venganza respecto a Matt.
Lo que pasa es que es más cegata que Rompetechos, y eso no ayuda. Se confunde de hermano, acabarán casados y ella es un total desastre como ama de casa.
El Oeste no es mi género favorito, pero esta historia me encantó de verdad. Hermosa la forma en que todos se van adaptando a la nueva situación y la forma en que Rachel se va ganando a todos los hermanos, especialmente el marido. Escenas muy graciosas también.
*Loretta Chase: La novia del Conde Loco*
El joven aristócrata Dorian Camoys ve cómo su tiránico abuelo recluye a su madre en un manicomio, donde la tratan fatal y acaba muriendo. Por azares del destino, Dorian acaba convirtiéndose en el conde de Rawnsley.
Es un hombre muy sensual, pero padece terribles dolores de cabeza y alucinaciones; teme acabar como su madre. Los médicos no le dan más que unos meses de vida, que pretende pasar en el asilvestrado paisaje de Dartmoor, con sus peligrosas turberas. Entra en escena Gwendolyn Adams, prima de Bertie y Jessica Trent (Lord of scoundrels). A esta pelirroja de ojos verdes, no particularmente agraciada, le interesa la medicina, aunque como es mujer no le dejan ser médico. Acepta convertirse en su esposa para que Dorian pueda tener un hijo antes de morir, y a cambio, ella podrá construir un hospital.
Para tan dramático planteamiento tiene sus toques de humor Chase, un poco negro, "como lamento la inconveniencia, pero prefiero que no se suicide hasta después de la boda", "no puedo permitirle morir antes de la ceremonia, o nunca conseguiré mi hospital".
Una historia en condiciones, bien armada y planteada, con personajes fuertes. Me gustó aunq no resultó tan divertida como la historia anterior, pero tal vez sea x lo crippy del tema.
*Lisa Kleypas: Falsas promesas*
Lidian Acland una chica de campo. Entregó su corazón al canalla de Chance y, un año después, aún espera a que él vuelva del continente. Por eso no le hace caso a Eric de Gray, un apuesto (y rico) noble que se ha convertido en el soltero de la temporada. Yo creo que por eso se ha fijado en Lidian, porque es la única que no le ha hecho caso.
Aquí volvemos al macho alfa avasallador que besa y toca sin pedir permiso, y mira a la protagonista lascivamente de pies a cabeza, deteniéndose en el pecho. Teniendo en cuenta que ella está enamorada de otro, la cosa rechina un poco... hasta diría que es una actitud totalmente fuera de lugar.
Hay una historia de amor secundaria entre dos viudos ya de cierta edad. Otro gañán, que besa a la viuda en el momento más inconveniente. Al final todo se precipita un poco, que si los jardines Vauxhall, que si un pícnic, el canalla vuelve, ella en peligro, el héroe al rescate…
Me quedé con un «mñé», esto no tiene mucho desarrollo. Como una historia a medio cocinar.
*Kathleen E. Woodiwiss: El beso*
Charleston. Jeff Birmingham, hermano de Brandon (La llama y la flor) conoce a una chica (Raelynn Barrett) que está huyendo. Se la compra a su tío. Para acallar habladurías ese mismo día se casan. Fin de la historia.
Luego toda la historia de quién es ella, como ha ido a parar allí y tal, ya se la contará Raelynn apresuradamente. En Jeff también tenemos a otro de esos destripaterrones cuya actitud hacia una joven a la que ha conocido ese mismo día y que es, bastante obviamente, virgen, algo así como «tú tira, que ella ya te parará los pies». O sea, mientras no te diga que no, tú ni te preocupes por recabar consentimientos.
Como estaba leyendo en inglés, lo que me vino a la cabeza en ese momento final fue… what’s the point?
Así q, como son 4 historias y me gustaron solo 2 y le puedo dar de 1 a 5, correspondería un 2,5 pero realmente no me gusta eso de calificaciones a medias asi q lo redondeo.
May 19, 2022
Sinceramente, la única historia que merece la pena de esta antología, que en español se tituló «Tres bodas y un beso», aquí es la de Loretta Chase, las demás son perfectamente prescindibles.
Como dije en mi blog, «Irregular, pero es una antología, va de suyo».
Catherine Anderson: «Fancy Free / Amor de fantasía». Ambientada en el Oeste. El vaquero Clint esta a cargo de toda una recua de hermanos, y querría una buena mujer que le echara una mano. Pero acabará casado, por pura confusión, ya que ella es más bien cegada, con Rachel, la hija del sheriff. Bien escrita pero sin interés. ⭐⭐
Loretta Chase: «The mad Earl’s bride / La novia del conde loco», la 3.5 de la serie Scoundrel (Bribón), la que más me gusto con diferencia. El joven aristócrata Dorian Camoys cree que morirá pronto, así se lo aseguran todos, incluidos los médicos. Padece terribles dolores de cabeza y alucinaciones. Para asegurar un heredero antes de morir, recurre a Gwendolyn Adams, prima de Bertie y Jessica Trent (sí, la prota de Abandonada a tus caricias) Ella quiere dedicarse a la medicina pero no puede porque es mujer. Accede, a cambio de un hospital. La cosa es que, para tener un planteamiento tan dramático, cuenta con sus toques de humor muy Chase, un poco negro. Una historia en condiciones, bien armada y planteada, con personajes fuertes. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lisa Kleypas: «Promises / Falsas promesas», la 3.ª de la serie Gamblers of Craven’s (Jugadores). Esta ya la comenté aquí por separado. Lidian Acland está enamorada de un canalla que le ha dado plantón, y atrae a Eric de Gray, un apuesto (y rico) noble que se ha convertido en el soltero de la temporada. Pero a ella, en principio, no le interesa. Ya dije que esta historia me pareció «mñé», como que le faltaba un hervor. ⭐⭐
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss: « The kiss / El beso », escena que situaría como #1.25 de la serie Birmingham. Me deja perpleja porque esto no es ni un cuento sino una escena. Charleston. Jeff Birmingham, hermano de Brandon (La llama y la flor) conoce a una chica (Raelynn Barrett) que está huyendo. Se la compra a su tío. Para acallar habladurías ese mismo día se casan. Fin de la historia. No veo el menor sentido a una docena de páginas dedicadas a semejante inanidad.⭐
Como dije en mi blog, «Irregular, pero es una antología, va de suyo».
Catherine Anderson: «Fancy Free / Amor de fantasía». Ambientada en el Oeste. El vaquero Clint esta a cargo de toda una recua de hermanos, y querría una buena mujer que le echara una mano. Pero acabará casado, por pura confusión, ya que ella es más bien cegada, con Rachel, la hija del sheriff. Bien escrita pero sin interés. ⭐⭐
Loretta Chase: «The mad Earl’s bride / La novia del conde loco», la 3.5 de la serie Scoundrel (Bribón), la que más me gusto con diferencia. El joven aristócrata Dorian Camoys cree que morirá pronto, así se lo aseguran todos, incluidos los médicos. Padece terribles dolores de cabeza y alucinaciones. Para asegurar un heredero antes de morir, recurre a Gwendolyn Adams, prima de Bertie y Jessica Trent (sí, la prota de Abandonada a tus caricias) Ella quiere dedicarse a la medicina pero no puede porque es mujer. Accede, a cambio de un hospital. La cosa es que, para tener un planteamiento tan dramático, cuenta con sus toques de humor muy Chase, un poco negro. Una historia en condiciones, bien armada y planteada, con personajes fuertes. ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lisa Kleypas: «Promises / Falsas promesas», la 3.ª de la serie Gamblers of Craven’s (Jugadores). Esta ya la comenté aquí por separado. Lidian Acland está enamorada de un canalla que le ha dado plantón, y atrae a Eric de Gray, un apuesto (y rico) noble que se ha convertido en el soltero de la temporada. Pero a ella, en principio, no le interesa. Ya dije que esta historia me pareció «mñé», como que le faltaba un hervor. ⭐⭐
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss: « The kiss / El beso », escena que situaría como #1.25 de la serie Birmingham. Me deja perpleja porque esto no es ni un cuento sino una escena. Charleston. Jeff Birmingham, hermano de Brandon (La llama y la flor) conoce a una chica (Raelynn Barrett) que está huyendo. Se la compra a su tío. Para acallar habladurías ese mismo día se casan. Fin de la historia. No veo el menor sentido a una docena de páginas dedicadas a semejante inanidad.⭐
January 31, 2025
Using a random wheel generator I have separated all 4 stories into individual entries amongst my other books. As selected I will read, review and rate each of them separately when finished I will give the whole anthology an overall star rating. I do this because I have started and not finished many anthologies and I'm hoping that this will ensure I finish this one.
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson: 29/01/25 Cute story. I really liked the MCs and glad it wasn't an enemies-to-lovers situation because I don't think it could have been pulled off in this story. Shotgun wedding with an understanding groom. It short enough that the stupidity that overtakes the hero and stops him from going after the heroine didn't stop me from liking it. I liked the Rafferty family and I hoping that it was turned into a series. 4 stars.
The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase: 29/01/25 This one was really good! Dorian and Gwendolyn were amazing. I loved how Gwen didn't care about the male doctor's opinion of her, like it was just insignificant. The part where she told him that his diagnosis was based on the fact that Dorian had long hair was great. This story is my favourite one so fair. I read and loved Lord of Scoundrels but got nervous about reading the others because I worried they would be a let down in comparison. Reading this is making me want to just go for it. 4.5 stars.
Promises by Lisa Kleypas: 31/01/25 At first I found Lidian to be unbearable. I just couldn't with her. This is the first story in this book that I was so tempted to DNF that's telling you how unrealistic I found her. However she did somewhat improve after she saw Chance's true colours. The story explained that the death of her father combined with the family's money troubles made her more susceptible to his BS. I don't know if I can buy it tbh considering that things were going downhill fanatically for her and her mother. Lidian worked on the accounting for the estate so it's not like she was ignorant she also felt bad knowing that if she found a rich husband it sort out their financial problems. So I'm not surprised that Eric was leery of her declaration of love for a bit it did seem a bit rebound love. Anyway 3 stars.
The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodwiss: 29/01/25 I did like this story despite it being short. I have luckily read the original book with the older brother as the hero so I know who everyone was. What did bother me was there was no sex. The door literally closed and the book ended. Considering the length of the story it could have been easily included. 3 stars.
Anthology finished! I will be using the random wheel generator the next time I read one.
Overall rating: ⭐ 3.75
Fancy Free by Catherine Anderson: 29/01/25 Cute story. I really liked the MCs and glad it wasn't an enemies-to-lovers situation because I don't think it could have been pulled off in this story. Shotgun wedding with an understanding groom. It short enough that the stupidity that overtakes the hero and stops him from going after the heroine didn't stop me from liking it. I liked the Rafferty family and I hoping that it was turned into a series. 4 stars.
The Mad Earl's Bride by Loretta Chase: 29/01/25 This one was really good! Dorian and Gwendolyn were amazing. I loved how Gwen didn't care about the male doctor's opinion of her, like it was just insignificant. The part where she told him that his diagnosis was based on the fact that Dorian had long hair was great. This story is my favourite one so fair. I read and loved Lord of Scoundrels but got nervous about reading the others because I worried they would be a let down in comparison. Reading this is making me want to just go for it. 4.5 stars.
Promises by Lisa Kleypas: 31/01/25 At first I found Lidian to be unbearable. I just couldn't with her. This is the first story in this book that I was so tempted to DNF that's telling you how unrealistic I found her. However she did somewhat improve after she saw Chance's true colours. The story explained that the death of her father combined with the family's money troubles made her more susceptible to his BS. I don't know if I can buy it tbh considering that things were going downhill fanatically for her and her mother. Lidian worked on the accounting for the estate so it's not like she was ignorant she also felt bad knowing that if she found a rich husband it sort out their financial problems. So I'm not surprised that Eric was leery of her declaration of love for a bit it did seem a bit rebound love. Anyway 3 stars.
The Kiss by Kathleen E. Woodwiss: 29/01/25 I did like this story despite it being short. I have luckily read the original book with the older brother as the hero so I know who everyone was. What did bother me was there was no sex. The door literally closed and the book ended. Considering the length of the story it could have been easily included. 3 stars.
Anthology finished! I will be using the random wheel generator the next time I read one.
Overall rating: ⭐ 3.75
July 4, 2019
I gave this anthology 4/5 because of LK only. Haha. She’s one of my favorite authors and this time, the story is very entertaining. I like the idea of believing in true love, but sometimes we just need to open our eyes and mind to see what a person truly like.
First story is about a ranch, typical american historical romance. So the heroine is trying to trap a man, only she got the wrong man, which is our hero. They were found by everyone, it creates scandal and they have to get married. The conflict in this story is more towards the domestic problem, wife’s jealousy.
Second story is about the hero who thinks he is a madman like his mother. Apparently, they have the similar symptom which is a splitting headache, but the similarity ends there. Our heroine is a female doctor, has ambition of opening her own hospital , but she couldn’t do it because she’s a female, so she needs to marry someone and her grandpa found the perfect aristocrat who is going to die soon, still young and has money, which is our hero. The whole story is about the heroine trying to take care of our hero and find out if his illness is truly a brain damage or not.
Third story is my favorite. Our heroine thinks she fell in love with this guy who promised to come back for her after a year traveling to Continent, but without any letters or communication with her. However, she still believes that this guy will come back again for her as he truly loves her.
Meet our hero, who is a cynical (I think), newly appointed earl and most sought after bachelor. He wants to find a woman who can see him for what he is, not who he is, beyond the title. There you go, he fell in love with our heroine at the first sight where she helped his sister in the party they both attended. It sounds simple, but truly, the whole story is very sweet, and even though it’s short, we get to see the conflict we wanted, the appearance of the heartbreaker guy. I wish it would be longer, but then, the heroine won’t find it exciting, right?
The last one is seriously a deal breaker. I dislike it, it sounds illogical, to meet a stranger, to marry the stranger at the same day, to fall in love at the same day, but who am I to judge as I like story of love at first sight? Still, I dislike the story because it doesn’t make sense to me.
First story is about a ranch, typical american historical romance. So the heroine is trying to trap a man, only she got the wrong man, which is our hero. They were found by everyone, it creates scandal and they have to get married. The conflict in this story is more towards the domestic problem, wife’s jealousy.
Second story is about the hero who thinks he is a madman like his mother. Apparently, they have the similar symptom which is a splitting headache, but the similarity ends there. Our heroine is a female doctor, has ambition of opening her own hospital , but she couldn’t do it because she’s a female, so she needs to marry someone and her grandpa found the perfect aristocrat who is going to die soon, still young and has money, which is our hero. The whole story is about the heroine trying to take care of our hero and find out if his illness is truly a brain damage or not.
Third story is my favorite. Our heroine thinks she fell in love with this guy who promised to come back for her after a year traveling to Continent, but without any letters or communication with her. However, she still believes that this guy will come back again for her as he truly loves her.
Meet our hero, who is a cynical (I think), newly appointed earl and most sought after bachelor. He wants to find a woman who can see him for what he is, not who he is, beyond the title. There you go, he fell in love with our heroine at the first sight where she helped his sister in the party they both attended. It sounds simple, but truly, the whole story is very sweet, and even though it’s short, we get to see the conflict we wanted, the appearance of the heartbreaker guy. I wish it would be longer, but then, the heroine won’t find it exciting, right?
The last one is seriously a deal breaker. I dislike it, it sounds illogical, to meet a stranger, to marry the stranger at the same day, to fall in love at the same day, but who am I to judge as I like story of love at first sight? Still, I dislike the story because it doesn’t make sense to me.
May 3, 2022
This book has been a pretty nice read and some of the stories are pretty good while some are pretty average for me. If I were to rate them, the first story by Catherine Anderson "Fancy Free" was a nice surprise to me. I have never read any of her works but it was quite funny to me and the character interactions are pretty nice especially between Rachel and Clint's family members which was quite heartwarming. Now I'm looking forward to reading her other works. (4/5 stars)
The second story by Loretta Chase would have to be my favourite among the stories. I like the plot and especially the fact that Dorian's background and issue is well explained which gave his character more depth and reason as to why he acts in certain ways. Gwendolyn is also a pretty likeable female character which seems to match Dorian really well. I wish it was longer but for a short story it is well written. (4.5/5 stars)
The third story "Promises" by Lisa Kleypas is a pretty average story to me. I read it till the end but I never really felt much chemistry between the main leads and the villain did not feel much of a villain but just a small obstacle between the couple. (3/5 stars)
The last story by Woodiwiss is extremely short and also felt extremely rushed. Perhaps the fact that I never read the story that was related to it could have affected my overall satisfaction of this story. I understand that it might have been concept of love at first sight but for both of them to be quite attached and how do I say this...mesmerized (?) by each other after meeting for just a few hours just simplifies things way too much. Especially since Jeff did the exact same thing as what her uncle tried to do but I guess she considered it as a heroic act since Jeff seems like a nice guy. He is rich and good-looking too so I guess it would be different from the other guy she was nearly sold too. Overall for me, It would be nice for things to move a little slower so that I could see some more development between them. It also ended quite abruptly for me. I saw a comment from one of the reviews that there is an extended version of this story so hopefully it will be better there, although I would probably not read it. (2.5/5 stars)
The second story by Loretta Chase would have to be my favourite among the stories. I like the plot and especially the fact that Dorian's background and issue is well explained which gave his character more depth and reason as to why he acts in certain ways. Gwendolyn is also a pretty likeable female character which seems to match Dorian really well. I wish it was longer but for a short story it is well written. (4.5/5 stars)
The third story "Promises" by Lisa Kleypas is a pretty average story to me. I read it till the end but I never really felt much chemistry between the main leads and the villain did not feel much of a villain but just a small obstacle between the couple. (3/5 stars)
The last story by Woodiwiss is extremely short and also felt extremely rushed. Perhaps the fact that I never read the story that was related to it could have affected my overall satisfaction of this story. I understand that it might have been concept of love at first sight but for both of them to be quite attached and how do I say this...mesmerized (?) by each other after meeting for just a few hours just simplifies things way too much. Especially since Jeff did the exact same thing as what her uncle tried to do but I guess she considered it as a heroic act since Jeff seems like a nice guy. He is rich and good-looking too so I guess it would be different from the other guy she was nearly sold too. Overall for me, It would be nice for things to move a little slower so that I could see some more development between them. It also ended quite abruptly for me. I saw a comment from one of the reviews that there is an extended version of this story so hopefully it will be better there, although I would probably not read it. (2.5/5 stars)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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