Valentine Chase by Valerie King Had the haughty, handsome, & utterly impossible Lord Castleton sent governess Meg Woodville a valentine? Her heart soarValentine Chase by Valerie King Had the haughty, handsome, & utterly impossible Lord Castleton sent governess Meg Woodville a valentine? Her heart soared... then plummeted. Of course not. The missive came from her pupil, Castleton's sister Hope, writing to say she had eloped. Now Meg and Castleton are hurrying toward Gretna Green after a runaway... but will it turn out to be the road to love?
An amusing chase after an errant sister leads Margaret & Geoffrey Staveley (Castleton) to realise how much they mean to each other. I quite liked Meg even when she acted the idiot, & the pair of them make a good couple.
Lovers' Vows by Meg-Lynn Roberts Victoria Colefax shocked the ton when she broke off her betrothal to the Marquess of Wexford. He wanted a dull marriage of convenience; she needed his passion and his heart. But Cupid's arrow is ready to fly when they both take part in a Valentine's Day play - and the curtain goes up on a drama of revenge... and romance.
I think Vicky should have been left to stew in her own chagrin as Edward "Ned" Hadleigh, Marquess of Wexford, rode off into the sunset with another, more appreciative woman. I just found this tale annoying.
Music of the Heart by Olivia Sumner On the eve of going to war, Lord Talland sweeps shy, sweet Juliet into his arms at the annual London Valentine Ball. They pledge to meet there again the following year, but when Lord Talland returns to England, he is a bitter, sightless recluse. Now Juliet will risk scandal to prove that love sees not only with the eyes, but with the heart.
A silly tale but with some nice moments. Juliet Grant & Malcolm Rothwell, Viscount Talland, meet at a dance, fancy each other & are parted, & that should have been the end of it. When he returns from war, blinded & licking his wounds in solitude, his aunt & Juliet conspire to bring him out of his shell. I can't help wondering where the rest of his family was at the time, he being heir to an earldom so his father is extant.
A quick, fun, murderous tale, easy & entertaining. It seemed familiar, somehow, & I had an inkling of where it might be going: it certainly felt like A quick, fun, murderous tale, easy & entertaining. It seemed familiar, somehow, & I had an inkling of where it might be going: it certainly felt like a setup, anyway.
American student Ashley Smith is invited to Emma Chapman's family manor, Starvewood Hall, to spend a traditional Christmas. Ashley begins to feel as if she's living in a Gothic thriller at times, & she may not be far wrong in that. There's Emma's twin brother, Adam, for the love interest; the distant, unlikeable parents to increase the chill in the air; & even a recent murder mystery to give one the shivers. We move from the cold, forbidding ambience of the manor to the delightful warmth of a snug pub in winter, where it seems impossible that Ashley's vague notions could possibly be true.
As we look back from the safety of a Manhattan apartment thirty years later, was the atmosphere alone responsible for Ashley's imagination running riot? 3.5✔ rounded up....more
I found this one more interesting than the previous book. Sookie heads to New Orleans to finalise the estate of her cousin Hedley, vampire lover to thI found this one more interesting than the previous book. Sookie heads to New Orleans to finalise the estate of her cousin Hedley, vampire lover to the Vampire Queen. There's quite a lot going on in this one, the pacing is good & I enjoyed the introduction of some new characters & talents. There's a lot of plotting going on: vampire against vampire, were against were, everyone against Sookie (probably because she's so nosy). We get to know Quinn a bit better (gotta love a weretiger): he & Sookie are getting along great so I expect it won't last, blink & she'll move on to the next supernatural creature. I'll be happy not to see the Pelts again, they are an unnecessary diversion in this book when I really wanted to know more about what's happening in the vampire camp. A very entertaining episode....more