Review - - Merely a Marriage

Merely a Marriage

By Jo Beverley

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: May 30, 2017

Reviewed by Janga

       

The year is 1817, and England is in unprecedented mourning following the death of Princess Charlotte and her still-born son. For twenty-five-year-old Lady Ariana Boxstall, the young princess’s death brings a fresh awareness of mortality and the issue of succession. Ariana’s concern is not for herself, but for her younger brother, Norris. Their father’s death two years earlier leaves only Norris between the earldom and their father’s younger brother, a mean-tempered, morally corrupt man addicted to gambling and to alcohol. Ariana pressures Norris, a Corinthian attracted to risky sports, to marry and beget an heir, the sooner the better. Norris is uninterested in marriage at such a young age, but to end his sister’s harangues, he agrees that if she weds by the year’s end, he will wed by the end of January. He believes Ariana, whose memories of her unhappy debut season are still vivid even eight years later, will not return to London where the field for husband hunters is more promising even in November than it is in Hampshire.

Ariana is more determined than her brother realizes, and soon she and her mother set out for London. They begin their visit as guests of a cousin, the Dowager Countess of Cawle, a leader of society. Ariana, who is almost as tall as her six foot plus brother, is overwhelmingly aware that her height, which has earned her the title of “Hippolyta” (queen of the Amazons), is a handicap, but she is far more self-assured at twenty-five than she was at seventeen. She is confident that her dowry and bloodlines will attract candidates for her hand, and she intends to make sure the husband she chooses will march her in height. Lady Cawle understands this criterion and when she presents Ariana with a list of possible husbands, she vets them for “rank, fortune, availability for marriage, and their height.” To Ariana’s dismay, Lady Cawle’s list includes her nephew the Earl of Kynaston, who won and broke the heart of the younger Ariana.

Because Kynaston too is a guest of the dowager countess, he an Ariana are thrown into each other’s company. Circumstantial evidence and a propensity to jump to conclusions lead Ariana to conclude that he is a bankrupt drunkard. She uses her erroneous ideas to argue herself out of her persistent attraction to Kynaston, who is as handsome—and as tall—as ever, and into believing that one of the others on the list will make a suitable husband. But not one of them truly suits her. Kynaston is just as eager to deny his attraction to Ariana, although his reasons for avoiding her are a closely guarded secret for much of the novel. It will take revelation and a crisis to propel this couple toward their HEA.

Merely a Marriage is set in Beverley’s Rogues’ world, a world Beverley introduced to her readers with An Arranged Marriage in 1991. This book is the eighteenth story set in that world, and it is Jo Beverley’s final novel. Fans of the series will be pleased to spot several connections to the Rogues and their relatives in this last book. I especially enjoyed the cameos of Hal Beaumont, Lady Cawle’s godson, and his actress wife, Blanche Hardcastle, whose story arcs through early Rogues books, and of Ariana’s friend the Viscountess Faringay, the former Lady Hermione Merryhew, from Too Dangerous for a Lady (2015) and Viscount Dauntry, the hero of The Viscount Needs a Wife (2016), whom Ariana briefly considers as a potential husband.

It is perhaps not surprising that this novel, written in the final months of the author’s life, is laden with references to death. Paramount, of course, is the death of the heir to England’s throne. The death of Ariana’s beloved father and of Kynaston’s cherished young wife are significant to the plot, and the grief of both lead characters, particularly Kynaston, is intensified by the national mourning that follows the death of Princess Charlotte. It should be noted, however, that the novel ends with a wedding at Easter, the season of resurrection, and a boom of babies soon follows. Life goes on, and happiness is possible for those who survive.

Ariana and Kynaston are interesting characters, but they are not always sympathetic. Some readers will be disturbed by Ariana’s single-mindedness and her reasoning, which moves past the pragmatic to coldness at times. Kynaston may seem less off-putting, but the reader’s knowledge of him is limited because Ariana is the point-of-view character. The amount of time the reader spends in Ariana’s head may make the pace of the story feel slow to some. Jo Beverley’s last book may not be her best, but its historical resonance, its thematic complexity, and the characters that linger in the reader’s memory earn the novel a place in this beloved author’s rich legacy.

A Tribute to Jo Beverley

Remembering Jo Beverley 

(September 22, 1947-May 23, 2016)

An Overview by Janga

There are many talented romance writers who are skilled in their craft and who earn the admiration and loyalty of their readers, but only a few may legitimately be termed legend or icon. Jo Beverley is in that group. Check any online biography of Ms. Beverley, and you will find that she was a five-time Rita winner and a member of a select group who are members of the RWA Hall of Fame. But that is just part of the story. The five Rita wins do not include the additional six times she was a Rita finalist. Naming her as a Hall of Famer doesn’t say that she was one of the earliest inductees into that group of sixteen nor that she joined the august group relatively early in her career after winning the Rita for Regency Romance three consecutive years: Emily and the Dark Angel, 1992; An Unwilling Bride, 1993; and Dierdre and Don Juan, 1994. She won two Ritas in 1994; the other was for My Lady Notorious (Historical Series). The fifth came in 2001, a golden lady for best novella for “The Demon’s Mistress.” She also won two Career Achievement Awards from Romantic Times, and the Sapphire Award for Best Science Fiction Romance, short form, in 2004 for her novella “The Trouble with Heroes.”

Among the keepers on my bookshelves is a tattered paperback copy of Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed. I bought it in 1990 because I had already read a hardcover library copy and knew that it was a book I would reread. I was right. I have been rereading it for almost thirty years. I didn’t know when I first read the novel that it was Jo Beverley’s debut. I only knew that I loved the characters who were so fully creatures of their historical moment and that I wanted more from this gifted writer. That paperback is twenty-seven years old now, and my Jo Beverley shelf is filled with her traditional Regencies, Georgian and Regency historicals, Medievals, and a few fantasy novellas. I cherish them all, but, of course, I have my favorites.

Emily and the Dark Angel is my favorite Beverley traditional Regency—or classic Regency, to use the term Jo preferred. Her choice is more accurate since her books were never exactly traditional. I can’t count the number of times I have read Emily and the Dark Angel nor the number of times I have read a reader’s comment avowing love for the book and known I had found a friend. Certainly there are many romance novels that feature a high-achieving spinster and a rake, but none so lively, so engaging, so delightful as the story of Emily Grantwich and Piers Verderan. And I always feel a bit smug when I come across references to Melton Mowbray in books, confident that I learned all I need to know about Regency England’s hunting mecca from Jo Beverley in Emily and the Dark Angel.

Readers entered Jo Beverley’s Rogues World for the first time with the publication of An Arranged Marriage in 1990, although the author had been writing about her company of Rogues for more than a dozen years by then. The Rogues are a group who band together as schoolboys at Harrow under the leadership of Nicholas Delaney. Their friendship endures through the years, and as An Arranged Marriage opens in 1814, Nicholas calls upon some of them for help. In later books, Nicholas is often the one his brother Rogues turn to for help. One of the things I have always liked best about this series is that as the Rogues marry, their wives become part of the company. The series includes books for nine of the Rogues: An Arranged Marriage, the Honorable Nicholas Delaney, 1991; An Unwilling Bride, Lucien de Vaux, Marquess of Arden and heir to the Duke of Belcraven, 1992; Christmas Angel, Leander Knollis, Earl of Charrington, 1992; Forbidden, Francis Haile, Lord Middlethorpe, 1994; Dangerous Joy, Miles Cavanagh an Irishman and heir to the Earl of Kilgoran, 1995; The Dragon's Bride, Con Somerford, Viscount Amleigh, 2001; Skylark, Sir Stephen Ball, lawyer and a reforming Member of Parliament, 2004; Rogue's Return, Simon St. Bride, the Rogue who has been in Canada for the War of 1812 and its aftermath, 2006; To Rescue A Rogue, Lord Darius Debenham, younger son of the Duke of Yeovil, 2006. The story of a tenth Rogue (Major Hal Beaumont) is woven through the other books, and two of the Rogues were killed in battle and are only mentioned in the series. The remaining eight books feature various relatives, friends, and connections of the Rogues.

I could write a thesis on what I love about the Rogues books. They

are comfort reads for me; I turn to them when I need to escape my world or when another romance novel disappoints me. As a reader, I embrace them wholeheartedly; as a writer and reviewer, I am particularly impressed with the heroes. Jo Beverley created some of the most memorable heroes in romance fiction in her original Rogues, and she did so by taking considerable risks. Nicholas Delaney, perhaps her most charismatic hero, chooses love of country over love of spouse. He is unfaithful to his wife after they fall in love because his affair with a despicable female villain is part of a government plot to trap a dangerous spy. The Marquess of Arden strikes his wife in anger. Lord Middlethorpe is a virgin who is seduced by a more sexually experienced heroine, Hal Beaumont lost an arm in war, and Lord Darius Debenham is an opium addict. None of these men fits the common view of romance heroes, and yet I accept them as just that and keep falling in love with them again and again.

Three years after Beverley’s Rogues first captured the hearts of historical romance readers, My Lady Notorious introduced a Georgian series featuring the Mallorens: Beowulf, third Marquess of Rothgar and his half-siblings: Cynric (My Lady Notorious, 1993), Arcenbryght “Bryght” (Tempting Fortune, 1995), Elfred, twin sister to Cyn (Something Wicked, 1997), and Brand (Secrets of the Night, 1999). (Another sister, Hilda, is married before the series begins.) The Mallorens are all different and all intriguing. My Lady Notorious with the adventurous Cyn and his scandalous lady, its crossdressing, and a deliciously sensual food scene is my favorite of the first four books, although tender beta, Brand is my favorite hero among Rothgar’s brothers. In each of the first four books, Rothgar is an inescapable presence—ruthless, powerful, determined to manage the lives of his siblings as well as the affairs of government and yet capable of immeasurable love. Readers were enthralled with him. To say they were eager for his story is an understatement, and in 2000, Beverley gave them what they had demanded in Devilish. In a five-star review of the book I wrote of its hero:

The reader is prepared for his physical and mental prowess, for his near omniscience, for his brilliance in execution of his plans, for all the qualities that have made him such a large presence in the first four books of the series. But in his own book, Beverley moves beyond the larger-than-life Eminence Noir to reveal the essential loneliness and sorrow that make up the character of this man whose life has been shadowed since early childhood by the heinous action of his mother and who, at the age of 19, inherited his title with all its responsibilities, the well-being of his younger half-siblings paramount among them. Early in Devilish, Bryght thinks of Rothgar as “fascinating and admirable, but at times . . . scarcely human.”  What Beverley does in this fifth book is render Rothgar human, to show his fears and frustrations, to reveal a man vulnerable to love. The result is an even more complex character.

Devilish remains one of Beverley’s most popular books and Rothgar, her most famous hero. I still think it is too bad no one has ever brought Rothgar to the screen, large or small.

Following the pattern of the Rogues World books, between 2003

and 2013, Beverley set another eight books in the Malloren world. A lesser author might have found it difficult to maintain the standards set by Devilish, but some of Beverley’s finest work can be found in the books that followed. Winter Fire (2003) is my favorite. I reread it every December for the joy of experiencing Christmas at Rothgar Abbey with all the English traditions plus an Italian touch with the presepe (creche) belonging to the heroine Genova Smith. A Most Unsuitable Man, which is a true sequel to Winter Fire, is also excellent. (The hero, Octavius Fitzroger, is a descendant of Imogen of Carrisford and FitzRoger of Cleeve, the protagonists of Beverley’s Medieval, Dark Champion, 1993.) I also love A Lady’s Secret (2008). How can you not love a book that opens with a cursing nun and ends with a father-daughter reunion? I call this one Jo’s secret-baby book.

In addition to Dark Champion, Beverley wrote three other medieval romances: Lord of My Heart (1992), The Shattered Rose (1996), and Lord of Midnight (1998). I’m not a big fan of this sub-genre, and I read very selectively in it. It is a measure of my respect for Jo Beverley that I have read all four of these books as well as her three novellas set in the Medieval Period. Both Lord of My Heart and Dark Champion were Rita finalists, but my favorite in this group is the novella “The Wise Virgin” from the anthology The Brides of Christmas (1999). It has feuding families, mistaken identity, a Golden Lion of a hero, and an ending that resonates with Christmas meaning.

With Merely a Marriage, her posthumously published novel, Jo Beverley ended her career in her Rogues World where she began it. I delayed reading my ARC of the book because I was sad that it was her last book. I waited for Rothgar (eight years, I think) and joined the Dare’s Alive bandwagon. Every time the subject of unwritten stories romance readers long to see written arose, I shared my hopes for the story of Kevin Renfrew, the Daffodil Dandy, one of my favorite Beverley creations. Before the word “autobuy” was in my vocabulary, Jo Beverley was all I needed to see on a book cover to buy the book. Jo Beverley and her books are woven through my history as a reader of romance fiction. I am having a difficult time imagining a year with no new book to add to my Jo Bev collection. But I am grateful that I can reread the forty-one novels and more than a dozen works of short fiction she left us.

I will remember Jo Beverley for more than her books. Although I never met her, I had contact with her in various ways online. She was always gracious and generous. Several years ago, I was part of the Romance Vagabonds blog. Jo had agreed to be an author guest on our site. Several months after we had scheduled her visit she emailed me saying that she would be traveling on the scheduled day but she would find a way to read and respond to the comments. How she did it, I’ll never know, but she did. The Vagabonds were elated as were the fans whose questions she answered. A classy lady who respected her readers—that’s also the Jo Beverley I will remember.

On “Jo’s Media Page” on her website, she shares some highlights from a speech she gave in 2002 to romance readers in Portland, Oregon. The following is one of those highlights:

Yes, Virginia, love exists and men and women can have healthy lives together. You only need to look around you to see the evidence. Romance novels carry the flame of this essential truth. They make up a rich and deep world of voices, a world of choices, with a story for almost everyone. And that's why romance is the most popular form of fiction today.

For twenty-eight years, Jo Beverley gave us stories in her inimitable voice, stories like those she described. She helped to make romance “the most popular form of fiction.” If you have never read a Jo Beverley book, what riches await you. If you have, isn’t it time to reread one and remember Jo Beverley?

Jo Beverley, Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose, Joanna Bourne

Postscript: Other Dishes Remember

Manda

Way back in 1992, when I started college, I was still not very open about my romance reading habit. But I took a few books with me when I moved into the dorm. One of them was Jo Beverley's EMILY AND THE DARK ANGEL, which I shared with many college friends, as it happened. Over the years, I've read hundreds, possibly thousands of romances. And of all of them, this story about Emily Grantwich and the darkly dangerous rake Piers Verderan, has stayed with me. Scented powder reminds me of Violet Vane's Poudre de Violettes. Anyone dressed in all yellow brings to mind Kevin Renfrew, the Daffodil Dandy. And any mention of Melton Mowbray reminds me that Jo Beverley mentioned (maybe in the author's note?) that she grew up nearby. Jo Beverley's books have been part of my life--an important part--for twenty-six years. I distinctly recall reading the first Company of Rogues book, AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE, on a family vacation at the beach. I spent many happy hours in the hammock beneath the house on stilts breathing the salt air, but going in my imagination to Regency England. (Though anyone who truly knows me would say that Francis, Lord Middlethorpe is my favorite Rogue, I remember reading Nicholas's story most vividly.)

I was lucky enough, after so many years of admiring her writing, to meet Jo Beverley at the 2007 RWA conference in Dallas. I told her I'd been a fan for years and that I'd admired some set-down she'd delivered online. She laughed and made a self-deprecating remark. I wish I'd written it down. I'm sure it was witty. But I'm content with the memory of her in the peak of health, and laughing. RIP JoBev. You made an impact on this little Alabama girl's life, and I've got the published novels to prove it. You are missed. 

Santa

What I loved most about Jo Beverley's writing was how easy it was to slip into the worlds she created. Medieval, Georgian or Regency - you were guaranteed families, comrades, friends loyal and true to one another; all at the core of who they were and at the base of what their worlds were all about.

The characters in her books were multidimensional both as heroes, heroines and villains. She wrote both the alpha and beta hero with such finesse. Intricate. Intriguing. Page turners all.

And her villains. Ah, written as such ruthless, depraved characters from all walks of life. Jo Beverley wrote one of the most heinous villains and - she's a woman. Therese Bellaire is as vile, ruthless and heartless as they come. We are introduced to her villainy in the first book of her Company of Rogues series and her talons dig into more than one of our heroes.

I could list some of my favorite Jo Beverley books but I fear that list would include all of them. Her traditional Regencies hold a special place in this reader's heart. I will say that Emily and the Dark Angel is an all-time favorite of mine. Once again, her hero's moniker of dark angel for his looks and temperament comes to nothing when his better half proves to be more than his equal in every way.

The book will make you laugh out loud and sigh with such contentment. Actually, all of her books will effortlessly take you away and leave you so much the richer for it.

PJ

I don't remember which of Jo Beverley's books was my first but I do remember that each of them was special, transporting me to Regency, Medieval, or Georgian England and introducing me to characters who became treasured fictional friends. I'd be hard pressed to name a favorite book, series, or character. Many of her books populate my keeper shelves, characters like Dare, Rothgar, Simon St. Bride, Brand, and, of course, Emily and her dark angel, Piers Verderan linger in my mind still, some more than 20 years after reading their stories. That, my friends, is powerful storytelling.

But, while I cherish the books she wrote, it was the woman behind the pen who made the greatest impression on me. I had the opportunity to meet Jo at several RWA national conferences. This NYT Bestselling, multiple award-winning legend of romance was unfailingly gracious, greeting readers with a smile, kindness, and appreciation. No pretenses or diva behavior for Jo Bev. She always took a minute to chat with me, pose for a photograph, and thank me for reading her books. I have many photos of her taken at conferences over the years. She is smiling in every one of them, even the candid shots. I mourn her passing but I celebrate her life, her achievements, the memorable characters she introduced us to, and the journeys we traveled with them...and her.

Anne Gracie, Jo Beverley, Cara Elliott/Andrea Penrose

Tell us about your favorite Jo Beverley books, characters, or memories. 

One randomly chosen person leaving a comment before 11:00 PM (EST), May 25th will receive a print copy of Jo's final book, Merely a Marriage. (U.S./Canada only)


Note: The Word Wenches Blog, of which Jo Beverley was a part, is celebrating their 11th anniversary today and sharing their floral tributes to Jo. Stop by today or tomorrow and leave a comment for a chance to win books from the Word Wenches authors. 

On Second Thought - - Forbidden Magic

Forbidden Magic

By Jo Beverley

Publisher: Signet

Release Date: August 2, 2005

(Original pb publication:
November 1, 1998, Topaz)

Shortly after I received news of Jo Beverley’s death on May 23, I moved all the Beverley books not on my Kindle from my keeper shelves to my reread shelf and planned a Jo Beverley Reread Marathon of print and digital books as my personal tribute to an author whose books had kept me falling in love with her fictional worlds for more than twenty-five years. I decided then that I would focus on a Jo Beverley book for June’s On Second Thought, but how could I choose one book? Just considering my all-time top 100 list left me with ten Jo Beverley books. I chose Forbidden Magic because it is a rare standalone and thus without the tight ties to other books that link favorites in the Rogues World (seventeen books from An Arranged Marriage in 1990 through The Viscount Needs a Wife in 2016) and the Malloren World (thirteen books from My Lady Notorious in 1993 to Seduction in Silk in 2013) or even the looser links among her traditional Regencies from early in her career. I also think Forbidden Magic is an underappreciated gem that is often forgotten when Beverley books are discussed. 

The death of her parents has left Meg Gillingham, daughter of a gentleman scholar and a former governess, facing a penurious Christmas Eve with no means of supporting her four younger siblings. Eviction is staring her in the face in the form of her landlord and the obsequious beadle accompanying him. Meg is desperate enough to have talked herself into accepting a marriage proposal from the oily landlord, Sir Arthur Jakes, if he offers, but twenty-one-year-old Meg is too old for Sir Arthur’s taste. He now prefers her younger and more beautiful sister, fifteen-year-old Laura, and his offer is for her to become his mistress, not his bride. Meg is sickened by his offer--sickened enough to use the sheelagh-ma-gig, a pagan wishing stone that grants the wishes of women in Meg’s family who inherit the gift. Meg has inherited the gift, but she understands that the stone’s power is mischievous, granting the wish but always exacting a cost.  Fearfully, Meg touches the stone and makes her wish: “I wish . . . that within the week, we all be provided for as befits our station, and with honor and happiness.”

One day less than a week later, the Earl of Saxonhurst, familiarly known as Sax, awakens to a written reminder from his greatest enemy, his maternal grandmother, the Duchess of Daingerfield, of a promise Sax made five years ago--if he remained unmarried on his twenty-fifth birthday, his grandmother would choose his bride. Sax’s birthday is December 31. He has one day to find a bride. A maid in his unorthodox household is the sister of a former maid in the Gillingham household and knows of Meg’s plight. On the toss of a coin, Sax sets things in motion to marry this unknown miss and thwart his grandmother’s plans. The maid’s task is to approach Meg with Sax’s offer. The next day Meg becomes the Countess of Saxonhurst by special license, and she and her siblings move into Sax’s London house. 

Sax is handsome and charming, although eccentric. Meg is thankful and charmed, although bewildered. Her pleasure in her new life is marred by the guilt she feels because she believes the sheelagh has forced Sax to choose her as his bride and fears Sax will think he was trapped if he learns of the magic. Terror is added to the mix when she finds that the Shelagh, left behind in the Gillingham’s hasty move, is now in the hands of Sir Arthur whose lust for Laura persists. And then there is the deranged, duplicitous duchess to further complicate the road to an HEA.

This book is a joy. Meg is a rational young woman confused by a world in which emotions compromise reason and magic comes with consequences that cause her to doubt herself. She is willing to sacrifice herself to protect her brothers and sisters. I love that her wildly embroidered underwear undercuts her serious, somber façade. Sax is a delight. Some historical heroes collect art, some collect rare books, and some collect gambling debts. Sax collects misfits. Except for his tangled relationship with his grandmother, he is a man of extraordinary tolerance and compassion. The secondary characters are also wonderful. I adored Meg’s siblings and Sax’s servants, but the misogynistic parrot Knox who shrieks, “Women, women, road to hell - Eve, Delilah!” at the sight of a woman may be the most memorable.

I highly recommend Forbidden Magic. It is the funniest of Beverley’s novels, and the one most imbued with magic other than the author’s splendid gifts. If you are a Beverley fan who somehow missed this book, you have a treat in store. If you love historical romance and have never read Jo Beverley, you owe it to yourself to read this RWA Hall of Famer and one of the genre’s legendary and most beloved authors. This standalone works well as an introduction to an amazing oeuvre. I’m grateful that there will be one more Jo Beverley book. Whatever world it is set in, I know it will enrich my world.

~Janga


Tell us about your favorite Jo Beverley novel. 

Jo Beverley - - Farewell to a Romance Icon

Jo Beverley

This evening, the Word Wenches announced today's death of beloved historical romance author, Jo Beverley. As her Word Wenches sister, Mary Jo Putney wrote: 

Jo had quietly been through a very dangerous bout with cancer about five years ago, and had come through with flying colors.  The cancer was discovered to have returned some weeks ago, and it moved very quickly.  We all hoped for another miracle, but it was not to be.  Jo died very peacefully in a lovely care home in Yorkshire that used to be a convent, with her husband and her pal Charlie,  the Cabbage Patch Kid, by her side.  

Jo Beverley, Cara Elliott, Joanna Bourne

I've been reading Jo Beverley's books for more than 20 years. Her Company of Rogues and Mallorens are among my all-time favorite romance series but, truth be told, I enjoyed every story that ever bloomed from her creative imagination. She's one of romance fiction's superstars with five RITA awards and a place in the prestigious Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. 

Anne Gracie, Jo Beverley, Cara Elliott

Jo Beverley was not only a brilliant writer, she was also a lovely, gracious lady who was unfailingly kind to her readers. I had the pleasure of meeting her at RWA conferences over the years. She always greeted me with a smile, ready to sign a book, pose for a photo or just chat a bit.  

Jo Beverley, Joanna Bourne, PJ

Jo's Word Wenches blogging sisters have shared their memories of her today in a special tribute. Click here to read them and also leave a comment sharing thoughts of your own, if you wish.





Do you have a favorite Jo Beverley book or series?  A favorite memory of one of her characters or of the author herself? 

Review -- An Unlikely Countess

An Unlikely Countess
By Jo Beverley
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: March 1, 2011






Prudence Youlgrave is living in poverty in Yorkshire. Her mother has recently died and her solicitor brother is too busy with his own life to concern himself overly much with Prudence. She knows her only hope is to marry well, but her chances of that are slim under the circumstances. If all of this weren't bad enough, Prudence is attacked by a band of ruffians. But her luck changes when she is rescued by a handsome stranger.

Catesby (Cate) Burgoyne has returned home after years in the army. After a falling out with his brother, he leaves the family estate and proceeds to drown his sorrows and frustrations. When he comes upon a woman being attacked by several men, he revels in the chance to fight and vent some of his anger. After Cate chases the ruffians off, he offers to escort Prudence to her home to protect her from any further danger. He introduces himself to her, but she never tells him her name. But they share a sweet kiss and a comforting embrace that neither one will ever forget. By morning, Cate is gone, but two lives have been irrevocably altered by their meeting.

A few months later when Cate's elder brother dies unexpectedly, he becomes the Earl of Malzard and returns to his family estate. There is no doubt that his sister-in-law and mother are in the depths of grief, but his mother wastes no time in compiling a list of acceptable women for Cate to choose as his bride and new countess. Cate knows that his mother has always viewed him as a disappointment, so he wants to choose the "right" bride, but the only woman he can think about is the one he rescued months ago, the woman whose name he does not know. Feeling the pressure of his new title, Cate decides to escape for the day so he dons his old riding clothes and heads for the village where he met his mystery lady. When he arrives, he discovers she his gone but her neighbor, Hetty tells him her name and that Prudence is living with her brother in Darlington and is to be married the next day. Cate goes to the church with the intention of seeing Prudence happily married, but when he sees her walking up the front steps of the church it is not happiness he sees on her face. She looks more like she's approaching the gallows. Cate knows it is completely illogical, but he knows he cannot let Prudence marry Henry Draydale, so he objects to the marriage on the grounds that Prudence is already promised to him! All hell breaks loose, but in the end, Prudence becomes Cate's bride. The upheaval from the interrupted wedding in Darlington is nothing compared to trouble that Prudence will face when she meets Cate's family as his "unlikely countess."

Prudence and Cate are incredibly likable characters. Prudence is courageous, strong and loyal, and the reader is shown what a difficult time women had during the Georgian era without the support of a man. Her brother is not intentionally mean, he's just clueless and wrapped up in his own world. But Cate shows her immense kindness, although he is a stranger. And that is something Prudence never forgets. He saves her twice; once from almost certain rape and again from marrying the wrong man. There's a scene right after he stops the wedding that shows Prudence's feelings so well.


The concern stirred life in her again. He was wild, he was rash, he was violent, but he cared for her.

"Hold me," she said.

He did, enclosing her in strong, warm arms, as he had once before, when her distress had been much less. She'd never forgotten that. She rested there, taking comfort from the smells of his clothes. They weren't the sort of smells to normally entrance a woman---old wool and leather that carried traces of past smoke and other adventures---but they were the same smells that had lingered in her memory from last time.

From the house in White Rose Yard.

From a brandy-fueled conversation between two people with nothing in common, but who had understood each other very well. He was the only person she'd ever felt such a bond with. That bond had allowed her to ask for a kiss. A dangerous kiss that had led to the tender, unforgettable embrace.


Cate is the kind of hero that steals your heart with his honor, impulsiveness, and impossible-to-resist charm. He and Prudence present a united front against his family's shock and disappointment. Cate will do anything to assure Prudence's happiness, as is evidenced by this passage:


Cate knew his manner was awry, but he was suddenly sensitive to everything that might disturb his wife. Prudence was like a tree in bud that was beginning to unfurl at first touch of summer sun. Frost could still kill the buds, however, and he wanted her to flower.


A strong handsome hero, a spirited heroine, and a villain who tries to ruin their happiness add up to a delightful historical read---what Jo Beverley does best. Treat yourself to An Unlikely Countess and escape for a few deliciously satisfying hours.

~ Gannon


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Holiday Treasures - Tried and True

As promised, I'm back today to talk about a few of my tried and true Christmas romances.  Some have been around for many years while others are recent additions but they are all treasured friends that I look forward to visiting every year.  I wish I could list all of my favorites but I fear that I'd max out our space limit long before reaching the end of my list!  Here's a small sampling of the many Christmas stories that have, and continue to, make me smile, make me laugh, make me cry and fill my heart with joy.

A Christmas To Remember
By Kay Stockham
Publisher:  Harlequin SuperRomance
Release Date:  November 6, 2007


Marley Pierce has spent the last five years putting her life back together after it was torn to pieces by Beau Buchanan, a cocky bad boy she met while visiting her grandmother.  In two short weeks, Beau seduced and abandoned the sheltered, naive Marley, leaving her to return home to her small town to face pregnancy, disgrace and tragic consequences for both her and her family.  She's older now, wiser, and has worked hard to build her landscape design business and rebuild her good reputation, yet her relationship with her parents, especially her mother, still suffers.  She's shocked and furious when Beau shows up in her small town to work at a housing development where she's doing the landscaping, especially when he doesn't even remember who she is.  She vows to have nothing to do with him but can't help but be drawn to him once again, especially when she learns where he's been and what happened to him.  And, the more she's around him, the more she likes him.  He seems so different than before: kinder, more thoughtful, more genuine.  But she's torn between wanting to spend time with him and needing to send him away because he tore her life apart once and she's terrified he'll do it again.

Regaining consciousness in a military hospital in Germany, Beau Buchanan has no memories of the bomb that injured him, no memories of the man sitting by his bedside waiting to take him home and no memories of Beau Buchanan.  His mind is a terrifyingly clean slate.  When he encounters Marley while working at a job site with his father, he's immediately drawn to her and shocked that she seems to hate him.  He still remembers nothing of his past and struggles to come to terms with the terrible things that she says he did to her while, at the same time, struggling to heal and to remember.  He wants a second chance with her, a chance to prove that he's a changed man and would never treat her badly.  But, as the two grow closer, Beau begins to have flashes of memories, memories that make no sense, until he begins to question if he's really a changed man...or a different man.

A Christmas To Remember was my introduction to the writing of Kay Stockham and vaulted her straight to my auto-buy list.  Her books are deeply emotional and thought provoking, frequently centered around complex family dynamics and always, always touch my heart.  Like a well choreographed dance, they never miss a beat.

This is the sequel to an earlier book of Stockham's but stands well on its own.  If you're like me though, you'll be intrigued by an important secondary character named Joe who keeps appearing in the memory flashes and will want to read his story in Man With a Past:Going Back, Harlequin SuperRomance #1347 (May 9, 2006).

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"A Christmas Spirit"
By Cindy Miles
A Highlander Christmas (Anthology)
Publisher:  NAL Trade
Release Date:  November 3, 2009


Determined to not spend another Christmas alone, Paige MacDonald is on her way to Inverness, Scotland when her car breaks down in a snowstorm, depositing her on the doorstep of the seemingly deserted Gorloch B&B where she is greeted by a gorgeous, but decidedly inhospitable, Gabriel Munro. Gabriel reluctantly agrees to let her stay but refuses to help her with anything, making her get her own room key, carry her luggage and even fix her own meals. The reason for his rudeness becomes clear when Paige trips and falls...right through the man standing in front of her! Unless the storm clears, it appears that, this year, Paige will be spending Christmas with the ghostly spirit of a centuries-old Highland warrior. Miles has done a superb job of creating a life-like man with the limitations of a spirit in this finely crafted love story. The romantic scenes in particular were simmering with sensuality while, at the same time, very poignant. "A Christmas Spirit" is, by turns, a humorous, heartbreaking and heartwarming gift not to be missed.

This is the review of  "A Christmas Spirit" that I wrote last year when I fell in love with Ms. Miles' writing and characters, especially Gabriel.  I recently re-read Gabriel and Paige's story and was just as enchanted the second time around.  Click here if you'd like to read my reviews of the other two stories in the anthology.

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"The Unexpected Guest"
By Deborah Simmons
The Brides of Christmas (Anthology)
Publisher:  Harlequin
Release Date:  November 1, 2005

The widowed father of seven grown sons, Fawke de Burgh, Earl of Campion, is still a young, strong and virile man.  With his sons beginning to marry and leave his home, he's also becoming a lonely man but, even so, a woman to share his life is the furthest thing from his mind.  Campion has already buried two wives that he loved and isn't looking for a third.  But sometimes fate knows what we need, even if we don't.

Caught in a terrible snowstorm on Christmas Eve, Joy Thorncombe, Lady Warwick and her small party of servants and guards take refuge at Campion's home.  A widow who was forced, at age sixteen, to marry a thirteen-year-old boy who died a year later, Joy is a self-sufficient, intelligent woman who has worked hard over the years to manage her home, care for it's people and avoid re-marriage.  Left untouched by her child groom, she's never understood sexual desire and has never wanted another man in her life...until she meets Campion.  Suddenly, she's filled with the urge to explore kisses, caresses and more but only on her terms:  a mutually satisfying romp in the Earl's bed before she continues on her way.  While her mind has the plan clearly formulated though, her heart has other ideas...as does the Earl. 

The de Burgh's are one of my favorite medieval romance families.  The sons' books all have places on my keeper shelf and I was delighted when I first learned of their father's story in this Christmas anthology.  You don't have to have read the other books to obtain the full enjoyment of "The Unexpected Guest" though it may have you searching them out once you finish Campion and Joy's story. 

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"The Wise Virgin"
By Jo Beverley
The Brides of Christmas
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: November 1, 2005

"They've stolen the Blessed Virgin Mary!"

When Joan of Hawes agrees to switch places with her cousin, Nicolette de Montelan and assume the role of the Virgin Mary in the Christmastide play, the last thing she expects is to be kidnapped by a de Graves, especially not Edmund de Graves, the famous Golden Lion! But, if Joan is surprised, that's nothing compared to Edmund's shock when he discovers he's risked his life to steal away not his brother's lover but her spirited, opinionated, too-smart-for-her-own-good, though innocent, cousin.

The de Graves and de Montelan families have been feuding for generations and all over a piece of cloth that was carried into Jerusalem during the Crusades. When Nicolette de Montelan falls in love with Gerald de Graves and becomes pregnant, the pair hope to bring an end to the feud by marrying but, instead, Joan is "rescued" instead of Nicolette, Gerald is captured by Nicolette's father and thrown into the dungeon and Edmund and Joan find themselves fighting an attraction that quickly deepens into emotions that will be impossible for them to act upon...unless they can find some way to end the feud and bring peace between the families.

This is a wonderful, fast-paced novella with engaging characters, emotional twists and delightful banter, all skillfully woven together by Beverley. I've been reading it every year since 2005 and still enjoy it today as much as I did the first time.

Those are a few of my tried and true favorites from years past.  What Christmas romances do you bring out year after year to help you get into the holiday spirit?  

Don't forget to check out my reviews of some terrific new Christmas romances in yesterday's blog! 

~PJ

Guest Review - - The Secret Duke

The Secret Duke
By Jo Beverley
Publisher: Signet
Release Date: April 6, 2010




Dover, 1760

     Laughter can take many forms, from the pure delight of a happy child to the gibber of madness. The laughter that slithered out into the dark and misty Dover night was the sound of cruel men with a victim in their clutches.
     It caused the man in the street to pause.

This opening to Jo Beverley’s 36th book (not counting novellas) caused me not to pause but to read on eagerly.

Youthful folly led Bella Barstowe into a danger from which she resourcefully escapes, only to find herself in another situation that threatens consequences almost as dire as those she averted. Captain Rose reluctantly recues Bella, who again proves herself an enterprising heroine. She steals her rescuer’s horse and returns home, leaving a baffled and concerned Captain Rose to return to his life, a world away from the low tavern where he had encountered a troublesome chit.

Four years pass, and help from an unexpected source once more allows Bella to escape, this time from a home as joyless and cold as a prison. Since her ruined reputation has destroyed the life she might have had, she disguises her attractions and adopts a persona that will allow her to create a free, if limited, life. The disguise as the plain Bellona Flint with radical sympathies leads to other disguises. One of these indirectly leads to the truth behind the danger that almost destroyed her four years earlier. Determined on revenge, she seeks out the infamous Captain Rose, the only man she knows who may be able to help her.

Bella is unaware that the man she knows as Captain Rose is really the Duke of Ithorne, whom she has met at a masquerade when both wore disguises. Thorn, as he is known to his intimates, assumes the role of Captain Rose (who is really an alternate identity of the Duke’s bastard half-brother, who bears a marked resemblance to the Duke) when he is weary of his ducal responsibilities and hungry for adventure and the freedom of the sea. Bella asks the real Captain Rose for help. He delays and lets Thorn know that the horse thief has returned. Thorn as Captain Rose agrees Bella deserves vengeance, and the two become allies. Then they fall in love.

The Secret Duke is the third book in Jo Beverley Rakish trilogy, a series set in the Georgian world of the Mallorens. Thorn is the character who links the three books. He is the cousin of the irrepressible Robin Fitzvitry, the Earl of Huntersdown (A Lady’s Secret) and the foster brother of Christian, Major Lord Grandiston (The Secret Wedding). As the titles indicate, the keeping and the uncovering of secrets is the overarching theme of this trilogy. All three books are also road books, at least in part. Both predispose me to like this book, plus it’s a Jo Beverley book. I’ve been reading and delighting in her books since her first, Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed, in 1988.  It’s not necessary to have read the earlier books to understand this one, but appreciation of the world and of secondary characters will be considerably heightened for readers familiar with the other books set in this world, particularly the other Rake books.

Beverley has always been known for her attention to historical detail, and The Secret Duke is true to Beverley form. Even the most careless reader of European historicals knows the importance of an unmarried woman’s reputation among the upper class. Bella Barstowe’s story reveals what could credibly happen to a young woman who loses her reputation and her family’s support and refuses a marriage that repulses her. The Duke of Ithorne’s story shows an aristocrat born to be an adventurer but bred to accept the estate and political responsibilities of his rank. Bella and Thorn are humanly flawed. They don’t always choose wisely, but their mistakes are believable—and forgivable—because they are logical given these characters and their realities. Neither does Beverley gloss over the fact that however much Bella and Thorne love each other, a marriage between them will be a misalliance with potential consequences affecting future generations.

Despite clear strengths, The Secret Duke was not a five-star read for me. All the layers of disguises become a maze in which a reader can easily become lost. Some coincidences seem too contrived, and Bella, who is 21 for most of the book, sometimes seems far younger. But these are minor faults in a book that gives me endearing characters, historical accuracy, and thematic sophistication. Then there are the glimpses of familiar characters from other books and a final chapter that I read and sighed over three times. The Secret Duke may not be my favorite Jo Beverley book, but I never met a Jo Beverley book I didn’t like. This one was no exception.

~Janga
Just Janga