This Spinster Is Special!

 by Anna Campbell

Hey, it's Christmas Eve! Not only that, it's my last review for the year. Thank you so much to all of you who have swung by to share your thoughts and recommendations. My TBR pile thanks you. My VISA card, not so much! ;-) Seriously, thanks to the Dishies and all their regulars. I always love popping by here each month to discuss a great book or two.

So Happy Holidays! Happy Christmas! Happy New Year!

I'd like to finish the year's reviews of some really great books with two more that may have passed under your radar.

Emily Larkin is a talented writer from New Zealand who has written romantic fantasy as Emily Gee and historical romance as Emily May. Her first book THE THIEF WITH NO SHADOW was nominated for two RITAs in 2008. I first read one of her books when I agreed to quote for THE UNMASKING OF A LADY, a fantastic historical romance with elements of OLIVER TWIST and Cinderella. I wasn't at all surprised when it was a finalist in the Australian Romantic Book of the Year awards in 2011. Since then, I've read pretty much everything Emily has written.

Emily is now writing for Entangled and it's well worth hunting out both these stories I'm reviewing today. The e-novella THE COUNTESS'S GROOM, a prequel to THE SPINSTER'S SECRET, came out in September this year. In TSS, an erotically charged diary plays an important part in the plot. TCG details how that erotic diary came to be written.

19-year-old Rose Quayle, Countess of Malmstoke, has been forced into a cruel marriage with a violent man. She's like a wounded and frightened animal when she meets Will Fenmore, a groom on her husband's estate Creed Hall. Will is a lovely character - seriously, lovely! He's a man of few words, kind, perceptive, gentle, and head over heels in love with Rose. But of course in 1762 England, a groom in love with a lady has no hope of happiness.

Well, unless the groom and the lady are brave and resourceful and willing to take some terrible risks.

Rose gradually falls under Will's spell to a point where she becomes his lover (the love scenes in this story are beautifully tender). She details her sensual awakening in a diary that she hides in a secret cupboard in her bedroom.

I really enjoyed this story about a woman emerging from a nightmare to seize her chance at happiness. And as you've probably gathered, the hero is a darling!

While it's not necessary to read Rose and Will's story before you start THE SPINSTER'S SECRET, it makes a nice appetizer for the main course.

Matilda (Mattie) Chapple is the kind of heroine I love in a Regency romance.The impoverished, intelligent, frustrated woman of no spectacular beauty who struggles to find a place for herself and her talents in a world hostile to female independence. Jane Austen was just such a woman - there are some lovely PRIDE AND PREJUDICE parallels in this story to give Austen fans a nice smile.

Mattie lives at grim Creed Hall, the setting for THE COUNTESS'S GROOM, as an unvalued poor relation with her miserly uncle, Sir Arthur Strickland; her self-centered aunt; and her aunt's impoverished companion. Mattie is a woman of courage and initiative with a dream for breaking free from her dull, restrictive existence. To finance her plan to open a boarding house, she's writing a series of 'confessions', penned by the supposed courtesan Cherie. The confessions have taken London by storm and everyone is agog to discover the author's identity.

So that's the spinster's secret - she writes dirty books!

As a virgin, Mattie has no personal experience of the encounters in her stories, but she has the erotic bestseller FANNY HILL and the mysterious diary she's discovered in a hidden cabinet in her bedroom to help her. If her moralistic and judgmental uncle discovers what she's up to, she'll be out on her ear. Also - and I liked this element of Mattie's character - she's conscious that while her uncle has never been generous, he has kept her from starving all these years. She doesn't want to hurt him with a scandal. So our spinster has many reasons to hide her activities.

Enter our hero, Edward Kane, who has returned physically and mentally scarred from his horrific experiences at Waterloo, at battle at which Mattie's beloved cousin Toby Strickland was killed. Toby was Edward's best friend, so he's calling on the family to deliver his condolences personally. Edward is eaten up with guilt because Toby died saving his life, so when Sir Arthur discovers that the notorious Cherie lives locally, Edward promises to expose the pornographer.

Of course the last person he suspects of being Cherie is plain, downtrodden Miss Chapple.

Edward is trapped with the awful food and nightly sermons at Creed Hall until he can fulfill his promise to his host. And as time goes on, plain Miss Chapple becomes increasingly intriguing and not plain at all.

But what happens when Edward discovers very personal details of his affair with Mattie appearing in Cherie's confessions? The feathers start flying!

There is so much that I love about this story. I love the secondary characters. Even grumpy old Sir Arthur is three-dimensional. I particularly love Mattie and Edward. Neither of them has had an easy path through life. When they meet, both are so wary, that it takes them a long time to realize they've found their soulmate. I love the setting with its atmospheric gothic touches. I love the wry humor and deep emotion. I love how Emily uses such rich and evocative Regency detail to create this story about finding love where you least expect it. I REALLY love the first love scene which is sweet and awkward and passionate.

So if you're looking for something lovely to read this Holiday Season, why not pick up THE SPINSTER'S SECRET? I bet you love it just as much as I do! 

The love scene in THE SPINSTER'S SECRET really is beautifully done. Let's be naughty this Christmas Eve. What's the best love scene you've read recently? Maybe we can forward the details to Mattie for her saucy books!

PJ here.  Thanks, Anna! These stories sound so yummy!  We're giving away kindle copies of both books to one person who leaves a comment.  Deadline for comments is December 26, 2013.  Merry Christmas and good luck!  

A Classic Wager!

by Anna Campbell

As many of you know, I'm a diehard Loretta Chase fan. I think she conveys the wit and the elegance of the Regency better than nearly any other writer around at the moment. And she's one of the few modern writers who makes me think of the greatness of Georgette Heyer.  There's a similar lightness of touch and sureness with the emotions, even if contained beneath properly Regency decorum.

I've already reviewed three of Loretta's wonderful books here, raves every one. LAST NIGHT'S SCANDAL, the classic LORD OF SCOUNDRELS and one of my favorite romances ever MR. IMPOSSIBLE featuring the gorgeous Rupert Carsington.

Before she began writing full-length Regency historicals brimming with sensuality and passion, Loretta had a career writing trad Regencies. Books in this genre are usually described as comedies of manners, but I don't think that nearly does justice to the half dozen lovely trad Regencies that Loretta wrote.

I have two particular favorites from among these early LCs. One is THE SANDALWOOD PRINCESS, a RITA winner from 1991, and the book I'm going to talk about today, the sublime KNAVES' WAGER from 1990.  Later this year, I'll swing by and share my thoughts about THE SANDALWOOD PRINCESS which is a humdinger (suppose that basically encompasses my review!).

One of the things prompting this review is that Loretta's early books have just been re-released at a very competitive price of $2.99 as e-books. Here's the link for KNAVES' WAGER: http://www.amazon.com/Knaves-Wager-ebook/dp/B00A5OH1JY/ref=tmm_kin_title_0

By the way, for a bit of fun, here's the original cover for KNAVES' WAGER, the edition that just kept me up well into the small hours, no matter how often I've read it (and I must have read it at least 20 times). A very different feel to the new cover!

One of the astonishing things about KNAVES' WAGER is quite how much story Loretta manages to pack into a short book. It's only 234 pages all up which is shorter than your average SuperRomance, although having said that, the print in my edition is quite small as are the margins. Still, it's a far cry from the 400 pages of the normal historical romance!

We get the stormy, passionate romance between the ton's Ice Queen, Mrs. Lilith Davenant, and notorious rake Julian Wyndhurst, the Marquess of Brandon. We also get a really sweet secondary romance between Lilith's niece Cecily Glenwood and Lord Robin Downs, Brandon's wayward nephew. In fact, it was because of this secondary romance that I turned to this book at this particular time. The third book in the Sons of Sin series has a secondary romance and I wanted to see how Loretta wove the two stories together here. Of course, I became utterly engrossed in the story and ended up paying no attention to anything technical at all! We also get a vivid crowd of secondary characters including Beau Brummell.

Against her better instincts, widow Lilith Davenant becomes engaged to rising political star (and prosy bore) Sir Thomas Bexley. Lilith is a woman of unsullied reputation who is considered something of a dragon when she launches her nieces upon society. Much to her astonishment, she attracts the notice of the dashing and dissolute Lord Brandon. Even more to her astonishment, Lilith who found no joy in her short marriage, finds herself attracted to the marquess. Not only is she engaged, she can't bring herself to trust this attractive, infamous man.

And she's right not to trust him. Little does she know that Julian has ulterior motives for his seduction of the virtuous widow. Julian's nephew is threatening to marry his mistress, the courtesan Elise, and Brandon and Elise have set up a wager where she will abandon Robin if Lilith comes to Brandon's bed.

So we have the classic Regency set-up of virtuous woman and bad boy who fall in love much against their will and their better judgement. Meanwhile, Cecily, who is far from the pretty airhead that people consider her, schemes both to get her aunt and Brandon together and to find her own happiness with Robin. Cecily was the inspiration for Cassie in MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION, if any of you have read that book. I love the twist that the sweet little debutante is actually the smartest player in the game.

Because this is a trad, there are no explicit love scenes but believe me, sexual tension bristles when Lilith and Brandon are together and there are some absolutely lovely kissing scenes. And you'll love the witty dialogue between these two clever, wary people who are falling in love in spite of themselves. 

Seriously this is a treat, even if you think trad Regencies are too staid for you. It's funny and moving and sexy and has one of the loveliest proposal scenes that I've ever read. It's one of those books that makes you laugh and cry and sigh with that lovely romantic satisfaction when you get to the last page. Highly recommended and at $2.99, it's an absolute steal!

So are you a trad Regency fan? I've noticed that they've had a bit of a resurgence in digital publishing. What's your favorite bad boy/good girl historical romance? Is this a theme that appeals to you?