It’s here. Valentines from Bath is published, and I love it.
In five original stories, Jessica Cale, Sherry Ewing, Jude Knight, Amy Quinton, and Caroline Warfield bring you Valentines From Bath
The Master of Ceremonies announces a great ball to be held on Valentine’s Day in the Upper Assembly Rooms of Bath.
Ladies of the highest rank—and some who wish they were—scheme, prepare, and compete to make best use of the opportunity.
Dukes, earls, tradesmen, and the occasional charlatan are alert to the possibilities as the event draws nigh.
But anything can happen in the magic of music and candlelight as couples dance, flirt, and open themselves to romantic possibilities. Problems and conflict may just fade away at a Valentine’s Day Ball.
Find buy links on the Belles’ project page on their website.
Here are my brief thoughts about each story.
Beauty and the Bounder, by Jessica Cale
He’s a liar and a fortune-hunter… and exactly what she needs.
As usual, Jess gives us a completely different slant on balls, dresses, and bounders. Her heroine is too smart, too wary, and too invested in the idea of true love to have fallen for any of the suitors who were prepared to overlook her sharp tongue and her Welshness in favour of her dowry. But this fortune hunter might just have something more to offer. I adored this story. Lady Emilia was the right mix of wryly aware and self-deprecating, and Seb was a hero to die for.
The Earl Takes a Wife, by Sherry Ewing
It began with a memory, etched in the heart.
Sherry has returned to the de Courtney family, who featured in her Holly and Hopeful Hearts story a couple of years ago. In that novella, the hero’s niece, barely out of the schoolroom, asked the heroine’s brother to wait for her to grow up. The Earl Takes a Wife follows Celia and Adrian as they try to forget one another, until Adrian’s other sister Miranda plots to bring them together and almost destroys them. Celia’s innocence and sincerity don’t make her a pushover. I loved her determination to win the love match she wants, despite everything. Adrian acted like a prat for much of the story, but he had reason. He figured it out in the end, for a signature Ewing happy ending.
The Beast Next Door, by Jude Knight
In all the assemblies and parties of Bath, no-one Charis met could ever match the beast next door.
Obviously, I’m not going to review this one. Here are my characters.
The Umbrella Chronicles: John and Emma’s Story, by Amy Quinton
A serious-minded, scientific man of learning seeks a complex and chaotic practitioner of all things superstitious who will upend his well-ordered life.
Another fine addition to the Umbrella Chronicles. John is endearingly bumbling in matters of emotion, which he avoids like the plague. Emma is refreshingly honest. She wants him, but she wants him to her as she is; his complete opposite in almost all things. Can too such different characters find love? Let Amy show you how.
Candles in the Dark, by Caroline Warfield
Doug Marsh and his candles bring light to many, none more than Esther. They may light the Assembly Rooms even as his love lights her life.
My favourite in the set, and the only one that doesn’t involve people who are part of the Bath social set. Esther works in the Assembly Room. Doug owns the candle manufactory. These are two lovely people from different worlds brought together by her urgent need and his kind heart. With her usual light touch, Caroline gives us real world problems with serious potential consequences, and then practical solutions that lead to a happy ever after and a deep satisfied sigh from this reader. Love will find a way.
The Long Way Home by Jessica Cale: Cale never disappoints. I’ve read books 1, 2, and 4 of the Southwark Saga, and every book is different: different mood, different characters, different emotions in the reader. The Long Way Home is a darling of a book, with a sweet hero and heroine I adored. Jake is still my favourite Cale hero so far, but Alice is my top Cale heroine. Set against a different background than Cale’s other books, The Long Way Home takes the Southwark bargirl into the centre of the corrupt and dissolute French court, beautifully rendered and meticulously researched. As a reader, I trusted Cale would get Alice and Jack safely out, but when I forgot I was reading, I was really worried for them.
The Islands of Chaldea by Diana Wynne Jones, completed by Ursula Jones: I was shocked and dismayed when I heard this great writer had died. Her stories have been enriching my life since my teenage years. I’ve reread my favourites many times, and always eagerly seized on her new releases. But I didn’t expect another one eight years after her death. Thanks to her sister, who pored over the draft looking for the clues that would help her finish the story, I spent one delightful evening following Aileen, her aunt, and other assorted characters on a quest to rescue the son of the High King and reunite the islands. It is a quest story with the typical Wynne Jones down-to-earth fantasy world and quirky, very human, characters. Except for the cat, who is very much a cat. I have no idea where Wynne Jones left off and Jones began. The story is seamless.
Past Crimes, by Ashley Gardner: I’d already bought and read ‘The Necklace Affair’ as a novella, since I love the Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries, but I grabbed this when I found out it had two other novellas from two other series by the same author. ‘A Soupcon of Poison’ introduces the characters in the Victorian series The Below Stairs Mysteries, which the author is writing as Jennifer Ashley. The heroine is a chef. The hero is a mysterious figure who moves between upstairs and downstairs, and whose charming ways both intrigue and worry the heroine. When her employer dies after eating a meal she prepared, be prepared for some interesting twists and turns on the way to discovery of the real murderer. “Blood Debts’ is set in Ancient Rome, and follows the ex-gladiator Leonadis as he tries to clear himself of murder, look after others who might be accused, find the real murderer, and protect Cassia, the capable scribe-slave that some unknown benefactor has sent to look after him.
The Revenge of the Corsairs by Elizabeth Ellen Carter: I’ve been putting off reading this because I knew from the first Corsair book that when I started I’d be hooked. And I was. And I lost two evenings. Captive of the Corsairs saw the rescue of that book’s heroine and her cousin, Laura. In Revenge, we turn our focus to Laura. Traumatised and pregnant, she is not ready to accept the love of Elias, one of her rescuers. A better hero was never penned. He deserved to win the woman he loved, but Carter didn’t make it easy. Laura’s struggles to recover her equilibrium made total sense, but by the time she makes her choice it might be too late. Rabia, the third wife of Laura’s captor and rapist, has lost her own son and wants Laura’s. You can get this from the blurb, but I’ll say no more. I loved this book, and am impatiently waiting for the next in the series.