Marriage at the Manor by Amanda Grange

The Chick: Cicely Haringay

Has had to sell the Manor she grew up in to clear debts created by her Father to a city gentlemen and to make things worse, she has had to take up the position as his secretary to earn extra money.

The Dude: Alex Evington

He has managed to bring himself and his family up out of poverty and now he wishes to clear his sisters name. By buying the manor to create a set up to catch the thief who wrongly accused his sister of stealing when she worked as a maid.

The Plot in 10 (ish):

Ciciely: Hey watch where you are going Cit! You made me fall off my bicycle into a duck pond!

Alex: Well you shouldn't be cycling so fast and you do look rather amusing drenched with weeds in your hair.

Overly pompous friend to Cicely: I say, what! Spiffing and all that! No good you living in that little lodge, come marry me what! Mummy will be pleased!

Cicely: eh no

Alex: Come be my secretary and help me keep up with the local traditions and a house-warming ball!

*Alex falls of bike into horse trough* *tumble in hay*

Overly pompous friend to Alex: I say, what! Have you seen my fiancé? I'll give her a larger house than that little lodge. Spiffing party!

Beautiful female friend of Alex: Thief! Someone has stole my necklace!

Mysterious caller: Check the maids pockets *necklace found*

Alex: Damm, that was meant to trap the thief not another maid, now I will never be able to clear my sisters name.

Cicley: I have a plan to bring out the thief! Lets set up another party abroad with a tiara, we will be sure to catch him this time!

Alex: *thief caught* Now the thief has been caught, don’t marry overly pompous friend, marry me instead.

Huzzah!

The End

The Book:

Upon the death of Cicely's father she discovers that the estate is in great debt and so she must sell it to pay off the creditors quickly. Only it is not sold to a family who would care for it but to a cit who has not even come to see it for himself! After signing the documents Cicely cycles home only to meet a car which forces her off the road and into a duck pond! The driver gets out to assist, but stands and laughs at her in her state and she discovers that he is a cit too. Do any city gentlemen know how to behave in the country?

Once back in the lodge (the only part of the estate she kept). She discovers that the new owner of the Manor has arrived early and he is in fact the cit who caused her to go into the duckpond!

She realises that she needs some one at the lodge to help assist the elderly butler who has remained with her, but she cannot afford to pay for someone, so she goes to look for work and discovers the only job available to her is the secretarial position at the manor which she takes begrudgingly. For she can make sure the house will be at least well looked after if the cit doesn't.

While cataloguing the items in the house, Cicley shows Alex her father's collection of velocipedes and he then decides to ride one and falls into the horse trough. Cicley cant help but laugh at the justice, to which Alex chases her into the stables and they have an intimate moment in the hay.

Ciciely is shocked by her reaction to the closeness to Alex's body in the hay and tries to suppress her feelings and focus on the house-warming ball she is helping to organise. Unknown to her it is in fact a set up to catch a thief. Previously at another dinner party held, when a valuable item had been discovered to be missing the thief had placed it in the pockets of a maid so that she would get the blame and was thrown out. Unknown to the thief the maid was Alex's sister and he plans to prove her innocence.

When I first started to read this book, I remember thinking, I think I'm going to enjoy this, but it did not live up to my expectations.

The first thing that got me was this whole out the thief thing. Alex has supposedly come from working on the Liverpool docks to making his money in the city. Good for him. But then he goes and buys a large manor, for apparently more than what anyone else offered, not as an investment, but just so he could prove his sister was innocent. Even though due to his rise in fortune she no longer requires a good reference, or any future work for that matter. Its just the principle. That to me sounds like a lot of money to spend on a principle and for him to have gained enough money to buy the manor in such a short time, seems excessive. I wouldn’t mind knowing how he made his millions for myself. And then after they fail to catch him the first time, they go all the way to Austria to get him there instead. All this to prove the innocence of the maids, even though there are no criminal charges being brought. Just seems a bit far fetched to me, if it was a case that his sister was in court over it, I think it would have given more tension and rationality.

I think this book could have been really interesting on the main beginning story, how a city gentlemen deals with the new ownership of a manor and all that it entails and how the previous owner, still living in the village and looked up to be the villagers, interacts with the new owner and shows him how it is done in the country. The tension would be electrifying.

I felt the love relationship between the two felt a bit scripted, not natural and underdeveloped and she recapped a bit too much for my liking over why she hated and why he hated her.

Overall I do not think this is a horrible book, but I don’t think it was great either, just mehh.

B-

Find it on Amazon - Marriage at the Manor

The Rake's Unconventional Mistress by Juliet Landon

The Chick: Letitia Boyce

Left the comfort of her family to set up a seminary to teach young girls all they need to know.

She is also the secret author of the most read about work and needs to get 'real' experience for the next installment and so 'the Lady of Quality' takes the opportunity to become a mistress.

The Dude: Lord Seton Rayne

Rake who is a captain in the army and keeps having to save Letitia from awkward situations.

The Plot in 10(ish):

Letitia: My students are heading into that group of Calvary men watch out!

Seton: How dare you get in front of my marching men and cause havoc! I must kiss you to punish you

Letitia: Stay away from me, I dont need your protection! *goes alone into library with man*... um help?

Letitia: * in potting shed* let me past gardener... help?

*Student caught in potting shed*

*Another student runs off to meet beau* Letitia: ...help?

Seton: *sighs*

Seton: Will you be my mistress? I will be your protector and you will learn all that you need to know about what happens in the bedroom for your next book

*Bow chicka wow wow*

Letitia: *alone in attic with down-and-out cousin* I will not give you my money and be your wife... help?

Seton: We shall tell everyone that you are infact the author everyone is talking about and you shall marry me.

The End

The Book:

Letitia has started a Seminary to educate young girls all about culture, horse riding and accounts. All things that a future wifes of the ton should know. She takes out her students on a ride to visit Hampton Court, unknown to her due to her poor eyesight they ride straight in the practise of the 10^th Light Dragoons. Whose captain is none other than Lord Rayne. Letitia escapes the commotion to visit her friends mother but gets lost in Hampton Court. Seton follows her to reprimand that she watch where she is going next time and ends up punishing her by kissing her.

They meet each other again at a diner party in which William Turner and Miss Austen attends. Letitia gets to meet someone she looks up to but she will not tell her that she is the secret talked about author and about the book she is currently writing because she thinks she will not approve. Seton and Letitia finally get formally introduced and share a plate of food, although Letitia does not wish to as it will show that they are friends, which they are not.

The students display their talents in a evening of entertainment at the house of one of the students. Letitia goes into the library alone with the father of one of her students and is put in a awkward position by his too closeness, only to be rescued by Seton.

This book is FLAT.

I really did not find Letitia an enjoyable character. We are told that she is bookish and interested in the arts and that men are not interested in her, yet when she walks to places or in dinner parties the men and women apparently cant stop looking at her. That certainly implies that she is nothing special to me. We are told that she is a learned person who is interested in the arts, yet all we get is that she goes to places to visit, but never talks about them to show her passion. She supposedly opened the seminary to teach young women things that other schools do not teach, which I applaud, yet we see no teaching by her. The only other tutors teaching, are mostly men!

She is a famous author who has written romance novels, which have taken the Ton by storm and are apparently racy but we are never told what makes them racy, it does hint about some sex scenes in them so it makes me wonder how they are apparently fine for young girls to read at that time and also how she has managed to write those parts if she has no knowledge of what happens in the first place? First rule of writing, is write about what you know!

Then there is the reference of Jane Austen attending the small dinner party which she just so happens to attend and they become such good friends and exchange addresses (puurrlleease!). There is also a nod to Pride and Prejudice when during a dinner party she over hears Seton talking to his brother about her. It is then brought up once and then completely forgotten about.

The other thing that narked me off about this book is her incapability to be a good role model to her students. Two of the students get into trouble due to her inattention yet the parents do not blame her for the loss of virtue of their daughter and are quite happy to send her back. WHAT??? She becomes a mistress to a rake and the future applicants are rolling in. WHAT???

Seton asked her to become his mistress and she excepts pretty much straight away, with hardly any debate over what it would do to her reputation. They both seem to think that it will improve her social standing and she sees the fact that she will improve her knowledge of the area without marriage as a sound argument. He will become her protector and they will parade the relationship in front of everyone and if she does become pregnant they will have to marry, which she doesn’t have an issue with or says anything about it, although before she did not want to marry anyone. Now I'm not a historian, so correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the most important commodity a young woman had was her virtue? That's why if a young girl was caught in any scandal with a man they were made to marry to protect her reputation. Mistresses where usually of the lower class, so they were improving their social standing or they were widows which was deemed acceptable. Not a virgin from a well respected family.

And then it is the complete approval and acceptance of the fact that she will be his mistress by his and her family. I was shocked when her uncle shakes hands with him upon being told and says “well done, m'boy. Lettie needs a man of your ilk. Lettie, m'dear, you'll do well enough with Rayne. He's had plenty of practice. We'll talk tomorrow, eh?” WHAT??? and when she stays with his family in London they are just as laid back, not even a little bit reserved about the whole thing. And to top it all off when he stays the night at her house, under the same roof as impressionable young girls. He is still there in the morning and is given breakfast in bed by the servants. They don’t even try to hide it. Does this not teach the girls that it is fine to become a mistress and have a sexual relationship with a man who is not your husband and not incur any consequences. I'm starting to sound like Little John now but... WHAT???

Seton is only really there to rescue Letitia from the positions she finds herself in. She is never given chance to prove that she is independent and show how to take care of herself.

I feel like this is five stories crammed into one and a bit all over the place. You never really got an impression about chemistry between them and how either characters were feeling. The only hint of a development of feelings is when she writes her story. The only enjoyable part about the characters was the sparing between the two which was quick witted, but they were few and far between. The writing was not awful but it was not great either. It just felt like an instantly forgettable book, so much so that after finishing it and starting to write this review I could not remember the story and had to look back through the book!

C-

Find it on Amazon - The Rake's Unconventional Mistress

Reasons for Marriage by Stephanie Laurens

The Chick – Lenore Lester
Been left to rule the roost since her mothers passing, she is content with her life.

She doesnt want her heart to be broken and has no desire for marriage so hides behind her Clark Kent glasses.

The Dude – Jason Montgomery, the Duke of Eversleigh

The death of his younger brother at Waterloo means that he must now marry or everything will go to a dreadful distant cousin.

Can he find someone who ticks all the boxes?

The Plot in 10 (ish):

Jason: I must marry or my dreadful cousin will get everything, I will make a wife shopping list.

Lenore: Welcome, as you can see I am a woman (tick) and I can run a household (tick), I prefer to live in the country (tick), but I am plain as you can tell by my Clark Kent disguise.

Jason : Hey you don’t actually need those glasses. I know your superwomen (flings off glasses)

Lenore : Oh

Jason: Marry me, you fit all my wife shopping list items

Lenore: Ok, *Bown Chicka wow wow* damm I think I'm falling for you, but that wasn’t on the shopping list

Jason: Damm I think I'm falling for you, but that wasn’t on the shopping list

Lenore: I'm now breeding and all this partying it is not fun with morning sickness, all for your shopping list

Jason: Enough with the shopping list. I love you.

Lenore: really??? I love you too

Huzzahhh!

The End

The Book:

A pact between the brothers had decided that Ricky was to marry and continue the Montgomery line, so that Jason could carry on with is Rake pursuits. When Ricky was killed in Waterloo this changed everything. Jason writes a list of all the things he wants in a wife and discusses with his best friend Frederick, over who might fit the bill.

An invitation to a party at the Lester house draws their attention to Lenore. A single woman who runs the Lester house and ticks all their boxes. They venture off to the house party to see if she is as good in person as on paper.

Jason sees past her disguise and asks her to marry him giving his reasons for marriage. She is hesitant but agrees on the practicality of it all and looks forward to being able to run all Jason's houses. After they are married she becomes pregnant and has to deal with morning sickness, an excess of engagements and no longer the intimate connection with her husband.

I like Jason as a well rounded character, you understand the points he demands of his future wife and the love between them develops at a nice controlled pace. Although I don’t quite understand why he must wait for them to return home from London before he can start to show her how he loves her.

Lenore is a nice character too and doesn’t seem flat in anyway. When we meet her, Lenore hides behind badly fitting clothes, pinafores, glasses and tied back hair so as to not seek any unwanted attention and manage her brothers house-parties with indifference, which is explained nicely. It is only Jason that can see that it is a fake appearance and when she says yes to marrying him she takes them off. I do find this part a bit confusing as apparently she had been wearing these awful clothes and glasses for a long time as a shield to stop her getting hurt and for her to quickly forgo them without much hesitation, seemed a bit sudden to me, I thought she would be a bit more uncomfortable in her new attire without the pinafore to hide behind. And it is also one of those Clark Kent situations that taking off a pair of glasses makes her a completely changed person and all men stop and stare.

I was pleasantly surprised with this one, which I thought is one of her best stories. I liked it how they showed their relationship after marriage and how it developed. This book is part of a series but in no way did I feel it was setting me up for the next chapter. The only reference to the next book is her brother asking for her to help find him a wife once she is settled. I have not read the other books in the series so perhaps I will change my mind on that.

Favourite quote : “she is breeding, is she not?”, its an unusual way to ask if someone is pregnant.

A-

Find it on Amazon - The Reasons for Marriage (Lester Series)

A Secret Love by Stephanie Laurens

The Chick: Althea Morwellen

having given up on her coming out eleven years ago when the family’s money was in dire straights. She has brought the family back from ruin only to find out that her father may have ruined them again. She must enlist the help of her child hood friend. However, she and him have not got on since puberty and so she must disguise herself to get his help and hide the family’s disgrace.

The Dude: Rupert 'Gabriel' Cynster

A rake about town who is enlisted by a countess to help bring down a villian.

The rub: Unknown to him the countess is in fact his old childhood friend who he cant seem to be in the same room with any more. But he is quite happy to spend time with the countess

The Plot in 10 (ish):

Althea : oh no my father has gone and signed away all the estates money to villian.

The Countess: will you help me prove this is a villainous scheme and save the estate?

Gabriel: Im bored and you look like a nice project ...Ok. But I'll need a reward for my efforts

*Bown Chika wow wow*

Gabriel to Althea: hang on you look familiar, and smell familiar.. wait are you her?

Althea: damm got the perfumes mixed up... surprise!

Gabriel: I have just realised that I have loved you for a long time... marry me?

Althea: only if you say I love you

Gabriel: I love you

Huzzah!

The End

The Book: 

Since her ruined season was ruined 11 years ago when she discovered that her father causing the estate to be ruined she has taken over the accounts and has scraped and saved so that her step brothers and sisters can have everything need, only to find that her father has unknowingly signed away all that she has managed to a con artist. She needs help to prove that the speculation is a con before the money entailed is called upon and the family will be ruined.

She knows one person who can help her, Gabriel Cynster. They played together as children but have drifted apart and now cant stand to be in the same room together. To hide her family’s financial crisis and to make certain that he will help, she conceals her identity using a black veil and pretends to be a widow countess. Knowing him s well she is able to present it to him to ensure he helps.

Gabriel is bored of the ton pursuits and agrees to help, he sets himself a challenge to conquer the Countess because she has an attraction he cant refuse. And requests that he is rewarded for his endeavours in ways that only she can full fill.

She makes him promise never to investigate her identity and never remove her veil. Under normal situations they cannot be near each other without verbal confrontation and barely touched each other in 11 years and so she is amazed by the attraction Gabriel has for the countess and she falls deeply in love with him and finds herself under pressure to keep her disguise a secret to ensure that Gabriel will help save her family and one evening accidentally slips by wearing the countess perfume.

This was a good book and a great addition to the bar Cynster. They are both believable characters with a nice development. I think it is a nice twist on friends who have known each other for a lon time but they see each other differently in disguise. There is a nice involvment of the rest of the Cynster clan, but no too pushy and it nicely interrelates with the rest of the books in the series.

I have read some of these series intermittently and so I can never remember who I have read about. It does seem a bit of an unnecessary thing to have them all to have nicknames with deadly connotations and I still haven’t found the book which explains why they occurred.

Some things I don't understand from the characters is how her father and step mother are completely removed from the financial accounts of the family. He is quite happy to let his daughter so everything, even when he knows he has possibly ruined them all by signing up to this speculation. He does not seam resourceful. There is only one little mention I think in which his wife says he is basically put out. Seems a bit too laid back to me and I think would have made the story a bit more believable. Although I am being a bit picky. The other thing that got a little annoying towards the end was the constant reference to the height of the two characters ( we get it, their both tall). When they are in a crowded ball room and they can look around and find people, I can understand. It was the mentioning of their long legs intertwined because she is tall, and apparently legs cant intertwine if they are of different heights. It probably doesn’t come up that much and im making a mountain out of a mole hill.

That said I enjoyed it and even her hesitation to say yes to marriage seemed appropriate and understandable. Which sometimes can annoy me. But I would definitely recommend it.

A-

Find it on Amazon - A Secret Love (Cynster Novels)

Are you a Closet Romance Reader?

After my last post I thought I should say something about why I think of myself as a Secret Romance Reader.

Im not sure how it is in America, but I think in England, Romance Novels are seen as a bit trashy, seedy and just plain poor literature. I (obviously) disagree.

I am no writer (as this blog will probably show), but for anyone to be able to write a couple of hundred pages of an interesting and well thought out story with three dimensional characters.... hats off to them!!! It doesnt matter what the subject or genre is, but if you have managed to get through to the stage where you have a hard copy of your work bound in your hand, I think you should be proud of yourself.

I don't think I could ever even come close to something that could be a novel. I think of those times in Primary school where you had to write a page on what you did at the weekend.

I woke up and had some breakfast, then I went out and played with my friend Emma....

But that only got you two lines down and you start panicking about how you are going to fill the rest of the page and so you start to make things up.

Me and Emma went on a boat which took us down a river and on that river there where dolphins, who came up and swam in front of the boat and then we met and old lady who was a witch and she told us of a magic quest where we would find a dragon....

Come to think of it, if I was an Author I would be like the Little Britain Character Dame Sally Markham. I suppose it is something to think about as an alternative career.

But after all that is said and done people hate to admit that they love a lusty, bodice ripping read. I think one thing that doesnt help are the covers. Im afraid to say that they do often look a bit trashy and cheap, although on the other hand, if I see one of the covers I instantly know that it is a romance, so I suppose that is good marketing. When you take said book to the counter to check out or buy you will sometimes get a quick judgemental look. Even though I bet they have read them too and Im glad I prefer to read about tumbles in the Haybales then how masses of people where murdered(crime genre really does nothing for me). Its like going to Chemist and buying hair removal, you feel embarrassed to admit that yes you have hairy legs but SO DOES EVERYONE ELSE!

It just means that I enjoy the Romantic suspense. The Romance novel is all about the build up to the kiss, otherwise the kiss is meaningless. You are emotionally invested with the character and identify with their desires and understand the love between the characters. The only different between a Romance and a General Fiction Novel is that the relationship between the two main characters is paramount.

And when all is said and done. I would rather read a romance novel than watch a  as Chick Flick (I hate that phrase, I think it sounds condescending). There will a always be exceptions to the rule, but I don't see why all the historical dramas have to be based on classics or true events. Why not make one about a Rake going around ripping bodices off? I think that would make some of you come out of the Romance closet.

Day 1 in the Big Blogger House

Well so far so good, I have been playing about trying to get everything I want on the page. I got a bit frustrated with some things, but it seems to be all for the best.

I thought I would mention the inspiration for this blog which was Gossamer Obsession she is a great blogger and always makes me laugh, when I read them. But I wanted to do something similar but with my own tastes and opinions. An English version, if you will. Americans are often nicking our things and reusing them, so its about time we did the opposite. lol

NOT THAT I HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST AMERICANS. I did a road trip through California a few years back and it was one of my best holidays.

So here goes

Today is Jane Austens 235th Birthday and I have decided to start a blog.
Well I couldnt think of a better day to start  with the Queen of Romance, although it is a strange date to commemorate when you think about it. I suppose after the first 100 you just keep going and every 5 years is an achievement.

I have been meaning to do this for a while and I know that I am bout 10 years behind by starting this blog in 2010, but I doubt anyone will read it anyway. It is more a collection of the books I have read so that I can keep a record and try to avoid rereading books (which I have done in the past) and if anyone comes across this then I might steer them in the right direction of a good book.

I'm surprised there is quite a lot of thinking involved for a blog, What to call the site... what to call myself... what should it look like. But I have ripped off the plaster and put it out there. I will probably look back at it in a few weeks time and change it anyways.

Well I hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.