Category: Regency Era (1811-1820)

The Regency in Great Britain was a period when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. On the death of George III in 1820, the Prince Regent became George IV. The term Regency can refer to various stretches of time; some are longer than the decade of the formal Regency which lasted from 1811–1820.
Preceded by: Georgian era
Followed by: Victorian era
Monarch: George III, George IV, William IV

A Lady’s Past by A.S. Fenichel

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)Leave a comment

A Lady's Past (Everton Domestic Society, #4)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Everton Domestic Society #4
Publication Date: 11/19/19
Number of Pages: 223

This was an adventurous, exciting addition to the Everton Domestic Society series. It also has the most wonderful, romantic, dedicated, honest, steadfast and loyal hero I’ve read in a long time. We should all have a Jacques in our lives – I mean, he always calls Diana his Goddess! I liked Diana too – she was smart (very smart), beautiful and running for her life. She’s about as resilient as one lady can be, so you can’t help but admire her. I think this is my favorite book in the series.

We meet a new group in this book, and they really impressed me. I’d love to see a series featuring them and some of their exploits. The group is the Buckrose Horsemen – sort of a takeoff on the apocalyptic Horsemen. They all attended the Buckrose School for Boys and were recruited by the Crown to form a group that would work on behalf of England. This group rescued Jacques from France just before he’d been scheduled for the guillotine.

We get a lovely visit with Millie (A Lady’s Escape) and her hero Preston – along with her eccentric uncle Francis who we all learned to love in Millie’s book. I really liked Preston in this book – he was a wonderfully loyal friend to Jacques.

Jacques, who has just managed to rescue his parents from France, is traveling to London for a meeting when he comes across a woman traveling on foot in the dead of winter – during a storm. At first, he isn’t sure if she is a highwaywoman out to rob him or just a frightened woman. Whatever the case, he knows he cannot leave her on the road to die. As they travel – and have to stop at an inn to get out of the worsening storm – he tries to get to know her better. What he does (and doesn’t) learn intrigues him.

Diana is running for her life. Two governments are after her – one thinks she is a traitor and the other wants to imprison her and force her to work for them. Everybody she loves has been tortured and killed and she cannot afford to get close to anyone – ever again. She can’t live with more people who care about her dying. So, when she feels drawn to the kind and caring man who has offered her sanctuary on a cold and lonely road into London, she knows she must stay away from him. She asks him to drop her off at some very public places, but his conscience won’t let him do that. He persuades her to let him take her to the Everton Domestic Society where she can seek employment or just rest up while she decides where to go and what to do.

We all know that Diana and Jacques meet again – and things blossom – even though neither of them is prepared for a relationship. Things get really exciting and tense when the bad guys start closing in. Diana and Jacques are thrown together more and more often and, of course, love blossoms in a very difficult situation. I love how they came together.

This could have been a 5-star read for me had the author not mentioned whiskey so many times. Whiskey wasn’t readily available in England in that period. If they had it, it was illegally made in Scotland (spelled Whisky) or Ireland (spelled Whiskey). As punishment for the Irish and Scot rebellion against the Crown, extreme, exorbitant taxes were imposed on the production of whiskey and on the distilling equipment to make it. Since the upper classes tended to view the Scots and Irish as barbaric, few would have made any effort or paid the price to have it. Whiskey didn’t become a staple in England until the Victorian period.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Weathering Captain Storm by Jane Charles

On By TracyIn Georgian Era (1714-1837), Novella, Regency Era (1811-1820), Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

Weathering Captain StormWeathering Captain Storm by Jane Charles
Tracy’s rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Spirited Storms, #2

Release Date: June 16, 2016

Nathaniel Storm first met Isabella Valentine after being injured on campaign. He was instantly smitten with her but kept his distance because he believed she was married, but by the time he learned she was the sister to Dr. Valentine and not his wife, he was sent away. In the meantime, Nate befriended another woman, Mary Soares, she was married to Major Soares, a man who treated her poorly, Nate would defend her and spend time with her, and ultimately was sent away after an altercation with the Major. He worried for Mary, but his biggest regret was not trying to court Isabella.

Isabella was just as smitten with Nate as he was with her, but she was sure he was in love with Mary. She kept her feeling to herself and was more than a little heartbroken when he was reassigned. She never expected to see him again, but a year later when Napoleon escapes Elba and the fighting begins again, they are reunited in Brussels.

This time Nate is not going to let the chance to woo Isabella pass him by and after they finally clear up the misunderstanding about Mary and their feelings, it seems like the HEA Nate imagined could come true. The night of the Duchess of Richmond’s ball, Nate confesses his feelings, kisses her and asks her to wait for him. She returns his kiss and sends him off believing she will be waiting when the fighting is done.

But Isabella has not intention of waiting for Nate, she does love him, but she has a secret that she is sure will cost her his love, so when the fighting is done, she tells him to leave her alone and refuses to talk to him. Nate is hurt and confused by her sudden change of heart and thinks it is the grief of losing her younger brother in battle. He plans to give her some time to mourn and then try to talk to her again – but she disappears.

It will be two long years before they meet again and this time Nate will not quietly accept her rejection, he had tried to stop loving her and move on, but he can’t, especially once he learned that Isabella is not who she says she is. For her part, Isabella has never stopped loving Nate, but is sure her secret will make him hate her, so she at first avoids him and then refuses to see him. It doesn’t seem like they will ever be together, but the timely intervention of her brother, may give them a second chance at happiness.

This was a well written novella, with wonderful characters and quite a bit of heartache. I loved Nate and my heart just broke for him when Isabella rejects him. But as far as Isabella is concerned, I didn’t feel like her reasoning for rejecting him made any sense and her continued refusal to see him in London dragged on way too long. Overall, I thought this was a sweet story, I was delighted for Mary, and I especially liked seeing characters from other novellas/series living their HEAs. This novella is part of a series, but it can easily be read as a standalone title with no problems.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eBook that was provide to me.*