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

Peril by Post by Sheri Cobb South

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

Peril by PostPeril by Post by Sheri Cobb South

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: John Pickett Mysteries #8
Publication Date: 10/15/18

I absolutely adore John Pickett. He is a great character who has overcome so many obstacles in his life. He’s handsome, smart, self-deprecating, honorable, honest, honorable (yes, twice) and loyal. Are Julia and John a very unlikely match? Yes, they certainly are, but the author deals with it wonderfully. She didn’t sugar coat the ramifications of two such different classes marrying. She shows them living as social outcasts and dealing with what happens. She shows John’s mortification when someone snubs Julia because of her marriage to him and his guilt and mortification when income is discussed since Julia’s income is so much more than his. She also shows John’s worry about their children (Julia is expecting) and how it will affect them. What she also shows is the great love between Julia and John. I love how they care for each other and I love the way they have each grown and matured over the eight books in the series.

John is just a smidgen late reporting for work (because, after all, he is a newlywed) and he’s expecting a bit of a set-down from his Magistrate, Mr. Colquhoun. However, what he got was a new assignment and a honeymoon in the Lake District. Mr. Colquhoun received a very short unsigned letter asking for a Runner to be sent to the village of Banfell in Cumberland. It doesn’t say why the sender needs a runner nor does it give any indication at all about who sent the letter. The Runner is simply directed to stay at the Hart and Hound in Banfell.

John and Julia head for Banfell with a letter of introduction from Mr. Colquhoun to a Mr. Hetherington, an acquaintance that Mr. Colquhoun thinks can help introduce John and Julia to the area and provide information on the area when needed. They check into the inn, make sure that everyone knows they are from Bow Street without actually saying John is a Runner, and wait for the letter sender to make himself known. When he doesn’t appear, John decides to compare the letter with the signatures in the inn’s register and is convinced that the sender is actually Mr. Ned Hawkins, the innkeeper.

When Julia witnesses Mr. Hawkins being murdered, but cannot recognize the murderer, the case begins in earnest. We have lots of suspects and some sub-plots going on. Just enough to keep it all really interesting without losing sight of the main case. Poor John is a bit distracted and frazzled because he is constantly worrying about the danger Julia is now in because of her witnessing the murder. The villain will surprise you and the reasons will pain you.

I learned something interesting in this read as well. Whoo-hoo – who said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. In the Regency period, when you went to the post office, you were NOT going to mail a letter. The post office was where you went to arrange for a rented post-chaise (think rental car). If you wanted to mail a letter, you went to the receiving office.

The villain makes a bit of a threat at the end – and it was left unanswered – so I can only wonder if it might crop up in some future story. I’m not sure how or why, but it was sort of left hanging. Actually, all of the mysteries, other than the murder, were sort of still hanging and had others investigating at the end. It was nothing to do with John and Julia, just folks with different fish to fry. I did wonder how the villain came by the information that he had – I couldn’t see anything in the story that pointed to him being in a position to obtain that sort of information, but – evidently, he did.

This is a great addition to the series and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. Actually, if you haven’t read the other books in the series – I recommend ALL of them.

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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”

Forgetting the Scot by Jennifer Trethewey

On By TracyIn Regency Era (1811-1820), Scottish/Highlander, Tracy's Reviews2 Comments

Forgetting the Scot (The Highlanders of Balforss)Forgetting the Scot by Jennifer Trethewey

Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: The Highlanders of Balforss, #3

Release Date: October 22, 2018

Let me start this review with a PSA – this book contains several triggers – in the form of abuse and adultery. It is well written, but some of the content may be upsetting to some readers.

Virginia, Viscountess Langley is in a very unhappy marriage. Her husband was charming and attentive until the wedding and then his true colors began to show. He married her for her dowry and once he had it, he was cruel and abusive. Virginia has had enough, enough physical, mental and emotional abuse. Her greatest desire is to have children to love, convinced that she will never be able to have a child, she has turned her heart towards the forgotten children of London. She has a plan, she will use the trust fund her father set up for her and build a home for these children, she will live separately from Lord Langley and devote her life to orphans.

She is livid when she learns that Langley has stolen her money and plans to confront him, but everything changes when she is abducted after leaving the solicitors office. She is sold to the pirate O’Malley and held on his ship for months. She is sure all is lost when a miracle happens – they are rescued!

Magnus Sinclair never believed in love at first sight, until he saw Virginia. He saves her from certain death and wants nothing more than to always protect her. They form a bond and he believes that she is the “one”. But then the truth comes out – Virginia is married. Magnus is heartbroken, but he can’t seem to let her go. No one and nothing will keep him from her. Even the threat of his death. He will help her return to London and reclaim her fortune and ensure that her husband can never hurt her again – even if he dies in the process.

When things come to a head in London and Virginia is freed, Magnus has hope that they will have a HEA – But Virginia has her own dreams and as much as she wants Magnus, she will not forsake her dream for him or ask him to forsake his for her. A HEA for these two seems impossible, but a twist of fate may change everything.

I loved this book until about the 60% mark, up until then, I couldn’t read it fast enough, but then it hit a wall for me – in the form of adultery – I know her husband was a scumbag, I know he abused her and broke his vows, but that doesn’t change the fact that she committed adultery – this is a deal breaker for me – they shared kisses before this and while I wasn’t overly thrilled with that, I could let it go, but when they moved past kisses to an intimate relationship, I was upset and disgusted. But, I made a conscious decision to ignore my personal bias and be fair and open minded for the rest of the story. But once they got to London the story just fell apart in my opinion. Virginia just made one bad decision after another and several improbable/unbelievable things transpired. By the end of the book, I wanted Magnus to walk away and find another woman to love. Honestly, even without the adultery, I would have wanted him to wash his hands of her – she was so incredibly set on her path that she refused to even consider compromising – I just felt like she didn’t love Magnus as much as he loved her and hurt him over and over again.

This book was well written and flowed nicely, but in my opinion, the story fell apart after they got to London. I liked that this book tied all the books together, I liked revisiting characters from the previous books, I loved Lucy’s brother George, I LOVED Magnus and my heart broke for Virginia. But in the end, I felt that this was a 3 star read. The first half of this book was a easily a 5 star read, but the second half was barely 2 stars, there were so many questionable legal issues and consequences that were wrapped up too quickly and easily to be convincing and the possible legal ramifications of her pregnancy were completely ignored. If you have read the other books in this series, I would recommend this book, but caution that there are “triggers” in this book. If you haven’t read the other books, I would recommend starting with Tying the Scot and deciding for yourself.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher.*