Category: Victorian Era (1837-1901)

In the history of the United Kingdom, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria’s reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian period, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe.
Preceded by: Regency era
Followed by: Edwardian era
Monarch: Victoria

His Wicked Charm by Candace Camp

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)1 Comment

His Wicked Charm (The Mad Morelands, #6)His Wicked Charm by Candace Camp

Barbara’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: The Mad Morelands #6
Publication Date: 3/27/18

This book is absolutely perfect! It begins with a wedding and ends with a wedding and sandwiched between is a kidnapping, a mystery, an unexpected villain, mysticism, jealousy, unwelcome suitors, paranormal powers, and a lovely romance. I cannot believe that I have missed the first five books in the series and I certainly intend to remedy that! I had no trouble reading and following the book without having read the others in the series.

Constantine (Con) Moreland is the son of a Duke and publicly portrays himself exactly as he is. He’s fun-loving, nice (very nice), appealing, humorous, irreverent, impulsive and feels that the rules, at best, are just guidelines. He’s also handsome as sin, never gets lost, and just doesn’t know what to make of Lilah Holcutt. With Con – what you see is what you get.

Lilah Holcutt is the exact opposite of Con. She follows the rules, abhors scandal, is ever the prim and proper miss, likes her feet planted firmly on the ground, – and maybe she’s a bit judgmental. She is NOT flamboyant, she doesn’t crave excitement and adventure and she isn’t driven by wild uncontrollable passion. She doesn’t like Con because he is a rule breaker and – well – he teases her and that makes her think that he doesn’t like her.

We begin our story with the wedding of Alex, Con’s twin brother, and Sabrina, Lilah’s best (and only) friend. Not long after the wedding festivities are over and the happy couple has left for their honeymoon trip, Lilah’s life is back to its normal, prim, proper and boring ways. Her very, very, very staid aunt and uncle are back to finding her a proper, appropriate husband. On a particularly boring day, Lilah remembers that she promised to loan Olivia (Con’s sister) a book and decides to take it over to her. When she arrives, she learns that Olivia is out with her mother and sisters and Lilah decides she’ll just leave the book – but – Con intercepts her. As they are speaking, they learn that Con’s mother and sisters have been kidnapped. Con dashes out to the location and Lilah insists on accompanying him. Chaos, pure chaos is the scene that greets them when they arrive at the location. The Duchess and her daughters and daughters-in-law have been kidnapped and there are no clues.

After some consultation with the family, Con and Lilah take off in pursuit of the kidnappers. Con has always had the unique ability – he doesn’t get lost – and always seems to know which direction he should go. That is certainly useful when trailing the kidnappers. Strangely, that ability seems to be stronger, more acute when Lilah is near him. Luckily, they find the duchess and the ladies with her and just as Con and Lilah are rescuing them – they rescue themselves.

That begins a story filled with more twists and turns than a knotted rope. Who was the real target of the kidnapping? Was it really the duchess? Was it Kyria? Was it Sabrina? Did the kidnappers miss their real target? Who was the villain? Was it Sir Jasper? Was it the Dearborn’s (again)? Was it somebody totally new? What key is the villain looking for? What does it open? Where could it be? Oh! What an exciting adventure. You’ll love the search and the discovery and you’ll absolutely love Con and Lilah finding their HEA. I adored Lilah’s growth as she discovers who she really is and what she values in life.

I highly recommend this book and I can assure you I’ll be catching up with the rest of the series very, very soon!

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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.”

Lady in Waiting by Marie Tremayne

On By TracyIn Tracy's Reviews, Victorian Era (1837-1901)Leave a comment

Lady in Waiting (Reluctant Brides, #1)Lady in Waiting by Marie Tremayne
Tracy’s rating: 3/3.5 of 5 stars

Series: Reluctant Brides, #1

Release Date: March 13, 2018

Maybe 3.5

This book started out at a gallop, then slowed to a trot and finally ended with a sprint to the finish.

Clara Mayfield is desperate, after helping her sister elope and dragging her family into scandal, she has finishing the season with no prospects until the vile Baron Rutherford asks for her hand. Clara would rather be a spinster than marry the Baron, but her nouveau riche parents long to be accepted by the ton and will not listen to her protests, leaving her no choice but to run away.

With the help of her maid she finds a position in the home of the reclusive William Halstead, the Earl of Ashworth. William has sequestered himself away in the county since the death of his father, older brother and brother in law. He suffers from flashbacks and panic attacks since the accident that claimed his loved ones and has no desire to be part of society. But when he meets Clara, while saving her life, he feels alive for the first time in almost two years. He walks away from her and is shocked and disappointed when she is at his home applying for a position in his under staffed household. At first he refuses to hire her, but finally agrees to a probationary period, he asks her name and she tells him her name is Helen.

For me the story really slowed down at this point, there is not a lot of interaction with Clara/Helen and William, it is mostly Helen the housemaid trying to fit in with the “below stairs” employees and her relationship with his niece, Rosa. While the scenes with William are sparse and fleeting, there is an undeniable attraction between them, but they never spent enough time together for me to believe there was any real connection between them.

The story progresses slowly and there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but when the author begins to wrap up the story, it gains a second wind and takes off like a rocket. And when Clara’s past finally catches up with her, will William be able to forgive her deceit?

I thought this was a decent debut, the writing is a bit on the wordy side and the relationship between William and Clara could have used a bit more development, there were also some inconsistencies and one glaring title error (which is not that bad considering there were several titled characters in the book). But overall, the story was good and I think with time this author will be a strong voice in the HR genre.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an Uncorrected eARC provided to me by Edelweiss and the publisher*