Tag: Jane Ashford

Earl to the Rescue by Jane Ashford

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Georgian Era (1714-1837)Leave a comment

Earl to the RescueEarl to the Rescue by Jane Ashford

My rating: 2.5/3 of 5 stars

Series: Not a series
Publication Date: 11/27/18

** 2.5 Stars Rounded up ** This book was originally published in 1980 as ‘Gwendeline’. I have read and enjoyed several of this author’s books, but this really wasn’t one of those. I wanted to love it – and once I picked through the bits and pieces, I did like the core of the story. The writing was patchy and the story was slow and very predictable. However, it just mostly left me puzzled about the people who populated the story, their relationships and the time in which they lived as well as their interactions with each other.

The heroine isn’t just TSTL, it is worse than that. She reminds me of the old cartoon series where Snidely Whiplash is always tying Nell Fenwick to the railroad tracks – she never learns.

The hero just puzzles me. I guess in my cartoon scenario, he’d be Dudley DoRight. He seems to be in a world of his own. He doesn’t share any information or tell what is going on – but – yet he shares ‘glances’ or ‘smiles’ with others that makes you think there is a conspiracy of some kind. He manages to do some TSTL stuff as well.

The basic story is:

Gwendeline Gregory’s parents have just died and left her with absolutely nothing. She never really knew them because they placed her in the country and only visited for a short period each year – and they had house parties, etc. during that time. So, when they died and their holdings had to be sold off she isn’t terribly bereft. Now, the parents deaths and the legal aftermath didn’t just happen in a day, yet when the hero, Alex St. Audley, Earl of Merryn, shows up at her door to ‘rescue’ her, she has absolutely no thoughts and no plans even though she has to be out of the house that day. She thought maybe she’d go to an Inn for a while.

Alex shows up expecting an infant or a young child and he has planned for the future care of that child. It is his plan to provide a house and yearly stipend. However, when he arrives, the young child turns out to be a lovely young woman. Alex makes up a story about a ‘group’ of her father’s friends getting together to provide for her. (How can he be good friends with either or both parents and not know something about the child?) He takes Gwendeline to London and places her in his mother’s home with plans to provide a season.

Gwendeline learns some hurtful things about her parents, meets a bad guy, gets kidnapped, gets rescued, gets kidnapped, etc. Alex does some stupid things, keeps secrets when he should be speaking up, etc. – Then finally HEA.

As I said, I enjoyed the core story, but you had to really pick it out of all the stuff going on – and it is slow going. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you wish the read the book or not.

Please check out my reviews at:
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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.”

Brave New Earl by Jane Ashford

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Regency Era (1811-1820)2 Comments

Brave New Earl (The Way to a Lord’s Heart)Brave New Earl by Jane Ashford

Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars rounded up to 4
Series: The Way To A Lord’s Heart #1
Publication Date: 8/7/18

Ashford’s prose is charming and witty. The plot is unique, but certainly not period accurate. I really had to work at suspending my disbelief before I could begin to enjoy the read. The characters were likable.

I am assuming this is supposed to be a Regency romance, but there were few signs relating it to any period. The one sign was that ‘the war was over’. I’m not saying that there should always be an indicator, but it would be nice to know, for sure, what period the author intended. The entire premise of this book is inaccurate for any of the earlier time periods. The father actually owned his wife and children – just as if they were a piece of land or livestock. So, there would be no way that anybody could barge into his home and threaten to take his child from him – and threaten to call the magistrate if he didn’t comply. We also had a single young woman staying in a home with two unmarried males – without a chaperone. The chaperone was provided later, but not in the beginning. So, the book is unique and interesting, but totally improbable. So, just suspend your disbelief and enjoy the book.

Both of our main characters are very, very broken people. Benjamin was devastated by his wife’s death during childbirth five years ago and he sank into a very deep and dark depression. He couldn’t even look at his son because he looked so much like his mother. Jean is learning to cope with life on her own after both of her parents have died. She had a horrendous childhood and she is still lancing the boil that was her mother.

Miss Jean Saunders sweeps into the home of Benjamin Romilly, the Earl of Furness, like a tiny tornado. Jean is a distant cousin to Benjamin’s late wife and she has heard that their child is being mistreated, totally ignored and not properly cared for at all. She has coerced his late wife’s parents into agreeing to take the child in – all she has to do is go collect him. You can imagine Benjamin’s reaction when this total stranger barges into his home – where absolutely no visitors are welcome.

Jean is quickly followed by Benjamin’s uncle – yet another totally unwelcome guest. Benjamin sees no one. He sits in his library staring at the large portrait of his deceased wife and drinking. What are all of these people doing populating his entryway? Then, there is a loud whoop and a mostly naked five-year-old boy painted in red paint dashes in wielding a tomahawk.

Jean won’t take no for an answer when it comes to the welfare of this delightful, incorrigible, highly intelligent young boy. Either she will take him or his father will take proper care of him. It is fun to watch these two dance around each other – each brings out the other – until they find they are in accord.

The HEA is sweet, but I have to wonder if he would mourn Jean as much as he did his first wife. I know people can love more than once in a lifetime – but – I also think there is only one soulmate. So, if the first wife was the soulmate, then what does that really leave for Jean. She can’t even give him his heir – he already has that too. I don’t know – I know he loves her, but . . .

Please check out my reviews at:
Blog: https://flippinpages.blog/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/flippinpages…
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FlippinPagesRev
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarbBookReview

“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.”