Tag: Jenni Fletcher

Cinderella’s Deal With The Colonel by Jenni Fletcher

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

Cinderella's Deal With The Colonel (Mills & Boon Historical)Barbara’s rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Series: Standalone
Publication Date: 5/25/23
Period: Regency London
Number of Pages: 268

I loved everything about this delightfully entertaining, witty, romantic book! I do mean everything – from the author’s note in the front – which I totally LOVED and agree with – to the preview of an upcoming book by another author at the end. Sandwiched between the author’s note and the preview was a lovely story of romance, growth, and learning what it really means to be a family. With most books, I seem to love one of the main characters, but only like the other. Not in this book, I was enamored with both of the MCs from the first and could hardly wait for them to get their HEA – which they most definitely did. While this appears to be a standalone book, I could easily see a second book where the current Marquess (can I say dies) and Sabrina finds a true HEA for herself. Yes, that would be a satisfying story to read.

Colonel Lord Theodore Marshall, a hero of the recent wars, had sold his commission and was going to go to America. Though he had no love for his home and family, he decided to pay a brief visit before his departure. His mistake? He sent word he was coming. When he arrived he found his brother had mired the marquessate in scandal and financial ruin and then run away. He just disappeared – and now, Theo was left to clean up the mess because as a man of honor, he couldn’t do anything else. He. Was. Stuck. He had a termagant of a sister-in-law to contend with, massive amounts of debts, piles of paperwork, and, well, just more than one man ought to have to handle when it wasn’t his mess in the first place. Perhaps the worst was the scandal his brother had created when his investment scheme went belly up and caused several people in the ton (and out of it) to lose massive amounts of money. How could Theo ever make any of that right?

Miss Abigail Lemon has had the absolute worst month of her short twenty-two years of existence. Her father died of a heart attack and as an only child, she was left totally alone to make all of the arrangements. Then, another blow at the reading of the will when she found there was no money for her, the banks were taking her home, and she had no place to even lay her head. The final blow, the one that did her in and stiffened her spine at the same time, was when her betrothed, the man who said he loved her and would always stand beside her, quickly let her know that without her dowry, they couldn’t marry.

During that one awful day of the reading of the will and Henry’s betrayal, she also learned the cause of the loss of her father’s fortune. He’d invested in a building venture headed by the Marquess of Salway. Well! She had worked herself into a total temper and proceeded to march to the Marquess’ home and to tell him exactly what she thought of him and that he owed her at least a recommendation for a place to work – something that would put food in her belly and a pillow under her head at night. When she was quite through with her tirade, the man politely told her that he was not the Marquess, but his brother – and that the Marquess had left the country.

OMGoodness! Abigail’s despair was palpable as she left. What would happen to her? Where would she go? What would she do? Theo’s need to help and Abigail’s need for a place to live and income led them to a workable solution. What neither of them wanted nor expected was an attraction – but it was there and it was such a delight to watch them work together to solve the problems of the estate, form a friendship, and learn to care for each other.

You’ll love the secondary characters – especially Kitchen, and Lady, the dog. I came to really like Sabrina, the marchioness. It was nice to watch her grow from a total mean-spirited shrew into someone who was a caring mother and friend. So, yes, I would like to see Sabrina get her own HEA.

I can definitely recommend this book and I hope you will love it as much as I did.

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

View all my reviews

The Shopgirl’s Forbidden Love by Jenni Fletcher

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

The Shopgirl's Forbidden LoveBarbara’s rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Series: Regency Belles of Bath #4
Publication Date: 6/28/22
Period: Regency – Bath
Number of Pages: 188

FINALLY! I’ve been watching the interactions between Nancy MacQueen and James (Jem) Redbourne in the previous books and just couldn’t wait for their HEA. It is finally here and it definitely didn’t disappoint. I loved how the author took us back in time to their initial meeting when they were young and then showed us what was going on behind the scenes in some of the interactions we’d witnessed in those earlier books. I absolutely adored Jem and loathed how Nancy treated him, so it was nice to get some background on her and learn why she reacted the way she did. To be honest, though, I thought her reaction to her background circumstances was a bit over-the-top, but I could see why it would make her wary. Jem was every bit as perfect and honorable as we thought he would be.

The last woman standing – yep – that is Nancy. With all of her former baking partners married and off living their HEAs, Nancy is the lone remaining baker at Belle’s Biscuit Shop. She misses her friends, but she loves baking the biscuits, running the shop, and having the upstairs living quarters all to herself. At least Henrietta and Sebastian (Unexpectedly Wed to the Officer) have chosen to stay in Bath, so Nancy isn’t completely without friends.

Nancy is a red-haired, freckle-faced, short-tempered, termagant. Her temper is legendary and only the bravest would cross her. Yet, with the people she lets in, she is sweet, gentle, loyal, and loving. Nancy was raised in the slum area of Bath by a downtrodden mother and drunken, gambling stepfather. From the age of six, she watched her beautiful, loving mother change into someone she didn’t even recognize. She went from a loving mother to someone who did nothing but find fault with Nancy. Her step-father totally cowed and dominated her mother and Nancy will never, ever allow that to happen to herself. She lumps all men into the same category as her step-father and will never, ever let one get near her in any way. The only person who MIGHT be different is Jem and no matter how nice he is or how much her pulse races when he’s near, she’ll not let him get close either.

Jem first met Nancy when she was fourteen – and he never forgot her. They’d cross paths every few months or years and the attractions were still there – at least on his part. He was quite sure there was no attraction on her part because she always rang a peal over his head any time they got near each other. She said hateful, mean, awful things to him. Finally, he knew he had to give up on her – she told him flat-out there would never, ever be anything between them. With his parents wanting him to marry, he decided to go with his mother’s choice for a wife. So, he proposed and was accepted. But … then … the very next day he learned that Nancy had changed her mind. GROOOOAN – why hadn’t he waited one more day?

The tale is lovely and Jem is so honorable he’ll give up his own happiness to keep his word. Is his betrothed as honorable as Jem is? Maybe not? Maybe so? You’ll just have to read it to see. It is an excellent read, very well written and the character growth is outstanding. I loved that all of the previous couples played roles in this story, but they didn’t take over and overpower it.

I believe this is the last book in the series, and it did a very nice wrap-up for the series. The epilogue takes place 8 years later (in 1815) and shows the couples and their children. It was a very nice wrap-up and I felt I knew the ‘whole story’ for all of them and could rest easy that their HEA was a lasting one.

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

View all my reviews