Review: Good historical romance collection
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 1, 2013
I love to get a collection,.especially as a freebie, so thanks to the author and Amazon for this very nice mix by Dorothy McFalls. In all of the stories, the writing was good, there were no pesky editing problems, the characters were well developed and interesting, the dialogue was good and the plot was engaging.The first story, The Marriage List, I would characterize as a sweet romance. The hero, a dashing viscount wounded in the war against Napoleon, decides he's challenged death enough and needs to marry and begin his family. Unfortunately, the woman he can't seem to get off his mind doesn't meet any of the carefully listed criteria he decided to use when choosing a wife.Heat factor mild.Lady Iona's Rebellion brings back two of the supporting characters from the first book to give them their own romance. This book is a spicier regency romance with a Rake leading an innocent Duke's daughter down the path of temptation. Or wait...is it the other way around?Heat factor moderate.In Taken by Moonlight, the author takes us into the paranormal world with a romance between Lady Amelia, who was stolen from her dead werewolf parent's arms and raised as the daughter of an Earl. She knows nothing about werewolves or how they're being hunted. But one member of the pack has a vision that if this lost child is returned, the hunting will decrease and the pack will increase. The pack turns to Viscount Dimitri, a lone wolf who already has a place in London society to plan her retrieval. Unfortunately, Dimitri realizes that she's his mate and he can't just turn her over to the pack Alpha. He's going to have to not only fight his Alpha for her, but rejoin the pack and all it's politics and problems. No one ever said that the course of true love ran smoothly.Heat factor moderate.The last book in this quartet is entitled The Nude. It refers to a painting that went on display in the Museum of London along with many others from an artist known only as Dionysus. The few who deal with the artist, getting his works to the dealers, etc...are sworn to secrecy about his identity. Lady Elsbeth, the recently out of mourning Dowager Countess of Redgrave, has never met the artist, doesn't know who he is, although her late husband tried to give her some paintings by Dionysus during their courtship and pretend that he had painted them. Elsbeth doesn't know that she has been the muse for the artist since before her come out and marriage, when she was just a young girl frolicking in the park. After her long absence for her mourning, Dionysus could not help but imagine her nude. The picture was for himself only, never to be included in the show, but somehow it was taken and unveiled with great flourish right in front of Elsbeth and her family. Elsbeth's reputation was ruined and no one would believe that she didn't pose for the picture and didn't know the artist intimately.Enter Nigel, the Marquess of Edgeworth who claims to be the sponsor of the artist and knows the mistake that was made and makes it very clear to Elsbeth, and her family, that he will do everything in his power (which is considerable) to clear her name and restore her reputation in the ton. He has other problems to worry about though, like people trying to kill him for his title and fortune. Can this one man, in the course of a week long house party, restore the reputation of one woman who is also determined to save his life?Heat factor hot.All in all, I really enjoyed these stories, that do indeed run the gamut from sweet to spicy, from traditional regency to more mystery to paranormal regency. That's fine with me because I read them all. Here's a way for you to try out a different type of book, but stay within the genre you like. They range from mild (just a few kisses) to moderate (a wedding night not described in graphic detail) to hot (some sexy sex not limited to the bedroom and described in more graphic detail).