Review: Enjoyable Novellas
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 22, 2011
As a fan of historical romance, especially set during the Regency period, this novella collection appealed to me.  How I felt about the stories, which were crafted as sort of 'interactive' stories wherein the readers of Jenna's blog could choose which way the story went at the end of each chapter, varies a great deal.  I don't know what the other choices could have been, or the direction the author could have gone otherwise unfortuantely."Her Every Desire" - Kind of sucks to be Jane, though there is nothing to recommend David at all so I don't know why she chased him.  His good looks alone?  She seems smarter then that.  Anyhow Wesley was a charmer and I can only think better of him that he wanted everything and would stand for nothing less.  The time frame seems really quickly paced--not rushed exactly, but Petersen definitely relied a bit too heavily on the friendship Jane and Wes had to build their relationship depth/development.  Still I was happy at the end with how neither was ready to back down and held to their guns (so to speak)."A Scandal to Keep" - Gabriel cracked me up.  From when he first tells his mother who he's going to marry to his logic as to why he must marry Felicity its all rather funny.  Plus I heartily applaud him for his ability to soothe a kerfuffle she seemed too inclined to start near the end.  The man knew how to be convincing, thank goodness he was nothing like his brother or father.  Felicity for her part is definitely more a feisty one here, pretty much telling everyone within hearing distance to get out because she was tired of their 'help'.  This story definitely had an easier pacing with less of the 'and so much timed passed!' feel."A Woman Scorned" - I think I enjoyed this novella the best.  Maddie and Nathan suited each other so well.  They were both damaged by others, through no fault of their own, and they found a solace with each other.  This novella did stretch the credibility factor moreso then the others (she was a Duke's daughter after all), but that's not in the spirit of romance anyhow.  This was also the longest I think, not by much, but by enough to make a difference in how the chapters laid out and actions.All three novellas tied into each other (Felicity was Jane's best friend, Madeline was the woman Jane wanted Wes to initially ruin) nicely and I admit I wanted to know more about Felicity and Madeline after Jane's story so that was nice.  As I mentioned above it was a bit hard to see how these could have been interactive--the story's pace and structure seemed to be set quite firmly, which is a compliment to Petersen that the stories didn't feel 'chopped up' and interchangable.  Of the three I think "A Woman Scorned" would have made the best full length novel, I definitely liked Maddie the most and would have liked to see her and Nathan's courtship play out over a few hundred pages rather then a few dozen.