Review: 3 of my favorite authors!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 12, 2013
A novella compilation with three of my favorite authors, sign me up!All three novels take place in different times (in the 19th century) around a little cottage called Doyle's Grange.One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel 4 starsViscount Northword had a blazing affair with Portia Temple when they were very young (late teens?). Their story begins after he's come back to Doyle's Grange years later. It's very clear that the two were once madly in love but mysterious circumstances kept them apart. Portia's brother is newly married and her new sister-in-law is replacing Portia as the woman of the house. Mrs. Temple is a master manipulator and is slowly driving Portia crazy. She's not a true 'villain' but is very cunning about advancing her and her husband's place in society and is not above using her Portia. Portia is engaged but it's not to a socially elite member of society as Mrs. Temple would wish. Crispin (Lord Northword) is trying his hardest to remain just-friends with Portia but his convictions are quickly dashed away when he re-encounters his first love, his only love. I really enjoyed the story and ached when I found out the reason for their separation. The reasons were very controversial and I applaud Ms. Jewel for not holding back. I only wish that the ending wasn't so slapped together. I really don't even know how they came to be together.(view spoiler)I think an extra chapter would have helped.What Happened at Midnight by Courtney Milan 3 starsMary Chartley has just discovered that her father is an embezzler and her previously happy life is over. Her father's business partners come to her home and demand to know where her father is, call her rude names, and threaten violence. Mary's lead a privileged life of traveling, the best tutors, fancy dresses, is engaged to a promising young man, and has a doting loving father. Now she has to set her own path to try to escape her father's mechanisms.John Mason was one of the partners that her father embezzled from. He was also the man that she was engaged to. He confronts her the day she leaves her home and she tells him she never loved him. John spends months trying to find her to recover the embezzled money. He finds Mary a year and half later in diminished circumstances employed as a companion in Doyle's GrangeI did enjoy this but it didn't wow me. The reader starts the story after their courtship so we don't get to read the falling in love parts. I felt mostly sorry for Mary who had heaps misery and bad luck thrown on her. She and John had a happy ending but there was too little happiness and romance for me to feel fulfilled in their story.A Dance in Moonlight by Sherry Thomas 4.5 starsIf you haven't read Ravishing the Heiress by Sherry Thomas this entire novella will be a major spoiler. This is a continuation of one of the characters from Ravishing and what happens to her after she doesn't get her HEA.Ralston Fitzwilliam is ambushed by a lovely woman who is passionately making out with him. He hears her muttering "Oh Fitz" and wonders how he knows her. He soon realizes (after he finds out what a great kisser she is) that she's mistaken him for someone else.Isabelle, after first being embarrassed and shocked thinks that this is the closest she will get to having a passionate night again with her lost love "Fitz". Ralston himself is also nursing heartache. His love of his life is gone and he's been adrift ever since. Isabelle boldly proposes an affair and Ralston agrees. After their night together Ralston and Isabelle realize what a magical connection they have which has nothing to do with his resemblance to Fitz. She leaves to visit her sister and Fitz follows her to pursue what may lead to a great romance.I really liked this story and was happy for Isabelle to find love after heartbreak. She was never portrayed negatively in Ravishing the Heiress but was a very huge obstacle for Millie and Fitz's story. I tried to hate her in that story but couldn't muster up any spite. Isabelle and Ralston have to jump the huge hurdle of Ralston being Fitz's doppelganger. People are going to make assumptions and they have to decide if it's worth the effort. I would have like the story more but Millie and Fitz show up in Isabelle's story and they act like a perfect-zombie couple. I think they were aiming for sainthood the way they were reacting to Isabelle and Ralston's courtship. I find it hard to believe that Millie would be so gracious to her after she almost stole her husband. Fitz finding out that Isabelle had moved on from him was also nauseatingly patronizing. bleck!