A delightfully vibrant tale of reluctant lovers reunited.
In this Regency romance, two old friends warily consider giving love another try.
In this second volume of Michaels’ Linfield Hall series, following Lady August (2021), Louisa Strickland is content mostly to avoid scheming London in favor of managing her estate in the Kent countryside. “She was more than competent enough by herself,” readers are told, “so much so that she didn’t even employ a land steward.” As the novel opens, Louisa has only one worry: the well-being of her slightly foolish young sister, Flora, who’ll soon be making her society debut in London as an heiress with 30,000 pounds. Little does Louisa know that this very fortune will make Flora irresistibly attractive to the rakish Earl Charles Finch, who’s 20,000 pounds in debt (with the stern Duke of Rutley overseeing his account books and setting up a rigorous payment schedule) and badly needs to marry a rich heiress. This would be a perilous enough situation for the Strickland family women, but there’s an added wrinkle. Years ago, Finch and Louisa shared a brief and torrid moment, and both have tried to forget it ever since. Finch, readers learn, “hadn’t thought about Louisa Strickland in a long time, but just the idea of her red hair was enough to make his heart skip a beat.”
The author has devised a classic setup for a Regency love story of second chances. Longtime romance readers will feel very comfortable knowing exactly what to expect from the plot complications Michaels cooks up. Once the size of Flora’s dowry becomes widely known, debauched and impecunious lords of all kinds start swarming. When some of their attentions spill over to include Louisa, Finch finds himself in the awkward position of feeling protective about one sister even while he’s attempting to take advantage of another. The author skillfully manipulates these conflicting imperatives: Finch is entirely believable and very likable in her handling. And this is doubly true of Louisa, who not only doesn’t resemble her petite and delicate sister physically, but is a completely different kind of person emotionally as well, unconventional and fiercely independent. When one of her suitors, through a combination of guile and good looks, actually manages to tempt her, readers will feel a genuine sympathy for the plight of poor Finch, who by this point realizes that he has never stopped loving Louisa. Even comparatively late in the narrative, Louisa is still fighting her own version of this yearning, mainly on the grounds that she doesn’t want to sacrifice her independence. She “had no desire to become a countess, so attaching herself to the earl couldn’t possibly benefit her,” she thinks. “Why should she sign her life away to him?” This streak of self-sufficiency causes Louisa to put obstacles in the path of her own happiness, but it’s also a large part of what makes her such an intriguing character.
A delightfully vibrant tale of reluctant lovers reunited.Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73514-015-5
Page Count: 360
Publisher: Mildred Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A must-read.
An ER doctor works to shake her family's expectations and find love with a younger man in this exemplary romance.
Alexis Montgomery comes from a long line of accomplished surgeons who have worked at the Royaume Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis since it was founded in the late 1800s. While she pursued a career in emergency medicine, she assumed that her twin brother, Derek, a plastic surgeon, would carry on the family tradition. When Derek announces he's gotten married while working in Cambodia for Doctors Without Borders and that he's planning to stay there with his new wife, the responsibility of working at the hospital and producing future surgeons falls to Alexis. Her only respite comes in the form of Daniel Grant, a handsome carpenter who's the mayor of small-town Wakan, Minnesota. Despite being almost a decade younger than Alexis, Daniel has been smitten since rescuing her car from a ditch while she was passing through Wakan; the pair shared a memorable one-night stand. Daniel has his own family lineage to uphold in the charming Wakan, which is full of chatty locals and creatively named farm animals. As in many of Jimenez's romances, Alexis' path to love and healing takes center stage as she works to free herself from the demanding, outdated wishes of her parents and set boundaries with a toxic, persistent former partner. Alexis and Daniel are precious together, and Daniel's warm excitement at getting to spend more time with a woman he finds amazing is the perfect embodiment of romantic joy. The romance is further enriched by a full cast of dynamic side characters, manipulative villains, and misguided relatives. This book is an emotional experience that will tick all the boxes for passionate romance fans.
A must-read.Pub Date: April 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5387-0437-0
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
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