#CBR9 Books 99-100: "Fortune Favors the Wicked" and "Passion Favors the Bold" by Theresa Romain

Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Benedict Frost is a celebrated lieutenant in the Royal Navy, but is forced to leave his naval career after an illness leaves him incapable of serving on a ship. He's hoping to supplement his not very generous pension by having a book of his memoirs published, but that proves more difficult that he initially thought. He wants the money to provide a dowry for his younger sister, so when he hears that a large shipment of gold from the Royal Mint has gone missing, and there is a sizable reward offered, he decides to use the skills at his disposal to try to locate the missing treasure.

His hunt leads him to Derbyshire, where a high born friend has given him a letter of introduction to stay with the local vicar. He meets the mysterious and charming Charlotte Perry, who turns out to be rather more than the proper and demure vicar's daughter she presents herself as in the village. Charlotte is also looking for the missing gold, intending to use the gold to secure a respectable future for herself and her niece. While she and Benedict begin as rivals, they quickly figure out that it will be much easier if they work together, using Charlotte's local knowledge and Benedict's experience from his travels to locate the treasure.

I have read a number of novels by Theresa Romain, and while they've all been perfectly ok, none of them have really stuck in my memory for very long. I'm happy to say that this is the first book of hers that I was really impressed by and I was thoroughly entertained throughout. While the treasure hunt is the device that brings them together, the romance between Charlotte and Benedict is clearly the most important plot element here and they're such an interesting couple. Benedict was forced to leave the navy after he was struck blind after an illness. He's only been blind for about four years, and has clearly worked very hard to compensate for his lack of sight since he was forced to retire. Due to his changed circumstances, he gets a fairly small pension and lives in tiny quarters as a Naval Knight in Windsor Castle. He's done independent travel since he was blinded, and hoped to publish his memoirs, but is told by the publisher that unless he publishes his book as a work of fiction, it's not going to sell. No one would believe a blind man went on the adventures he's been on. He needs money to provide for his younger sister, who is about to turn twenty-one and is currently living on the charity of relatives in the living quarters of the book shop their parents owned before they died.

Benedict first runs into Charlotte in the local pub in the village where she grew up. She's heavily veiled in a corner, and he is intrigued by her presence and the clearly assumed name she gives him. They are both there to listen to the ever more dramatic tales of a young barmaid who was given one of the missing gold sovereigns as a tip. When Benedict comes to stay with the local vicar, he's surprised to discover that Charlotte is in fact their spinster daughter, who has been away for much of the last ten years "doing virtuous works". The truth is that after Charlotte fell in love and was ruined by a young man, she went to London and made a very lucrative career as a sought-after courtesan, La Perle. Rather disillusioned with this life, she needs the money to retire somewhere comfortable and take care of her orphaned niece, currently being raised by Charlotte's parents. Charlotte is obviously trying very hard to not have the respectable vicar's daughter connected to the infamous courtesan, a task made more difficult because of an arrogant noble patron determined to track her down.

While neither Charlotte nor Benedict are much into their thirties, it was still nice to read about characters who had some actual worldly experience and who felt a lot more mature than a lot of the normal protagonists you find in romance. They communicate very well together from the start, and there was surprisingly little drama between them, even as they are struggling to figure out a way to reconcile their wishes for the future. The book also briefly introduces both of the protagonists of the companion novel - Benedict's good friend, Lord Hugo Starling (who writes him the letter of introduction to Reverend Perry, with whom he's been corresponding for years) and younger sister, Georgette, who is a bit sick of feeling like a financial burden to all her relatives and is more than ready to go off to make her own way in the world.

Judging a book by its cover: I think this cover is pretty great, actually. The cover model is clearly not in the first blush of youth, which would have been very inappropriate anyway. The dress she's wearing is gorgeous, just look at that embroidery! The rural landscape she's standing in also feels very on point - and there are no partially undone laces, or skirts that go on for days or any of the rubbish that you so often see on historical romances. Just a pretty lady in a pretty (and period appropriate dress).

Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Georgette Frost's parents are dead, and though the bookshop they ran when they were alive was sold to some cousins, it was stipulated in their will that Georgette be allowed to live there until she turned 21, an event that is only a few weeks away. Helping out in the bookstore and trying her best to help raise all of her cousin's many children isn't exactly anyone's dream, and when Georgette gets a letter from Derbyshire from her brother, and figures out that he is off hunting for the missing gold and the Royal Reward, she decides that living on the charity of relatives is all well and good, but making your own way in the world is better.

She disguises herself as a boy and intends to go find her brother, but is quickly found and intercepted by Lord Hugo Starling, her brother's best friend. Lord Hugo is the younger son of the Duke of Willingham and met Benedict Frost when they studied medicine together in Edinburgh. While a duke's son being a doctor is unusual, Hugo rejected family and society expectations to become one after his twin brother died tragically several years ago. Hugo is convinced his brother could have survived if he had a properly trained doctor, not just the most prestigious and recommended by other nobles. He is more or less estranged from his family, and struggling to find funding for a new and innovative London hospital. Hugo wants to leave Georgette with his mother, but she promises she'll just run away again. She also persuades him that if he's involved in finding the missing gold sovereigns, the publicity he'll get will no doubt help him secure the funding for his hospital.

Hugo therefore reluctantly agrees to escort Georgette to Derbyshire, as he can't let her travel alone. They haven't been long underway when they discover that the gold has clearly been divided up, as there are rumours of unusual gold transactions as far north as Northumberland. Posing as husband and wife, Hugo and Georgette, pursued by a dogged Bow Street Runner named Jenks end up on the estate of a rather befuddled baronet, who Georgette has claimed is her uncle. Sir Frederic Chapple doesn't really like the nosy Jenks, and is rather bored, so happily plays along when Georgette implores him not to give up their true identities. While staying on his lands and trying to figure out where the gold is hidden, Hugo offers up his medical knowledge to the local tenants, and Georgette acts as his nurse and assistant.

As with every single story involving a couple pretending to be married, Georgette and Hugo obviously fall madly in love with one another. Georgette has always desperately wanted somewhere to truly belong, even when her parents were alive, her scholarly parents were so engrossed in each other and the books they sold, that they barely noticed her. Her older brother was always away at sea, and after he was blinded, he mostly stayed away. She wants to be part of a proper family unit and seen and appreciated, even loved for herself. Having grown up in a book shop, she's intelligent and opinionated and even against his better judgement, Hugo is always persuaded by her in the end.

Hugo lost his beloved twin brother and feels both guilt and anger because of it. He's a living reminder to his parents (and himself, every time he looks in a mirror) of what was lost, and he cannot forgive his father for not listening when Hugo insisted the doctors were less than useless, and possibly even hurried along his brother's death with their antiquated methods. He refused to join the clergy, as expected of him, and trained himself to be a modern and progressive doctor. Hugo wants to build the hospital in London to care for patients of all classes, not just the wealthy (which is why he's finding it so hard to find funding). Tending to the various patients in Northumberland, he also comes to discover how nice it is to help people at a local level, and begins to doubt whether his hospital is the best way to move forward.

Once again, this was a Theresa Romain book that I genuinely enjoyed, and the treasure hunting plot is really just the maguffin that throws the couple together. Part road trip, part detective story, the main focus is again the couple spending lots of time together and as a result, falling for each other. As in the companion book, set at roughly the same time, the protagonists are both really nice people who suit each other well. While there are external complications and even some danger, there is very little drama between the two of them, and it feels very satisfying when they realise their feelings for the other.

I now feel somewhat bad that these two books have languished on my TBR shelf for so long. I'm very glad I finally read them, and will no doubt revisit both in the future.

Judging a book by its cover: Once again, a fairly simple cover. Pretty cover model in a rural landscape. I really like the outfit, which fits the description of one Georgette wears over the course of the story, having tied a yellow shawl around her dress to make it more colourful and vibrant. The publishers have once again found a model that at least vaguely looks like the character inside, and there isn't a lot of fuss and muss, just an elegant Regency lady and some lovely nature. I wish more romance covers took this approach.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

#CBR8 Book 43: "The Sport of Baronets" by Theresa Romain

Page count: 120 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Sir Bartlett Crosby is training the last of his promising horses, Golden Barb, in the hopes that it will win him a sizable prize purse in the upcoming race. Due to his mother's compulsive gambling, he's had to sell off most of the horses in the stable, a lot of land and furniture, and reduce staff considerably. So when Miss Hannah Chandler turns up with a bill of sale that suggests his mother has sold Golden Barb, HIS horse, to the Chandlers, he is less than pleased. To add to matters, while he is arguing the impossibility of this transaction with Miss Chandler, the horse is stolen away by his head groom, leaving several other of the grooms knocked unconscious.

The Crosby and Chandler families have had a vicious rivalry for decades. Hannah and Bart join forces to investigate both why the bed-ridden Lady Crosby would authorise the sale of their family's last hope to greatness to her worst enemy, Hannah's wheelchair-bound father and where the horse in question has been taken. Over the course of their joint investigation, they quickly discover that while their parents may hate each other, they in fact feel quite strongly attracted to one another. Will they locate the stolen horse? Will they resolve who owns the horse in such a way that they can still face each other afterwards? Can they attempt to overcome the family feud by joining forces, permanently?

I've read a number of Theresa Romain's novels now, and while she has impressed me with her writing, she's never really emotionally engaged me on a level that my favourite romance writers do. I am a deeply emotional reader, and a clever way of crafting your narrative isn't going to get you too far if I don't care about the characters and the setting I'm reading about. In this novella, however, possibly because the story is so short and contained, I was really impressed and enjoyed reading about Bart and Hannah a lot more than has been the case in my previous attempts at Ms. Romain's writing.

It may seem as if the two get over their families' supposed animosity for each other very quickly, but at the same time, it's clearly established that the feud and rivalry is really the product of their parents, not them. Bart has always heard all manner of bad things about the Crosbys, but hasn't really seen Hannah since she was a little girl. He has nothing personally against her, except her family name. Hannah, on her part, has always heard that Sir Bartlett is an irresponsible rake and a dandy, not to be trusted, but it's quite clear to her that he works very hard to train his horses and that he's doing his very best to try to patch up his family's ruined finances. She also discovers that he's frequently prone to saying exactly the wrong thing to a woman, and therefore strongly doubt her father's word that he's a libertine and a rake.

Bart puts all his hopes on Golden Barb to win him enough capital to start rebuilding his stables, thus allowing him to breed more champions and slowly recouping all the money his mother gambled away. Until his mother had a stroke, he foolishly let her run the family estates, not realising just how extensive her gambling addiction had taken them into debt. Now she uses her feebleness and recovery from the stroke to ignore any and all unpleasant conversations, preventing her son from properly taking over as head of the family.

Hannah wanted to buy Golden Barb to have something that was hers and hers alone. The youngest child in her family, she has never really gone anywhere and instead stayed by her father's side, aiding him in business since she was old enough. She saved up her own pin money for the purchase price of the horse, and as such has lost a considerable amount when the horse is stolen. She was also hoping for the price money from the race, to finally give her enough money to go to London, where she could experience the society, dancing and balls she's heard so much about, but never really experienced in her reclusive state in the country. While she's grown up in a wealthy family, she's never really had anything that was solely hers, like the horse was going to be. She needs for Bart to accept the bill of sale as legal, so she can have a chance at a more promising future.

The two investigate and discover interesting things about their parents' joint past that could explain why Lady Crosby may have agreed to sell a horse to Sir Chandler. They also manage to trace the horse thief and locate Golden Barb, but still need to resolve who actually owns him and who's going to get to race him for the prize money. None of them doubt that he will be the winning horse.

Again, in a novella, there isn't all that much time for misunderstandings and complications. The issues at hand are resolved without too much anguish on either side and based on this story (which is setting up Ms. Romain's new series), I am looking forward to the first full-length book, which I've also heard good things about.

Judging a book by its cover: Ah, the current trend of romance covers, where the cover model wears a dress with skirts so voluminous they could hid a multitude of sins, or even people. There are just miles and miles of skirt on that cover, and still, they appear to be cut so that the lady's legs are bare to the lower thigh. I will give them props for having the dress be empire-cut, that at least is period appropriate. I don't really think her slippers are, but they look fairly generic and are not offensive in and of themselves. I find this frothy confection of a pink dress especially amusing on the cover, as Hannah, the heroine, wears nothing but a series of riding habits in the novella, with one notable exception, when her morning dress looks nothing like this candy-coloured ballgown. As there is a scene where the hero and heroine sit and converse on a black and white-tiled floor in the entrance hall, the background is actually quite appropriate and they have given the cover model a riding crop to hold, so I guess I should be grateful that they've at least given nods to the story within. Seriously though, that skirt. It could carpet a small room. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR7 Book 145: "Season for Surrender" by Theresa Romain

Page count: 352 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

After Miss Louisa Oliver broke her betrothal to Viscount Matheson, her step-sister and former intended was subjected to quite a scandal, due to the gossipping ways of Matheson's friend, the dissolute Alexander Edgware, Lord Xavier. Matheson and Louisa's step-sister got married, and the scandal passed, but Xavier isn't really a favourite in the Oliver or Matheson family circles any more. So when Louisa, with her formidable aunt as chaperone,  receives an invitation to his house party, rumoured to be quite a raucous event, she's puzzled, but intrigued and accepts. Having accepted her likely fate as a spinster, she'd nonetheless like to experience a thrill or two, and what better way to practise flirting or stealing a kiss or two than at Xavier's wild party?

Lord Xavier was orphaned at an early age and has had the wealth and freedom to do as he pleased since for as long as he can remember. Drinking, gambling, debauchery and wagering, he's done it all, but it's starting to lose some of its charm. Yet he's known to never turn down a wager, so when his malicious cousin bets him that he can't make a proper lady of good family attend his house party, no matter how shocking, and stay the full two weeks, he accepts. He had never expected his cousin to pick the bookish Miss Oliver, whose reputation he's sure his cousin intends to tarnish. He needs to make sure that nothing too shocking occurs to scare Miss Oliver away, while guarding her virtue without being too obvious about it.

Early on in the visit, Louisa overhears Xavier and his cousin speaking about the wager and realises how much is at stake about her presence there. She decides to teach both the men a lesson and pushes herself out of her comfort zone, engaging in the festivities with an enthusiasm that surprises everyone. Xavier tries to keep her from harm by distracting her with his large and comprehensive library, but finds what he most wants to do is spend as much time as possible with her there. Louisa discovers that if you're going to improve your flirting and kissing, there's no one better to practise on than a rake in want of reforming.

My biggest problem with the first book in this series was that there just wasn't enough plot to fill a full novel. At least in this story, I didn't have to feel that, but there are still slow patches. The book starts a little before the house party with the wager, but the chief portion of the story is at Xavier's country estate, with a largeish cast of characters, among them Xavier's cousin, Miss Jane Tindall, whose mother is nominally the hostess of the gathering, but seems to spend most of her time drunk or asleep. Jane appears to be the heroine of the next book in the series.

Louisa is really quite happy with the idea of staying unmarried, but at the same time she's been organising the library at her new brother-in-law's house and several months of watching the newly-weds be sickeningly happy could make anyone feel a bit down, even someone who hadn't originally been engaged to the groom. Feeling very much the third wheel, she's quite relieved to be invited to a house party, even if the host is the duplicitous Lord Xavier. It doesn't take her long into her visit to discover that he wasn't quite as dastardly as to besmirch her step-sister's reputation to one and all, but he did confide in someone he shouldn't. Used to being in the background, quietly observing everyone else, Louisa is quite the study of human nature, and is amused to discover that much of Lord Xavier's behaviour is merely a clever veneer, applied to fool those around him that he's as carefree, rakish and dissolute as his reputation claims. She becomes determined to make him reveal the person he really is, and is willing to use any means necessary.

Lord Xavier does indeed do very little without planning and forethought. He has a series of numbered expressions that he pulls out at the appropriate occasions and having been quite bored by his lifestyle for a while, he's nonetheless careful to cultivate the appearance of being the consummate rake, because he can't yet imagine what sort of a person he could be instead. A victim of his reputation, he believes it would be impossible to change now. He's very aware of how easily Miss Oliver could be ruined by mere hints at impropriety, yet cannot keep himself away from her. Initially, he tells himself it's too keep her safe, but the more time they spend together, the more obviously the attraction between them grows. He still thinks she's far too good for him, and even tries to send her away to protect her, not that it does a lot of good in the long run.

Theresa Romain remains an author who is perfectly decent, but who as of yet has not truly wowed me. I really did like this book, but I doubt that I'll particularly remember the details of the story in a month or so. Still, I keep seeing her books highly recommended, and can't seem to stop buying them in e-book sales, so I will continue to see if there is an exceptional book in her yet.

Crossposted to Cannonball Read.

#CBR7 Book 143: "Season for Temptation" by Theresa Romain

Page count: 368 pages
Rating: 3 stars

James, Viscount Matheson has newly come into the title and wishes to marry a suitable young lady as quickly as possible, seeing as his sister, now widowed, was embroiled in a terrible scandal due to her philandering husband and a very public scene with a mistress before he died. Matheson's mother wishes him to restore the family reputation. So he is very pleased when he meets the quiet and pleasant Miss Louisa Oliver in the library at a society ball. Proposing to her after but a short acquaintance, he goes to see her family and is then introduced to Louisa's vivacious and lively step-sister, Julia Herington. After just a short time, James begins to fear he may have proposed too soon.

Miss Louisa Oliver hated being out in society and felt that she really couldn't turn down the proposal of a Viscount, even though she's honestly not sure she's ready for marriage yet, if ever. All she really wants to do is stay at home with her family, reading and organising the library. Julia is overjoyed that her sister has made such a good match, and even more so once she actually meets James. She knows that her sister hates attention and scrutiny, but believes that James' wit and enthusiasm may bring Louisa out of her shell a bit more. She hopes she may one day meet a man as nice and agreeable as he.

Louisa manages to persuade James to postpone the wedding until Julia has had her season, and the two sisters go to London accompanied by a fearsome widowed aunt as chaperone. Of course James and Julia pine hopelessly for one another, all the while hiding their true feelings from Louisa, whom they both care very much for, each other and the world in general. Louisa, for her part, keeps having misgivings about getting married, getting more and more determined to break off the engagement the longer she has to spend in society. Will James be able to finally declare his love for the right sister?

This book was far too long for what was really a very simple plot. I'm pretty sure it could have been covered in a novella. Honourable and kind peer of the realm contracts betrothal with one sister, falls madly in love with the other. She returns his feelings, the first sister doesn't really mind, as she doesn't love him and didn't really want to get married after all. His mother, who is a meddlesome shrew, try to complicate matters to separate them, is not successful.

There's quite a lot of time spent in libraries, which I don't exactly mind, because Louisa loves books and the organising of them, which I can thoroughly respect. She is shy, socially awkward, yet perfectly behaved. She knows that she may never make a match as good as a viscount, so can't really refuse a proposal, even though she feels nothing more than a general regard for Matheson. She's pretty much the polar opposite of her step-sister who is impulsive, exuberant, frequently speaks before she thinks and seems unable to be still for a second. The major complication here are that James and Julia are too honourable to do anything to hurt Louisa or act on their attraction towards each other (although they both tell themselves that they're just imagining the kind attentions of the other because of their infatuation).

One thing the book cannot be criticised for is the romance progressing too quickly. Several months, if not nearly a year passes over the course of the book. There are tours of James' estate, that he's modernising. At one point, Julia turns her ankle and is convalescent for six weeks. Then there's her season, which seems to be well under way. The problem is just that nothing much interesting happens. Louisa tries to solicit James help in finding a respectable suitor for Julia. He seethes with jealousy and tries to sabotage the search while on the surface being forced to play along.

The characters are perfectly pleasant, the story (if it were shorter) is diverting. It just dragged on. Romain is a good writer and uses chapter titles very amusingly. I was still waiting for the end to be in sight and for them to just "get on with it!" I'd heard many good things about this series on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and Dear Author, but based on the first book, I hope the sequels are snappier and have more plot or I'm not going to be able to get through them.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 110: "It Takes Two to Tangle" by Theresa Romain

Page count: 354 pages
Rating: 3 stars

Henry Middlebrook was a promising young artist before he went off to war. Now, after the Napoleonic wars, he's completely lost the use of his right arm. He can no longer paint, and feels cast adrift, without purpose. His sister-in-law is determined for him to make a promising match, hoping that the love of a good woman will help him become someone closer to the cheerful, carefree man he was before the war. She introduces him to Lady Caroline Stratton, possibly the most sought after women of the season. A wealthy, charming and beautiful widow, Lady Stratton has a wealth of suitors and her drawing room is filled to the brim with elaborate floral arrangements every afternoon. A clever strategist, Henry realises he's going to need an ally to win Lady Caroline over and convinces her companion, Mrs Frances Whittier to assist him. She's usually ignored by her cousin's suitors and enjoys the novelty of being asked to help.

When Henry receives a letter written on Lady Caroline's stationary, he immediately assumes that he's made a stronger impression on Lady Stratton than he first imagined. Of course, he's mistaken, and the letter is from Frances. She's too embarrassed to tell him, when he comes to her asking for help to continue the correspondence with Lady Caroline. She reluctantly agrees and he precedes to woo a woman who's not even vaguely intending to get remarried with the assistance of the woman who actually likes him. The longer they work together, the closer they grow, and it becomes harder and harder for Frances to tell Henry the truth without completely destroying their closeness.

Several of the reviewers on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books are big fans of Theresa Romain's novels, so when I saw this in an e-book sale I decided to buy it. As with so many books, it then languished on my shelf for months until one of the words for September's Monthly Keyword challenge made me remember it again. There was a lot of stuff I liked about it, such as the characters and the somewhat unusual situation for the hero to be in. You very rarely see genuinely physically damaged romance heroes, or if they have some sort of injury, they are magically healed by the love of a good woman and some unlikely medical breakthrough before the book ends. In this, Henry isn't any less crippled at the end of the book, but having finally opened up a bit about some of his experiences during the war, he's closer to emotional healing than he was at the beginning. Which is perfectly realistic and fine. He's also better at writing with his left hand, but only because he's practised diligently.

The book is well written, but I kept waiting for it to do more than mildly divert me. It was just a thoroughly ok book, nothing more, nothing less. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I liked the various relationships between the characters, like the affectionate way Henry's sister-in-law emotionally blackmails him or the way Caroline and Frances converse when no one else is around. I liked the way Henry and Frances helped each other get over their difficult pasts, but the convoluted letter plot just didn't do anything for me. Because I keep hearing such good things about her books, I will try other Romain romances, hoping that some of the others impress me more than this one.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.