Mini review-athon

Spent most of the week continuing to indulge in my traditional Regency stuffathon. I also read Adele Ashworth's Duke of Sin which I will review tomorrow.

1.Lady Leprechaun, by Melinda McRae- Two ten year olds attempt to run away to Ireland to prove (or disprove, depending on which child you are) the existance of leprechauns. The father of one & the mother of the other team up to hunt them down. Aside from the implausability of the runaways, the hero & heroine simply didn't catch on with me. The growth of the heroine in particular was nicely done, especially at the end of the story. I just really didn't care.

2.A Passionate Endeavor, by Sophia Nash- Wounded officer returns from the war to recuperate at his father's estate with the assistance of the daughter of a prominant physician. There are persistant interfamilial problems & the tenants are obviously neglected. I really liked the heroine, who was well drawn, but the hero never really caught on with me. The hero did, however, have dyslexia which played a big role in this storyline. The villain was too obvious.

3.Lord Dragoner's Wife, by Lynn Kerstan- A long seperated couple reunite in Paris after the husband attempts to divorce his wife in England (but changes his mind when he realizes how difficult it would be). The wife has long loved her husband from afar, but why she can't really say. The husband, who initially ran from both his abusive parents & his marriage by joining the military, would really prefer to ditch the wife & coninue to be an undercover spy. The problem being that a) his wife refuses to return to England & b) peace is breaking out. I liked the heroine, but hated the hero because he basically refused to grow up. Also, he did some really shitty stuff to his wife & then didn't grovel enough to satisfy this reader. That is a major turn off. No big grovel, I don't like it. Besides the heroine didn't demand a grovel- which is also a big turn off.

4.Birds of a Feather, by Allison Lane- A chaperone is hired to supervise the debut season of a very young miss whose mother cannot be trusted & whose father is busy trying to resurrect his fortunes at home in the country. Somehow, the chaperone manages to irritate the Ton's most prominent & powerful arbiter of chic. He's convinced she is after his brother's fortune- this knowlege provided by his overly controlling, super bitch of a mother. Why he believes mother this time & never before or since I couldn't figure out. They marry because they are caught in a compromising postion & the hero begins to exhibit the same overly contolling behaviors as his mother. Somehow, the heroine falls in love with him, he does a very late & barely acceptable grovel & all's well that end's well. Maybe. I really couldn't see any warmth or humanity in the hero other than his love for his brother. He was too conceited & self absorbed.

5.The Devil's Due, by Rita Boucher- Katherine Steele flees London with her young, traumatised daughter Anne & her nursemaid, Daisy, and winds up in a deserted castle in mid Scotland posing as the widowed Lady MacLean. In actuality, Lord MacLean is very alive & wants to hide in his crumbling ruin & lick his wounds from the war. They manage to accomodate one another & slowly fall in love while trying to heal. There is a strong subplot of trauma & childhood sexual abuse. A nicely done tale of two wounded souls finding happiness together. Bonus- the hero is physically scarred & suffers with what we would call PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Bonus for me anyway. I have a thing for wounded heroes.

6. Lady Silence, by Blair Bancroft- Frankly I couldn't finish it. I read the first four chapters & the last two & I was done. The initial premise, an abused, abandoned young girl finds refuge in a large, wealthy, monor was plausible. The fact that they kept her without searching for her family after learning she could read & write & do math was hard. The fact that she pretended to be mute & the hero magically 'outs' her ability to speak & still keeps her around was too much to swallow. Then at the end she turns out to be a long lost heiress & fabulously wealthy. Way too many coincidences. Story partially set in Bath.

One homerun amid the outs. I liked #5. The rest were competant, mostly.