Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade (2007) Diana Gabaldon This is a boinking book, but it’s also a book about family and justice and doing what is right. Although I find Hal (John’s brother) sometimes rather difficult, I think in this book I truly begin to like him. Hal relaxed a bit at […]
Lord John and the Private Matter (2003) Diana Gabaldon Set in London in 1757. I’m have to different mysteries on hold to borrow from the library, and in the meantime, I started about twenty different books and none of them appealed to me, so it was time for a re-read. There were a couple things […]
The Admiral’s Penniless Bride (2011) Carla Kelly Set in England in 1816. Sally Paul is a paid companion. Because she works for older women, she is frequently looking for work, and when she goes to take a job in Plymouth, she discovers the women has already died. This leaves her with nothing, and nowhere to […]
Nearly a Lady (2011) Alissa Johnson Set in England during the regency. Freddie Blythe and Lilly Ilestone have been barely surviving in Scotland after the death of Freddie’s father and the promise by Lord Haverston to care for his Freddie. Gideon and Lucien Haverston are trying to set their inherited estates to rights after discovering […]
It Takes a Scandal (2014) Caroline Linden Set in England in 1822 Abigail Weston is the daughter of a wealthy attorney, and has a dowry to make her acceptable to society, but she wants more than someone who wants her for her father’s money. Sebastian Vane returned from war with a shattered knee and a […]
Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover (2014) Sarah MacLean Set in England in 1824 Fathers’ sins never seemed to stick. It was the mother who bore the heavy weight of ruin in these situations. The mother who passed it on to the child, as though there were not two involved in the act. The […]
Mission for a Queen (2016) Tracy Grant Set in London and Europe in the summer of 1818 Malcolm and Susanne/Melanie have fled London, along with their children, Raoul, and Laura, while the friends back on London try to piece together what happened, and keep their disappearance as quiet and boring as possible. David and Simon […]
Shores of Desire (1997) Tracy Grant Set in Scotland and Europe in 1815 There are actually three primary characters in this story: Robert, Emma, and the War with Napoleon. Emma was used to dealing with everyday injuries, wounds from fights and falls and accidents. Save when Allan had been invalided home, his wounds already neatly […]
Dark Angel (1994) Tracy Grant Set in Spain and England in 1813 Still out of sorts and not sure what I’m in the mood for, I went for something completely different: historical mystery/romance. I think one of the things I particularly like about Tracy Grant’s stories is that the children are an integral part of […]
Your Scandalous Ways (2008) Loretta Chase Set in Venice in 1820 Francesca Bonnard is probably the most successful whore in Venice, perhaps even Italy. After a scandalous divorce, she fled to the continent and remade herself in one of the most sought after courtesans in Italy. “Ah, yes,” he said. “Your position. A divorcée.” “Divorziata […]
London Gambit (2016) Tracy Grant Set in London June 1818 In the Malcolm & Suzanne Rannoch timeline, this book does not go back into the past, but continues to follow events after the short story Incident in Berkeley Square. Teddy Craven, David’s oldest nephew and ward, has fled Harrow, because he can no longer handle […]
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand (2012) Carla Kelly Set in England in the early 1800s (after the war) Mrs. Drew is a young widow, and after an improper proposition from her brother-in-law needs to find a home for herself and her two young daughters. She ends up in the dower house of one of Lord […]
Dark Angel (1994) Tracy Grant Set in Spain and England in 1813 Adam Durward was orphaned at a young age, and although his parentage has made things difficult in some ways, he has managed to create a good career for himself. Caroline Rawley was a childhood friend of Adam Duward, but her marriage to Jared […]
Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke’s Heart (2011) Sarah MacLean Juliana Fiori is the daughter of scandal–her mother abandoned her first husband and twin sons and ran off to Italy to marry a merchant, and then abandoned that husband as well. After her father’s death, she discovers she has two brothers who will […]
Rightfully His (1998) Tracy Grant Set in London, December 1822 The final book in the Lescaut Quartet picks up the story of Charlotte, the daughter of Daniel, the Marquis de Ribard, and the man who had been his secretary, Francis Storbridge, who had been in love with Charlie since he first laid eyes on her. […]
Shadows of the Heart (1996) Tracy Grant Set in Scotland, July 1817 The third book in the series (yes, I did skip the first book on this re-read, but may read it last) is about Robert Lescaut’s cousin Paul, who is the unacknowledged bastard son of the Marquis de Ribard. Paul manages to rescue a […]
Shores of Desire (1997) Tracy Grant Set in Midlothian, Scotland, March 1815 This is a re-read of an historical mystery/romance, because I wasn’t sure what I was in the mood to read, but most of what is at the top of my to-be-read list is books I can’t read during the week, because I’ll stay […]
Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord (2010) Sarah MacLean Set in England and Yorkshire in June 1823. This book follows Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, and sees the other twin, Nicholas St. John, become a highly sought-after prize on the marriage mart. So when he’s asked to search for […]
Incident in Berkeley Square (2015) Tracy Grant Set in London in April 1818 The latest Malcolm & Suzanne Rannoch short story takes place after the events of The Mayfair Affair. Malcolm and Suzanne are hosting a party–an event to help introduce Laura (their former governess) into society, when Raoul and two other spies take refuge […]
The Mayfair Affair (2015) Tracy Grant Set in London in 1818. This book takes place three months after The Berkeley Square Affair, and although I read it earlier this year, I went back and re-read it after finishing The Berkeley Square Affair. Although I enjoyed this book the first time I read it, things made […]
The Masqueraders (1928) Georgette Heyer Set in England in the mid 1740s Kate and Peter Merriot are returning to England, the country of their birth, to meet with their father. But they have a secret: they are fleeing after the failure of the latest Jacobite revolution, and are in disguise, to remain safe, and have […]
Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake (2010) Sarah MacLean Set in London in 1823 Lady Calpurnia Hartwell (Callie to her family) is a spinster. It’s been 10 years since her coming out, and so she has come to accept that she is never going to get married (and she is quite lucky that […]
Secrets of a Lady (2002) Tracy Grant Set in London in November 1819 This is the first book in the Malcolm and Susanne Rannoch (Charles & Melanie Fraser) series, but is set in a time after almost all the other books. Because I’ve read a lot of the other books in this series already, I […]
London Interlude (2015) Tracy Grant Set in London in June 1814. This is a very short story. 77 pages according to Amazon. So just be aware of what you are getting. This is the 8th book in the series, but set towards the very beginning of the overarching story, and probably a good introduction to […]
Miss Grimsley’s Oxford Career (2012) Carla Kelly Set in England, indeterminate time during the Napoleonic wars. Ellen Grimsley is frustrated–she would love to study at Oxford, but instead her brother Gordon is sent, and he wants nothing to do with Oxford but wants instead to be fighting in Spain. James Gatewood, Lord Chesney, is expected […]