{"id":11394,"date":"2019-01-17T16:57:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T21:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=11394"},"modified":"2024-01-29T20:06:25","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T01:06:25","slug":"a-christmas-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/11394","title":{"rendered":"A Christmas Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Christmas Dance<\/a><\/em> (2014) Alissa Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in London in an indeterminate historical time.<\/p>\n

William Renwick, Earl of Casslebury has decided it’s time for him to find a wife. <\/p>\n

It was his sense of responsibility that had necessitated his most recently constructed plan. He would marry a young lady of good blood, excellent reputation, pleasant nature and appealing physical appearance. He was four-and-thirty, and it was time he did his duty to the title by producing an heir. Never mind he hadn\u2019t expected to outlive two cousins and an older brother to inherit the title, it was his now, and he would plan accordingly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Miss Patience Byerly has been enjoying the season far more than the normal young woman, for it’s an unexpected gift from friends of her father’s, as she gets to act as friend and companion to Miss Caroline Meldrin.<\/p>\n

As with all her books, I love that all the characters–even (or perhaps especially) the secondary characters–are interesting.<\/p>\n

And the dialog.<\/p>\n

Dodging children with sticky fingers and wet heads. Eating–\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should their heads be wet?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe children? From playing Bob-Apple, of course.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOh.\u201d She thought about that. \u201cDoes it really require a complete dunking?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt does if one has an older sister who takes it upon herself to assist.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve no Christmas traditions, then? No Yule log, no wassail, no silly games?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNot as of yet,\u201d she replied, before giving a decisive nod of her head. \u201cBut I shall. There are plenty to choose from. Last year in Belgium, Caroline and I met a lovely family who brings an entire tree into their house and covers it with candles. And we met a gentleman from Sweden who said in his village a young woman puts a wreath of candles upon her head and goes about with a procession\u2014\u201c <\/p>\n

\u201cAre there any traditions you\u2019d care to try that aren\u2019t likely to set home and person aflame?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cDoes this gown make me appear plain,\u201d she asked in a nervous whisper. \u201cOr perhaps plainer would be a more accurate description.\u201d <\/p>\n

Caroline rolled her eyes as she dug through her reticule for something. \u201cI\u2019ve told you no twice all ready tonight.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat was for the green gown.\u201d <\/p>\n

Caroline looked up. \u201cOh. . .so it was.\u201d She gave Patience a thorough, if brief inspection. \u201cYou look lovely in the blue as well, but out of curiosity, what were you planning on doing if I said you looked dreadful? We\u2019re nearly to the party.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The only thing that fell flat for me was the boinking bits. And not for my normal reasons, but because it’s a short story \/ novella, and the boinking bits felt rushed and unnecessary. And they didn’t feel especially true to the characters.<\/p>\n

But aside from that I very much enjoyed it.<\/p>\n

Published by the author
\nRating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Christmas Dance (2014) Alissa Johnson Set in London in an indeterminate historical time. William Renwick, Earl of Casslebury has decided it’s time for him to find a wife. It was his sense of responsibility that had necessitated his most recently constructed plan. He would marry a young lady of good blood, excellent reputation, pleasant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[194,30,33,742,26,56],"tags":[156,50,721,738,640],"class_list":["post-11394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-5-10","category-british","category-historical","category-physical-health","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-alissa-johnson","tag-boinking","tag-dementia","tag-holiday","tag-parental-illness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2XM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":19494,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19494","url_meta":{"origin":11394,"position":0},"title":"A Christmas Dance","author":"Michelle","date":"December 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A Christmas Dance (2014) Alissa Johnson Set in historical England. William Renwick, Earl of Casslebury, always has a plan for everything. He was four-and-thirty, and it was time he did his duty to the title by producing an heir. Never mind he hadn\u2019t expected to outlive two cousins and an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Christmas Dance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/A-Christmas-Dance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22694,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22694","url_meta":{"origin":11394,"position":1},"title":"A Christmas Dance","author":"Michelle","date":"January 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A Christmas Dance (2014) Alissa Johnson Miss Byerly did not feature in his matrimonial plans. Pity, really, that she wasn\u2019t a bit softer. He\u2019d spoken to her once or twice before and she seemed an intelligent sort, with an efficiency of speech and manner he appreciated. But he wasn\u2019t in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Christmas Dance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/A-Christmas-Dance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13780,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13780","url_meta":{"origin":11394,"position":2},"title":"A Christmas Dance","author":"Michelle","date":"January 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"A Christmas Dance (2014) Alissa Johnson Set in London in an indeterminate time. William Renwick, Earl of Casslebury needs a wife. He knows his is disciplined, so he hopes to find a woman who smile and laugh. But he wasn\u2019t in need of additional efficiency in his house. He was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Christmas Dance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/A-Christmas-Dance.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9272,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/9272","url_meta":{"origin":11394,"position":3},"title":"Tempting Fate","author":"Michelle","date":"September 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Tempting Fate (2009) Alissa Johnson Set in England in 1813 Whittaker Cole, Earl of Thurston, and Miss Mirabelle Browning have fought and argued with each other since they were young. Whit's mother, however, has had enough and orders him to bury the hatchet and behave themselves, for it's possible his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Tempting-Fate.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10996,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10996","url_meta":{"origin":11394,"position":4},"title":"Nearly a Lady","author":"Michelle","date":"August 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Nearly a Lady (2011) Alissa Johnson Set in Scotland Trying to figure out what I wanted to read next, I remembered I had a new Alissa Johnson, but couldn't remember which book in the series came first, so I picked one, started reading, and realized this is the one I'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/nearly-a-lady-e1511016913295.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24126,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24126","url_meta":{"origin":11394,"position":5},"title":"Nearly a Lady","author":"Michelle","date":"December 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Nearly a Lady (2011) Alissa Johnson (Haverston Family #1) Set in England during the Napoleonic wars She pushed forward again, into the noise and smell and great wall of people. She\u2019d never seen so many people. She felt as if she were on the verge of being trampled. Panic began\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nearly a Lady","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/nearly-a-lady-e1511016913295.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}