Elizabeth Hanbury

A FRAUDULENT BETROTHAL is more or less standard Regency fare. I should add, classic Regency fare, since it stays safely within the PG range of amorous intentions (so think more Georgette Heyer and less Julia Quinn). And, I have no problems with that, whatsoever. The story combined two of my favorite tropes, in fact—identical twins and mistaken identity, which alone makes it enjoyable for me.

The better chunk of the story is spent with Clarissa, since Marianne (who she replaces) is meant to be missing. I liked her well enough, though she didn’t really grow much of a personality until after realizing her feelings for Leighton. She grew much feistier then—questioning, a little snarky, and very good with the deceiving.

You can tell from how Andersen sets things up that this is meant to be a story about how Clarissa came into her own, but I felt as if it was rushed and inconsistent. Her common sense seems to have fled her rather abruptly at one point in the story, and for a little while, it seemed like every little thing would make her feel so utterly guilty that she had to confess the deception to whoever was closest.

We see little of Marianne until closer to the end, and what little I saw could have been taken one of two ways. Either Marianne wasn’t quite the frivolous birdbrain everyone assumed her to be, and we just didn’t see her enough early in the story to see that, or she was entirely without any common sense in her body and honestly didn’t understand the implications of her actions. A lot of the personality for Marianne is told to us by various sources; very little of it is shown, so it was hard to tell.

What saved the book for me, however, was Leighton. Especially Leighton around page 200. He was pretty interesting to begin with, but he literally steamrolled over everyone and everything to make things work out the way he wanted them. 'What’s that, you say? No marriage license? No worries, chap. I not only got you that, but got you the necessary time off from your job, told everyone you know, and got you all the official papers for it!' (I am paraphrasing, but you get the idea). The entire scene is really something a reader should read themselves, since if I divulge too much of the hilarity of the situation it will give away a lot.

In the end, this was a light, enjoyable read. It was quick, had some pretty amusing moments, and as long as you don’t want too much substance to the characters, quite diverting!

(this review was originally posted at Romance Reader at Heart)… (more)

I won this as part of a RWA prize pack from a recent contest on Anna DeStefano's blog and was a little puzzled at first. This is a slim volume, just at 95 or so pages long and from a publisher and author I had never heard of before. Still, regency short stories peak my interest always!

The stories are, to put it simply, magical. Arguably the easiest to believe is 'Siren's Daughter', since its about two once upon a time lovers and a big big misunderstanding, but I found I liked 'Blue Figured Silk' more because I could feel Shaftesbury's shock and jolt of awareness from Hanbury's writing. And it also has one of the cutest, if silliest, jokes at the very end.

'A Scandal at Midnight' was cute, and I think if it had been longer would have been extremely pleasing. Its the shortest story of the three however and has the least depth. The running theme of a 'misunderstanding' drawing the lovers together is stretched to its limits this time I think.

This does however make me sad that a fellow reviewer comrade of mine read her full length novel, Ice Angel from Robert Hale for Romance Readers at Heart. These samplings of her writing are very good and have a definite charm to them that makes me eager to try longer works of hers.… (more)

This is a Cinderella story set in Regency times, where Lucy feels outshone by her selfish stepmother and stepsister Belinda. Lucy's season was cut short by the death of her father, but now she is back in town for Belinda's season. Belinda has plans to be married by the end of the season, and tries to play Devlyn off against the rake Lord Sneyd. However, Belinda and her mother have misread the situation with Alex, who is really in love with Lucy.

It does go slow in parts - it takes ages for Alex and Lucy to show their hands (which annoys some readers, but is appropriate for Regency period, where everyone has to play by quite rigid rules).

The characters of Belinda and her mother are grotesque, and rather exaggerated, but that's rather the point of a Cinderella stepfamily. There is a "fairy godmother" in Lucy's grandmother who offers both Lucy an escape from her stepmother, and ultimately sets off the meeting between Alex and Lucy.… (more)

This is a Cinderella story set in Regency times, where Lucy feels outshone by her selfish stepmother and stepsister Belinda. Lucy's season was cut short by the death of her father, but now she is back in town for Belinda's season. Belinda has plans to be married by the end of the season, and tries to play Devlyn off against the rake Lord Sneyd. However, Belinda and her mother have misread the situation with Alex, who is really in love with Lucy.

It does go slow in parts - it takes ages for Alex and Lucy to show their hands (which annoys some readers, but is appropriate for Regency period, where everyone has to play by quite rigid rules).

The characters of Belinda and her mother are grotesque, and rather exaggerated, but that's rather the point of a Cinderella stepfamily. There is a "fairy godmother" in Lucy's grandmother who offers both Lucy an escape from her stepmother, and ultimately sets off the meeting between Alex and Lucy.… (more)