Sybil’s review of The School For Heiresses by Sabrina Jeffries, Liz Carlyle, Julia London, Renee Bernard
Historical Romance published by Pocket 26 Dec 2006
This is a very enjoyable anthology. It is fun, flirty, fast and kicks off one ‘sounds like it is going to be grand’ series. The stories tie into The School for Heiresses world created by Jeffries. The heroines have their own personality, which compliments the mix of authors as they have their own style and voice. They tackle a different tried and true theme in romanceland, adding a twist to make it interesting. Two stories worked really well for me, one was okay and one didn’t work at all.
Ten Reasons to Stay by Sabrina Jeffries
The Plot:
‘regency miss trying to escape the evil guardian’s plans to make her marry someone not of her choice to pay off his debt’.
The Characters:
Colin is a very interesting character, who is of mixed race and suddenly finds himself the Earl of Monteith. [If you haven’t read Only a Duke Will Do, you should and you get more of his back-story here as well] Eliza has a pretty good head on her shoulders. And is trying to do something vs waiting for someone to rescue her.
The Twist:
Some naughty books and mixed heritage
The Grade:
Sabrina Jeffries has a great way of taking historical fact and expanding on it. Her world may not always follow the letter of the law of history but they come across as believable. I always find myself closing her books with a smile on my face.
Grade: B
After Midnight by Liz Carlyle
The Plot:
‘regency miss getting caught with a rake so they have to marry’.
The Characters:
Martinique is a beauty. She has a brain to match it and a mysterious past in the West Indies which ties into other characters we get to learn too little about. Justin St. Vrain was a very, very naughty boy. Years ago he ran off to Paris with another man’s wife. Now his father is dead and the title his Justin, he is back and trying to figure out what is next.
The Twist:
Martinique is a courtesan’s daughter. The woman Justin ran off with was his stepmother. And the story starts off a new series!
The Grade:
I love this story and the fact that these people aren’t your normal Regency fare. It might have to do with the fact it has made me way excited about the new series. I can’t wait to spend more time with these characters.
Grade A-
The Merchant’s Gift by Julia London
The Plot:
‘wealthy merchant daughter’s duty is to marry a title’.
The Characters:
Grace, as would be expected, has a hard time trying to mix with the ton. Her duty is to marry a title and little else seems to matter. Barrett Adlaine is nothing more than a merchant and thus she believes not for her.
The Twist:
The hero is pretty betaish and does the chasing.
The Grade:
I don’t like the ‘selling your daughter for a title’ plot. And Mr. Holcomb gets way too much screen time, add in this is a novella and it way drops my enjoyment level. I could never see Grace as anything more than a gold digger, regardless of her but it is for my father and expected of me lines. Adlaine should have ran far and fast away from the chit. He was too good of a hero for Grace.
Grade D
Mischief’s Holiday Renee Bernard
The Plot:
‘Nice guy falls for clumsy regency miss evil cousin tries to steal him’.
At least I think that is what it was going for….
The Characters: Alyssa Martin (regency name?!?) wants to get married, fall in love and live happy ever after. And for once, she would like to stay out of trouble while doing it.
The Twist: The story is more of a ‘traditional’ regency.
The Grade:
Cute story with a sweet heroine but too slapsticky for my taste. And the tone was completely different from the other three in style. It may have worked better for me if this was the second in the anthology then to end with it. Regardless the story didn’t seem to end as much as stop.
Grade C-
If you are looking for a meaty historical, keep looking, but if you are looking to lose yourself with some fun characters for a bit, this is just the ticket. Readers of the series will enjoy it but you can pick it up without having read Sabrina Jeffries’ series and follow along just fine.
If you try it or have tried it let me know. From what I can see, many people enjoyed London’s story the most, which was my least favorite. Got to love that ;).
Next up:
I read this not too long ago but I haven’t got around to writing the post yet. I liked Liz Carlyle’s best, and then Sabrina Jeffries. I find I much prefer Julia London’s contemporaries instead of her historicals, but I still keep on buying both! Renee Barnards was average to me as well.