A couple of quick Harlequin reviews…
My Lady Reluctant (#497) by Laurie Grant
Published 1 Jan 2000 by Harlequin Historical
This is the sequel to My Lady Midnight. MLM wasn’t great and neither is MLR. It is pretty cliché. It isn’t “bad,” per se, even though I’ve been fussing about bad books. It is just really light, I guess. It certainly isn’t what I’d call a “good” book A lot of things are just stated instead of shown which takes a lot away for me.
Grade: C+
Â
The Brides Of Christmas (Anthology) by Jo Beverly, Margaret Moore, and Deborah Simmons
Published 1 Nov 2005 by HQN
This anthology was pretty good as anthologies go. I’m not crazy about them because the length of the stories insures they will be less developed. I try to leave that out of my rating because it isn’t fair to subtract for qualities that can’t be avoided. My anthology ratings assume that the stories are a bit rushed and under-developed.
    The Wise Virgin by Jo Beverley, Grade: B+
This one had good characters and tension.
    The Vagabond Knight by Margaret Moore, Grade: B-
This one was very down to earth and I liked that. It was a bit on the boring side a lot of the time, though.
    Unexpected Guest by Deborah Simmons, Grade: A
I love the de Burgh family, so I can’t really say how this story would be for someone who hadn’t read any of the other books. I’m sure it wouldn’t be nearly as good. Campion (The Earl) is very much in character but he may seem to be behaving oddly if you don’t already know him.
I was already in love with him before opening this story so all I felt was delight to see him find love again. I’ve ached over his loneliness even while he sought the best for his sons, which always meant they would leave home. The line “What about my Joy?” tore my heart out. Oh, still does, I’m getting misty remembering it. When he gets past his self imposed boundaries he shows us again why his sons are the to-die-for heroes they are (sigh). They learned it from their father.
That said, I don’t suggest reading it if you haven’t read the other de Burgh books, first. You need to go into this story already knowing this man.
Composite Grade: B
