Book 6: Dame Fortune's Fancy by Phyllis Taylor Pianka

Dame Fortune's Fancy by Phyllis Taylor Pianka
My rating: 2 of 5 stars on Goodreads

Altered Goodreads review.  Contains minor spoilers.

I wasn't sure whether to rate this one star or two stars.  I rated a previous Regency by another author two stars (Scandal Broth by Marian Devon), but these two aren't of equal nature, since I enjoyed the other much more than this one.   But I'm not quite sure this novel deserves an one-star rating, because I didn't strongly dislike it.  That's the problem with this one. I didn't strongly dislike this novel, but I didn't really like it either.

Book 5: Cupboard Kisses by Barbara Metzger

Cupboard Kisses by Barbara Metzger
My rating: 5 of 5 stars on Goodreads

Modified from Goodreads review; will contain a few spoilers.

There is so much to enjoy about this novel. Such as the first meeting between the hero (Captain Chase/Lord Winstoke) and heroine (Cristobel Swann), although I have to admit I don't like have his rakish behavior thrown so hard in my face. The two get off on the wrong foot right away, but in such a funny way (including some literal tripping over Cristobel's harp)! But how could things not get off on the wrong foot, given that he "stole" (won in a card game) her inheritance. I can't help but think how differently this novel would have gone if Chase could have seen her, but I'm glad he didn't. Anyway, despite the less than pleasant meeting, Chase is a good guy. He tries to help Cristobel.

Book 4: A Gift of Violets by Janette Radcliffe

A Gift of Violets by Janette Radcliffe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads

This is an altered version of my Goodreads review.  It contains more details from the novel, so it may contain spoilers.

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure why I liked A Gift of Violets as well as I did.   There are some copy-editing errors and some craft flaws, the most notable of the latter deal with characterization of the heroine, Viola Marchmont.

A Goodreads To-Read Bookshelf Dedicated to the 500!

I got industrious today and started cataloging my 500.  These are a mixture of Regency, Georgian, and Gothics.  My main reason for doing this was because I want to reorganize my Regency shelves so that the traditional or sweet Regencies can sit side-by-side, no matter where I found them.  Before I had to keep the 500s on the 500 bookcase, to make sure I wouldn't forget their origin.  This way I don't have to worry about it.

Also, I'm just a little curious to see how many books my trove actually contains.  I'm still holding at around 560 as an estimate, but I'm not sure how far off this is.

Anyway, today, I did one layer of one shelf--except for 5 books that I will have to manually add to Goodreads.  The total?  37 (+5).  So on one layer of one shelf I have 42 books.  Wow.  :-)  I have some reading ahead of me, don't I?


ETA:  It seems like there may be fewer than 500 actual Regencies: about 480 out of 558.  I filtered out the most obvious non-Regencies, but I a few I won't find until I start reading.

A Ton of Books

Bride of Vengeance

by Rose Marie Abbot

tagged: a-500-regency-shelf-to-read

Falconer's Hall

by Jacquelyn Aeby

tagged: a-500-regency-shelf-to-read

The Five-Minute Marriage

by Joan Aiken

tagged: a-500-regency-shelf-to-read

The Smile Of The Stranger

by Joan Aiken

tagged: a-500-regency-shelf-to-read

The Prudent Partnership

by Barbara Allister

tagged: a-500-regency-shelf-to-read

Completed Review - Book 3: Regency Christmas Wishes by Multiple Authors

Regency Christmas Wishes by Sandra Heath
My rating: 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads

This is a modified version of my Goodreads review.  This contains more spoilers than my Goodreads review.

It is difficult to judge an anthology as a whole.  It is made up of different works appealing to different readers, different works with different strengths and shortcomings.  It is also difficult to judge romance in novella form.  It just rarely works well; things go too fast to be believable.  Finally, there is the theme, which makes makes the writer's job that much more difficult.  I tried to keep all this in mind while reviewing this anthology.

In an anthology about Christmas, I want the tales to lift my spirits, make me laugh, or cause a sniffle. I don't want them to depress my spirits and force me to look at the dreary parts of human nature. "Following Yonder Star" (Emma Jensen) and "The Merry Magpie" (Sandra Heath) did this.