Midnight Scandals

Sep 02, 2012 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-romance-european

This anthology contains three stories, each centred around the house and estate of Doyle's Grange, Somerset and three romances, approximately forty years apart.

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel
3.5 stars

Portia Temple and Crispin Hope, Lord Northword have known each other for over twenty years. Now twenty-seven and engaged, Portia plants a rowan tree at Doyle's Grange, her brother's home, to honour her forthcoming wedding. It's been ten years since Crispin has been back to Doyle's Grange and ten...more

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Oct 22, 2012 .þµŋψà. [Punya Reviews...] rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: courtney-milan, sherry-thomas, carolyn-jewel

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. My review contains spoilers and they're are mostly my thoughts as I went with the book...

Note: My review and rating is overall (3.5 stars) based on Carolyn Jewel’s “One Starlit Night” (3.5), Courtney Milan’s “What Happened at Midnight” (3.5) and “A Dance in Moonlight” by Sherry Thomas (3.5).

If you’ve read the little note on Courtney Milan’s website, you’d know that all three stories in this novella take place in Doyle’s Grange, Exmoor, time-frame spanning from 1813 to 1856 to 1896.

“One Starlit...more

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Nov 12, 2012 rameau rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, romance, anthology, read-in-2012, theory-good-practice-not, novella, self-published

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel
2 stars

Too big a story for a novella. I'm always hoping writers include the explanations within the text instead of adding flashbacks of footnotes or infodumbs. Jewel did that but, still, I'm not satisfied. Part of me wondered whether or not the story would have benefitted from a short glimpse to the seventeen year old Portia and Northword, instead of just reminding the reader that they were in love years and years before. I definitely think that although Northw...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Laura the Highland Hussy rated it 4 of 5 stars

review posted on Demon Lover's Books & More

Review excludes the last story
I'm not reading the Sherry Thomas story...yet. But only because it looks to be part of a series, and from the reviews I've seen, I won't know what's going on. Once I've read the book before this, I'll come back to the ST story.

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel-3 flames

The actual romance was beautiful and sweet, but I felt it ended a bit too abruptly. For a lovers reunited theme, I wanted more of them. I wanted more tim...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

Okay, I'm going with 4 stars for the anthology as a whole. Reviews of each novella are in reverse order.

Reviewing each novella as I go!

A Dance in Moonlight by Sherry Thomas

A solid 4 stars

So this was the reason I wanted the novella so badly. After reading Ravishing the Heiress, I just HAD to know what happened to Isabelle and was thrilled to discover I would. Buuuuuut then I read the premise. And I was half-concerned about it and half-convinced Sherry Thomas would be able to pull it off (because...more

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Apr 11, 2013 May Mostly Romance rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, anthology

One Starlit Night ของคาโรลิน จิว

เราชอบเรื่องนี้มากที่สุดในเรื่องสั้นสามเรื่องที่รวมอยู่ในหนังสือ Midnight Scandals นะคะ แต่นั่นก็ไม่ใช่เป็นความชื่นชมที่มากมายอะไร เพราะปกติเราไม่ชอบอ่านเรื่องสั้นเป็นทุน

เราชอบความรู้สึกที่พระนางมีให้กัน ความโหยหาคิดถึงกัน ความรักในอดีต ส่วนนี้ได้ใจเราไปแล้ว แต่ช่วงเวลาอื่นในเรื่องกลับไม่น่าสนใจเท่าไหรนัก รวมไปถึงพฤติกรรมของนางเอกที่เป็นปัญหาใหญ่ของเรา (จะบอกว่าเราหัวโบราณก็ได้นะคะ เรารับไม่ได้กับการตัดสินใจของนางเอก) ดังนั้นเราจึงไม่แน่ใจว่า เราจะให้อภัยเธออย่าง...more

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Feb 17, 2013 Kyle rated it 3 of 5 stars

So, it's three novellas - one I liked a lot, one I liked fine, and one I didn't much like.

The first one, One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel, was the worst one for me. I didn't really get a sense of the main characters beyond that they were Meant! To be! Together! Also there was just too much sex. I like a good (or even a half-decent) sex scene as much as the next person, but in a novella there's only so much time available to tell the story, and if you fill up half the word count with boning, y...more

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Nov 19, 2012 Kate K. F. rated it 5 of 5 stars

This anthology kept me up throughout a night as I found myself pulled into all of the stories and I didn't want to stop reading them. The three stories take place at different points in time at a house called Doyle's Grange in England with subtle connections between each one. In terms of the novellas themselves, they each have different personalities and I have some preferences.

The first story concerns Lord Northwood and Portia, the sister of his best friend Magnus who are meeting again after no...more This anthology kept me up throughout a night as I found myself pulled into all of the stories and I didn't want to stop reading them. The three stories take place at different points in time at a house called Doyle's Grange in England with subtle connections between each one. In terms of the novellas themselves, they each have different personalities and I have some preferences.

The first story concerns Lord Northwood and Portia, the sister of his best friend Magnus who are meeting again after not seeing each other for ten years. In those ten years, a lot has changed but their reactions to each other are still built on a powerful mutual attraction. The plot in this story was rather weak, but also not of great importance as what made it a fantastic read was the heat between the two characters and their moments together. I'm adding Carolyn Jewel to my to-read list.

Courtney Milan is one of my favorite romance authors and her entry reminded me why, because she incorporated a complicated plot about embezzlement, what happens when a woman loses her place in the world, abuse and honor within a short story. John Mason and Mary Chartley were engaged to be married until Mary's father appeared to have embezzled from a partnership he was in with John's recently deceased brother and two other men. John is determined to find out what happened to insure that his nephew and his brother's widow will not suffer. Mary is trying to find her place in the world without the supports she thought she could rely on. The great power of this story comes from how John and Mary relearn each other and discover trust and how to build a partnership together. I loved the small joys and intimacies within the story as well as the horrors of a woman searching for her place.

The third story wasn't an easy one for me to get into because I found the set-up worrying. A man and a woman meet and the man happens to be almost a double for the woman's former sweetheart who has turned his back on her. She asks him to come to her that night so she can have an almost last night with her sweetheart's double, he does appear and they end up having a rather strange and sweet night of sharing confidences. I greatly enjoyed the building of the relationship on conversation, sharing intimacies and unexpected shared experiences, but the conceit kept getting in the way. Throughout the story, I kept expecting that it would be revealed that the new man was somehow related to the sweetheart and that would be a plot point, but it never was. It felt like a weak beginning for a strong relationship. Also I found it distracting that there was an added point of view from the former sweetheart and his wife, their parts of the story distracted me and didn't seem to make sense. After reading the excerpt of Sherry Thomas' new book, I can see that these characters are the focus of her most recent novel and it makes a little more sense. I still would have rather read more about the two main characters without the distracting conceit of lookalikes.

I would recommend this anthology to lovers of historical romance as each of the stories were well-written, considerate of their era and had delicious sex scenes. The Courtney Milan story is one that I would use as an introduction to her work as it can stand on its own and highlights all of her strengths. I look forward to reading more of Carolyn Jewel and Sherry Thomas as I enjoyed their stories and can see how I might enjoy them more in novel format.(less)

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Oct 09, 2012 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-2012, romance-regency

Intertwined stories all taking place in the same manor house

Courtney Milan: What Happened at Midnight ***
John goes after Mary's father who has died. He feels his nephew has been cheated out of his inheritance. Eliza knows her Father used the funds to give her an education, but that was not the bulk of the money. The story was not one of Milan's best.

Sherry Thomas: A Dance in Moonlight *****
This is Isabelle's story of what happened to her after Fitz choose his wife over her. If you hadn't read th...more

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Oct 03, 2012 SidneyKay rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The art of villain metamorphosis

I was so excited when I saw that these three authors were doing an anthology together. Love love love most of their works. I am of course speaking of Carolyn Jewel, Courtney Milan, and Sherry Thomas. Since this is an anthology, there is always a chance that the stories will not be as good as a full length novel. I always find it interesting to see how authors I really consider to be powerhouses handle short stories. And, in this case I wasn't disappointed. Now, we...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Lulu_burroughs rated it 4 of 5 stars

Midnight Scandals features three novellas by three different authors with stories that are loosely interconnected by a small English property called Doyle's Grange. Carolyn Jewel's story is set during the Regency period and features two lovers who were cruelly and tragically separated due to their differences in social standing. Courtney Milan's contribution takes place in the 1850's and features two lover's driven apart by the scandal of suicide and embezellment. Finally, Sherry Thomas delivers...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction, romance

This stories in this anthology tie together in an interesting way. The underlying idea is really neat. Peek in at three different occupants of a lovely English House (Doyle's Grange) at three different points of the 19th century. Add in a romance to each story, and there you have it.

All the stories succeed as romances. The first two stories (Jewel's and Milan's) feature lovers who were parted and now come together again. Thomas's story features a love that starts from a case of mistaken identity...more

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Aug 29, 2012 Evelyn Archer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Midnight Scandals is an anthology featuring three novellas set in the same house but not the same time period. I have long been a fan of both Sherry Thomas and Courtney Milan but had never read anything by Carolyn Jewel before. I am now a fan of Ms. Jewel’s too – I really enjoyed her novella One Starlit Night which is the first story in the book. It takes place in 1813. Courtney Milan’s What Happened at Midnight is set in 1856 and Sherry Thomas’ A Dance in Moonlight is set in 1896. Most antholog...more

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Mar 07, 2013 ARe Cafe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: lady-rhyleighs-picks, are-top-picks

Midnight Scandals is the ARe Cafe top pick in historical romance for January.

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel – Crispin Hope, fourth Viscount Northwood, and Portia Temple had been friends since they were children, but according to Portia’s new sister-in-law it is unseemly for her to address the man she had called her best friend so informally, and it would not do for her to show him anything other than a proper lady’s notice. Crispin had once thought his desires for Portia had finally been ext...more Midnight Scandals is the ARe Cafe top pick in historical romance for January.

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel – Crispin Hope, fourth Viscount Northwood, and Portia Temple had been friends since they were children, but according to Portia’s new sister-in-law it is unseemly for her to address the man she had called her best friend so informally, and it would not do for her to show him anything other than a proper lady’s notice. Crispin had once thought his desires for Portia had finally been extinguished, but now, as her brother’s patron, he is thrust back into her company. There is nothing more he wants than to finally claim her. Their past, twisted by of the words of others, put them on a painful path without each other. The past threatens to repeat itself when yet another person forces their opinions and decisions upon them.

What Happened at Midnight by Courtney Milan – Mary Chartley had to keep her head up and deal with her father’s business partners. She had to stay strong and find a way to escape their wrath, especially when her fiancé was one of her accusers. John Mason believed Mary when she said she knew nothing of the money her dad had embezzled before he committed suicide, but it changed the direction of his life with the beauty, despite his desire for her still. Her disappearance only strengthens his resolve that she was a part of the deceit.

A Dance in the Moonlight by Sherry Thomas – Isabelle Englewood had her life upended when her beloved was taken from her and her life’s path altered completely. When he admits that the child bride he had been forced to marry instead of her had captured his heart, she is heartbroken all over again. Seeing a man who looks like Fitz come up the lane to the house she had rented seemed like her dreams had come true. She launched herself into his arms but what should have been a rekindling of hearts was suddenly something very different, and with a man nothing alike her Fitz. Ralston Fitzwilliam never thought he would get over the death of his bride. Eight years later, he stumbles into the arms of a most compelling woman and is trapped by her kiss. Her reasons behind the kiss might be purely selfish, but she aroused something he had long held dormant.

I decided to make this anthology my recommended read this month because I fell in love with the tales as they intersected in a very unique way. I loved how the three independent authors wove their stories together while placing them decades apart. They shared one location that made their tales even more fun to follow. The reintroduction of Lady Northwood later on in Mary’s story was very funny and was one of my favorite moments in the anthology. Take a chance on this story. Three very strong women find their loves after dealing with their own personal misunderstandings, be he someone from their past or one that bears a striking resemblance to the one that got away.(less)

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Oct 21, 2012 Sherri *Mistress of Laundry* rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, ebook, historical-romance, ntm-author

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel - 4 stars. A new author for me but I very much liked her story. Past young lovers reunited older but perhaps not wiser. Started out a little slow but it worked. I felt like I was in the moment with them and that's always good.

What happened at Midnight by Courtney Milan - 2.5 stars. For an author I absolutely adore, this was a disappointment. The writing itself is superb, but I didn't care for the characters or the story. The hero starts out eaten up with retrib...more

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Oct 17, 2012 Grace rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-romance, novellas-etc, 2012-all, 2012-new, ebook

I really, really enjoyed the first two stories in this anthology and only wish they had been longer because I think there was a little more to them than could be explored in limited pages.

The third story, Isabelle's story from Sherry Thomas' Fitzhugh trilogy, was perfectly fine. My only problem is I wasn't especially interested in Isabelle's happy ending and it brought back all of my extremely negative feelings about Ravishing the Heiress (which is tied with Poppy Hathaway's book for my least fa...more

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Sep 03, 2012 Mandi Schreiner rated it 4 of 5 stars

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel

Viscount Northword or Crispin is back home after ten years. Much has changed, especially his relationship with his childhood friend and lover, Portia Temple. Years and years ago, they fell in love, but they had some dark days together, as often young people do, and had a bad break. Crispin went on to leave and marry someone else, while Portia has been stuck in her small town, living with her brother and his wife Eleanor. Eleanor wants great things for Portia – L...more One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel

Viscount Northword or Crispin is back home after ten years. Much has changed, especially his relationship with his childhood friend and lover, Portia Temple. Years and years ago, they fell in love, but they had some dark days together, as often young people do, and had a bad break. Crispin went on to leave and marry someone else, while Portia has been stuck in her small town, living with her brother and his wife Eleanor. Eleanor wants great things for Portia – London, fancy gowns, and a husband that will further her husband’s career. Portia just wants out of her brother’s house, and has decided to marry a local man, even though it is not a love match. But now Crispin is back, and seeing him makes them both realize, the past can’t be forgotten.

This is a story of two people who loved each other so much, but had so much hurt between them for the past ten years that it is too scary and too hard to think of ever having that love again. They are now ten years older, and wiser and while they set out just to be acquaintances, the attraction between them can’t be ignored. Carolyn Jewel writes the best sexual tension and romance scenes. So sensual and always wicked. Portia is so unhappy in her life, that it takes a great deal of effort on Crispin’s part to show her how to be happy again. They have so much history together, some memories so good, some memories so devastating. But they slowly work through them, and Crispin finally convinces Portia to take another chance. Really well done romance. Rating: B+>/b>

What Happened at Midnight by Courtney Milan

Mary Chartley’s father embezzled money from his partnership and then took his life. And now his partners want to be paid. While some of the partners are threatening Mary harm, the youngest partner John Mason comes on the scene and demands at least a little respect for Mary. They met because of this partnership, and have been courting. But John really needs his investment back, needing the money to support his young nephew who lost his father. John is certain Mary must know what her father did with the money, but she refuses to speak. With nothing left to do, they part ways.

Eighteen months later, John by chance hears from someone that Mary is now a lady’s companion in Doyle’s Grange. He heads up there to confront her again about the missing money, but he finds a different Mary. This Mary is working for a man who is imprisoning his wife and Mary. She is not being paid, and is living in forced isolation. As he starts to learn the truth about the embezzlement, John and Mary start a new friendship, and a plan to escape the man she works for.

Courtney Milan writes a novella with such a different feel. John is an expert at drainage fields, and finds himself outside, tackling problems and finding solutions. Mary is in a prison of sorts, while she is not being physically abused, she is not getting a salary, and she can’t leave the house. The oppressiveness of their situation is really intense. And while John is protective of her, he is also not the alpha, growly type so it takes a little time for him to analyze everything.. He soon learns the truth about the missing money and that Mary is desperate for a friend. I like how their relationship is mended and trust slowly builds. This novella takes place years after Carolyn Jewel’s but set in the same world. We see the characters briefly from her novella here and the crossover.works nicely.

This one isn’t as sensual as Carolyn Jewel’s installment, but I found it romantic nonetheless. Rating: B

A Dance in Moonlight by Sherry Thomas

Taking place right where Ravishing the Heiress ends, Isabelle is heart broken over losing not only her husband in India, but then a second chance at love with Lord Fitzhugh. By chance she meets Fitzwilliam, who not only shares the name of ‘Fitz’ but looks exactly like him. So much so, Isabelle kisses him thinking it is the Fitz that just broke her heart. The new Fitz also lost his wife, so as the two of them start to talk, Isabelle realizes she has a lot in common with the new Fitz, even if he does remind her so much of the man she lost.

I didn’t like this contribution. I didn’t like that the new Fitz resembles the old Fitz so much. It just felt weird. This is a super short story, and not enough time is spent to give us a believable love story. This feels almost like an extended epilogue to Ravishing the Heiress with a quick love story thrown in, rather than Isabelle and Fitz’s story. Didn’t work very well for me. Rating: C-(less)

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Jan 01, 2013 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: romance

The entire anthology was above average and well-worth a read.

My least favorite story was the one by Carolyn Jewel. Say 3 stars. Eleanor completely distracted me from the story; it was like trying to look at a work of art with a clown dancing in your side view. Maybe some people can ignore tye overwhelming presence of the clown, but I could not. Had the novella been a novel, maybe there would have been enough to temper Eleanor for me. The writing was lovely, the angst and romance well done but El...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Jen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fv, milan, jewel

Portia and Northwood- 3 stars
John and Mary- 4 stars
Isabelle and Fitzwilliam- 2 stars

Overall 3 stars for the anthology. Very cute how each story tied together.

Full review on Fiction Vixen Book Reviews

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel

Viscount Northwood and Portia Temple were teenage lovers. Too swept away by passion and the blush of new love they never thought there would be consequences to face. Those consequences came in the form of a baby. But when Northwood told his father he was going to ma...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Ana T. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthology, read-in-2013

I picked up this anthology because I have been curious about Courtney Milan. I read a few reviews that made it sound interesting and I thought I would give it a go. I was quite surprised to see that the stories were very intense. I guess I'm not used to see this kind of emotions in short stories. Unfortunately I wasn't entirely convinced by them. It might be that I wasn't in the best mood for this as I have been more into light and sunny reads lately...

Carolyn Jewel's story about a couple who on...more I picked up this anthology because I have been curious about Courtney Milan. I read a few reviews that made it sound interesting and I thought I would give it a go. I was quite surprised to see that the stories were very intense. I guess I'm not used to see this kind of emotions in short stories. Unfortunately I wasn't entirely convinced by them. It might be that I wasn't in the best mood for this as I have been more into light and sunny reads lately...

Carolyn Jewel's story about a couple who once had a relationship was well written but I felt the characters were cold and unfeeling; I couldn't feel any empathy with them and was never engaged in the story. From the very beginning all I could think about was that if they just talked to each other they would realise they were still in love. I never really felt the angst and sorrow that they were supposedly feeling and that prevented from enjoying it. Grade: 2/5

In Milan's story I did love that she gives us different characters with different, real life worries but I had some trouble buying the relationship between the hero and the heroine. I had some trouble believing that the heroine would skip off at night so easily and especially that she would just appear naked in front of the hero trying to make amends. I did like the premise very much, I especially liked the secondary story about marriage and how one's husband could control the wife so completely and when that stopped happening but I guess I need a longer story to have the action develop a bit slower in the bedroom department. Grade 3/5

In the Sherry Thomas story I didn't like that the hero resembled the heroine's former love so much. I kept waiting for it to be revealed that he was a long lost twin or cousin or something... I wanted to be interested in the story but that resemblance kept putting me off. I am now curious about the story of said former love which I think is told in Ravishing the Heiress. Grade 2/5

The three stories are connected by the fact that they all take place in the same house - Doyle's Grange - in different periods. I thought that was a nice touch.
(less)

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Sep 16, 2012 Francesca the Fierce ~Eyelet Ecstasy~ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthologies-novellas, books-read-2012, genre-historical

This review was posted at Under the Covers

I bought this book because a. the cover is gorgeous and b. I love Courtney Milan. Overall, I thought the premise of how this anthology was set up was very clever and interesting. See, all the short stories in this anthology revolve around one particular house. Different people and different times, but always around Doyle's Grange. I really liked that. But I can't say the same for all the stories in this anthology and they are better analyzed individually...more This review was posted at Under the Covers

I bought this book because a. the cover is gorgeous and b. I love Courtney Milan. Overall, I thought the premise of how this anthology was set up was very clever and interesting. See, all the short stories in this anthology revolve around one particular house. Different people and different times, but always around Doyle's Grange. I really liked that. But I can't say the same for all the stories in this anthology and they are better analyzed individually.

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel - 4 stars

Amazing! Just amazing! I have found another author I want to read everything she's ever written. This story was sweet and romantic and hot. The writing was beautiful. I felt like I wanted to keep making status updates on my Goodreads progress because there were so many beautiful quotes. Viscount Northword used to live next door to Doyle's Grange and was very good friends with Portia and her brother all through childhood and adolescence. Then he fell in love with Portia and although we don't know what happened at the beginning or the whys, they do not end up married. He goes on to marry someone else and move away. Years later Portia is now to be married to another man and the Viscount returns. And all their feelings for each other come right back. Their love trascended time and I could feel it from the very first page. They didn't fight it, they didn't abide by propriety of the times. They got kinky in the stables. And they got a second chance at happiness. Loved, loved, loved!

This time they were old enough to know there was nothing new in the world and that they did not invent passion, they created it between them, and it was that which was new and rare.

What Happened at Midnight by Courtney Milan - 4 stars

Courtney Milan did not disappoint either. Being that she was the reason I wanted to read this, her story was good. Even though now it's my second favorite of this anthology. Mary is hiding out after the death of her father and the charges of embezzlement against him. John is looking for her for two reasons. He hasn't stopped loving her, after all they were to be married. But also, he's the one responsible for finding her, and hopefully the money, that was stolen from his nephew. He finds her, maybe by accident, at Doyle's Grange where she had taken a position as a lady's companion. John is a bit rough around the edges when you would expect someone with his money to be a bit more refined but that worked really well for me. He knows he wants Mary but he still respects her, even though he really doesn't deny his attraction even when he thought she was a part of the theft. A bit less hot than the previous read but still a lot of sexual tension and sparks between these two.

A Dance in Moonlight by Sherry Thomas - 3 stars

I didn't get it. I couldn't connect with the character or the story all that much. I didn't have a problem with the writing for the story itself was nothing that got me crazy. Isabelle's husband died and she comes to Doyle's Grange in the hopes that she could finally be with the man she loved before, Fitzhugh. But Fitzhugh is married and doesn't want an affair. Except that one day a man knocks on her door and looks SO MUCH like Fitzhugh she thought he had come back and changed his mind. Except it wasn't him. Fitzwilliam was also staying nearby and had seen the beautiful woman before and was enthralled. He even continues to be attracted after she jumped his bones because he looked like her ex-lover. I guess I really never bought the fact that Isabelle loved Fitzwilliam instead of using him as a substitute for Fizhugh, and I couldn't understand how he could get over that. I haven't read the series that this short story goes along with, but I don't think it relates that much to the Fitzhugh's that you couldn't read this first. But I do have to say that, even though I have Sherry Thomas' series on my TBR and I'll get to those eventually, it's not going to the top of the list.(less)

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Sep 01, 2012 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, historical-romance, courtney-milan, carolyn-jewel, sherry-thomas, kindle-lendable

One Starlight Night by Carolyn Jewel

A wonderful romance about a love thought gone! Portia and Viscount Northwood shared a brief, passionate affair ten years ago and the ramifications are still being felt today. It caused deep heartache for Portia and Northwood and also her brother. But with Portia set to wed a dull man just to escape her maddening sister in law, Northwood can not let his feelings be disregarded any longer. A wonderfully rounded romance dealing with the difficulties of a second c...more One Starlight Night by Carolyn Jewel

A wonderful romance about a love thought gone! Portia and Viscount Northwood shared a brief, passionate affair ten years ago and the ramifications are still being felt today. It caused deep heartache for Portia and Northwood and also her brother. But with Portia set to wed a dull man just to escape her maddening sister in law, Northwood can not let his feelings be disregarded any longer. A wonderfully rounded romance dealing with the difficulties of a second chance romance and great supporting characters (seriously, Portia's sister in law is going to be someone who want to smack!) with a good dose of steam! I could have used a mini epilogue though but thats just me...love my epilogues :) 4 1/2 stars

What Happened at Midnight by Courtney Milan

This was another wonderful romance about a love thought gone as well but in a totally different vein! Mary Chartley is forced to take a position as a lady's companion after her fathers death and subsequent revelations about his embezzlement. To make matters worse, her fiance, John, is one of the men he stole from. Devastated, she returns his ring and flees saying she has no idea where the money went. When John should suddenly show up at a neighboring estate of her new position, she is sure he is there to turn her in. But John sees how subdued Mary has become, he is determined to find out what happened once and for all. As they find scant time together, as Mary is being 'protected' by her employer and has no time for herself, they slowly find there way back to each other and a very satisfying conclusion to the embezzlement dilemma. Courtney Milan is one of my favorite authors and she has yet again crafted a romance that is beautiful and deep with an eye for detail that I enjoy. I may have learned a bit more about drainage systems than I would have liked but it sets the tone for the period very well. The home at which Mary works is the common theme amongst these novellas are connected and it is obvious the authors communicated well with each other because there are just enough details to tie them together. 4 1/2 stars

A Dance in Moonlight by Sherry Thomas

My review for this will come at a later date as I have not yet read Ravishing the Heiress and I know this novella features a secondary character from that book and I prefer to read books in order :)

For the two stories I did read, I would highly recommend this book! (And I have no doubt the third will be just as good.) Each author has managed to craft a complete, well written, highly enjoyable story with equal bits of romance, emotion, steam and with an attention to detail for the time period they are writing in. I hope to see these authors collaborate together again in the future! (less)

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Sep 20, 2012 Lord Rose rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: era-victorian, romance, genre-historical-romance, era-regency

Didn't like the first one much. The heroine kind of annoyed me, but the H annoyed me even more. Maybe this is an odd problem to have, but the fact that the heroine had been languishing while he'd been out getting married and having affairs really bothered me. The story didn't really draw me in, either.

I liked Courtney Milan's better, although it just seemed lacking something. I think I wanted to see more of their emotions and less of their problem solving.

Sherry Thomas' was my favorite of them a...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Ilze rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: courtney-milan, sherry-thomas, novellas

An odd collection of stories that all have a connnection to an old English country house called Doyle's Grange. Sherry Thomas' story is the best of the 3, but not nearly as good as her full-length books. It is also hard to suspend disbelief that the hero of the story looks almost identical, except for his hair color, to the heroine's lost love, and that nobody in English high society ever commented about these 2 almost being twins, even though one is the heir of a duke and the other is an earl a...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Jess the Romanceaholic rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthologies, historical, historical-experienced-heroine, estranged-lovers-or-marriage

This is a Quickie Review. For the full review, please visit The Romanceaholic.

Overall, this was a lovely anthology of interconnected historical romance from some of the most talented authors in the genre today. While there were facets of each story that didn’t quite appeal to me, the writing, and more importantly, the romance was exceptional across the entire anthology.

Recommended for fans of estranged lovers, letting go of past mistakes, and of allowing yourself to find happiness.

A very solid 4...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Booklover1335 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-december, 2012

All three stories were good and are linked by location through many decades. It's actually the one thing that I didn't like because it forced the reader to acknowledge the passage of time and the deaths of characters that you may have grown to love in one of the previous stories in this anthology.

I loved Carolyn Jewel's story, it was actually my favorite of all three stories. I would give it a 4.25 stars/ 3.75 sensuality

Courtney Milan's story was my second favorite story, though I think some of...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Kaetrin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthology, ebook, historical

3.5 stars, rounded up.

Why I read it: I'm a fan of all three of these authors so I snapped this one up soon after it was released. I didn't know what I was in the mood to read and felt unable to make a commitment to a full length novel so I turned to this - which had the advantage of being guaranteed to please as well as not requiring a lot of investment.

Why only 2/3? I haven't read the Sherry Thomas novella, A Dance in the Moonlight, yet - only because I have her recent novels on my TBR and thi...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, historical-fiction, novellas, romance-novels

One Starlit Night by Carolyn Jewel

I didn't enjoy this one all that much. There's too much back story that we just hear about in side comments, and that back story is where the real relationship building happened. I also found the circumstances of their separation 10 years prior rather unbelievable for the time period. They also argued in circles a lot which may be realistic but is frustrating to read and went on for a little too long.

What Happened at Midnight by Courtney Milan

Although I didn't...more

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Nov 10, 2012 willaful rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: story-novella-or-anthology, series, reunited-or-have-history, lusting-monologues-crotch-updates, angsty-goodness

Three loosely linked historical romances share the same setting, an English country cottage, at approximately 40 year intervals during the Regency and Victorian eras. (This allows the couples in each story to still be alive during the following story, which sentimental me appreciated. I was expecting to be a little creeped out by the thoughts of their deaths.)

"One Starlit Night" by Carolyn Jewel is a reunion story, notable for a highly unusual plot twist. (view spoiler)...more

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Oct 25, 2012 Juli rated it 5 of 5 stars

These three authors are all auto-buy for me; they write wonderful historical romances. They all know how to handle the novella length, too; these three stories are just right, not feeling rushed or crammed into the shorter form.

The stories are loosely linked by their location, Doyle's Grange, a stately home used by a variety of different families over the years, and by some minor overlapping of characters. The three stories span the 19th century as three different couples work out complicated re...more These three authors are all auto-buy for me; they write wonderful historical romances. They all know how to handle the novella length, too; these three stories are just right, not feeling rushed or crammed into the shorter form.

The stories are loosely linked by their location, Doyle's Grange, a stately home used by a variety of different families over the years, and by some minor overlapping of characters. The three stories span the 19th century as three different couples work out complicated relationships and recover from the mistakes and misunderstandings of their past.

In "One Starlit Night" by Carolyn Jewel, the main characters are friends who were lovers when they were very young. They have moved on, and yet they realize that they still have a strong attraction between them. I love second-chance romances (hey, I'm living one!), and this story does justice to the difficulties involved in acknowledging those feelings and coming to grips with what went wrong the first time in order to be able to love again/still with a real hope of lasting happiness. An added bonus here is a very find secondary character, a passive-aggressive sister-in-law who I thought was written perfectly.

"What Happened at Midnight" by Courtney Milan is a powerful story, with an insight into the vulnerability and resourcefulness of women in this period, as well as the clever understanding and use of the legal system that I've come to expect from this author. I loved how the women came to support and care about each other, and how integral that was to the resolution of their difficulties. Men and women having respect for each other and being able to work together on both internal and external problems are at the heart of this love story.

"A Dance in Moonlight" by Sherry Thomas was the story I was most anticipating in this collection, because it features the "other woman" character from Thomas' recent novel, Ravishing the Heiress, which I really enjoyed. I didn't find Isabelle to be a particularly sympathetic character in the novel, so I was interested to see things from her point of view. The premise of the story might be hard for some readers to swallow; it hinges on the uncanny resemblance between Ralston Fitzwilliam and Fitzhugh, the hero of the earlier novel whom Isabelle has loved all her life. But if you just go with that, the story really works.(less)

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Midnight Scandals (Fitzhugh Trilogy #2.5)

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