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24th out of 167 books
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The Heart of Christmas: A Handful of Gold\ The Season for Suitors\ This Wicked Gift (Carhart 0.5)
by
Mary Balogh,
Nicola Cornick (Goodreads Author), Courtney Milan (Goodreads Author)
"A Handful of Gold"
A love story from "New York Times" bestselling author Mary Balogh
Not only is Julian Dare dashing and wealthy, but he's the heir to an earldom. So what do you get a man who has everything? Innocent and comely Verity Ewing plans on giving Julian her heart--the most precious gift of all.
"The Season for Suitors"
An original roman
...moreMass Market Paperbound, 378 pages
Published
October 1st 2009
by Harlequin Books
(first published September 18th 2009)
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A Handful of Gold by Mary Balogh was my least favorite story in this anthology. We have the same old rehash of a plot with a gentleman rake who is bored in London surrounded by all his wealth. Julian Dare, Viscount Folingsby is out of sorts because his father is forcing him to marry. He’s twenty nine after all and it’s about time he settled down and has an heir. Julian has not finished sowing his oats but decided some relaxation is in order when his friend, Bertrand (what is up with that name?) ...more
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I won this book from a giveaway from Courtney Milan (one of the authors of the collection). I must say that it was a treat! I hadn't had the pleasure of reading any of the authors before, and thoroughly enjoyed all three.
I loved the visuals Mary Balogh painted in "A Handful of Gold." I could almost see the snowflakes clinging to me, smell the christmas dinner, and feel the warmth that new love can give. Nicola Cornick's characters in "The Season for Suitors"...more
I loved the visuals Mary Balogh painted in "A Handful of Gold." I could almost see the snowflakes clinging to me, smell the christmas dinner, and feel the warmth that new love can give. Nicola Cornick's characters in "The Season for Suitors"...more
Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress"
rated it
Recommends it for:
Fans of delightful heroes, Christmas historical romance collections
I don't have much to say about the first two stories, except that they were good. Both the Balogh story and the Cornick stories are reformed rake stories (it's fairly clear if you read my reviews that rakes are not my favorite types of heroes by far). I felt that the metamorphosis of Ms. Balogh's rake was a little more convincing. When I read a story about a rake, I really have to be convinced that he has depth, or he's just another one of far too many in historical romance. He's really got to...more
Actually I only read the Balogh novella and the Milan novella, which brought her a lot of praise at the end of 2009.
The Balogh story is not one of her best, because while it has lovely set pieces of communal Christmas cheer and a cute vicar and his wife, it also has improbably acceptance of a good-hearted prostitued as the lady of the house - and, I felt, a lot of didactic finger wagging.
The Milan was fascinating simply because it wasn't set among the well-off regency set...more
The Balogh story is not one of her best, because while it has lovely set pieces of communal Christmas cheer and a cute vicar and his wife, it also has improbably acceptance of a good-hearted prostitued as the lady of the house - and, I felt, a lot of didactic finger wagging.
The Milan was fascinating simply because it wasn't set among the well-off regency set...more
My Twitter friend, Jamie is guest reviewing today!!
“A Handful of Gold” by Mary Ballogh
The handsome, wealthy rake Julian Dare, Viscount Follingsby has led the bachelor life for quite some time. His father feels it is high time he settles down and marries. Unfortunately, Julian is not happy with the heiress his family has chosen for him. He feels it is his duty to oblige his family’s wishes, as they have always given him their undying love and loyalty. When given the ...more
“A Handful of Gold” by Mary Ballogh
The handsome, wealthy rake Julian Dare, Viscount Follingsby has led the bachelor life for quite some time. His father feels it is high time he settles down and marries. Unfortunately, Julian is not happy with the heiress his family has chosen for him. He feels it is his duty to oblige his family’s wishes, as they have always given him their undying love and loyalty. When given the ...more
This book earns two stars solely for Balogh's contribution. Although it felt like a mishmash of her previous Christmas novellas, I can say that I was entertained enough to see the story through. The second novella, The Season for Suitors, was simply bland and unoriginal; I save my full wrath for the third, This Wicked Gift. While I like the premise of a couple of actual working class people (because the romance industry has peopled regency England with an improbable number of dukes, viscounts...more
In reality, the ratings would have gone more like:
A Handful of Gold: 2 Stars
A Season for Suitors: 3 Stars
This Wicked Gift: 4 Stars
I thought the first was woefully inadequate in terms of character development, justification for how the hero and heroine fell in love, and with superficial secondary characters and motivation. And, though this might not bother others, the aspect of faith and Jesus in the story was a bit too overwhelming for me. I suppose this could be ...more
A Handful of Gold: 2 Stars
A Season for Suitors: 3 Stars
This Wicked Gift: 4 Stars
I thought the first was woefully inadequate in terms of character development, justification for how the hero and heroine fell in love, and with superficial secondary characters and motivation. And, though this might not bother others, the aspect of faith and Jesus in the story was a bit too overwhelming for me. I suppose this could be ...more
This book has three stories in it. The first one is "A Handful Of Gold" by Mary Balogh. I found this story the least enjoyable of the stories. It seemed to take forever for the story to draw me in, and I just found I did not connect with the characters. This story would have rated 3 stars at best for me. The second story is " The Season For Suitors" by Nicola Cornick. I found this to be my favorite hands down. I really enjoyed this story and would have given it a five star ra...more
'Tis The Season for Falling in Love...
A Handful of Gold: a love story from "New York Times" bestselling author Mary Balough
Not only is Julian Dare dashing and wealthy, but he's the heir to an earldom. So what do you get a man who has everything? Innocent and comely Verity Ewing plans on giving Julian her heart - the most precious gift of all.
The Season For Suitors: a captivating romance from Nicola Cornick
After some close encounters with rakes in whi...more
A Handful of Gold: a love story from "New York Times" bestselling author Mary Balough
Not only is Julian Dare dashing and wealthy, but he's the heir to an earldom. So what do you get a man who has everything? Innocent and comely Verity Ewing plans on giving Julian her heart - the most precious gift of all.
The Season For Suitors: a captivating romance from Nicola Cornick
After some close encounters with rakes in whi...more
This is another book of short stories that includes a story by my favorite author, Mary Balogh. This one is named A Handful of Gold. Verity Ewing is desperate. Her sister is ill and her family is impoverished. Unbeknown to her mother, she has been making money as an opera dancer, but not enough. The real money is in becoming a mistress and she has plenty of offers. She accepts the offer to go away for Christmas week from Julian Dare. Julian is avoiding his family because they are becoming quite ...more
A Handful of Gold - 2 stars
Boring, generic story of the jaded rake transformed by the surprisingly virtuous opera dancer. Balogh skimped on characterization and emotion, instead playing tropes and archetypes like playing cards.
The Season for Suitors - 3 stars
Entirely forgettable story, but told well. Sebastian and Clara are adorable with their easy regard for each other - at times engaging in friendly bickering and at others barely keeping their mutual desire ...more
Boring, generic story of the jaded rake transformed by the surprisingly virtuous opera dancer. Balogh skimped on characterization and emotion, instead playing tropes and archetypes like playing cards.
The Season for Suitors - 3 stars
Entirely forgettable story, but told well. Sebastian and Clara are adorable with their easy regard for each other - at times engaging in friendly bickering and at others barely keeping their mutual desire ...more
Not a review; notes to self. Balogh again,wonderful - tho her Xmas stories get schmaltzy. HH is opera singer accompanying a duke (of course) to a house in country for 1 week. H doesn't bed her when he discovers she's a virgin, so romance evolves more slowly. A parson, his wife and their children are stranded nearby and come to the house -- all celebrate Xmas. Nicola Cornick - again, didn't like her female characters. Courtney Milan - interesting setting; a circulating library, but not much ...more
I only read the Mary Balogh story...A HANDFUL OF GOLD. I really enjoyed the story. She accepts an invitation to stay with Lord F (the H) at his friends "hunting box" for Christmas instead of at home with her mother and sister. He pays her money to go with him ....he thinks she is a fallen woman because she is an actress. She is a virgin and she has accepted his offer because she needs money for her very sick sister at home. That's the set up but it is so much better than what the ...more
I arrived home after work on Monday to discover this book had arrived in my mailbox. Nothing like a new book to cheer a woman up! Signed inside by Courtney Milan, author of the "The Wicked Gift." I decided to spread out my holiday reading over the next few weeks to keep in the mood for the holidays so I've only read Milan's story. I liked the heroine right away - relatively independent and very thoughtful of others. The story begins with her pinching pennies in hope of saving for ...more
A Handful of Gold by Mary Balogh: 3 Stars
The Season for Suitors by Nicola Cornick: 4 Stars
This Wicked Gift by Courtney Milan: 5 Stars
The stories got better as I went, but I am a Courtney Milan fangirl, so I read her story first.
The first story by Mary Bologh is long and although the romance is sweet in it, even though the circumstances are less than moral, the lead female is one that I liked, but it just seemed to drag on and on.
The second story by Nico...more
The Season for Suitors by Nicola Cornick: 4 Stars
This Wicked Gift by Courtney Milan: 5 Stars
The stories got better as I went, but I am a Courtney Milan fangirl, so I read her story first.
The first story by Mary Bologh is long and although the romance is sweet in it, even though the circumstances are less than moral, the lead female is one that I liked, but it just seemed to drag on and on.
The second story by Nico...more
No sé qué me pasa... ¿Será la navidad? Suelo odiar las antologías e historias cortas, me suelen dejar insatisfecha, sin embargo llevo dos días bañándome con historias cortas pero preciosas, ambientadas en mi período favorito del año "La navidad", y estoy encantada.
Me ha gustado mucho, las tres historias, pese a que cuando empecé la historia de Mary Balogh, me dije que las otras dos no podían llegar a su altura, y que mejor hubiesen hecho dejándola para el final, me encantaron. Jun...more
Me ha gustado mucho, las tres historias, pese a que cuando empecé la historia de Mary Balogh, me dije que las otras dos no podían llegar a su altura, y que mejor hubiesen hecho dejándola para el final, me encantaron. Jun...more
Christmas theme reading continues at my family's house while we (really it is just me) prepare for the holidays. It is a tight squeeze as the years pass and we have more little ones, but I still find a corner to wrap presents and read a holiday novel. Three stories from wonderful well-known romance authors. This is the best holiday collection that I've read this season. My favorite is the first by Mary Balough and although all three stories feature some damaged characters, the first story is abo...more
I always enjoy anthologies, and The Heart of Christmas did not disappoint. It consisted of three stories - by Mary Balogh, Nicola Cornick and Courtney Milan.
A Handful of Gold (Mary Balogh)- Verity Ewing is set on helping her sister recover from an illness the family can ill afford. She takes on the challenge of showing Julian Dare just what love is as she tries to insure that her sister gets the care she needs.
The Season for Suitors (Nicola Cornick)- Clara Davenport thinks she's gi...more
A Handful of Gold (Mary Balogh)- Verity Ewing is set on helping her sister recover from an illness the family can ill afford. She takes on the challenge of showing Julian Dare just what love is as she tries to insure that her sister gets the care she needs.
The Season for Suitors (Nicola Cornick)- Clara Davenport thinks she's gi...more
Mary Balogh's "A handful of Gold" and Nicola Cornick's "The Season for Suitors" were definitely to my liking and what I was expecting in this anthology. "This Wicked Gift" by Courtney Milan was different, and not what I would have expected for a "Christmas" story. It wasn't light-hearted and maybe that's why I did not care for it as much as the other two. The more I think about it as I am writing this, the more the style and contnent reminds me somewhat of...more
Rating is for Courtney Milan's story only, which was fantastic. Really lovely narritive, extremely interesting and layered exploration of the couple's motivations and desires. I was excited to see a couple that was working class rather than aristocracy. Highly recommended.
(I'm sure the rest of the book is good, too. I was borrowing this one specifically for Milan's story, though, and never got around to the others).
(I'm sure the rest of the book is good, too. I was borrowing this one specifically for Milan's story, though, and never got around to the others).
Great set of fun stories to read to get you in the mood for Christmas. All were delightful. I love reading about smart, take charge women. Im not thrilled that the guys were so hopeless and lost. I appreciated the use of vocabulary.there were several elegant descriptions of the powerful feelings and desires felt by the characters. I enjoyed both the guy and the girl's point of view.
I picked up this book on a whim, and I'm so glad that I did, because it was really enjoyable. Each of the three stories surprised me in a different way. Big props especially go out to the first story, A Handful of Gold, for things I won't mention because they're spoilery, but I was seriously impressed.
Reading The Heart of Christmas reminded me of how much I love historical, even though it's a smaller section of my romance collection. I'll have to do something to remedy that soon. :)
Reading The Heart of Christmas reminded me of how much I love historical, even though it's a smaller section of my romance collection. I'll have to do something to remedy that soon. :)
Pretty good. The first two stories were the best to me. The third wasn't necessarily bad but it wasn't the greatest either. The only thing I dislike about multi-stories in one is that the storyline/plot seems rushed to me. I know it's necessary for short stories like these, but I'd prefer to read full-length tales, and I believe the first two stories had potential to be really good if they had been made into full-length stories.
I love Christmas books, and this one is a delight. The Balogh and Cornick stories are strong, but they are reissues that I already own. I bought this book because of Courtney Milan's debut novella. "This Wicked Gift," and it did not disappoint. A rare Regency novella about a working-class couple, the story is a sexy heart-warmer with a memorable hero and heroine. I loved it!
Mixed review for a mixed bag of an anthology. I don't really care for Mary Balogh and her story did nothing to change my mind. Meh. The Cornick story was fine and the story by newcomer Milan was a real winner. The Balogh and Cornick were reprints from earlier anthologies, but the Milan was new and worth the price of the book in and of itself.
A mixed bag, with Milan's story clearly head and shoulders above the other two. Amusing to see the backstory of a minor character from one of Milan's longer works. Balogh's usual sweetness, nothing very interesting. I didn't finish the Cornick story -- writing wasn't engaging at all.
The only one worth reading was The Season For Suitors by Nicola Cornick. It was about the hero who was a commitment phobic and had a hard time resisting the advance of the heroine. I loved the intense sexual tension..
The other two stories by Mary Balogh and Courtney Milan didn't do much for me.
The other two stories by Mary Balogh and Courtney Milan didn't do much for me.
If you love Christmas stories this anthology is a great read. I've read Mary Balogh before and have loved all her books. The other two authors I never heard of before they are Nicola Cornick and Courtney Milan and I will be looking for more of the works.
This was a good book, especially for an anthology. The stories were decidedly low on steam factor, with only one real love scene each. But there was depth to the story and the characters and the romances were good.
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Mary Balogh has won seven Waldenbooks Awards and two B. Dalton Awards for her bestselling novels, as well as a Romantic Times Lifetime Achievement Award.
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