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Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand and Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career
Two Regencies For The Price Of One!
The widowed Mrs. Drew draws the attention of many men, both wanted and unwanted and Miss Grimsley tries to pass herself off as her own brother...in two classic novels from "a powerful and wonderfully perceptive author" (Mary Jo Putney)
The widowed Mrs. Drew draws the attention of many men, both wanted and unwanted and Miss Grimsley tries to pass herself off as her own brother...in two classic novels from "a powerful and wonderfully perceptive author" (Mary Jo Putney)
464 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 2003
About the author
Carla Kelly
141 books807 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Although Carla Kelly is well known among her readers as a writer of Regency romance, her main interest (and first writing success) is Western American fiction—more specifically, writing about America's Indian Wars. Although she had sold some of her work before, it was not until Carla began work in the National Park Service as a ranger/historian at Fort Laramie National Historic Site did she get serious about her writing career. (Or as she would be the first to admit, as serious as it gets.)
Carla wrote a series of what she now refers to as the "Fort Laramie stories," which are tales of the men, women and children of the Indian Wars era in Western history. Two of her stories, A Season for Heroes and Kathleen Flaherty's Long Winter, earned her Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America. She was the second woman to earn two Spurs from WWA (which, as everyone knows, is all you need to ride a horse). Her entire Indian Wars collection was published in 2003 as Here's to the Ladies: Stories of the Frontier Army. It remains her favorite work.
The mother of five children, Carla has always allowed her kids to earn their keep by appearing in her Regencies, most notably Marian's Christmas Wish, which is peopled by all kinds of relatives. Grown now, the Kelly kids are scattered here and there across the U.S. They continue to provide feedback, furnish fodder for stories and make frantic phone calls home during the holidays for recipes. (Carla Kelly is some cook.)
Carla's husband, Martin, is Director of Theatre at Valley City State University, in Valley City, North Dakota. Carla is currently overworked as a staff writer at the local daily newspaper. She also writes a weekly, award-winning column, "Prairie Lite."
Carla only started writing Regencies because of her interest in the Napoleonic Wars, which figures in many of her Regency novels and short stories. She specializes in writing about warfare at sea, and about the ordinary people of the British Isles who were, let's face it, far more numerous than lords and ladies.
Hobbies? She likes to crochet afghans, and read British crime fiction and history, principally military history. She's never happier than talking about the fur trade or Indian Wars with Park Service cronies. Her most recent gig with the National Park Service was at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site on the Montana/North Dakota border.
Here's another side to this somewhat prosaic woman: She recently edited the fur trade journal of Swiss artist Rudolf F. Kurz (the 1851-1852 portion), and is gratified now and then to be asked to speak on scholarly subjects. She has also worked for the State Historical Society of North Dakota as a contract researcher. This has taken her to glamorous drudgery in several national archives and military history repositories. Gray archives boxes and old documents make her salivate.
Her mantra for writing comes from the subject of her thesis, Robert Utley, that dean of Indian Wars history. He told her the secret to writing is "to put your ass in the chair and keep it there until you're done." He's right, of course.
Her three favorite fictional works have remained constant through the years, although their rankings tend to shift: War and Peace, The Lawrenceville Stories, and A Town Like Alice. Favorite historical works are One Vast Winter Count, On the Border with Mackenzie and Crossing the Line. Favorite crime fiction authors are Michael Connelly, John Harvey and Peter Robinson.
And that's all she can think of that would interest anyone. Carla Kelly is quite ordinary, except when she is sometimes prevailed upon to sing a scurrilous song about lumberjacks, or warble "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in Latin. Then you m
Although Carla Kelly is well known among her readers as a writer of Regency romance, her main interest (and first writing success) is Western American fiction—more specifically, writing about America's Indian Wars. Although she had sold some of her work before, it was not until Carla began work in the National Park Service as a ranger/historian at Fort Laramie National Historic Site did she get serious about her writing career. (Or as she would be the first to admit, as serious as it gets.)
Carla wrote a series of what she now refers to as the "Fort Laramie stories," which are tales of the men, women and children of the Indian Wars era in Western history. Two of her stories, A Season for Heroes and Kathleen Flaherty's Long Winter, earned her Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America. She was the second woman to earn two Spurs from WWA (which, as everyone knows, is all you need to ride a horse). Her entire Indian Wars collection was published in 2003 as Here's to the Ladies: Stories of the Frontier Army. It remains her favorite work.
The mother of five children, Carla has always allowed her kids to earn their keep by appearing in her Regencies, most notably Marian's Christmas Wish, which is peopled by all kinds of relatives. Grown now, the Kelly kids are scattered here and there across the U.S. They continue to provide feedback, furnish fodder for stories and make frantic phone calls home during the holidays for recipes. (Carla Kelly is some cook.)
Carla's husband, Martin, is Director of Theatre at Valley City State University, in Valley City, North Dakota. Carla is currently overworked as a staff writer at the local daily newspaper. She also writes a weekly, award-winning column, "Prairie Lite."
Carla only started writing Regencies because of her interest in the Napoleonic Wars, which figures in many of her Regency novels and short stories. She specializes in writing about warfare at sea, and about the ordinary people of the British Isles who were, let's face it, far more numerous than lords and ladies.
Hobbies? She likes to crochet afghans, and read British crime fiction and history, principally military history. She's never happier than talking about the fur trade or Indian Wars with Park Service cronies. Her most recent gig with the National Park Service was at Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site on the Montana/North Dakota border.
Here's another side to this somewhat prosaic woman: She recently edited the fur trade journal of Swiss artist Rudolf F. Kurz (the 1851-1852 portion), and is gratified now and then to be asked to speak on scholarly subjects. She has also worked for the State Historical Society of North Dakota as a contract researcher. This has taken her to glamorous drudgery in several national archives and military history repositories. Gray archives boxes and old documents make her salivate.
Her mantra for writing comes from the subject of her thesis, Robert Utley, that dean of Indian Wars history. He told her the secret to writing is "to put your ass in the chair and keep it there until you're done." He's right, of course.
Her three favorite fictional works have remained constant through the years, although their rankings tend to shift: War and Peace, The Lawrenceville Stories, and A Town Like Alice. Favorite historical works are One Vast Winter Count, On the Border with Mackenzie and Crossing the Line. Favorite crime fiction authors are Michael Connelly, John Harvey and Peter Robinson.
And that's all she can think of that would interest anyone. Carla Kelly is quite ordinary, except when she is sometimes prevailed upon to sing a scurrilous song about lumberjacks, or warble "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in Latin. Then you m
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 5, 2014
I really do like stories by Carla Kelly. She gives you romance along with an under current of suspense, and a little humor. They are not overloaded with too many details on the romance side(if you get my meaning). All the while you know there will be a happy ending; but, you are not sure how or if they will ever get there.
I actually only read Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand in the book. I had already read Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career in a stand-alone book.
This is my review of Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career. (You can also read it on the stand-along book.
This is a typical 'Carla Kelly' book. It is light and easy to read. There are no detailed sex scenes. It was just a girl meets boy/boy meets girl story. The only kink in the script was the girl turned the boy down when he declared his love and proposed. And, turned him down and turned him down until it became tiresome. This is not a 'spoiler'...you will find out soon enough. I'll save the 'happily ever after' and how it came about to you when you read it.
I actually only read Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand in the book. I had already read Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career in a stand-alone book.
This is my review of Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career. (You can also read it on the stand-along book.
This is a typical 'Carla Kelly' book. It is light and easy to read. There are no detailed sex scenes. It was just a girl meets boy/boy meets girl story. The only kink in the script was the girl turned the boy down when he declared his love and proposed. And, turned him down and turned him down until it became tiresome. This is not a 'spoiler'...you will find out soon enough. I'll save the 'happily ever after' and how it came about to you when you read it.
May 17, 2025
I can't believe this is the first Carla Kelly book that I have ever read, they have been sitting on my TBR shelf for years. These are the best historical romances that I have read all year. They were not perfect, but I did thoroughly enjoy both of them.
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand-Loved this one, the MMC was just great. Actually, I loved all of the main characters. There were 2 children in this story, and truly, there are not many historical romances that have children that do not annoy me. These were perfect. Other authors need to take notes on these kids lol. There was a "bad" guy, but he really wasn't a huge part of the story. There was also the marriage of convenience trope along with the trope of both of them in love and not telling the other. Neither was over done, it was a quick little Signet, so it couldn't be.
Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career-I was afraid I was not going to like this one. It was different, being set mainly at Oxford. I ended up really liking this one as well. 3/4 of the way in, I was really loving it...the angst was EXCELLENT and I thought it was going to top the first book. I was not thrilled, however, with the ending. I mean, it did have it's HEA, but I didn't really buy the way they worked it out in the end. Still, I have been trying to read more of my old TBR this year and this was a great choice. I have a few more on my shelf from Carla Kelly and will be reading them soon.
Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand-Loved this one, the MMC was just great. Actually, I loved all of the main characters. There were 2 children in this story, and truly, there are not many historical romances that have children that do not annoy me. These were perfect. Other authors need to take notes on these kids lol. There was a "bad" guy, but he really wasn't a huge part of the story. There was also the marriage of convenience trope along with the trope of both of them in love and not telling the other. Neither was over done, it was a quick little Signet, so it couldn't be.
Miss Grimsley's Oxford Career-I was afraid I was not going to like this one. It was different, being set mainly at Oxford. I ended up really liking this one as well. 3/4 of the way in, I was really loving it...the angst was EXCELLENT and I thought it was going to top the first book. I was not thrilled, however, with the ending. I mean, it did have it's HEA, but I didn't really buy the way they worked it out in the end. Still, I have been trying to read more of my old TBR this year and this was a great choice. I have a few more on my shelf from Carla Kelly and will be reading them soon.
September 10, 2022
Well written, really pulls at your heart strings. The secondary and tertiary characters are pretty well characterized and interesting.
I'm glad I read Mrs Drew Plays Her Hand. I also recommend it as a clean or sweet Regency romance for those avoiding love scenes.
I'm glad I read Mrs Drew Plays Her Hand. I also recommend it as a clean or sweet Regency romance for those avoiding love scenes.
December 30, 2019
Two of my favourite Christmas books. I believe Mrs. Drew is Kelly's best romance.
November 23, 2015
Great reading for a snowy day stuck in bed with a fever. I had actually read the second before, but was more than happy to read it again. Two separate novels by Kelly, who creates characters which are reminiscent to me of those by Balogh - not too wildly dramatic but so well described that you feel you know them and in many cases, you wish you did. Fairly predictable, but nicely so. This was the last Carly Kelly on my TBR pile... not a good situation!
June 10, 2013
Both were good stories. I liked that they were "clean" regency romances. I'm not sure that the author really captured the era. I've read a few of her other regency books and that's my main complaint. Modern characters and modern story line dressed up in regency clothing.
January 3, 2016
It's so refreshing to read a romance in which the protagonists don't have glaring faults they need to change in order to find happiness, while keeping them real and learning at the same time. They're very likable and complex and made the novel so enjoyable
May 9, 2014
These were great fast reads. Kelly always delivers a sweet story with likable characters, and lots of amazing resolutions at the end. Good work!!
July 12, 2015
Wasn't expecting much going in, and got so much more. Really enjoyable, subtly emotional reads.
January 27, 2017
Separate reviews for each book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews