Lanterns

Sanguinet Saga #10

by Patricia Veryan

Miss Marietta Warrington is the backbone of her family, now that her endearing but reckless widowed father has gambled away their family fortune. The family rents the dower house of an abandoned estate, Lanterns, and scrambles to save money, while Marietta and her sister hope to make advantageous matches in order to help support them.
One afternoon while playing near the mansion, Marietta's brother, five-year-old Arthur Warrington, discovers a mysterious and, Marietta soon learns, attractive stranger called Diccon living among the ruins. Though neighborhood rumor and Diccon's own evasions suggest that he's a smuggler, Marietta cannot help but glimpse hints of Diccon's gentlemanly honor peeking out from under his smuggler's facade. Such discoveries convince her that Diccon can't be telling the truth about his identity, and only intrigue her all the more...

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Regency, Historical, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Traditional Regency

Hardcover

First published October 1, 1996

About the author

Patricia Valeria Bannister was born in London. After World War II, she married Allan Louis Berg and moved to the United States; she lived on the West Coast and was the author of many historical novels from 1978 until 2002, using the pen names Patricia Veryan and Gwyneth Moore.

At the time of her death, she was living in Bellevue, Washington, USA.

Reviews

[Mela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diccon! What a wonderful story of him. Now I want to read the previous part (those with him as an important character), just to see it from another perspective. And he was himself to the end, like e.g. Damon in Love's Duet.

I also appreciated the consistency of the characters of Eric and Sir Lionel.

Perfectly balanced action scenes with other parts, especially with those hilarious (I wasn't tempted to skip or skim).

And, of course, Arthur and the cat.

At one point I found Marietta's reasoning - about supposedly spying for a salary or for money for a family - annoying and stupid, but, well, let's say she was rationalizing her hurt pride.

[4.5-5 stars]

[Abi Demina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main problem with these books are the absolutely terrible covers. These are not bodice ripper books that I should be embarrassed to be seen reading, they are very well written regency romances with adventure and a great deal of humour.

I enjoyed this one a great deal, especially because it involves a slightly mad aunt who masquerades as a fortune teller and spends her days sipping tea in a parlour full of mannequins she pretends are her friends from town, and an endearing five year old brother who loves adventure and wants to be Sir Lancelot.

Fun stuff.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

“ok - not sure if i liked it or not --- an awful lot of intrigue like in her Georgian period books. And definitely did not like him losing his arm at the end. Maybe a bit more evil in her stories than I am usually wishing for...”

[Tweety · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way better the second time around and in order!

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't care for the ending or the villains, but Arthur, Diccon and Marietta were splendid characters I loved reading for a few days.

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, the best book of this series so far. Every character was well developed. There was humor, conversation, well constructed plot, and enough. Interesting twists to keep me entertained. This time through the series I kept a list of characters and plot. Essential to this author is that you read her books in order and keep track of the characters.

[Phylisha Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good well written regency romance that reads like a regency! I will be looking for other books by this author.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quirky and fun story.

[A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have one word. Diccon. The mysterious, serious, no back-story whatsoever spy has his own book. And it does him justice, I must say. Our nasty villain Imre Montiel is back (with his giant Chinese sumo-wrestler guy) for revenge. Which, I must say without spoiling anything, was foiled in a most hilarious way. Genius, Veryan, genius.