Summer Holiday Author: Annette Lyon, Nancy Campbell Allen, Sarah M. Eden
Series: Timeless Victorian #1
Genres: Historical Romance, Romance Anthology
Format: eBook
Pages: 225
Date: August 1, 2017
Publisher: Mirror Press
Three brand new Victorian Romance novellas by Nancy Campbell Allen, Sarah M. Eden, and Annette Lyon.
BREAKFAST AT SOMMERPOOL’S by Nancy Campbell Allen
As Tessa Baker competes for the supervisor promotion at Sommerpool Department and Mercantile, she’s faced with a ridiculous list of tasks to complete in order to “win” the job. Tessa would love to be the first female supervisor ever to work at the Sommerpool, but her competitor is cheating at every turn. Discouraged, Tessa agrees to let David Bellini, a family friend and Italian Conte who is new in town, help her. When she discovers that he’s the new owner of Sommerpool’s, but wants to evaluate the employees unobserved, Tessa has mixed feelings. She soon realizes that she’s falling for David, but what chance does a working-class woman like her have with an Italian Conte?
HOWEVER LONG THE WAIT by Sarah M. Eden
Carina Herrick says goodbye to the man she hopes to marry, knowing their separation will be temporary. Grant Ambrose is off to follow his dream and become established in business so that he can provide for Carina and a life together. He promises to write; she promises to return his letters. Yet, only a few months pass and already their letters become shorter and fewer. Finally, Carina is forced to give up on Grant if only to protect her breaking heart. Her parents are dead set against her becoming a spinster and insist she accept the proposal of the odious Mr. Baskon. With no hope of another marriage proposal, Carina is forced to make a difficult decision, one that can lead her either to happiness or misery.
THE LAST SUMMER AT IVY HOUSE by Annette Lyon
Every summer Sarah travels to Ivy House in London as one of the household servants to the Millington family. This summer, she’s particularly looking forward to seeing Jacob, a servant who lives at Ivy House year-round. They’ve been exchanging letters since the previous summer when their friendship deepened. But when Sarah arrives at Ivy House, Jacob seems more reserved around her and less forthcoming. Has she put greater meaning in their budding relationship than she should? When Sarah discovers that Jacob has a dark secret and wants her to give up her dreams in exchange for helping him, she’s not sure if she’s willing to make the sacrifice.
[bctt tweet=”3 #victorian #romance novellas @AnnetteLyon, @necallen @SarahMEden SUMMER HOLIDAY”]
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About Annette Lyon
Annette Lyon is a Whitney Award-winning author and a three-time recipient of Utah’s Best of State medal for fiction. She has received many publication awards from the League of Utah Writers, including the Silver Quill for PAIGE, one of her books in the co-written Newport Ladies Book Club series. She is the author of over a dozen novels, at least as many novellas, a cookbook, a grammar guide, plus some 120 hundred articles.
About Nancy Campbell Allen
Nancy Campbell Allen is the author of 14 published novels and several novellas, which encompass a variety of genres from contemporary romantic suspense to historical fiction. Nancy loves to read, write, travel and research, and enjoys spending time laughing with family and friends. She ives in Ogden, Utah with her husband, three children, and a very large Siberian Husky named Thor.
About Sarah M. Eden
Sarah M. Eden read her first Jane Austen novel in elementary school and has been addicted to historical romance ever since. With a degree in research and a fascination with history, Eden loves delving deep into history. She is the author of multiple historical romances.
This was such a fun collection!
I loved the first two stories. It was great catching up with the Bellinis in BREAKFAST AT SOMMERPOOL, with Val and Max, and Tessa and David were great additions to this story world. Would love another story with members of this family. 4.5 stars.
HOWEVER LONG THE WAIT was a great story. The history between Carina and Grant was hard and painful, but they were able to raise above it. 4.5 stars.
THE LAST SUMMER AT IVY HOUSE was a cute story but I felt like there was something missing. I think the plot would have been better for a longer story. 3 stars.
Highly recommend this collection and will be looking forward to more Victorian stories.
I didn’t love this collection as much as I’d hoped to. I liked that the main characters were different. It wasn’t just upper class wealthy stories. Two of the stories featured shop girls and servants. So that was a fun difference.
BREAKFAST AT SOMMERPOOL’S by Nancy Campbell Allen
Had this been set in 2018 we’d all be crying sexual harassment, women’s rights and discrimination against women. The story was full of it. I liked that Tessa wanted to solve her own problems and be promoted to a deserved position on her own merit rather than having the boss fix the problem for her. However, in the end, she was not able to fix it. She did prove her metal and deserved the promotion far more than the male competition but David was the one who actually fixed the situation. So can a woman succeed without the aid of a man? Perhaps not in this time period.
David was quite dashing and I liked his forward thinking ways as well as his sense of injustice. I do not know much about this time period. Would Mr. Wesley really have been arrested for assault against women? I don’t know.
HOWEVER LONG THE WAIT by Sarah M. Eden
The highlight of this story for me was the spinster aunt. I liked that Carina was unwilling to be bullied into a horrible marriage by her controlling parents. Grant was dense when it came to understanding women and it is unfortunate that they wasted 5 years before figuring things out. Great-aunt Chadwick was a delightful character and I loved her straight forward, no nonsense manner. It might have taken an additional 5 years without her assistance.
THE LAST SUMMER AT IVY HOUSE by Annette Lyon
I rarely see this type of book be written about servants instead of their employers so it was definitely a different feel. (I’m sure they exist. I just haven’t read many of them). In this case is it the housekeeper that saves the day ensuring a happily ever after for Sarah and Jacob. Without her assistance they couldn’t possibly have reached the ending they did with any speed and time was an issue. Mrs. Roach was my favorite character in the story even if she is a secondary character.
Sex: some kisses
Violence: a punch in the jaw
Language: none