A Midwinter Ball Author: Annette Lyon, Heidi Ashworth, Michele Paige Holmes
Series: Timeless Regency Collection #2
Genres: Romance Anthology
Format: eBook
Pages: 244
Date: December 1, 2015
Publisher: Mirror Press
Join three bestselling regency romance authors, Heidi Ashworth, Annette Lyon, and Michele Paige Holmes, for three new regency romance novellas in A MIDWINTER BALL.
MUCH ADO ABOUT DANCING by Heidi Ashworth. Two years have passed since Lord Northrup declared his intentions for Miss Analisa Lloyd-Jones and forbade any other man to court her. Angry at the neglect, Analisa stopped reading his letters, never even breaking the seals. Tired of waiting, Analisa joins the house party at Mrs. Smith’s famous country home, determined to find a beau. When Lord Northrup unexpectedly joins the party, Analisa discovers she is no longer repulsed by the man who first laid claim to her hand.
SWEETER THAN ANY DREAM by Annette Lyon. Olivia Wallington is firmly established as a spinster, but that doesn’t stop her from dreaming about the perfect man. Ever since her father’s death, Olivia has been forced into seclusion by her mother. When her brother and his wife come for a visit, they discover the extent to which she lives under their mother’s thumb. With their help, Olivia sneaks out to attend a local ball, where she meets Edward Blakemoore. For a few divine moments, all of her dreams seem possible. But even someone like Mr. Blakemoore would be hard pressed to get past Mrs. Wallington’s fortress of protection—or past Olivia’s pride.
AN INVITATION TO DANCE by Michele Paige Holmes. Lady Ella has been isolated on her father’s estate since her mother’s death as her father travels the world. When Alex Darling arrives with a letter from her long-dead fiancé, and a demand that she travel to London for a series of engagements, Ella thinks her father instigated the strange demands and agrees. In London, she discovers the truth behind her fiancé’s death, and that new love might be possible in the arms of the most unexpected man.
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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 Heidi Ashworth
Heidi Ashworth is an Award-winning author who lives with her husband and three children in the San Francisco Bay Area. She writes historical Regency-set mystery and sweet, traditional, Regency-era romance. She is the author of The Lord Trevelin Mysteries and the Miss Delacourt series. Her installment in the popular Power of the Matchmaker series is set in Jane Austen-era Ireland.
About Michele Paige Holmes
Michele has been a member of the same critique group for over fifteen years and feels that joining a critique group is the single best thing an author can to do help improve his or her writing. She has been a member of RWA and URWA, LDStorymakers, and The League of Utah Writers. Michele enjoys both attending and teaching at conferences. When not reading or writing romance, Michele is busy with her full time job as a wife and mother.
This is a wonderful compilation of novellas that involve a winter ball in the setting. In each story the event propels the plot forward and serves as a catalyst for change in the relationship between the main characters. There’s something special and almost magical about the energy of a dance that is so looked forward to, especially in those times. I enjoyed all the stories and felt drawn into the conflict and resolution each presented. The first story was a bit choppy, but I really liked the premise of the long absent fiancè making a sudden reappearance in Analisa’s life. Daydreaming Olivia from the second story was easy to relate to with her imagination, but I could never have the patience she did with her abusive relatives! I loved the adventurous spirit of Ella in the last story and the hesitant relationship with her former fiancé’s grumpy friend. This is a collection I will be re-reading for sure!
I knew I would love this one before I even picked it up, and I did! This is a collection of three Regency novellas set around the theme of a Midwinter Ball. A couple of the stories had brief mentions of characters that appear in other books by that author (some of which I’ve read and some I haven’t) but they were definitely all stand-alone stories, very well developed for a novella length. I loved getting to know these characters and their (sometimes frustrating!) families. Each of the heroines had a unique personality and their gentlemen heroes each had a background story that was interesting to uncover. I love sweet stories set in the Regency era and throwing in a ball or two just makes it that much better!
My rating is probably more a 3.3. I found that I had a hard time with the beginning of Much Ado About Dancing. I had a hard time even following the story initially and then became irked when it was obvious that she was going to end up with the man that had been such a jerk. Eventually I liked him but I was quite disappointed in the beginning. I don’t know why the story was hard to follow for me. I have enjoyed other Heidi Ashworth books quite well. But this one didn’t measure up for me.
The other two stories were better. The mother and aunt in Sweeter than any Dream were horrendous and while I can understand Olivia’s desire to not rock the boat, I felt like it would perhaps have been better if she had stood up for herself all along. I wondered if they would have treated her better for doing so.
An Invitation to Dance was probably my favorite of the three. I liked that Ella had no pity and higher expectations for Mr. Darling than he had for himself. I didn’t care of the twist with her father though. I didn’t feel he made the best decision in staying away. It was rather cruel even if he thought it was best for her.
I won this book in a giveaway.