A Grand Tour Author: Anthea Lawson, Heather B. Moore, Jennifer Moore
Series: Timeless Victorian #2
Genres: Historical Romance
Format: eBook
Pages: 358
Date: November 17, 2017
Publisher: Mirror Press
Three brand new Victorian Romance novellas by Anthea Lawson, Jennifer Moore, and Heather B. Moore.
A LORD’S CHANCE by Anthea Lawson
After her first romance ends in disaster, Miss Isabelle Strathmore vows never to fall in love again. She will travel, certainly, and see the world, but it will be a spinster’s life for her. She has learned the most painful lesson of all—that her heart simply cannot be trusted. Gavin Reed, the Earl of Jasper, is unexpectedly charmed by Isabelle. Past encounters have made him wary of taking a chance on love, but by the end of the Grand Tour, he is determined to make Miss Strathmore his wife. But fate has more in store than either of them guesses. Beneath the Mediterranean sun, can Isabelle and Lord Jasper find their happily ever after before disaster strikes?
FALLING IN ROME by Jennifer Moore
Chaperoning two young women on their grand tour is the opportunity of a lifetime for Eleanor Doyle. Although she’s an expert in many languages, her gender has made further education impossible. If the tour is successful, the young women’s parents have promised her a position at a university in London. Eleanor hopes to instill her charges with a love of Rome, but not until they meet up with a group of young gentlemen and their fascinating professor, Russell Kendrick, do the young ladies show any interest at all. Attraction blossoms between Eleanor and Ken, but Eleanor’s future depends on maintaining propriety. The headstrong charges have other ideas, and Ken and Eleanor will have to decide which is most important, accolades in the academic world, or being with the one they love.
A SECRET ARRANGEMENT by Heather B. Moore
Evelyn Tucker has finally graduated from finishing school, but dreads living with her widowed aunt. On the appointed day, Aunt Margaret comes to collection Evelyn, and Margaret informs her that they’re going on a Grand Tour to spend as much of the estate money they can before a distant cousin inherits all. When Henry Gaiman discovers he’s inherited his distant uncle’s estate, he loathes the thought of returning to England since he’d rather continue with his archaeology dig in Egypt. Return he must, and there, he meets Evelyn, a woman who will change his world in more ways than one.
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About Heather B. Moore
Heather B. Moore is a USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen historical novels and thrillers, written under pen name H.B. Moore. She writes women’s fiction, romance and inspirational non-fiction under Heather B. Moore.
About Jennifer Moore
Jennifer Moore is a passionate reader and writer of all things romance due to the need to balance the rest of her world that includes a perpetually traveling husband and four active sons, who create heaps of laundry that is anything but romantic. Jennifer has a B.A. in Linguistics from the University of Utah. She lives in northern Utah with her family, but most of the time wishes she was aboard a British frigate during the age of sail. She writes Regency, Historical, and Contemporary Romance.
I loved this collection! If you’re like me and will probably never get to travel to the Mediterranean, Italy or Egypt you can take your own ‘grand tour’ while reading this trio of clean Victorian romances.
A LORD’S CHANCE by Anthea Lawson. This is a new author for me and I enjoyed this story of Isabelle Strathmore and Gavin Reed, the Lord of Jasper. Isabelle and Gavin were both previously taken in by suitors who were after only money and title, which led to her not trusting her heart, and him being wary of all women. Will spending time together on a ship unlock their hearts to allow love in?
I liked how Isabelle and Gavin got to know each other while touring the stops on their Grand Tour. Sometimes first impressions aren’t a true representation of a person.
FALLING IN ROME by Jennifer Moore. Eleanor Doyle is chaperon to the Blakely sisters on their grand tour, with hopes of becoming a research assistant in the Archaeology and Ancient History department at a new university in London upon their return home. Russell Kendrick, a professor, has a trio of young men who are his students. Eleanor is very intelligent and can read several languages but because she’s a woman she will never be able to be at teacher. Ken loves her intelligence and they share a common interest in archeology. When he makes an amazing discovery (with Eleanor’s help) he’s offered his dream job, but will he take it if it means being away from Eleanor?
I loved this love story because it wasn’t he’s so handsome and she’s so beautiful, although I’m sure they each thought that. They shared a common interest and he wasn’t put off or insulted that she knew more than he did on certain subjects. The secondary storyline involving one of the Blakely sisters showed how easily a woman’s reputation could be ruined by mistaking something completely innocent and above board. I’m glad all 3 women got their happily ever afters.
A SECRET ARRANGEMENT by Heather B. Moore. Evelyn Tucker has just graduated from finishing school and expects to return to a drab existence, but when her aunt comes to pick her up she’s a different woman than the one who brought her to the school. Her uncle has recently died and her aunt is taking her on a Grand Tour spending money from the estate. Meanwhile, Henry Gaiman is on an archeological dig in Egypt when he finds out he’s inherited an estate from a distant uncle. He reluctantly goes to England to let his widowed aunt know she can continue living in her home, but has trouble to tracking her down, and he ends up on the train with them. He’s immediately taken with the shy Evelyn who is very interested in his dig in Egypt. He comes up with a scheme to avoid Mrs. Lillian Worthen, the benefactress of his dig, which involves him spending a lot of time with Evelyn. Of course he truly falls in love with shy Evelyn.
I knew Henry and Evelyn would fall in love when they were talking on the train, but didn’t know the roundabout way they’d go about it. I enjoy reading Heather B. Moore’s books because she makes me feel as if I’m there.
I didn’t feel as if any of these 3 stories were novellas. The characters were fully developed and the stories flowed as if they were novels.
A Lord’s Chance-Anytime one reads a novella length romance, one has to expect some insta-love since there is not enough time to have love develop slowly but in this one it was just too quick for me. Both characters had no interest in seeking a spouse and just about overnight they are ready to be engaged. In this case, I would have preferred it if the story just allowed them to finally agree to a courtship leaving us with the impression that they would have a happily ever after down the road. I did like that the damsel in distress was already saving herself when her man came to the rescue. There was some amusing banter particularly with Miss Primm. I didn’t like the exchange dealing with the Greek statues. Lord Weston’s comments were completely inappropriate and I’m not sure why they were included at all. It didn’t contribute to the story and seemed out of character for a man that oozes charm and knows how to talk to the ladies.
Falling in Rome: I loved that there was a man who loved a woman for her brain and would go to bat for her in getting employment. In this case, two men went to bat for her but only one loved her. I felt like Eleanor spent a lot of time wandering away from her wards and kept wondering what kind of trouble the one was getting into while she was studying or taking notes. It was interesting that both this and the third story dealt with archaeology.
A Secret Arrangement was my favorite of the three. I found humor in the dialog and the situation they found themselves to be in because of Henry’s thoughtless desperation. Evelyn’s aunt was amusing. And Evelyn seemed particularly steady even though placed in such an awkward situation. Not sure where the steadiness came from because she didn’t seem that steady in the opening of the story. I was left wondering what would happen with her best friend since she was obviously not going to keep their pact of marrying/living in London. It felt like a set up for another story about the friend. Really this story could have been told just having Evelyn leaving finishing school and totally eliminating having a friend left behind. It wasn’t a necessary element of the story.
I gave the book a clean rating but the Greek statue exchange in the first story just about wiped that out. Again, it was out of character for the rest of the story.
I won this ebook in a giveaway…