The Queen's Ball Author: Anthea Lawson, Jennifer Moore, Rebecca Connolly
Series: Timeless Victorian #4
Genres: Historical Romance
Format: eBook
Pages: 223
Date: October 9, 2018
Publisher: Mirror Press
No one dares to turn down an invitation from the Queen… Three brand new Victorian Romance novellas by Anthea Lawson, Rebecca Connolly, and Jennifer Moore.
WALTZED by Anthea Lawson
Eleanor Tremont never expected her father to pass away unexpectedly—leaving her with a horrible stepmother, two grasping step-sisters, and no dowry whatsoever. Relegated to a servant in her own home, she struggles to come to terms with her bleak new life. Summoned to Queen Victoria’s Stuart Ball, can Ellie find her happily-ever-after despite impossible odds? Add an absent-minded Godmother, an orange carriage, and a dancing-slipper mishap, and prepare to be swept away into this fairytale romance…
A LOVE TO CLAIM by Rebecca Connolly
Abigail Sterling is not at all pleased to see that the man who broke her heart is in London, and even less pleased that he wants to renew their friendship. But, against her better judgment, she finds herself drawn to him, just as she always had been. Letters from a secret admirer keep her from completely giving into Matthew again, and soon her heart is torn between a familiar love and a mysterious one.
COMING HOME by Jennifer Moore
After the sudden death of her father, Clara Brightly is sent far from her home in India to live with relatives on the Isle of Wight. The islanders are suspicious of newcomers, and none more so than a local landowner, Grant Mason who, at first meeting, considers Clara to be arrogant and disdainful of the island he loves. When the two are appointed to lead the church choir in an island-wide competition, Clara discovers that she may have a place on the island after all. Grant comes to realize that what he took as haughtiness was merely shyness, and Queen Victoria’s ball at Osborne house seems the perfect place to tell her. But when Clara is offered a chance to return to India, she must decide once and for all what “home” really means.
Rating: Mild. Mild kissing.
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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.
About Rebecca Connolly
Rebecca Connolly writes romances, both period and contemporary, because she absolutely loves a good love story. She has been creating stories since childhood, and there are home videos to prove it! She started writing them down in elementary school and has never looked back. She currently lives in Ohio, spends every spare moment away from her day job absorbed in her writing, and is a hot cocoa addict.
I love all these timeless romance series books. Particularly nice when I don’t have time to commit to a whole novel. I can just do one novella at a time. That was not the case with this book though. I went straight through the book.
WALTZED by Anthea Lawson is a cute retelling of Cinderella. I liked that Eleanor was preparing to “save” herself from the wicked stepmother rather than waiting around for Prince Charming (although in this story he isn’t a prince but a land owner in India). Lawson wrote this in such a way to keep all the main characters but not necessarily have things play out the same making the story her own even though it is the timeless tale of Cinderella. The Fairy God-Mother has no magic powers (unless you say having money is magical- I can accept that). She is simply her Godmother. I was happy to see the stepmother be found out but would have liked to know what happens next to her. Does she have any money of her own?
A LOVE TO CLAIM by Rebecca Connolly is a little bit of a You’ve Got Mail story. Kinda. At least part of it. It is a second chance story which I tend to prefer over insta-love. This novella is a little edgier than the others as it has some language in it and pretty passionate kisses.
COMING HOME by Jennifer Moore didn’t remind me of another story. Maybe since it is about wanting to go home we could liken it to the Wizard of Oz but that is about as far as the similarities go. After the death of her father, Clara is sent about as far away from home as she can get. She misses her home in India and her father desperately. At the same time Grant loves his home on the Isle of Wight and wants Clara to love it as well. The story is actually pretty deep when you contemplate what “home” is and why it is important to us.
I received an ARC of this book and voluntarily chose to give an honest review.