A Regency Christmas

I thouroughly enjoyed these Christmas stories. I found them heartwarming, just the thing I look for in a Christmas romance. Love and family is what truly matters, and these stories certainly fit the bill. I highly recommend this set of stories.

If this anthology did not contain Carla Kelly's story I would have happily given it a one or two star rating. Carla by herself gets ten stars IMO. If I never read anything by Lyn Stone again I don't believe I shall miss much. The writer's style is inane, simplistic, sometimes just simply inaccurate and she writes choppy, stagnant dialogue. The precept of a heroine with hysterical paralysis coupled with a disabled war veteran (the former making a perfect and overnight recovery) was too much. It stretched reality to the breaking point for me. I really don't know how the editors of this book agreed to include it. Zero stars. Gail Ranstrom's contribution would, by itself rate two, possibly three stars. An average read, the plot device of quarreling relatives gathering like vultures over the death of an elderly (and very rich) relative has been done to death. This relative struck it rich in the late 18th c South Carolina goldfields. Well, I've never heard of this and a quick bit of looking at the internet mentioned a minor gold find in North Carolina in 1799 but otherwise, this is seemingly the author's fairy tale. I did like the hero in this one and the heroine was OK but they were trapped in a pretty bland story. Three stars max. As ever and always, Carla Kelly delivers. Period, full stop, end of story. With a sure hand she gives a beautifully crafted story of another of the Channel Fleet captains who guarded England against Napoleon's invasion ambitions. With few words she paints a charming picture of a widow (of 35!!) and her family, living on very little, at Christmas. They are reunited with her childhood friend, our captain, and suddenly life seems lighter and more fulfilling for all concerned. This would have made a great full length novel but as the author herself has pointed out elsewhere, writing a short story is a challenge of its own and it takes a great deal of talent to produce one as lovely as this - one all about adult love. Ten stars. Well, no doubt some will think giving this one four stars is misleading but at least this year our main Regency Chrismas anthology contains 3 new stories. Last year Signet paid us the insult of giving us a Christmas anthology full of recycled stories. Thank you, Carla, you gave me an hour or two of reading delight.