When I learned that InD'Tale Magazine awarded this book the CROWN HEART, I was impressed and couldn't get this book into my reading queue fast enough. However, as I slogged through the first story, I returned to study the "award" again. This magazine was instituted to herald independent (indie) books often lost in the world of the major book publishers. Thus, the award isn't as prestigious as first surmised.
As the title indicates, all three stories involve a Grand Tour during the Victorian Era. Timeless books are known for being clean stories.
A LORD'S CHANCE (Anthea Lawson) -- 2.5 Stars
Isabelle Strathmore is the daughter of an eminent botanist and has become a world traveler. She had a disastrous romance in the past and has sworn off romance. However, she meets Lord Jasper (Gavin Reed). Although Gavin is rather jaded by past romances, he is interested in Isabelle. Meh. Boring and trite.
FALLING IN ROME (Jennifer Moore) -- 5 Stars
Either this author knows a great deal of ancient Roman history, or she has done a great deal of research to write this engaging story. Eleanor Doyle, daughter of an eminent (and deceased) scholar, is chaperoning a pair of young women on a Grand Tour. Eleanor is an expert in languages despite her gender forbidding her a place at a university to study. However, the girls' parents have promised Eleanor a position as a research assistant at a new university in London if the tour is a success. In Rome, the three women meet a professor and his three charges, also studying antiquities. Eleanor finds that protecting her charges from gossip is harder than she imagined. This is an interesting and engaging story; I couldn't put it down.
A SECRET ARRANGEMENT (Heather B. Moore) -- VG
This is a very different story. Orphan Evelyn Tucker has just completed her finishing school curriculum. Now that her Aunt Margaret has been widowed, she has become a gad-about. She immediately takes Evelyn on a Grand Tour. Because the money is entailed to a cousin's son, Aunt Margaret wants to spend as much of the estate money as possible before she loses control of the money to her archaeologist-cousin, Henry Gaiman. About six months later, Henry finds that he needs to travel to England (from Egypt) because he's inherited a substantial inheritance. I was shocked that Aunt Margaret tried to hoodwink Henry so she could spend as much money as possible.
As the title indicates, all three stories involve a Grand Tour during the Victorian Era. Timeless books are known for being clean stories.
A LORD'S CHANCE (Anthea Lawson) -- 2.5 Stars
Isabelle Strathmore is the daughter of an eminent botanist and has become a world traveler. She had a disastrous romance in the past and has sworn off romance. However, she meets Lord Jasper (Gavin Reed). Although Gavin is rather jaded by past romances, he is interested in Isabelle. Meh. Boring and trite.
FALLING IN ROME (Jennifer Moore) -- 5 Stars
Either this author knows a great deal of ancient Roman history, or she has done a great deal of research to write this engaging story. Eleanor Doyle, daughter of an eminent (and deceased) scholar, is chaperoning a pair of young women on a Grand Tour. Eleanor is an expert in languages despite her gender forbidding her a place at a university to study. However, the girls' parents have promised Eleanor a position as a research assistant at a new university in London if the tour is a success. In Rome, the three women meet a professor and his three charges, also studying antiquities. Eleanor finds that protecting her charges from gossip is harder than she imagined. This is an interesting and engaging story; I couldn't put it down.
A SECRET ARRANGEMENT (Heather B. Moore) -- VG
This is a very different story. Orphan Evelyn Tucker has just completed her finishing school curriculum. Now that her Aunt Margaret has been widowed, she has become a gad-about. She immediately takes Evelyn on a Grand Tour. Because the money is entailed to a cousin's son, Aunt Margaret wants to spend as much of the estate money as possible before she loses control of the money to her archaeologist-cousin, Henry Gaiman. About six months later, Henry finds that he needs to travel to England (from Egypt) because he's inherited a substantial inheritance. I was shocked that Aunt Margaret tried to hoodwink Henry so she could spend as much money as possible.
