Kisses and Rogues: Four Regency Stories by Anthea Lawson #review

Pages -  221
Published -  Sept 28, 2012
Author Page -  Anthea Lawson
Amazon Buy -  Link
Genre - Romance, Historical, Victorian, Collections & Anthologies
Language -  irrelevant
Sexual Situations -  2/5
Perspective -  3rd P

SYNOPSIS

~Four sweet-to-spicy Regency Stories by USA Today bestselling author Anthea Lawson~

FIVE WICKED KISSES
To pay off her father’s debt, Juliana Tate must accept five kisses from the Earl of Eastbrook... but she never suspects how delicious each kiss will be.

MAID FOR SCANDAL
Miss Anna Harcourt disguises herself as a maid to be near the man she think she loves, but little does she know how far this charade will lead her ... or how close to scandal.

THE PIANO TUTOR
Encouraged by her scandalous friend to take a lover, Lady Diana Waverly finds that the new piano tutor is more than he seems – especially when it comes to passion.

TO WED THE EARL
Miss Miranda Price detests her neighbor Edward Havens, the rakish Earl of Edgerton—but when he catches her breaking into his library at midnight, secrets are revealed that will change the course of their lives... forever.

REVIEW

Clean through and through.

Easy reading, delightful characters, and read well because it was written relatively well.

However, there was an issue with the author's misunderstanding of comma insertion before subordinate clauses.

When you attach a subordinate clause at the end of a main clause, you will generally use no punctuation ~Grammar Bytes

A good rule of thumb is to read the sentence minus the clause, and if said clause falls in the middle, commas are necessary.

If you are still not sure, simply reverse the two but be extra careful about the fragment.

(borrowing from ~GrammarBytes again)

Even though the broccoli was covered in cheddar cheese, Emily refused to eat it. (comma)

Reverse: Emily refused to eat the broccoli even though it was covered in cheddar cheese. (no comma)

The author continuously chose the reverse and added a comma, making for a stunted read.

That being said, the four novellas were also fun and easy reads.

FIVE WICKED KISSES

Believable, great character development, and easy to get wrapped up in.

The Earl has just informed Miss Tate that he's paid off her father's gambling debts and wants 5 kisses in return.

Julianna is a reasonable woman who has suffered long enough trying to keep the family afloat after her mother's death and her father's drunken remorse that lands them deep in debt.

Nice plot twist, too.


MAID FOR SCANDAL

Anna Harcourt is a silly twit who decides to disguise herself as a maid in order to be close to a man she believes loves her as much as she believes she loves him.

Not too many readers enjoyed this story, and one reviewer gave the author a low star score because she apparently had no idea that women actually behaved this way up until the early 1970s.

I clicked NO on the Was This Helpful and then left a comment for our clueless reader in the hopes that she will think twice before harming another author that way.

Yes, Anna was annoying and silly and stupid and made a lot of wrong decisions, but this doesn't mean we women today are so far superior to our predecessors.

Look at the tabloid stories today or surf the internet and tell me you aren't finding a lot of clueless, stupid women (half-naked, cleavage proud, man-money hungry) bimbos in today's world.

We have zero right to judge.

Anna wants her man and will stoop to low heights in order to be closer to him.

So she tells her parents she'll be staying with a friend south of London, the friend is in cahoots with Anna's plan and sneaks servants attire for her.

Anna's crush turns out to be someone entirely unexpected, but she also comes across a stable hand who is taller, more robust, and much more thoughtful of Anna's welfare and feelings.

I enjoyed her story.

THE PIANO TUTOR

THIS was the story that gave me pause.

Lady Diana is ending her mourning period rather late when a substitute piano teacher arrives for her step-daughter's lessons.

Turns out he's handsome, charming, and a terrific pianist.

Also turns out her good friend is behind the switch-a-roo in instructors and Lady Diana isn't sure what to do now that she's free to love again.

I didn't mind that she remained reluctant to fall for a commoner any more than I minded her being duped by a best friend.

What I did mind was the way the two conducted their tryst -- in the middle of a recital at said friend's house.

With dozens of guests in attendance, the two sneak away to the library, close the door, and proceed to strip naked to have sex.

Uh-uh.

TO WED THE EARL

Again, I enjoyed reading this short about a young woman who truly despises her wealthy neighbor, but she is forced to have to sneak into his library late at night to retrieve her diary, which was mistakenly added to a stack of books that belong to the Earl.

The Earl catches her in the act, opens the book, and he proceeds to read a lot of horrid comments made about him.

Again and again our poor Miranda is put in awkward and unflattering situations with our handsome Earl, but this helps add charm to her character in the Earl's eyes.

There is also a mystery afoot.

Somehow, some way, the Earl's estates are losing money, and it is his job to figure out what is going on.

Miranda is a whiz with figures and reluctantly helps the Earl with his books, and the Earl is becoming increasingly interested in Miranda.

However, there is a sinister force at work and the dwindling balances are real.

So is their budding love for one another.


If you enjoy short stories of the Romance variety, I highly recommend you give these a try.