Blair BancroftRecensioni

3 1/2 stars. I read The Sometime Bride while in Portugal, where most of it is set. That added to the enjoyment for me (typical for me - I like to read "on location"). However, the historical background was a bit too detailed and detracted from the story a bit, which got convoluted at times. An interesting plot though, and I did enjoy it.

[Yet another review as per my Amazon one; sorry!]

This is a combination murder mystery and romance. The characters are really quite entertaining, overall, and for the most part, the off-again-on-again emotional connection of our protagonists feels pretty reasonable. The mystery part doesn't quite follow all the mystery tropes (mystery buffs may be disappointed), from what I know of mystery tropes, but it's being an unexpectedly deep backset to a romance, with romancy tropes -- and those seeking romance tropes should be satisfied, methinks.

I do quibble at the scene where the readers are given the who-dun-it identity; I wish there'd been some other way to get that data across. But it's pretty minor and a personal quibble; I just don't like "spoilers" for mysteries, even when the author's doing the "spoiling"!

My main complaint is the last two chapters, where the emotional half of the situation wraps up in a way that is kind of... syrupy-sweet. I think that Vanessa's personality was shifted to something overly traditional, instead of pleasingly tart. (I liked her attitude, darnit! Why shouldn't a fulfilled romance still have a few prickles amidst the roses?)

Still, that's two chapters out of many, and since I can't do half-stars, I'll err on the side of more, rather than less.

(I'm not well-enough read for overly modern attitudes to jar me, so I can't speak for that issue, raised by another reviewer at the book's Amazon site.)

According to the author: "This is the book where I inadvertently broke all the rules of romance. But when I read it again, more than 15 years after I wrote it and 11 years since its first publication, I discovered The Sometime Bride still qualified as the best book I ever wrote." It's also one of the best I've read this year! Ms. Bancroft was a new author to me and this book was a great place to start. The e-book is available for only $1.49 at Amazon)MY REVIEW:I was engaged in this story from page one with the vivid portrayal of the French invasion of Portugal portrayed through the eyes of the young female protagonist,Catherine "Catarina" Audley. The author's prose is elegant and impeccably incorporates the history of the Napoleonic Wars, the excitment of espionage, and a riveting romance with toe curling sexual tension. While both the h/h are strong and appealing, the hero of the story has the added cache of being cloaked in mystery. There are also a number of plots twists that keep the story moving briskly while Cat and Blas struggle against impossible odds. (Saying anything more would be plot spoiling). Suffice to say I was riveted to this truly beautiful love story with an emotional depth far beyond what I had expected.HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR LOVERS OF ROMANTIC HISTORICAL FICTION.

Reviewed by Robin
Review copy provided by Ellora's Cave
Ms. Bancroft weaves a magical story of two people destined to be lonely souls until mistletoe and the magic of the Christmas season finds these two and brings them together.

This short little quick read had me wrapped in the warmth of the characters. All the way down to loveable Aunt Honoria Whitehurst. I want to have an Aunt like Honoria. One who gives you the room to grow and become the person you were meant to be and doesn’t judge you but gives you continued support.

The year: 1811, the Event: a Ball during the London Season, where all young ladies come out to make their debut and find a husband.

Pamela Ashburn “Had a Bad Day”; she fell on the dance floor showing her undergarments and ankles. Shame on her, or so her mother and sister made her feel. So to save face she decides to become a spinster at the age of eighteen. She writes to her aunt who encourages her to come and live with her in Worcester on her farm, Apple Down.

So off Pamela goes fast forward four years and her Aunt decides to have a Twelfth Night Ball to boost spirits and get Pamela back out there on the dance floor.

In the meantime Will Forsythe not wanting to be coddled by his mother any more goes to some family property to heal from being in the war.

He runs into Pamela and falls for this pretty gentle sprite that is in need of help finding Mistletoe for the ball.

I loved this quite, gentle romance between two kindred spirits that end up needing each other to heal.

Ms. Bancroft writes a story that pulls you, the reader into it and doesn’t let you go. I loved falling for the each of the characters they were so real for me. I also, was able to visualize the orchards with their leaves that gently hide then show the mistletoe secretly hidden beneath. This quite love story gently sweeps you off your feet and leaves you wanting more. A must read for the romantic in all of us.

Nice! Excellent characterization, great motives, good solid reasons for all secrets - I never once told the protagonists that they were idiots and to talk to one another, as I usually do. Relia's plight was quite solid - though actually the dragonslaying struck me as a trifle too easy. Her solution, while highly peculiar, made sense - and worked better than she expected. Thomas' reasons for accepting made solid sense too - and let him obscure the other reasons! Their dealings with each other, and then the matter of the election; the crisis at the party, which was _not_ presented as a chance for them to suddenly gasp out their true feelings - yeah, this is good. And I'm interested to read the stories of the other characters mentioned - some completed within this story, but Olivia certainly has some matters to learn, and I'd like to know more of Alan and Jane - yeah. I'll be looking for more from this author.½

This was a better than average regency but I kept thinking I had read it before. The plot seemed extremely familiar. I thought perhaps I really had read it before and forgotten about it. However, it only came out in 2003 so if I have read it before I forgot it pretty completely in 6 years. If I haven't read it, then it is a clone of a another book. The heroine felt like an anachronism in her independence and goals.

Waif, unable to speak, turns up on hero's doorstep just as he's going off to war, & he gives her a place in his household. 6+ years later, he's back, she's all grown up & his mother's companion. She still doesn't speak. He's cynical & suspicious about that. Nice intrigue, but the best part is the emotions in this one.½

The Lady and the Cit is a marriage-of-convenience story, but a rather unusual one.

Aurelia Trevor is an heiress, but until she turns 25, she won't have control of her estate, Pevensey Park. In the meantime, her uncle and guardian is running the estate into the ground, and pressuring her to marry her cousin, the "Terrible Twyford." The solution seems to be for her to marry someone of her own choosing, but with Twyford becoming bolder and threatening to compromise her to force her to marry him, time is running short. So she writes letters to various friends and acquaintances telling them she's in search of a husband.

The initial prospects are quite amusing, in a 3-Bears sort of way. The problem is that Aurelia doesn't need just any husband: she needs one who'll allow her to live at Pevensey Park and run it by herself.

Enter Thomas Lanning, a cit (for those of you not familiar with Regencies, this means he *gasp* works for a living, in the city--a definite class difference). Aurelia proposes a business-like arrangement, thinking that a Cit would be so honored to be marrying a Lady that he'd be easily manipulated.

Of course, he's not. Thomas hadn't intended to marry, but the lure of Pevensey Park is too much to turn down, so he agrees.

In addition to a stormy romance (these two are adversaries from the start), The Lady and the Cit is also full of fascinating details about elections in England at that time.

It's always fun to watch two characters who are all wrong for each other fall in love, fighting it every step of the way. Even more fun watching them struggle not to admit it.