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Nicola Cornick

Christmas Reading Challenges-The Heart of Christmas

By Barb Drozdowich

The Heart of Christmas – an anthology of Christmas stories
ISBN: 9780373774272
Publisher : Harlequin
Release: October 2009
Source: I bought this book to read and review

The Heart of Christmas is an anthology of Christmas stories that I decided to read as part of my various Christmas Challenges as you can see above!

A Handful of Gold By Mary Balogh

Not only is Julian Dare dashing and wealthy, but he’s the heir to an earldom. So what do you get a man who has everything? Innocent and comely Verity Ewing plans on giving Julian her heart—the most precious gift of all.

The Season for Suitors by Nicola Cornick

After some close encounters with rakes in which she was nearly compromised, heiress Clara Davenport realizes that she needs some expert advice. And who better for the job than Sebastian Fleet, the most notorious rake in town? But the tutelage doesn’t go quite as planned, as both Sebastian and Clara find it difficult to remain objective when it comes to lessons of the heart!

This Wicked Gift by Courtney Milan

Lavinia Spencer has been saving her hard-earned pennies to provide her family with Christmas dinner. Days before the holiday, her brother is swindled, leaving them owing more than they can ever repay. Until a mysterious benefactor offers to settle the debt. Innocent Lavinia is stunned by what the dashing William White wants in return. Will she exchange a wicked gift for her family’s fortune?

As you can tell from the blurb, this book is a Christmas Anthology of three stories by three separate authors, with the headlining author being Mary Balogh – one of my long time favorites (hence the motivation for me to buy this book!)  I like getting an anthology like this one.  I am fairly certain I’ll like at least one of the stories and it gives me the chance to sample the works of authors I’m not familiar with.  I’ll deal with each story separately.

A Handful of Gold
A Handful of Gold is the story that is written by Mary Balogh.  Blanche Heyward, a dancer in the opera is actually Verity Ewing, a woman of good family trying to support her mother and sister in any way she can.  She is approached by Julian Dare, Viscount Folingsby, and asked to spend a week in the country with him for a price.  She’s desperate for money, so she agrees.  Although the week doesn’t begin the way Julian expects, he ends up having a wonderful holiday with a woman who is his perfect partner.

This story is somewhat cliche’d in that we have a bored nobleman taking advantage of a down-on-her-luck noblewoman.  What makes this story different is the characters and their development.  Mary Balogh has the ability to take an often told tale and turn it into something meaningful.  Her characters are vivid.  The story is told in such a way as to carry you from the beginning to the end cheering for some characters, booing for others.

Verity is a strong woman, making the best of a bad situation.  She retains her dignity and her humor and teaches Julian about the true meaning of Christmas.  Julian is resistant to his father’s pressure to marry, and because of this ends up with the perfect partner.  He expects a frolic in the country, and ends up with something completely different.  He grows as a person and sees the redeeming qualities in Verity.

A heart warming story for the holidays, set in Regency England.
The Season for Suitors is written by Nicola Cornick.

It was originally published in “Cristmas Keepsakes” and has been republished in this anthology. Clara Davenport is a rich heiress, and is determined not to be taken advantage of, by anymore rakes.  To ensure this, she approaches Sebastian, Duke of Fleet, and a master of rakes, for some lessons.  Clara and Sebastian have a history; in fact, Clara asked Sebastian to marry her many years before, and he declined.  He is wary at first of her motives, but after he decides that she is being honest, he decides to help her.

The story that results is a wonderfully funny and heart warming tale of two people who are perfect for one another, falling in love.  Again, a tale that has been told before, but when in the hands of Nicola Cornick, it seems fresh and lively.  Keeps one entertained, and often laughing right to the end!

This Wicked Gift is written by Courtney Milan.

It is the story of Lavinia Spencer who has been saving up so that she can give her little family a special Christmas dinner.  Her family runs a lending library, and one of the subscribers, William Q comes to her aid after her brother has been scammed out of her little nest egg.  The steamy relationship that develops between William and Lavinia shows them how wonderful they are together.  A perfect relationship at a wonderful time of year.

For more information on these authors see the following websites:

Mary Balogh

Nicola Cornick

Courtney Milan

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Mistress by Midnight by Nicola Cornick

By Barb Drozdowich

ISBN: 9780373774883
Publisher: Harlequin
Release: Nov 30, 2010
Source: NetGalley

A wicked duke’s bed is no place for a lady…
Lady Merryn Fenner is on a mission to ruin the Duke of Farne. A beautiful bluestocking with a penchant for justice, Merryn has waited twelve years to satisfy her revenge against Garrick Farne. Her family name had been tarnished at his hands, her life destroyed.
For twelve years Garrick, Duke of Farne has kept the secret of what really happened on the night that he killed his best friend, Stephen Fenner, in a duel. Now Stephen’s sister is intent on discovering the truth and putting at risk all those secrets Garrick has protected.
When a disaster traps Merryn and Garrick together, white-hot desire stirs between the two sworn enemies. Merryn’s reputation is utterly compromised and she is forced to do the one thing she cannot bear; accept the scandalous marriage proposal of the man she has vowed to ruin.
Beware of scandalous women…

Mistress of Midnight is the third book in the “Scandalous Women of the Ton” series.  I requested this book from NetGalley to read and review as I thought it sounded intriguing!  It was!  I went into this book never having read anything by Nicola Cornick and was so impressed that I am already reading more of her work!

Mistress of Midnight is about Lady Merryn Fenner and Garrick, the new Duke of Farne.  These two know each other from many years ago when Garrick was married, and Merryn was an almost teenager.  Lady Merry Fenner is now a stubborn opinionated young woman living with her two sisters.  One sister is married and the other is a widow (and I would assume the subjects of the first two books)  Although her two sisters are noted beauties, Merryn sees herself as quite plain and describes herself as a bluestocking.  What her sisters don’t know is she is working as a private investigator for a man named Tom Bradshaw.  She feels that Tom is an honest investigator and he is helping her discover the truth about her brother’s death.  Merryn’s brother was killed in a duel, but according to the reports they have uncovered  he had more than one bullet hole!  She wants Garrrick, the newly minted Duke of Farne to hang for her brother’s murder.  Right at the beginning of the book, Merryn is found by Garrick while she is searching his house for evidence.  Although he doesn’t recognize her, Merryn discovers that to her chagrin, sparks still fly between them.  These sparks spur Garrick to discover who it was sleeping in his bedroom and why she was there.  The publisher’s blurb actually gives away alot of the story, but doesn’t comment on how wonderfully told this story is!

Garrick has had a rough life.  He marries a woman who is in love with his best friend, whom he ends up killing.  Garrick’s father was difficult to live with.  He had the morals of an alley cat, and the temper of a snake.  He brought Garrick up to a life of duty – taking over running the Dukedom when he died.  But Garrick is surrounded by illegitimate siblings.  Garrick’s own sense of right and wrong has him making some changes when he inherits, yet holding true to some promises made years ago.  He is hard and unmoving on the outside, yet a romantic and a man of strong principles on the inside.  He does what he feels is correct regardless of what others think of him.  Merryn is also a strong, principled character that is innately honest.  Although she has faced alot of tragedy in her life, she remains true to what she feels is right.

Nicola Cornick is a wonderful writer.  Although the book is over 300 pages, she has the ability to make those words and pages fly by.  She can write love scenes that go on for pages, yet you are so engrossed in the story that you don’t notice the time pass.  I need to give an example of how Ms. Cornick writes about a kiss.

“He knew he was lying to himself even as he kissed her.  If he tasted her response just one more time he would not be able to let her go.
He bent his head and his lips met hers.
That night in his bedroom it had been no more than a brief caress.  At the library he had kissed her with ruthless intent.  This time he did not hurry to force a reaction.  This time he courted a response from her, teasing her lips until they parted to allow his tongue to slip into her mouth, tasting her, drawing out the pleasure.  He felt her tremble
and slid his arms about her to hold her still.
It was a thousand times more potent than Garrick had ever imagined.  Her lips were soft and yielding beneath his, offering the sweetest of surrenders.  Her tentative response, the hesitant way she touched her tongue to his, tempted him to deeper intimacies.  Suddenly Garrick wanted to make love to her here and now, throw her down on the bed or taker her on the rug before the fire, he who had not behaved like that with a woman in twelve years and had thought he never would again, the Duke whose emotions were ice-cold and whose only passion was for books and dry documents.
He deepened the kiss, plundering her mouth now, desire leaping to wild desire, passion laced with tenderness.  He slid a hand into the bodice of the rose-pink gown and felt the curve of her breast against his palm, small and soft, the nipple tightening against his fingers.  It was shattering, hardening his arousal to painful proportions.  She made a sound deep in her throat, and her body seemed to quiver beneath his caress.  Feral possession ripped at Garrick and set him gasping.  He was within an inch of losing control and ravishing her body as fiercely as he took her mouth.
He fought a brief, violent struggle for self-control and let her go, stepping back.
And then he saw her face and almost dragged her back into his arms.  There was a dreaming unawakened expression in her eyes and a little smile on her lips as though she had just discovered something new and so fascinating that she was enchanted by it.”

While I read this passage I was drawn to the edge of my seat, engrossed in what I was reading.  Finally at the end I slumped back in my seat with the release of tension.  My husband was across the room staring at me – “What are you reading? Are you alright?”  I was completely unaware that my reading had attracted his attention.  It didn’t seem to matter what part of this book I was reading, I was so involved in the story that I was completely unaware of the world around me.  I have read many good authors in my time, but few engross me in their story the way that this author does.  I have to give this book my highest rating – I was completely taken aback at what this author has produced!  This book is due out Nov 30 – get in line ladies!

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ReCOVERy Friday

By Barb Drozdowich

ReCOVERy Friday is a weekly meme hosted by Miss Page-Turner’s City of Books.  This will be the second week that I’ve participated.  I found all kinds of new friends last week and added to my TBR pile in a big way.  I’m going to have to start sneeking books into the house and hiding them somewhere…..or Santa can get me an e-book reader and my TBR won’t be as physically imposing 🙂

What we are to do is post a book cover that we like for some reason and discuss why.  I think I have to post two covers this week. The first graphic is for Mistress by Midnight by Nicola Cornick.  The second cover I’ve posted is for a book that I reviewed earlier this week.  I think both covers are outstanding for the use of color and the beautiful gowns.  I think the Cinderella-little-girl part of me always wanted  a beautiful gown to wear to a ball 🙂

Thanks for stopping by.  I’m off to view other’s covers.

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