REVIEW of A Winter Chase (The Mercer’s House #1) by Mary Kingswood

When the landed gentry family the Plummers fall into insolvency, the only recourse is to sell their opulent home and retreat into a smaller property next door. Unfortunately, the wealthy Fletcher family who has purchased the home is severely tainted by trade, as Mr. Fletcher earned his money as a mercer (a dealer in textiles). While the baronet is determined not to snub the new neighbors, his wife has a different outlook altogether. Thus the stage is set for James Plummer, the second son and often-absent rector of the neighborhood, to encounter Julia Fletcher, the hoydenish overly tall daughter of the mercer as she is swinging her legs sitting on the gate of their new property….

REVIEW of The Belle of Winchester (The Ellsworth Assortment #2) by Christina Dudley

Lily Ellsworth loves being surrounded my suitors. Tall, short, plain, handsome–it gives her a thrill to be the center of masculine attention. Of course, she knows she will eventually have to choose one of them and settle down to the humdrum existence of married life, and when that time comes, she’s resolved to accept Mr. Gilbert Wright, the dashing, wealthy, not-very-articulate-but-decently-handsome owner of the race horse Slapbang….

REVIEW of The Sisters of Sea View (On Devonshire Shores #1) by Julie Klassen

When their father dies of an apoplectic attack, the four Summers sisters and their mother must find a way to earn an income if they are to avoid descending into utter poverty. The gentlewomen have the blessing of owning their own large house in the ocean village of Sea View, and at the prompting of their managing older sister Sarah, they resolve to become a popular seaside boarding house….

REVIEW of The Hapgoods of Bramleigh (SERIES) by Christina Dudley

This six-book Regency series follows the story of the Hapgood family as several country misses find love amidst unconventional circumstances. With elegant prose and clever dialogue reminiscent of Georgette Heyer, each book is a delight to read. Billed as “traditional Regency romances,” the books contain more realism than many modern-day Regency pastiches, painting the lives of a genteel family of four girls (similar to Jane Austen’s Bennet family) who must find husbands with small marriage portions and their father’s estate entailed to the nearest male relative. Most of the titles do not contain a real “villain,” but the exigencies of fortune and circumstance conspire to throw monumental obstacles in the way of each couple before they can reach their happily-ever-after….

EXCERPT from To Kiss a Wallflower (Timeless Regency Romance #19)

Miss Ellen Young was tired of being called beautiful.

As she gazed into the gilt-framed mirror, wrinkling her pert nose, pursing her rosebud lips, and narrowing her lake-blue eyes, she scowled at her reflection. Perhaps if she held this facial expression for an hour, a wrinkle would result. Or perhaps if the rain would stop for an afternoon, she could traipse through gardens and earn a few freckles…