I admired the twist the author put on the Cyrano de Bergerac tale (letters to a lady written not by her almost-betrothed but by his fellow officer). Better done than most re-tellings of well known stories.
Can you fall in love with someone you've never met?
England, 1812
Joanna Stretton is in no hurry to marry, wanting a love match like her parents'. While staying with her mother and aunt in the country, she meets Captain Alfred Bengrove, a handsome cavalry officer on leave from Spain. Jo is smitten, and by the time Alfred returns to his duties, they are all but betrothed. Then, a few weeks later, Jo is devastated when she receives the news that Captain Bengrove is missing in action.
Captain Robert Delafield is wounded in Spain and taken prisoner. He finds himself…
Had it not been for the scent bottles, it is unlikely that Daniel Shelbourne, Viscount Reculver, and Anna Hawthorne of Hawthorne’s Porcelain would ever have met. Daniel’s late father left him an impoverished estate – which he had expected – and unexplained debts, which he hadn’t. Anna inherited a thriving business, along with the knowledge and passion required to run it. Daniel needs money quickly if his family is to avoid ruin. Anna wants to create a tribute to her father’s vision and skill. He is desperate; she, astute and determined. So when Anna hears whispers that Lord Reculver is…
Impossible not to sympathize with Kate's tangled web of responsibility for supporting orphaned nieces and nephews, need to earn money to support them, and the scandalous situation she finds herself in when she has to do so by singing in public under a pseudonym, and evade an admirer who wants to make her his mistress.
She was born a country vicar’s cherished daughter but is now an impoverished spinster raising her orphaned nieces and nephews. To earn their keep, she works as a London lady’s companion and sends her earnings home to her cousin, Bella, who minds the children in the Sussex village of Fairlea.
When her employer leaves London, Kate must use her hidden talent, her beautiful singing voice, to work as La Caterina, a featured performer at the Stanhope Theatre. She wears thick make-up, a wig and stacked heels to hide her identity and protect her reputation.
Allan Everard, an earl's illegitimate son, is dismissed from his employment at his father’s death but inherits a former coaching inn. Needing to make a new life in London, he begins by leasing the inn to a charity.
Unexpectedly orphaned, Rosabel Stanbury and her younger sister are made wards of a distant, unknown cousin. Fearing his secretive ways and his intentions for them, Rosabel and Oriana flee to London where they are taken in by a women’s charity.
Drawn into Rosabel's problems, with his inn under surveillance by criminals, Allan has only a handful of unlikely allies, including an elderly general, a burglar, and an old lady who knows criminal slang. A traditional (no explicit sex) romance.
