Martha Kirkland

An enjoyable romance. The romance develops nicely with humor. Pretty predictable, but I liked.

The back cover states she experiences the unwanted attentions of her odious manager, that is not mentioned in the book. He is looking for a sister, not a daughter. Isabel's last name in the book is Townsend not Trenton. It also says she obliges because of Robert's undeniable charm makes her head spin, and her heart leap. - well that is not why she gets involved in his plan. It's Robert's mother who first gets her to meet Robert's godmother. Than the troupes manger runs off with all the money. Leaving the troupe penny-less, with their possessions being held to pay off the debt. Robert offers to pay off the debt in exchange for Isabel's further cooperation. She couldn't allow the Troupe to destitute.

The cover shows a blond, but the book describes her hair as red-gold.… (mer)

Sarah Sterling travels from London to Donmore Hall in Northumberland to clean and restore a priceless art collection for Matthew Donaldson (the new heir at Donmore Hall). One day, when Sarah is looking at the paintings she discovers that some of the paintings aren’t the originals and may be forged to look like the real thing---someone may be substituting paintings/copies for the original works of art. Sarah and Matthew try to figure out who could be responsible for this. Then an attempt is made on Sarah’s life…

This was a very sweet romance with a lovely main couple and a little suspense. Matthew was a great hero. I liked how kind he was to the little girl when they took a trip to Hadrian’s Wall. He was charming, likable and handsome. Sarah was a good heroine. She was nice, sweet, but also gutsy at times. There was even an enjoyable secondary romance.

A highly entertaining and romantic read!… (mer)

Cold-blooded murder, gypsies, a secret marriage, and an orphaned baby…oh, my!

Cordelia (Delia) Barrington is terrified! The husband of her dear friend was murdered before her eyes. The murderer was interrupted before he was able to kill her, the only witness. Delia’s friends left their now-orphaned baby in her care. She fears that Mitchell Holcomb, the heir-apparent to Sir Allistair of Holcomb Park, may be behind the murder of Sir Allistair’s only son. Cordelia must get the child safely into his grandfather’s protection. How? She writes to Sir Allistair Holcomb.

Sir Allistair has been incapacitated by grief during the three months since his son’s murder. His man of business has been forwarding Sir Allistair’s mail to his heir, Mitchell Holcomb. Mitchell suspects skullduggery when he reads the letter from Cordelia. According to the letter, his recently-murdered cousin had secretly married and fathered a boy-child and that his cousin’s wife had died in childbirth. How convenient for an unscrupulous schemer!

The story unfolds as Delia and Mitchell overcome mutual mistrust, and become united against a common enemy who is in hot pursuit of them with murder on his mind. Will Sir Allistair accept his son’s secret marriage and the legitimacy of the resulting child? Will the murdered be caught? Have Delia and Mitchell each met their match? I’ll bet you know the answer to that one, anyway!

This romance is an action-mystery. I had some difficulty getting into the story. Though the characters were likeable, I didn’t get involved with them. The characters I liked best were Mitchell’s parents, very secondary characters. I did enjoy the part where Mitchell and Delia take refuge on an abandoned fortress, and Delia’s sometimes-embarrassing tendency to whistle tunes which communicate her mood.… (mer)