Unfinished-Susie by Jennie Tremaine

Synopsis:Candlelight Edwardian Special #685


Poor little Susie. A beautiful dreamer, she imagined herself happy in a rose-covered cottage, only to find herself mistress of a great damp castle and wife to the elderly Earl of Blackball.

Luck, not the lecherous earl, contrived to spare her. She was a wealthy young widow on her wedding night. But her trials had just begun. The old countess was determined to turn the simple miss into a sophisticated lady...while handsome Sir Giles was determined to unmask her as a dangerously cunning minx. Sweet, naive Susie. Luck had brought her a fortune she'd never wished for, but what happy accident could make her innocent dreams of love come true?








My Review:
As a big time Marion Chesney fan (AKA Jennie Tremaine) I cannot believe how bad this story was. The heroine, Susie, is a 17 year old who is a step above a simpleton who lives the majority of the book making up a fantasy land in her head. The "hero" is a jerk, who in one page declares he loves Susie, and in the next he calls her a conniving bit@h!

Take my advice and skip this strange, negative tale. Zero stars.

Falconer's Hall by Jacquelyn Aeby

Falconer's Hall

Jacquelyn Aeby

Candlelight Regency Series #193

1976

Read For:

ROR Fall Challenge

RYOB Challenge

A Thousand Regency Challenge

Synopsis:

Young Eleanor was a friendless orphan one moment, and in the next, she was a glittering heiress mistress of Falconer's Hall torn between two very different men!

My Review:

A fairly good vintage Regency, very much "old school". The heroine, Eleanor, was raised by the Falconer family after her parents are killed in a carriage accident. But in her 22nd year, the Falconer patriarch, the matriarch, and Charles, the son Eleanor was to marry all die (though Charles was presumed dead in the battle of Waterloo). So Eleanor plans to take the packet ship back from Belgium to England as her funds are gone and having no family she hopes to find a position as Governess or companion. Before her trip, she is begged by an elderly man, who is dying, to chaperone his granddaughter Annabella back to England to meet the family she never knew at Gavinoaks.

When they arrive she meets the hero, Robert Gavin, the Earl on Penbury-your typical arrogant town gentleman who is grudingly enlisted to help with his newfound niece Annabella and is shocked when his mother, who knew Eleanor's mother, asks her to stay and help as well. In the meantime, Eleanor learns that since there is no family left, the Falconer's left Falconer Hall and estates to her-going from penniless to an heiress in one fell swop.

Falconer Hall was a bit over dramatic and was a old timey Regency that falls into the idea that the heroine is so "thankful"to have the Earl take all her cares from her in relation to running Falconer Hall-because all woman just dream of having a big strong man to take over all the worries for them, right? LOL. Oh well, it was written in 1976 and it shows:) But in a way, the high drama and sexism is kind of charming in a "thank God we don't think that way anymore" nostalgia.

In all, a quick, campy Regency read with at the very least a beautiful cover:)

3 stars.