Why Lords Lose Their Hearts

Why Lords Lose Their Hearts

By Manda Collins

Publisher: St. Martin’s

Release Date: July 29, 2014

It has been almost two years since the Duke of Ormond died as violently as he had lived. After years of abuse at the hands of her brute of a husband, Perdita, the widowed Duchess of Ormond, has had enough of allowing someone else to control her life. When threats from her husband’s unknown avenger escalate from private to public, she refuses to be driven from London. Perdita argues that the experience of her sister Isabella, the new Duchess of Ormond, (Why Dukes Say I Do) and of their friend Georgina Mowbray, now Countess of Coniston, (Why Earls Fall in Love) prove that eluding their tormenter cannot be accomplished so easily. She is also determined not to endanger others by her presence. Not even an attack on her person when she is riding in the park is enough to change Perdita’s mind.

Lord Archer Lisle, youngest son of a duke and secretary to both the immediate past and current Duke of Ormond, has been in love with Perdita for years. He proves as stubborn in his determination to protect Perdita as she is in exercising her autonomy. If protecting her requires extreme measures, he will take those measures. He is also determined to show the widowed duchess just how wrong-headed she is in her belief that she can never again marry a man with whom she is in love.

Manda Collins skillfully weaves together the ongoing mystery of the person behind the attacks on Perdita and the other women and the tension between Perdita’s love for Archer and her conviction that she cannot marry a man she loves. Fans of the earlier books will be happy to see that Isabella and Trevor and Georgina and Coniston make appearances in this one. Collins includes them in a way that seems organic and unforced. The mystery is resolved with some unexpected twists, one of which may hit the ick button for some readers, and, as befits a good romance series, all three couples are set to live happily ever after.

Collins once again demonstrates her deft hand with characterization. Perdita’s reluctance to allow someone else to make decisions for her and her doubts about her judgment of men make sense in light of all she experienced with Ormond. Despite this logic, however, I confess I grew impatient with her stubbornness. My reaction was doubtless colored by my allegiance to Archer whom I adored. I loved everything about him—from his large and loving family to his “shining gold hair” to his unfaltering commitment to Perdita. My favorite passage in the novel is this one in which Perdita sums up Archer’s character: “Men like Archer stayed the course until what they saw as their duty was done. And if it meant putting himself in danger, he would do it. It was the way he was made.”

Why Lords Lose Their Hearts may be read as a standalone, but since it is the conclusion not just of a romance trilogy but also of the overarching mystery that runs through all three books, nuances concerning the mystery and relationships among the characters may be lost. Even readers who guess the avenger’s identity will be surprised at some of the revelations that accompany the denouement. I admit to being a wimpy reader, and so it should not be surprising that I found icky the particularly unpleasant death of one of the villains and one thread in the mystery. However, this response did not interfere with my appreciation of the characters.

If you have been following the Wicked Widows, you definitely don’t want to miss this conclusion to the series. If you have not read the earlier books, I highly recommend the series as a stellar blend of romance and mystery.

Do you like your romance served with a side of suspense? What’s your favorite combination of historical romance and romantic suspense?

Lady Windermere's Lover

Lady Windermere’s Lover

By Miranda Neville

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: June 24, 2014

Drunk on an excess of spirits, emotional and alcoholic, Damian, Viscount Kendal, lost Beaulieu, a property left to him by his mother on the same day he inherited it, his 21st birthday. Dismayed when he finds out that Robert Townsend, the friend to whom he lost Beaulieu, has already lost it himself, Damian has little choice but to confess his rash behavior and its consequences to his father. During the session with his father, Damian pledges to distance himself from his wild friends and to seriously apply himself to a career in diplomatic service.

Six years later, Damian, now Earl of Windermere, finally regains Beaulieu, but its owner, a wealthy Birmingham merchant, sets an exorbitant price on the property: marriage to his niece, Cynthia Chorley. Damian, seething with anger and resentment, agrees to pay the price. His feelings intensify when he finds himself with a provincial wife who possesses none of the poise and presence required of the wife of an ambitious man in Foreign Service.

Cynthia is ignorant of her uncle’s machinations. Aware only that she has escaped marriage to a bestial man in her uncle’s employ and is instead marrying a handsome aristocrat with a devastating smile, she dreams of happiness with him. She is soon disillusioned. Damian treats her with a total lack of consideration in bed and out, and two weeks after their wedding, he leaves for a diplomatic mission to Persia.

Cynthia is devastated when she suffers a miscarriage, her pain increased by Damian’s indifference. When she is at her lowest point, she is befriended by Caro Townsend and becomes part of Caro’s artistic set whose unconventional behavior and disregard for proper appearances scandalizes London society. Cynthia acquires a wardrobe that enhances her beauty, takes French lessons, polishes her social skills, and generally tries to become the kind of woman Damian wants as his wife. She also acquires a close friend in the person of Julian Fortescue, recently and unexpectedly Duke of Denford. Cynthia enjoys Denford’s company, but she is confused by the mix of “attraction and repulsion, fear and longing” that he stirs in her. She is also convinced that he is a better man than he believes himself to be.

Damian returns to London after a year in Persia, summoned home by the foreign office. He is dimly aware that he has treated Cynthia badly but still hopeful of salvaging a reasonably amicable relationship with his wife. Believing his wife at Beaulieu, he is surprised to learn she is in residence in the Windermere London residence. Later when, during a theater visit with his mentor’s wife (a former lover of Damian’s), he sees a blonde beauty in the company of the current Duke of Denford , Damian’s former best friend and the man he holds responsible for the event that changed his life, he fails to recognize the beauty is the Countess of Windermere.

Cynthia does recognize Damian. In fact, she returned to London because she had received news of his return to England. Convinced that his theater companion is his mistress, she determines to show him how little she cares. Damian, after observing a late night embrace between Cynthia and Denford, is equally convinced that his wife and his enemy are lovers. Even though Damian and Cynthia have both reached erroneous conclusions and even though they both long for a real marriage, their suspicions and their lack of knowledge about each other makes building a life together seem impossible. And at every turn Denford is there further complicating their lives.

No summary does justice to a Miranda Neville novel. Much of the joy of reading this author’s books rests on the intricacy of her character building, the intelligence of her writing, and her subtle flashes of humor. She has shown in other novels that she has the skill to take an unsympathetic character and reveal the motivations and vulnerabilities behind behavior the reader wants to condemn in such a way that the reader ends up sympathetically engaged with the character. She does exactly this with Damian. He really does treat Cynthia abominably, and his behavior initially seems inexcusable. It’s hard to forget thoughts like this one: “Some might call the new Countess of Windermere an English rose. More like a wild flower, in his opinion. Or a weed.” But as the losses he suffered are revealed and as the reader recognizes that his own shame and the influence of his father and his mentor have transformed an ardent, artistic boy into a man who has buried his emotions and his ideals, the reader longs to see that which has been buried resurrected and Damian reborn as his mother’s son. It also helps that Damian acknowledges and regrets his treatment of Cynthia early on, and that his regrets deepen as his love for Cynthia grows.

Cynthia is appealing from the beginning. She is a woman of intelligence, integrity, and the kind of courage and optimism it takes to get up and keep going when life delivers a knockout punch. She is also genuinely kind, a quality often underrated in fiction as in life. I really liked that the charity work with which she becomes involved is not just general benevolence but something in which Cynthia has a personal stake, and I thought her means of financing the charity showed her spirit and her sense of humor.

I have found the art connection that runs through this series interesting. Neville does not settle for mere allusions to art. She makes it a real and meaningful part of the lives of her characters. Some of my favorite scenes in this novel were those where Cynthia and Damian drew one another and shared their drawings. It was an original and appropriate way to reveal their growing intimacy. Art was the initial connection between Damian and Denford as well, and it plays a role in their tense resumption of social exchanges.

The black-clad, Heyer-inspired Denford comes close to stealing the book at times, and I’m certain mine is not the only heart he stole. His story, The Duke of Dark Desires, a December 31 release, will complete the Wild Quartet. It’s on my most eagerly anticipated list.

For me, the abandoned bride who transforms herself and amazes her neglectful groom with her newly revealed grace and beauty can be a riveting story or a hackneyed hash. Obviously, I found Lady Windermere’s Lover in the riveting category. Other favorite treatments of this trope include Mary Balogh’s The First Snowdrop (1986) and Eloisa James’s Duchess in Love (2002), which tweaks the trope. Do you like the transformed bride trope? What are your favorite novels that make use of it?

An Apology for My Absence and A Review of Vixen in Velvet

My apologies for my lengthy absence from this blog. The causes include snafus with the blog, a freelance project that threatened my sanity, and some health issues. But the freedom from bi-weekly posts has persuaded me that the time has come to end Just Janga. Since I am woefully behind on reviews, I will be posting almost daily through the end of this month, but July 31 will be my final day to post here. I’ll have more to say about my decision in that final post. Meanwhile, I hope you will forgive my silence and join me for a final flurry of reviews over the next two weeks.

Vixen in Velvet

By Loretta Chase

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: June 24, 2014

Leonie Noirot is the youngest of the three sisters who own Maison Noirot, a dressmaking establishment known not only for its fabulous fashions but also for the fact that two of its owners have married into the aristocracy. Marcelline, the creative genius whose designs are breathtaking, is the wife of the Duke of Clevedon (Silk Is for Seduction) and Sophy, whose acting and writing talents are used to assure Maison Noirot of the very best publicity, is the wife of the Earl of Longmore (Scandal Wears Satin). With Marcelline suffering from morning sickness and Sophy traveling on her wedding trip, Leonie, the sister with a head for business and a remarkable facility with numbers, is in charge. Having learned that Viscount Swanton, London’s newest literary sensation whose poetry and person have the young ladies of the ton sighing and swooning, will be attending the British Institution’s Annual Summer Exhibition, Leonie decided the exhibition was the perfect spot to appear in a Noirot creation that might draw the attention of the young ladies or their chaperones and thus increase the shop’s clientele. Her fascination with one painting in the exhibit, Botticelli’s Venus and Mars, caught her by surprise. So too did the effects of her meeting with the owner of the painting.

Simon Blair, Marquess of Lisburne, has recently returned to England after a half dozen years on the Continent following the death of his father. The trip to England was supposed to be a brief one, but Swanton’s fame and angelic looks have made him the target of excessive attention. Although they are only cousins, Lisburne feels an elder brother’s responsibility for the younger man. Once he meets Leonie Noirot, Swanton is not the only reason Lisburne chooses to linger in England.

When Leonie begins the work of transforming the graceless, overbearing, physically unattractive Lady Gladys Fairfax into a woman who can attract the beau of her choice, Lisburne is convinced she is setting herself up for disaster. He believes Lady Gladys is the sow’s ear that no effort or skill will make over into silk, and Leonie’s efforts will make her ridiculous. But Leonie is confident that she can show Lady Gladys the way to social success. So the two agree on a wager. If Lady Gladys has at least six followers and one non-mercenary offer of marriage within a matter of weeks, Lisburne will pass the ownership of his Botticelli to Leonie. If Lady Gladys remains a social failure, Leonie will give Lisburne two weeks of her undivided attention.

As the two spend more and more time in one another’s company, of course they fall in love. This is a romance. One of the things that makes this story more than a charming, if predictable, wealthy lord-meets-unsuitable-heroine tale is watching the initial chemistry between Leonie and Lisburne deepen into liking and understanding of one another. Along the way, they each also come to know himself/herself more fully.

Sometimes everything in a book just works for a reader in a way that is difficult to explain. Such was my experience with Vixen in Velvet. 

I loved the characters. Leonie really believes she is all logic and business, but her feelings for Lisburne show her how incomplete that image of her is. The vulnerability the reader see when Leonie’s memories of the Paris riots, the dangers the Noirots escaped, and all they lost, her very real gifts for the work she does, and her commitment to the sisters’ charity all prove that she is more that an amusing lightweight. In a similar fashion, Lisburne may appear to be a practiced and not overly intelligent charmer, but in reality he is devoted to his family, sensitive to beauty, and possessed of a social conscience and a sense of humor as well as being handsome and wealthy.

I also loved the subplot centered around Lady Gladys. It serves to illustrate Leonie’s compassion and insight as well as reveal the sensitive, longing creature that Lady Gladys is beneath her porcupine exterior. And Brava to Loretta Chase for making Lady Gladys’s makeover less magical transformation and more education in how to make the most of her assets. One of my favorite lines in the novel was Leonie’s pronouncement: “I've dressed her … The rest she's done for herself.”

Other things I love included a description of Leonie’s fascination with the Botticelli that should strike a chord with any reader who has even been enthralled by a painting, a poem, or a piece of music, one of the best first kiss scenes, and Leonie’s poetry recitation. As much as I enjoyed these scenes, my favorite is the one when Lisburne visits the Milliners’ Society for the Education of Indigent Females. Leonie shows him the crafts the girls have created to sell, and Lisburne is visibly moved.

“It would seem that your friend's poetry has infected you with excessive tenderness,” she said.

“That may be so, madame, yet I wonder how any man could withstand this.” He waved his hand at the contents of the display case. “Look at them. Little hearts and flowers and curlicues and lilies of the valley and lace.  Made by girls who've known mainly deprivation and squalor and violence.” 

She considered the pincushions and watch guards and mittens and handkerchiefs. “They don't have Botticelli paintings to look at,” she said. “If they want beauty in their lives, they have to make it.”

“Madame,” he said, “is it necessary to break my heart completely?”

If you are looking for a romance with a tightly woven plot, heavy on action, you may want to skip Vixen in Velvet. But if you want a character-driven romance with delightful dialogue and real conversations and sparkling humor that is sometimes wonderfully subtle written by a virtuoso in the genre, I highly recommend this book.

Which is more important to you as a reader, characters or plot?

How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days

How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days

By Laura Lee Guhrke

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: April 29, 2014

Five years ago, near the end of an unsuccessful season in London, American heiress Edie Jewell was dreading her return to New York. Edie was unsurprised that not even her father’s millions were enough to win her acceptance in New York Knickerbocker society where the nouveau riche label had destroyed the hopes of wealthy young women with far more beauty and grace than Edie possesses, but the whispers that followed her every move after the nightmare in Saratoga left her reputation in tatters. The rattling tongues and her fear of encountering the man responsible for her ruin made New York intolerable for Edie, but her father’s hope that his wealth will be sufficient to overcome the deficiencies of  his tall, ginger-haired, freckled older daughter has proved vain. Even the wiles of Lady Featherstone, the renowned matchmaker for American heiresses in London, have failed. But just when it seems that Edie must steel herself to return to New York, she meets the Duke of Margrave, who accepts Edie’s astonishing proposal: she will pay the heavy debts he has inherited and fund his expedition to Africa, and he will give her the protection of his name and her freedom, insuring the latter by never returning to England.

Stuart, Duke of Margrave kept his promise to his wife for five years. But when an attack by a lioness leaves him a few breaths away from death, Stuart knows he must break his word and return home—to England and to Edie.  His wife’s dismay at his return makes his dream of a real marriage seem impossible, but Stuart, an optimist by nature, persuades Edie to strike a new deal. He has ten days to persuade Edie that she can have a whole and happy life as his wife. If he fails, he will disappear and leave Edie to live her life without the duke.

What follows is a story of sweet seduction that offers a rare blend of serious problems, light-hearted pursuit, and genuine communication. In another reversal from the expected, Edie is the one with the power. Stuart, in his quest to win the favor of his lady, does sometimes manipulate her into situations that push the boundaries of her comfort zone, but she always has a choice. It is a measure of Stuart’s understanding that he recognizes, even before he learns the details of Edie’s trauma, that having the power of choice is essential for her.

How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days is the second book in Guhrke’s American Heiress in London series. I liked the first book, When the Marquess Met His Match, and I thought this one was even better. Edie is an intelligent woman who is using her intellect and her considerable strength to survive a devastating experience, one that leaves contemporary women, with far more resources than a woman in the late 19^th century had, battling anxiety and depression. Stuart is a heart-stealer hero with more than his share of charm, tenderness, and two undervalued qualities—patience and honesty.

I’ve been a Guhrke fan for years, but this one is special even as a book from a favorite author. I did have a quibble with the title, which suggests lighter fare than the book delivers. But that’s a minor point and certainly not enough to prevent my giving this book my highest recommendation and counting it among my top five Guhrke novels.

I really enjoy the American in England trope when it is done well. Guhrke’s Trouble at the Wedding is another excellent example of the trope, as are two of Lisa Kleypas’s Wallflower books. Do you like the trope? What’s your favorite romance with an American heroine in England?

The Winter Bride

The Winter Bride
By Anne Gracie
Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: April 1, 2014

Freddy Monkton-Coombes reluctantly agrees to his friend Max’s request that Freddy keep an eye on Max’s aunt Lady Beatrice Davenham and her charges Jane, Damaris, and Daisy Chance while Max and his bride, Abby Chance, are on their wedding trip. Despite Max’s assurances that the task will not be onerous, Freddy is not surprised that his new responsibilities take up more and more of his time. First, there are the literary afternoons where the subject of the readings always seems to be some unfortunate fellow being pushed or charmed into marriage, a state Freddy is dedicated to avoiding.  Then there is Damaris Chance’s insistence on leaving Lady Bea’s home at the crack of dawn and journeying to an unsafe part of town to paint china. Of course, Freddy has to accompany her to assure himself of her safety, a practice that makes him and his valet most unhappy.

Damaris knows Mr. Monkton-Coombes disapproves of her work, but she cannot let his disapproval weigh with her. Her affection for Lady Bea is strong enough to persuade her to go along with the lady’s plan to give her unmarried “nieces” a season in which to enjoy pretty clothes, dancing, and suitors, but Damaris knows that the goal of the season is to find a husband

--and Damaris has no need of a husband since she is unalterably opposed to marriage for herself. Instead, she dreams of earning enough money to buy a cottage in the country where she will be safe and independent.

When Freddy learns that his mother has planned a house party to coincide with his annual visit to his parents’ home and invited a host of eligible young women, many of whom are relentless and audacious in their pursuit of Freddy, he decides he needs a fake fiancée. Since Damaris has made her aversion to marriage clear to him, she is the perfect candidate.  Damaris thinks Freddy’s idea is mad, but when he offers her an irresistible deal, she agrees to play the role and to accompany Freddy on his visit.

Neither Freddy nor Damaris is what he/she seems to be. Both have come through darkness—scarred but refusing to surrender to the pain. As they come to know one another better, a genuine liking and friendship develops. By the time they realize that friendship has ripened into love, each considers marriage to the other to be a consummation devoutly to be wished. But there are still obstacles to overcome before they can begin their HEA.

Damaris is the kind of heroine who deserves to be termed “strong.” She has suffered devastating loss and has had the courage to survive events that would have destroyed a weaker person. That she has done so without becoming bitter or vengeful makes her all the more remarkable. Familiar with The Autumn Bride, the first book in the Chance Sisters series, I was aware that Damaris had secrets that she did not share even with those she loves, but I wasn’t expecting her past to hold so many levels of suffering. She deserves an accepting, tender, protective hero, and Freddy is all of these.

While Freddy’s class and gender made him less vulnerable physically when those who should have offered him compassion, understanding, and love failed to do so, he was no less vulnerable emotionally. Like Damaris, he keeps his past to himself, and even those who know him best and realize some of what he has accomplished accept him essentially as the light-hearted rake he appears to be. I confess that I was already a little in love with Freddy because he reminded me a bit of Georgette Heyer’s  Freddy Standen, a hero I adore, but Gracie’s Freddy is a more complex character and the very best kind of beta hero, a man who combines strength and honor with kindness and a nurturing nature.

In addition to an engaging hero and heroine, Gracie gives her readers a cast of appealing secondary characters. Lady Bea is as endearing and benevolently manipulative as she was in the first book. Max and Abby have roles to play in this story, and she shows enough of Jane and Daisy to leave readers eager for The Spring Bride and The Summer Bride. 

Anne Gracie is among a very select group of authors whose books never fail to move me to tears, to laughter, and to blissful sighs of readerly satisfaction. The Winter Bride joins a long list of Gracie keepers on my bookshelves. I highly recommend it.


Anne Gracie has been on my auto-buy list since I read Gallant Waif in 2001—and immediately ordered her first book Tallie’s Knight, both of which I still reread. Do you have an auto-buy list? Have you added authors based on the first book you read by them?

Tuesday Review: Between the Devil and Ian Eversea

Between the Devil and Ian Eversea

By Julie Anne Long

Publisher: Avon

Release Date:

March 25, 2014

With her brother killed in the War of 1812 and her parents killed in a carriage accident, Titania “Tansy” Danforth has journeyed from New York, where she has lived from the age of eight, to England, the land of her birth, where she is prepared to marry a titled gentleman to whom her cousin and guardian, the Duke of Falconbridge will introduce her. Possessing wealth and a beauty that leaves men stunned, Tansy seems to be the perfect candidate for an impressive marriage, a future that she herself anticipates since she is eager to have her own home. She has a list of qualities she’d like in a husband, and she shares it with her guardian. The Duke of Falconbridge is confident that his ward will have many suitors, but he is determined that Ian Eversea, his only unmarried brother-in-law, not be among them.

Ian is preparing to leave Pennyroyal Green, not for a jaunt to London but for an extended journey in the style of Miles Redmond to China, India, Africa, and Brazil. In the meantime, he occupies himself in the beds of women who understand that his staying power is limited to his sexual performance and not to any pledges of lasting affection. He has no interest in innocent misses, although he is highly incensed that Falconbridge finds it necessary to warn him away from his American ward.

Despite the joint efforts of all the Everseas but one to prevent it, Tansy eventually encounters Ian. Even before she knows his name, she is aware of him in a startlingly self-conscious way. When she actually meets him, her response is more overwhelming: “All the things she felt in his presence felt too large to contain, too new to name. And it was this, perhaps, she’d been waiting for her entire life.” Ian is less impressed. He admits Tansy is “very pretty,” but he writes her off as “vapid” and an “awkward ingénue.”  The two will spend considerable time in barbed conversations, with distrust on Ian’s part and a combination of fascination and dislike on Tansy’s, but as they slowly reveal the real person beneath the roles they have assumed, their feelings for one another deepen. Falconbridge’s opposition may be one barrier to a relationship between the two, but a greater one is Ian’s plan to become a world traveler while Tansy dreams of a home.

The attraction of opposites is a favorite trope in romance fiction, and one Long has used to wonderful effect in earlier books in the Pennyroyal Green series, but, despite appearances, the virginal Tansy Danforth and the roguish Ian Eversea are more alike than they are different. They have both been confronted with devastating loss that affects their approach to life thereafter (Tansy with the deaths of her family and Ian with his war experience). They are both accomplished at playing the role they have adopted to protect their vulnerabilities. Both are perceived as rather one-dimensional characters by those around them. Tansy is written off as an accomplished but basically harmless flirt, and even Ian’s siblings who love him accept the “climbing” episode that made Falconbridge Ian’s enemy as essentially definitive. Ian and Tansy’s gradual realization of their commonalities was one of my favorite parts of the book.

This book is also the richest in humor among the nine books in the series. Tansy’s effect on the males of Pennyroyal Green is fun. The marksmanship contest particularly includes some laugh-out-loud moments and delights on several levels. The never openly acknowledged bouquet competition between Tansy and Olivia also evokes its share of smiles. But I think my favorite funny scenes are those between Tansy and Falconbridge in which the humor is more subtle and clearly character-based.  

I also liked seeing the other Everseas. The reader catches glimpses of most of the family, but Genevieve and Falconbridge have prominent roles in the story. Since they are my favorite couple in the series, I was pleased to see their happiness in progress. The serene and saintly Olivia becomes more human in this novel as her serenity is ruffled and some less than saintly emotions are revealed. Olivia’s suitor, Lord Landsdowne, becomes an appealing character with hero potential rather than merely a name. These last two elements, of course, left me anticipating other story lines.

Like most fans of the series, I am eager to see Olivia and Lyon Redmond’s story and will be heartbroken if they don’t get their HEA. I am also impatient to know the secrets of the older Everseas and Redmonds. But I enjoy each trip I make to Pennyroyal Green, and this one was no exception. I turned the last page sighing over Tansy and Ian’s HEA and wondering how long I have to wait to return to the world of the Everseas and Redmonds. After nine books, the Pennyroyal Green series continues to be one of my all-time favorite series, a testament to the talent and ingenuity of Julie Anne Long.

I think it is really tricky to keep readers’ invested in a story even as resolution is delayed over the course of many books. I’m awed by JAL’s ability to do this with Olivia and Lyon’s story. Are you a Pennyroyal Green fan? What other story lines have kept you engaged over a lengthy series?