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Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie
D’Alessandro and Candice Hern
Avon
March 29, 2011/ ISBN 9780061993374
Historical Romance / Regency England
Amazon
Reviewed
by Linda Morelli
It Happened
One Season
features four novellas based upon a common theme: a retired army
officer must find a wife and produce a son to insure succession
for the family estate.
In The Seduction of Sebastian Trantor, Tabitha Makepeace
has found a coded message. An army decoder before he retired, Sebastian
offers to help after Tabitha explains that her friends are being
blackmailed. Together they work to solve an intriguing mystery and
find the blackmailer, and discover love along the way.
In Hope Springs Eternal, Alec Trentwell seeks Penelope
Markham, the sister of a man he killed during battle. Alec is captivated
by Penelope’s beauty and realizing she’s an artist,
asks her to paint his picture, hoping to find the right moment to
confess. But then scandal threatens Penelope and he asks for her
hand in marriage, hoping that love will help her forgive.
In Only Love, Cleo Pritchard is a widower who felt unloved
during her marriage. Now she only wants a lover, but when Jack Gilchrist
meets the beautiful and witty Cleo, he’s certain she’ll
make the perfect wife. But can Jack heal the emotional hurt that
keeps Cleo from feeling loved?
In Fate Strikes a Bargain, Nathaniel Beckwith has no desire
to search the Ton for a mate. When Nat meets the clever and kind
Philippa Reynold, he sees she has a pronounced limp and no suitors.
He quickly seeks her hand, little knowing she’d capture his
heart.
While the premise of the plots is the same, each author brings their
own unique qualities to these novellas, which were an absolute delight
for this lover of historical romance. While I have my favorites,
the sensitive characterizations, passions, sexual tension and growing
emotional awareness made for an excellent and satisfying read, mastered
by four very talented authors
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