| Title | : | A Summons From the Duke |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1466148179 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781466148178 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 158 |
| Publication | : | First published November 1, 2011 |
In LILIA BIRNEY's A Second Chance For Christmas, Philip Whitton has been summoned back home by his grandfather after a wastrel existence in Italy, studying music and trying to forget his first love. Emily Barlow, nee Ware, is picking up the pieces of her shattered existence following her husband's death. Thrown together by chance on the road back home to Danby, Emily and Philip rekindle the flames of their old passion. Will the fire burn itself out like it did before, or are they ready to follow their hearts and live out the truth of their love?
In SAMANTHA GRACE’s Twice Upon a Time - since her father’s untimely death, Felicity Halliday has relied on the medical knowledge learned at his side to treat London’s most disreputable in order to support her family. Life has been hard, but everything changes the night she is snatched from an alley behind a theatre and tossed into a nobleman’s carriage. * It has been less than a fortnight since Julian Beckford returned to London after a sojourn in India, and he’s already up to his top-boots in one of his cousin’s mad schemes. When his foolish cousin decides to engage an actress to play his wife over the holidays at Danby Castle, Julian becomes an unwilling party to the lady’s abduction. Along their journey to Yorkshire, Julian makes a stunning discovery about his cousin's pretend wife....and finds it’s possible to love Twice Upon a Time.
A Summons From the Duke Reviews
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Continuing with the Regency Christmas Summons anthology with book number 2, we get see that mischievous Duke of Danby continue with his Machiavelli tendency. Good times ahead, I tell you. So, here are the next three stories in the anthology.
Loving Mister Lockwell
Jerrica Knight-Catania
Poor Lady Isabel Whitton. It's so hard when all you want to do is have your nose in the book, while the rest of your family rather see you doing other things that young ladies are suppose to do. Now she's stuck at the castle with the whole family coming. Not a great place to be for an introvert like Izzy.
Izzy's life got a little more crazier with the arrival of Lord Heathfield and his guest Mr. Damien Lockwell. Being a third son and in her mind a scoundrel and so forth. Yet, Damien can't keep himself away from Izzy, like a bug to a light. Crazy after all since he has no desire to marry, but could he change his tune?
A Second Chance for Christmas
Lilia Birney
A couple of years ago, Philip Whitton thought it would be easier to end his life in order to escape the hurt that was caused by Emily Ware when she married Mr. Barlow. However, his family was able to stop him in the nick of time. So, the Duke of Danby thought it would be a great idea to send off to Italy to study music.
Now the Duke has summoned him home, but he still feels the pain of loss. However, fate has given him a second chance of love when he comes across Emily Barlow trying to walk to the next coaching inn. Will they both be able get past the social barriers that Emily thought there was when they were last together? Or will she hurt Philip again?
Twice Upon a Time
Samantha Grace
Leander Thornhill, Baron Penlow, has come up with a scheme that will get his grandfather off his back about getting married. However his cousin, Julian Beckford fears for his cousin has lost his mind and the plan is going to crash and burn. Of course Lee is not worry at all, what can go wrong after all they are getting an actress to pretend to be his wife.
However, they capture a young woman who isn't an actress or a whore, but a midwife. Miss Felicity Halliday has a knack for taking care of people. Especially when she help take care of their Aunt Alice years ago. Now she has to masquerade as Lee's wife, but will this charade go up in smoke? Will she suffer the consequences of Lee's impulsive idea?
My thoughts on all these story: In each of the story, the Duke is still as scheming as ever. Coming close to death more times than they can count and yet still make a miraculous recovery in the nick of time. Absolutely genius. In Ms. Knight-Catania's story I enjoyed Izzy as a bookworm who would rather be in the library. Yet, she has met her match in Lockwell. In Ms. Birney's story gave hope that a second chance of love can have a happily ever after. Then Ms. Grace and her ability to make a hair brain scheme come to life.
Overall, I enjoy the Duke and his schemes to see his grandchildren married. I also enjoyed all the ladies stories, which gave hope to finding love in their stories. So, I hope you all get a chance check all the Regency Christmas Summons anthology, you might appreciate the Duke of Danby's tactics for matches. -
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Loving Mr. Lockwell by Jerrica Knight-Catania: First off I want to acknowledge both Knight-Catania and Stone. If you are going to write parallel story lines the details need to correspond correctly. Loving Mister Lockwell and The Counterfeit Summons blend seamlessly from plot twists to dialogue. As I read the Regency Christmas Summons books in order I could not give credit to Stone my review of The Counterfeit Summons and I beg indulgence for high-jacking part of this review to do so.
Knight-Catania’s story is simple and assuming you’ve read book one of the series, highly predictable. The title alone told me where this story was going. I would be lying if I said it didn’t make me a little nervous but first impressions can be deceiving. The brilliance of this short is in the telling. Izzy and Lockwell’s relationship is reminiscent not of Romeo and Juliet but Benedict and Beatrice. It didn’t matter that I knew the outcome because it was so thoroughly entertaining. Certain lines put me in line of Lord of the Rings, Becoming Jane and Aladdin but even so, I found Loving Mister Lockwell both clever and engaging.
A Second Chance for Christmas by Lilia Birney: How do you spice up a sweet regency era romance? You open your story with attempted suicide, drug addiction and death. I love the distinctly dark direction of Birney’s opening and though I don’t consider myself much of a judge, I think the sex scene was noteworthy in terms of content and because it is the raciest thing to appear in the series thus far. Unfortunately the piece as a whole felt half-baked. Flesh out the back story, gift Emily and Philip a little depth and this is easily one of the strongest installments of the entire collection. As it stands I feel A Second Chance for Christmas falls just a hair short. There is tons of potential here, I mean loads of it. This is not a two bit writer who was thrown in with the big boys. As a reader I am frustrated and yes, these comments sound awful but I beg you to keep in mind where they are coming from. This is so stinking close to awesome it hurts. I applaud the effort but it is just so frustrating to be short changed by an author who is so obviously capable of more.
Twice Upon A Time by Samantha Grace: I have to say I was bored with the beginning of this one. Two individuals with a shared past and a certain attraction to one another. No offense meant, but it had a certain resemblance to Julie Johnstone's contribution, A Gift of Seduction in book 1 of the Collection. Thankfully, Samantha Grace's Twice Upon A Time wasn't a mere rehash. Julian and Felicity's relationship is distinctive and entertaining, especially when you consider Felicity's propensity to issue scholarly diatribes at the most inappropriate of moments. Predictable, but charmingly unique. -
I finished the novella about Isabel. It is good of the author on how she intertwined the story from the Ms. Stone novella. I am excited about Isabel's story. It is not really what I am hoping for A novella with the funny and witty banter. It seems that at the ending chapters, it was rushed. I did not feel the chemistry between the h/h. For me this novella is 3 stars. I just wanted more from Isabel's story even if it is a novella.
For the 2nd novella, although I am skeptic about the hero's story because of what he had indured for 2 years. In some way I understand why still in the end he wanted the heroine. For me it is a 3.75 stars.
From all the 3 novellas. The last one is the best. I like how funny it is. I felt the author wanted to explore more about the secondary characters, but she remained focus on the main h/h. I got curious about the Baron and the Earl, I think there is something there. Well that is the one reason I loved this story. A 4 stars indeed.
For the total score it will be 3.75 stars. I will definitely look for the books of these auhtors. -
I really enjoyed this anthology three new to me authors and great stories by all
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JERRICA KNIGHT-CATANIA’s Loving Mister Lockwell
LILIA BIRNEY's A Second Chance For Christmas
SAMANTHA GRACE’s Twice Upon a Time -
I have read Samantha Grace's novella from this book, One Less Lonely Earl. Very sweet story with a little twist near the end.
