September 22, 2021
Stuart Saturation!
http://anne-stuart.com/
http://anne-stuart.com/
What happens when you are in a mood? Where do you go when you just can’t find any new good books? What do you do when alllll those new authors can’t cheer you up? I have it! What about a funny veteran author? ummmmm. I know! Anne Stuart! I can hear your startled gasp. I hear your befuddled questions. Funny? I know you’re asking…aren’t her heroes rather angst-filled? Aren’t her heroes pretty close to sociopaths? Well, maybe. But sometimes, you just got to do what you got to do. So, for the last few weeks I have immersed myself in a world where men are real libertines, rakes, and rogues. I don’t know how many times I have read all of the Rohan family books. But, I love Ms. Stuarts writing. It’s always interesting to see how differently I react to that series every time I reread. Shameless (2011) was my favorite and Heartless (2018) my least favorite. But, I didn’t stop with the Rohan family. I swallowed my be-brave pill and stepped into the Wayback Machine, along with a number of Ms. Stuarts older books.
The Spinster and the Rake (1982). I loved this one. Gillian Redfern, is the unpaid companion/baby-sitter for her family. Ronan Blakely, Lord Marlow, is the enemy of the Redfern family. This is one of Ms. Stuart’s lighthearted books (sort of.) There is a villain. There is a fun secondary romance. In fact, all of these books have secondary romances. Regency. Warm/Hot A-
To Love a Dark Lord (1994). Redhead alert! There are a lot of red-headed heroines in Ms. Stuart’s books. This one has Emma Langolet, who may have killed her uncle. Coming to her rescue is the amoral libertine James Killoran. Killoran saves Emma’s life, then goes back to his other women. Warning: some of Stuart’s men do not give up other women immediately after seeing the heroine. The secondary romance is between a really experienced woman and a younger man. We have a group of villains. This is a really dark book, with an even darker “hero”. Georgian England. Hot. B-
Prince of Magic (1998). Whimsical heroine Elizabeth Penhurst, and Gabriel Durham. This book is what I would call Gothic. We’ve got Druidism, villains looking for virgins to sacrifice, and helpful ghosts. We also have a secondary romance. The hero is not quite as dark as other Stuart guys. Regency. Warm. B-
Lady Fortune (2008). Travel back to the court of Henry III. Our hero is a rather funny spy/jester by the name of Nicholas Strangefellow. Or at least that’s the name he goes by. He has a secret which allows him to marry the heroine at the end of the book. Then there is Lady Julianna of Moncrieff who is on her way to her mother’s wedding. In this one we have a crazy killer priest, an interesting lethal spy, and a magic chalice. Another secondary romance. England 1200s. Warm. B-C+
Hidden Honor (2004). Elizabeth of Bredon: tall, red-hair, wants to be a nun. Elizabeth was seventeen – ick moment. Prince William aka Peter. The real Prince William is disguised as a monk. In fact, there are a lot of monks in this book. A lot of disguises, a sadistic prince, a road trip, and a secondary romance. Not much of an epilogue. England 1200s. Warm. C-
The Devils Waltz (2006) Christian Montcalm is a typical ruthless Stuart hero. His antagonist is the unmarried, plain 29-year-old Annalise Kempton. Annalise is assigned to keep Hetty Chipple out of trouble. Christian is determined to make Hetty his wife. Sparks fly. Warning: heroine nickname. Regency England. Hot. B
I had a great time with these books. Some of them held up over time, and some didn’t. Some screamed for a good epilogue, and some didn’t. I do recommend all of these, but if you’re new to romance, just remember that things have changed over the years. I did find myself getting a little bit of a Stuart burn-out by the last book, so I decided to turn to another veteran author: Laura Kinsale. Oh boy! More angst!
The Spinster and the Rake (1982). I loved this one. Gillian Redfern, is the unpaid companion/baby-sitter for her family. Ronan Blakely, Lord Marlow, is the enemy of the Redfern family. This is one of Ms. Stuart’s lighthearted books (sort of.) There is a villain. There is a fun secondary romance. In fact, all of these books have secondary romances. Regency. Warm/Hot A-
To Love a Dark Lord (1994). Redhead alert! There are a lot of red-headed heroines in Ms. Stuart’s books. This one has Emma Langolet, who may have killed her uncle. Coming to her rescue is the amoral libertine James Killoran. Killoran saves Emma’s life, then goes back to his other women. Warning: some of Stuart’s men do not give up other women immediately after seeing the heroine. The secondary romance is between a really experienced woman and a younger man. We have a group of villains. This is a really dark book, with an even darker “hero”. Georgian England. Hot. B-
Prince of Magic (1998). Whimsical heroine Elizabeth Penhurst, and Gabriel Durham. This book is what I would call Gothic. We’ve got Druidism, villains looking for virgins to sacrifice, and helpful ghosts. We also have a secondary romance. The hero is not quite as dark as other Stuart guys. Regency. Warm. B-
Lady Fortune (2008). Travel back to the court of Henry III. Our hero is a rather funny spy/jester by the name of Nicholas Strangefellow. Or at least that’s the name he goes by. He has a secret which allows him to marry the heroine at the end of the book. Then there is Lady Julianna of Moncrieff who is on her way to her mother’s wedding. In this one we have a crazy killer priest, an interesting lethal spy, and a magic chalice. Another secondary romance. England 1200s. Warm. B-C+
Hidden Honor (2004). Elizabeth of Bredon: tall, red-hair, wants to be a nun. Elizabeth was seventeen – ick moment. Prince William aka Peter. The real Prince William is disguised as a monk. In fact, there are a lot of monks in this book. A lot of disguises, a sadistic prince, a road trip, and a secondary romance. Not much of an epilogue. England 1200s. Warm. C-
The Devils Waltz (2006) Christian Montcalm is a typical ruthless Stuart hero. His antagonist is the unmarried, plain 29-year-old Annalise Kempton. Annalise is assigned to keep Hetty Chipple out of trouble. Christian is determined to make Hetty his wife. Sparks fly. Warning: heroine nickname. Regency England. Hot. B
I had a great time with these books. Some of them held up over time, and some didn’t. Some screamed for a good epilogue, and some didn’t. I do recommend all of these, but if you’re new to romance, just remember that things have changed over the years. I did find myself getting a little bit of a Stuart burn-out by the last book, so I decided to turn to another veteran author: Laura Kinsale. Oh boy! More angst!
No comments:
Post a Comment