After years of failed auditions, rum heiress Andromeda Archambault gives it one last try at The Crow's Nest in Shoreditch against her better judgment. She may be a lady, but to director Frank Creighton, she's the Queen of Night, and she's perfect for a starring role in his theatre and his life.But Andie isn't who she says she is, and neither is Frank. Will their Phantasmagoria be a success, or will the skeletons in their closets close the show before it begins?
This title crossed my Twitter timeline recently and my eye was immediately drawn to the cover (is there anything quite so eye-catching as purple?). Yes, a Regency, but an unusual one! An heiress (rum!) who is trying to make it as an actress falls for her director - and this being a romance, wouldn't you know it? They both have secrets. I've never read Cale before, but this one warrants me at least downloading a sample.
Her Legendary Highlander by Nicole Locke
Her rugged prisoner…becomes her fiercest protectorCapturing legendary Highlander Malcolm of Clan Colquhoun was Andreona’s last chance to win her tyrannical father’s respect. Instead he orders them both to be killed! Resigned to her devastating role as the family outcast, she and her prisoner escape and continue on his quest to return a treasured heirloom. They find solace in their unexpected passion, but haunted by a lifetime of betrayals, will either dare to hope it could last beyond their journey?
Congratulations are in order for Locke, as this book (lucky #13) is the last in her long-running Lovers and Legends series. Set in very late 13th century Basque Country (this would be the area along the Bay of Biscay near the borders of Spain and France) we have a heroine whose plan to win Daddy's approval goes horribly awry (as it inevitably usually does). Also, it's a road romance! Squee!
She saved his lifeHe awakened her heartNurse Thea Peverett saves an injured soldier in the Crimea—only to realize he can’t remember who he is! She brings him home to England to help him recuperate. As Thea warms to charming, irresistible Edward, who understands her like no other man ever has, she forces herself to resist him. For one day he might recall his true identity and leave her behind…
The Crimean War, which makes this a Victorian, and hello, an amnesiac hero! Look, this guy is probably going to turn out to be a Duke or Earl or something but OUR HEROINE IS A NURSE! It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that Wendy is an absolute sucker for a nurse heroine. I love 'em to bits. This also happens to be a second book in a series yada yada yada...
OUR HEROINE IS A NURSE 😍
When a down-on-her luck lady falls for a wealthy businessman in this Cinderella themed Victorian romance, her sense of duty threatens her chance of marrying for love.Calista Faulkner had a plan: go to England, get married, and save her father from ruin. Instead, she’s now stuck in London, penniless and without the husband she’d pinned her hopes on. Desperate to return home, she seeks employment at a hotel – as a scullery maid – a far cry from the social status she has otherwise been accustomed to. But when a chance encounter with the hotel’s owner, Mr. Donahue, leads to a change in fortune and her acquaintance with him deepens, a new problem arises. For Calista knows she must return home and marry a man she hates in order to save her family’s reputation. But how can she leave behind the man she's falling in love with? How can she marry anyone else?
The first book in a Victorian era series (with the best name ever - Enterprising Scoundrels) finds our heroine bombing out on the marriage mart and instead of going home with her tail between her legs takes a scullery maid job in a hotel. Oh these wacky American heroines. Anyway the hero owns the hotel (!) and naturally it all gets terribly complicated when she falls in love with him and family obligations rear their ugly head.
What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to?
3 comments:
Oh, I like Bronwyn Scott's writing voice, I am very tempted here.
On the Jessica Cale, I am wondering if the heroine may be an illegitimate, biracial daughter. Rum heiress, but not who she seems? Mind you, this occurred to me in the first place because the model in the cover is not blindingly white, but there you have it.
AL: I've got the first book in the Scott series in my TBR - I'm really going to try to be good and read it first but NURSE HEROINE!
Re: the Cale - hence me wanting to read a sample first. You need sugar cane for rum production and sugar cane in the Regency era was 1000% dependent on slavery. There's just a lot here that could go problematic very quickly. I love the sound of the blurb but I'm exercising caution all the same.
Yes; it sucks mightily, but I looked at the website after I commented, and...yeah, all sort of potential landmines here, because it looks like Ms Cale is very very white indeed.
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