#TBRChallenge 2025: Regency Christmas Parties

The Book: Regency Christmas Parties by Annie Burrows, Lara Temple and Joanna Johnson

The Particulars: Regency Historical Romance Anthology, Harlequin Historical #1689, 2022, Out of Print, Available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Seriously? It's a Harlequin Historical Christmas anthology. The better question would be which ones AREN'T in my TBR? 

The Review: Of course I waited until the last minute to pick out and read something for this month's Celebration! theme. When time is short (typical) I go diving into the cupboard where I horde my stash of print Harlequins and a cursory dig didn't turn up anything inspiring. So to the digital pile I went and immediately stumbled across this anthology that features Christmas parties! I mean, how perfect can you get? And lucky me, this turned out to be a pretty enjoyable anthology overall.

Invitation to a Wedding by Annie Burrows gets us off on the right foot. Clara is a spinster assistant teacher at a boarding school where the students are mainly the children of indigent or decreased clerics, so her former pupil, Isabella "Bella" Fairclough, was a bit of an oddity. Her father being well off and still alive. No, Bella was dumped off at the school because her father remarried and her stepmother didn't want her underfoot, especially after she birthed twin boys. Bella was a handful and Clara was the only teacher who could bring her (somewhat) to heel, although the headmistress is still a bit put out that Clara scored an invitation to Bella's upcoming wedding - to a Duke no less! So off Clara goes, spinning fantasies of her first real Christmas family gathering since her parents died when she was ten.

Lieutenant Hugo Warren meets Clara's carriage and rescues her from the path of an on-coming horse. Naturally Clara is not what he expected, what with her drab clothing, threadbare coat and one small bag. This is the bride's maid of honor? He has reasons for not wanting this marriage to happen, and regardless of what Clara might think, it's not because he's next in line to inherit the title unless Bella spits out a son. No, he's more concerned about the Duke being three times the bride's age and four times her girth. Maybe he can get Clara on his side to talk some sense into Bella? 

Clara is glad she came because obviously Bella needs someone on her side! It doesn't take long to realize it's a nest of vipers around her former student, who is lavishing Clara with a fabulous, albeit "used", wardrobe and making sure she partakes in all the delights the Duke's household has to offer. Bella knows that Clara might feel "out of place" so she's doing everything in her power to make sure she has a great time. This leads to Clara spending more time with Hugo and before you know it, these two are smitten.

This story feels very Traditional Regency with a bit of an edge to it - namely the sour secondary characters and ultimately what we learn about Bella's character and motives. The romance moves along at a good just-kisses clip, and there's plenty of tension to give readers a little sizzle. A very pleasant read.

Grade = B

Snowbound with the Earl by Lara Temple was the highlight of this anthology. Bella (no connection to the Bella in the previous story!) is a poor, orphaned relation living with her "sickly" aunt and her flighty, rebellious, and spoiled cousin, Violet. Violet fancies herself in love with Rupert, who is not yet of age - but no matter they're running away to Gretna Green to elope! Rupert is a nice boy who doesn't deserve to be used by her social climber cousin, and Violet deserves better than a mooncalf mama's boy. Having already set plans in motion to keep Violet at home, Bella arrives at the designated rendezvous site to deal with Rupert - only to find his insufferable cousin, Lord Deverill. Nicholas is also there to thwart the elopement and they both have been trying to break up the couple for months. However, even though they have the same goal they literally cannot stand each other. These two rub each other in all the wrong ways - which we all know what that means.

Circumstances lead to Bella going back to Nicholas' family home to conclude the business at hand but wouldn't you know it? Bella gets snowed in. She'll have to spend the holidays with Nicholas and his family. Gee, whatever shall happen next?

The banter in this story is so delicious. I laughed out loud on a couple of occasions and the tension between these two is thick. Naturally one thing leads to another and they fall in love. My only quibble with this story is the doomed "romance" of Violet and Rupert is dealt with an perfunctory manner and one wonders what those two kids are going to say when Nicholas and Bella 1) end of married and 2) catch wind of what they did to keep them apart. No mistake, I don't feel bad for them. It's pretty obvious it's a "romance" in name only and Violet definitely reads like someone who would move on quickly. 

Grade = B+

A Kiss at the Winter Ball by Joanna Johnson is the last story in the anthology, and also, unfortunately, the weakest. A shame since it's got a very unique premise.

Maria Bartlett is the daughter of a gentleman farmer desperate to get her father to see reason. She's capable of more than just sitting at home doing needlepoint. She wants to work on the farm just like her brother does! So with a bit a subterfuge and the luck of her brother spraining his ankle, she's driving the last remaining Christmas turkeys into the town of Atherby. But, of course, she ends up taking a wrong turn and is rescued by a man who tells her she's on Viscount Stanford's land. With the hour getting late, Alex offers to take her up to Millbrooke Hall for the night. The Viscount would not want a woman traveling alone at night with a storm rolling in. 

We all know where this is going - Alex is, of course, Viscount Stanford and soon the weather turns so nasty that Maria is forced to stay several days at the estate. It's Insta-Love from the jump, which is already not my favorite, but then add in that Alex is engaged to someone else. It's an arrangement agreed upon by his and the bride's parents when they were barely out of diapers. No matter, it doesn't stop him from falling in love with Maria (somehow?) after clamping eyes on her and it doesn't stop Maria from feeling all gooey about him even AFTER she finds out the engagement will announced at an upcoming ball at Millbrooke Hall that of course Alex invites her to attend (my hero, I guess?). 

This just didn't work for me. I get that his impending engagement is not a love match, and his intended isn't crazy about marrying him either (more on that in the story) but it doesn't change the fact that Maria and Alex decide they're in love with each other in about 10 seconds flat.  I understand some folks like Insta-Love stories. I think they're wrong, but to each their own. This was certainly readable and I liked the "walking Christmas turkeys to market" premise - but it was pretty meh otherwise.

Grade = C-

Anthologies are typically mixed bags and even though the final story was my least favorite, the overall reading experience was really solid for me. I've never read Temple before and the strength of that story alone will have me diving into my TBR to see what else turns up. The world-building was strong in every story and left me with the first small glimmer of Christmas cheer I've had this season. I'm calling this one a win.

Overall Final Grade = B

Paint Me Like One Of Your French Girls

It's happened to all of us.  We begin a book and it starts out like gangbusters.  Then, for sometimes totally inexplicable reasons, the middle begins to sag under it's own weight.  As readers we slog on, mostly based on the promise of the great beginning, and sometimes we are rewarded with a solid ending.  Sometimes not.  Portrait of a Scandal by Annie Burrows may be the first time in my reading history where the middle of the story is the best part about the whole thing.  This is a story that starts out slow, starts going gangbusters in the second half and then begins to wither on the vine towards the end.

Amethyst Dalby is a spinster.  Discarded by her family, she begins living with an eccentric aunt, who it turns out had quite the head for business.  When dear old Auntie dies, she bequeaths the whole lot to Amy, who follows lock-step in her aunt's footsteps - right down to her opinion on the male of the species.  Which is to say they're basically useless.  With Napoleon now soundly defeated, many English gentry are once again flocking to Paris - including Amy who wants to expand her newly acquired business holdings.  Traveling with her are a paid companion, the companion's young daughter, and a Frenchman she hires to oversee her business transactions.  Because after all, an English lady cannot just run around playing at business - I mean, it simply isn't done.  What she doesn't expect is to arrive in Paris only to be confronted by her past.

Nathan Harcourt is the fourth son of an earl, and at one point had designs on Amy.  They made eyes at each other during her first season and they both fancied themselves in love.  However even if he is a fourth son, Nathan hitching his wagon to the daughter of a lowly vicar just will not do.  Before you can say unrequited, Nathan and Amy are ripped apart thanks to the maneuverings of others.  Nathan believes the worst in Amy and Amy has her poor wee heart trampled on when Nathan marries someone more "suitable."  So naturally when they lock eyes on each other in Paris?  It's heartbreak and loathing all over again.

Nathan believed lies told to him about Amy by a trusted friend, a friend who it turns out could be easily manipulated by Nathan's old man.  See, Nathan has a path before him and that's politics and marriage to an ambitious woman who can set him on that path.  Amy, a mere country vicar's daughter, will just not do.  So while Nathan should know better, he's too young, foolhardy and stupid to logic things out.  It is only after he sees her in Paris, concocts a plan for revenge (of sorts) and has all his supposed beliefs shattered that he realizes what an idiot he has been.

Amy was heartbroken when Nathan threw her over and married his, now-dead, wife.  She thought for sure he loved her.  Naturally she begins moping around the house, and confesses to her parents what has happened.  They, predictably, place a lot of blame on her doorstep.  She's a trollop, mourning the loss of a man who didn't even have the decency to speak with her father about offering for her.  When her aunt arrives to whisk her away, it's a god-send, until of course Auntie decides to impart her wonderful advice about the male of species on to her already spurned niece.  I don't throw the word "man-hating" around lightly (mostly because 99% of the time it's thrown about by insecure little boys), but Amy is essentially taught by her aunt that no man, anywhere, could possibly have any interest in her without it being totally nefarious.

It's Big Misunderstanding conflict all the way, until the second half, when Nathan realizes he's been a complete moron.  He then goes about trying to apologize to Amy, make up for lost time, and these moments are really the meat and potatoes of the story.  Amy continues to question everything, sometimes believing the very worst about him, but it's easy to see how she might.  Nathan doesn't have a great track record, and the voice of her dead Aunt is whispering loudly in her ear.  In fact the whole thing is going along swimmingly, until finally, we hit the finishing chapters.  There's angst, there's heartache, there's enough emotionally charged dialogue to make my heart swoon.  And then it's like someone told the author she was two chapters short of hitting word count and we get an annoying, tacked "argument" and another "big misunderstanding" to drag the whole thing past what was, a very natural conclusion.  It flat-out didn't work for me.

So what do we end up with?  I loved the setting, which the author paints with a loving brush.  She ably conveys the excitement that Amy and Nathan would feel in a city like Paris, so full of possibilities, so full of opportunities to break out of their respective ruts.  They don't have to pretend in Paris.  They don't have to worry about what other people will think.  They can be who they truly are.  I liked that the author didn't whitewash the challenges that a businesswoman would face during this time period.  In other words, Amy has to conduct a lot of business using the men in her employ as "fronts."  I also liked that once the whole Big Misunderstanding from their youth dawns on Nathan, that he really goes about woo'ing Amy.  It's just the ending.  The tacked-on silly argument that felt like a cold bucket of ice-water at the end.  What started out as a "second half, probably B- read" falls, depressingly, short.  Oh what might have been.

Final Grade = C+