Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽'s Reviews > Summer House Party

Summer House Party is one of those Timeless Romance novella collections that tend to come up on 99c sales every so often, and I usually jump on them when they do since sometimes they're surprisingly enjoyable. Brain candy, pretty much always, but still enjoyable (assuming you have a soft spot for historical romances of the squeaky clean variety). This one, with three stand-alone novellas, superficially linked by the Regency house party theme, was so-so.

The breakdown:

"An Engagement of Convenience" by Regina Scott: The title pretty much says it all. Kitty Chapworth is the older, poor relation, taken in and kept by her coldhearted uncle because she's a useful chaperone for her younger cousins. Quentin Adair is the handsome neighbor that Kitty had once fallen for, now returned from a ten year banishment to Jamaica, the result of some manipulative behavior by one of Kitty's cousins. Quentin proposes a fake engagement to Kitty for rather far-fetched reasons. Kitty agrees even though she knows she'll likely get burnt again. It all plays out in standard Regency romance ways.

"A Perfect Match" by Donna Hatch: Genevieve Marshall's best friend Matilda Widtsoe is wildly in love with the "man of her dreams," Christian Amesbury, and she's sure that Christian is about to propose. So the Widtsoe's summer house party seems like a great chance for Matilda to hang out with Christian, get him to pop the question, and BTW introduce him to her best friend Genevieve so she can approve of her choice. Genevieve does approve ... a little too much. And Christian - who's way less into Matilda than she thinks (in fact, she's pretty much scared him off) - equally approves of Genevieve. It's pretty much love at first sight, complicated by the agonies of disloyalty to a best friend and a subplot with a stalkerish viscount who's also captivated by Genevieve.

This was a pleasant and enjoyable light romance, but I have to say the gloss was taken off of it when I realized that the romantic tribulations of Genevieve and Christian are continued in the novel A Perfect Secret, which, based on my reading of the blurb for that novel, has WAY too much drama for my taste.

"The Pauper's House Party" by Sarah Eden: Sarah Eden is one of the most popular authors in the Mormon clean historical romance genre, for good reason. This was the most memorable novella in this set, with a truly unique premise: A wealthy and childless couple, the Warricks, invite a couple of dozen destitute members of the gentry to their home for a two-week-long house party, and then stun their guests with the announcement that one lucky guest will be chosen as the heir to their lands and fortune.

Chaos ensues, as nearly everyone wildly jumps through hoops to try to butter up the Warricks, who are soaking in all the flattery like a couple of self-satisfied cats. But a few of the guests, including Edward Downy and Agatha Holmwood, try to hold onto their pride and refrain from the suckup fest, despite Agatha's father's insistence that she do whatever she can to befriend Lady Warrick. It is kind of interesting how it all plays out, but the story was undercut for me by the implausible ending(view spoiler)[, when the dreadful Warricks, against all odds and their past behavior, hand over their country estate and money and conveniently disappear from the lives of our main characters, WAY too easily (hide spoiler)].

Overall this set was a pleasant enough diversion for an evening's reading, but not one I'm particularly likely to revisit.