Mistletoe Kisses

European Historical Romance (Regency England)
Sensuality: Warm

A Soldier's Heart by Elizabeth Rolls was probably the weakest of the three stories, but it was still fairly entertaining. It features Pippa Wintercombe, a textbook poor relation. She has lived in her aunt's home for years while her father explored India and other parts unknown. Though she orginially had a dowry, one of her relations invested the money poorly, and her subsequent losses lowered her status within the household; she is now basically an unpaid companion and general errand runner. Dominic Martindale, a viscount and Pippa's cousin, is expected home for Christmas. While the family knows that he was injured during the war, they don't know the true extent of his injuries. He is missing an eye, and one arm and side of his body is badly damaged. He's afriad to tell them, and a little afriad to come home.

Pippa has secretly loved Dominic for years. But before he left for battle, he was engaged to Hermione Lancelyn-Greene, a pretty but shallow girl. She broke off the engagement when he left, but is expecting to pick up where they left off now that he is back. She and her mother have been invited for Christmas as well. What follows is pretty standard. Hermione wants to perform a play as part of the holiday festivities, and she chooses Beauty and the Beast. She's planning to play opposite Dominic, but she has no idea that her choice will offend him (because of his injuries). She manipulates Pippa into actually writing the play, and though she is annoyed at first, Pippa pours her heart and soul into the task. When Dominic arrives home, however, there is a general flurry when his injuries are discovered. Several people react badly, and he responds by being gruff to everyone, including Pippa. Clearly he will need to be touched by the Christmas spirit so he can see that his "beauty" is really his poor cousin (and not his scheming ex-fiancee).

I am generally a fan of poor relation stories. Who can help rooting for a long-suffering, overlooked but good hearted girl? Pippa is a nice heroine, and her happy ending is well deserved. I had more trouble with Dominic, who barks rather too much given the circumstances. He redeems himself quite nicely in the end, though. The other characters are of the stock variety, but in a novella that's not always a bad thing. Grade: C+

European Historical Romance (Regency England)
Sensuality: Subtle

The heroine of Deborah Hale's A Winter Night's Tale is even poorer than her predecessor. Having made an imprudent marriage when she was young, Christobel is now a destitute widow with a young son to support. On St. Nicholas Day, she presents her son with a cleverly made hobby horse, then takes herself to bed because she is feeling ill. She awakens to a providential knock on the door, and a most unlikely visitor. It is Jonathan Frost, the same man she jilted years earlier. He immediately sees how ill she is, and takes her and her son Colly to his home. He calls a doctor and takes care of her while she convalesces.

Theirs is an unlikely romance. Christabel was once engaged to Jonathan when she was young, but was not truly interested in him. Her head was turned by a dashing officer, and she ran off with him, leaving Jonathan in the lurch. Jonathan loved her, and has not been interested in other women in the intervening years. Christabel learned the error of her ways when she discovered that her husband was flighty and unreliable. Now that Jonathan has taken her in, she feels beholden to him - and guilty for her past behavior. Naturally, Christmas works its magic, and the two find themselves falling in love.

This is a sweet story, with a nice second chance at love theme. Both characters are likable. Christabel is especially interesting, perhaps because she has grown so much since her foolish girlhood. Her resistance to Jonathan's love is a little strident under the circumstances, but obviously she doesn't hold out forever. As a nice side plot, Jonathan lives with his elderly aunt who is somewhat senile. She gets slong famously with Christabel's son, and together they all make a happy family. It's a nice touch. Grade: B-

European Historical Romance (Regency England)
Sensuality: Warm

Diane Gaston's A Twelfth Night Tale was my favorite story of the bunch. Like the previous story, it has a second chance theme. The hero and heroine were involved when they were very young, but time and circumstance tore them apart. Elizabeth secretly bore Zach's child while he was off at war, and then became a governess. Now she finds herself traveling on Christmas Eve, with a very pregnant charge. Anna was thrown out of her home by her parents, and Elizabeth plans to take her to her own parents' home. They get stuck in a storm, however, and find that there is no room at the proverbial inn. Elizabeth decides to seek shelter at the estate she believes belongs to Zach's uncle. When Zach finds Elizabeth and Anna at the door, he is drunk and assumes he is seeing ghostly visions. He promptly slams the door in their shocked faces, so they retreat to the stable, where Anna begins to go into an ill-timed labor. A servant manages to rouse Zach in the nick of time, and he helps with the birth. Afterwards, he installs the new threesome in his home and attempts to make up for all his mistakes, past and present.

Zach feels honor-bound to propose, and Elizabeth feels honor-bound to accept. But what starts as a potential marriage of convenience quickly becomes more, and it seems that the bad timing and mistakes of their past will all be forgotten. At the last minute, an unfortunate visit from a mercenary mother and her young daughter seem to throw everything into doubt. Can Zach and Elizabeth weather this last storm?

While all the stories are enjoyable, Gaston's writing made this one stand out. The characters had more depth to them, and the circumstances felt more meaningful. Both Zach and Elizabeth are likable characters who act in an honorable way, and Anna - who originally seems flightly and naive - proves to be wise beyond her years. Grade: B

On the whole, the book is quite enjoyable and worth the time. The short stories lend themselves well to the busy season, and the holiday theme works well throughout the book. If you need a Regency fix, this offering is a happy solution.

-- Blythe Barnhill

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