Lady Meg's Gamble by Martha Schroeder

Still working on the last of the paperbacks in my Regency collection.

Lady Meg's Gamble by Martha Schroeder
(1998, Regency)  3/22/13
Grade: 3.5

Lady Margaret Enfield is desperate to save her home, but after she is left penniless, she sees no way out.  Then a neighbor introduces her to Captain James Sheridan, a wealthy Navy captain who is looking for a home of his own.  They agree to a marriage of convenience - but can they get past each others’ faults and make a happy life together?

I always enjoy a marriage of convenience story.  This one worked well at first.  The characters were well written - both of them were quick to make assumptions and tended to act before they thought, but their actions made sense based on their personalities.  It was a nice change to read about a hero who wasn’t titled and a heroine who had no interest in society and the ton.  But the misunderstandings between the hero and heroine went on too long.  What seemed natural for the characters in the first two thirds of the book became frustrating and tedious in the last third.  Although this wasn’t a bad book, I ended up feeling a bit disappointed.

Martha Schroeder wrote one book that I loved (A Merry Little Christmas) but her other books have been a bit disappointing.  She doesn't seem to be writing any more - which is too bad, since her best book seems to have been her last one.

The Ice King by Dinah Dean

Dinah Dean is known for her unusual settings - and for her books that are nearly impossible to find.  I have found a few of them over the years, and I was curious to read one.

The Ice King by Dinah Dean
(1980, Regency-era Russia)  3/17/13
Grade: 3.5

After the death of her uncle, Tanya is afraid she will spend the rest of her life as a companion in a remote village, but distant relatives offer her a season in St. Petersburg before she leaves.  She is soon caught up in the social life of the city, and drawn to the mysterious Prince Nikolai.  Nikolai has been known as the emotionless Ice King since the death of his wife years earlier, but perhaps Tanya’s influence will help him thaw...

It was interesting to read a book with such an unusual setting, but most of the book was more focused on the setting than the characters.  The author spent a lot of time describing St. Petersburg and Russian society in great detail, but the characters (particularly Nikolai) remained cyphers.  This was a little bit frustrating, especially in such a short book.  The characters started to come to life in the last 50 pages or so, but overall this book was more notable for its setting than for its character development.  

I'm not sure what to do with this book - it's in terrible condition (so yellowed it's practically brown) but I hate to throw it out when Dean's books are so hard to find! 

A Matchmaker's Christmas by Donna Simpson

Although I have a cache of Regency romances left on my TBR shelves, they haven't been doing much for me lately.  I'm hoping there are a few gems left in there, since I miss a good Regency.

A Matchmaker's Christmas by Donna Simpson
(2002, Regency)  3/16/13
Grade: 3

For her last Christmas, Lady Bournaud invites friends and relatives to her home for a house party, but the pairings don’t go according to plan.  The well born Lady Silvia is attracted to the penniless vicar, and spirited Canadian Verity is drawn to the careless Lord Vaughn.  Lady Bournaud’s godson David Chappell was intended for her companion Beatrice, but they share a dark past that may be too much for them to overcome.

This book had a lot of promise, but it just had too much going on for one Regency.  Although the main couple was supposed to be David and Beatrice, the romances between the other two couples were often more interesting.  We get pages of Beatrice worrying about her secret past, but the final reveal felt anticlimactic - and their great love rather bloodless.  It was a nice Regency but it lacked any great feeling.

This wasn't a bad book, just a little boring and predictable. 

Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb

I still keep reading the In Death books by J.D. Robb, but the characters have become so familiar by now that there needs to also be a strong mystery to keep my attention.  The books in the series that work the best have a good mix of plot and character.  This one had the characters but the plot was lacking.

Calculated in Death by J.D. Robb
(2013, Suspense)  3/6/13
Grade: 3

It looks like a mugging gone wrong, but Eve realizes there’s more to the murder of Marta Dickenson, an accountant who may have audited the wrong account.  As more bodies pile up, Eve and Roarke have to search for clues among the financial elite.

This wasn’t one of J.D. Robb’s best books.  The characters are still interesting, but there were too many similar suspects in this case.  The potential murderers didn’t have much personality, and I spent over half the book confused about which one was which.  They just seemed blah and interchangeable.  The book picked up in the last third, and I always appreciate seeing Peabody and the other secondary characters, but this book just didn’t stand out compared to others in the series.  

It's hard to find a good police procedural, and even rarer to find one with interesting characters (and a happy ending - it seems like most police detectives in fiction are depressive loners).  So I keep reading the J.D. Robb books even though they are outrageously pricey and don't hit every time.