The Grand Hotel [Mass Market Paperback]

"Love Will Find the Way" by Elisabeth Fairchild. Lt. James Forrester fell in love with Mrs. Annabelle Grant while reading her letters to her dying husband, Captain Archibald Grant. Now he was in London to deliver Archie's belongings to his widow. Forrester worries that Archie may always be between them. Heartrending tale of loss and new love.

"The Castaway" by Anne Barbour. Martha Finch had been found on the beach when she was six years old. Raised by a hardworking fishing family, Martha never knew who she really was. She worked at menial jobs, married a man 40 years her senior and, when he died, made her way to London. Having heard of a long-lost heiress still being sought by the child's grandfather, Martha is determined to become that person, craving security and a family. Then she meets her "grandfather" and his younger friend, Gabriel Storm, Earl of Branford. A good story, but no one blinks at Martha's lower class upbringing or how she worked for a living. Still a lovely read, if you can ignore the inconsistencies.

"The Management Requests" by Barbara Metzger. Wounded Captain Arthur Hunter, Viscount Huntingdon, had been given the hotel manager's office to avoid the stairs leading to his suite. When Hope Thurstfield sees Huntingdon going into the office, she mistakes him for the manager. Hope is in London to find her almost intended, but "Mr. Arthur" is all she can think about. Slight humor but little depth.

"Promises to Keep" by Allison Lane. A deathbed promise to her father has brought American Maggie Adams to London to repair an old family rift. She runs into Marcus Widmer at the Grand, discovering he is her second cousin and a man of many interests. Maggie's attempts to contact her father's family leads to danger. This interesting premise deserved a longer format. The plot was uncomfortably compressed in spots, giving the flow of the story a certain jerkiness.