Mills & Boon bring out a series of regency romance compilations, each containing two novels, at regular intervals: this double volume is number seven in the "Regency High Society Affairs" series they brought out in March 2009.
It contains "
The Sparhawk Bride (Historical Romance)" by Miranda Jarrett, and "
The Rogue's Seduction (Mills & Boon Historical)" by Georgina Devon, both of which have also been published individually.
Both stories are about men who kidnap women and then fall in love with them, so if you find that kind of story ridiculously implausible you should probably leave this book alone. (By the way, I'm not giving anything away here which isn't stated on the back cover of the book.)
The prologue to "The Sparhawk Bride" is set in Martinique in 1754, a young boy called Michel Gericault has an "English" family called Sparhawk pointed out to him by his mother Antoinette Gericault. (They're actually American colonists of Engish ancestry from what is now the USA, but the author is undoubtedly right that in 1754 a Frenchwoman would consider them English.)
Antoinette tells her son that he must always hate the Sparhawk family and seek revenge because Gabriel Sparhawk murdered his father.
The book resumes seventeen years later in 1771 in Newport, Rhode Island, as the guests are arriving at the wedding of Captain Gabriel Sparhawk's daughter Jerusa. Michel Gericault arrives too, in search of revenge.
Only things don't turn out quite the way that Michel, or anyone else, had planned ...
This is one of a number of novels which Miranda Jarrett has written about eh Sparhawk family, including "
Sparhawk's Lady (Historical Romance)" which has been published both on its' own and as part of volume three in this series, and "
Sparhawk's Angel (Historical Romance)" which has been published separately and as part of volume eight.
"The Rogue's Seduction" was written by Georgina Devon, whose interest in British history was inspired when she was serving in the US Air force and was posted to a USAF base in England. It begins when Jason Beaumair, Earl of Perth, pretends to be a highwayman and holds up the coach in which Lady Lillith de Lisle is travelling.
Some ten years before, Lillith had been forced by her family to abandon Jason, then a pennilless younger cousin without expectations of inheriting the earldom, and marry instead the wealthy Lord De Lisle.
Now Lillith is a rich widow and Jason has inherited his family's earldom. Neither has forgotten the other - but his unconventional way of wooing Lillith is bound to touch off even more fireworks than their original courtship ...
Both these stories are even sillier and less plausible than the average Regency romance, and that is saying something. However, both are mildly entertaining if you can suspend disbelief.
