Almost Perfect

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable Regency romance
Review: Lord Buckstan enters the Conningsby home as if he owns it. His "visit" is to collect his gambling debt from winning at cards with Roland Conningsby. The stake was Conningby's teenage virginal daughter Elizabeth as his mistress. Eliza's older sister widow Cassie Marsten intercedes using an urn to hit Buckstan in the head and probably killing the odious aristocrat. Roland and his two daughters, nearly broke, flee to Aunt Philana's home in Scotland where card expert Cassie plans to win passage for the trio to America before she is arrested for murder.

The threesome stays at Ryecroft Castle where widow Lucien Hollier is also. Lucien and Cassie fell in love six years ago, but he broke it off out of fear of being a laughingstock due to the pathetic Roland as an in-law. As Cassie and Lucien play cards, their love rekindles, but she expects him to ditch her again so she plans to flee with his loot. However, Buckstan is in town seeking vengeance and his debt paid while Lucien knows he immaturely erred the last time he courted Cassie and this time will rectify his mistake.

Though Roland is so pathetic and Buckstan so odious they are cartoons of losers, ALMOST PERFECT lives up to its title due to the lead couple and her sister and his cousin. Fans will cherish Cassie, a delightful can do person, who must have inherited her mother's genes as she is no chip off her father's block. The audience will also hope that the nice Lucien comprehends that he loves her not the Ton or her father. Readers will enjoy this Regency romance just don't play cards with Cassie.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable Regency romance
Review: Lord Buckstan enters the Conningsby home as if he owns it. His "visit" is to collect his gambling debt from winning at cards with Roland Conningsby. The stake was Conningby's teenage virginal daughter Elizabeth as his mistress. Eliza's older sister widow Cassie Marsten intercedes using an urn to hit Buckstan in the head and probably killing the odious aristocrat. Roland and his two daughters, nearly broke, flee to Aunt Philana's home in Scotland where card expert Cassie plans to win passage for the trio to America before she is arrested for murder.

The threesome stays at Ryecroft Castle where widow Lucien Hollier is also. Lucien and Cassie fell in love six years ago, but he broke it off out of fear of being a laughingstock due to the pathetic Roland as an in-law. As Cassie and Lucien play cards, their love rekindles, but she expects him to ditch her again so she plans to flee with his loot. However, Buckstan is in town seeking vengeance and his debt paid while Lucien knows he immaturely erred the last time he courted Cassie and this time will rectify his mistake.

Though Roland is so pathetic and Buckstan so odious they are cartoons of losers, ALMOST PERFECT lives up to its title due to the lead couple and her sister and his cousin. Fans will cherish Cassie, a delightful can do person, who must have inherited her mother's genes as she is no chip off her father's block. The audience will also hope that the nice Lucien comprehends that he loves her not the Ton or her father. Readers will enjoy this Regency romance just don't play cards with Cassie.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: enjoyable Regency romance
Review: Lord Buckstan enters the Conningsby home as if he owns it. His "visit" is to collect his gambling debt from winning at cards with Roland Conningsby. The stake was Conningby's teenage virginal daughter Elizabeth as his mistress. Eliza's older sister widow Cassie Marsten intercedes using an urn to hit Buckstan in the head and probably killing the odious aristocrat. Roland and his two daughters, nearly broke, flee to Aunt Philana's home in Scotland where card expert Cassie plans to win passage for the trio to America before she is arrested for murder.

The threesome stays at Ryecroft Castle where widow Lucien Hollier is also. Lucien and Cassie fell in love six years ago, but he broke it off out of fear of being a laughingstock due to the pathetic Roland as an in-law. As Cassie and Lucien play cards, their love rekindles, but she expects him to ditch her again so she plans to flee with his loot. However, Buckstan is in town seeking vengeance and his debt paid while Lucien knows he immaturely erred the last time he courted Cassie and this time will rectify his mistake.

Though Roland is so pathetic and Buckstan so odious they are cartoons of losers, ALMOST PERFECT lives up to its title due to the lead couple and her sister and his cousin. Fans will cherish Cassie, a delightful can do person, who must have inherited her mother's genes as she is no chip off her father's block. The audience will also hope that the nice Lucien comprehends that he loves her not the Ton or her father. Readers will enjoy this Regency romance just don't play cards with Cassie.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: A Fun Regency Romance!
Review: Ms. Hampton's latest book is a fun regency romance with fun characters and engaging plot.

Cassandra Marston is a widow who finds herself on the run after she thinks that she has killed a peer of the realm after clobbering him over the head with a urn. Her father is a gambler and his last wager ended with him planning on handing his youngest daughter over to the man Cassie thinks she has killed. With only a few pounds to their name Cassie, her sister Eliza and her father head to Scotland to stay with her aunt by marriage for as long as it takes to gather enough fund to set sail for America and a new life. What ends up happening after their arrival in Scotland is more then what they expected!

Lucien Hollier is coming back into society after his time of mourning is over. He lost his wife and child in childbirth and he is rather bruised. He plans on making the scoundral that caused his pain to suffer and he has just the plan to do this. What he doesn't expect is a visit from the one woman that he has always cared for walking back into his life. She is everything that he could care for, but her fathers standing as a wasteral makes it impossible for them to have a future. They do participate in a wage which has Cassie giving Lucien a kiss that leds to almost more then either one of them counted on!

This was a nice read and a change of pace by Ms. Hampton. I enjoyed the characters (both primary and secondary) and felt that the story move well. For a pleasent way to spend the evening you can't go wrong with this book!

Rating:
Summary: ALMOST PERFECT is perfect, in my opinion...
Review: Widow Cassandra Marston, her wastrel father Roland Conningsby, and younger sister Elizabeth, are about to travel from their foreclosed home in England to Scotland in the hopes of escaping creditors and securing passage to America. A notorious gambler, Conningsby placed Elizabeth "on-the-table" as a gambling bet...and lost. When the despicable winner, Neville Mayne, Earl Bucksden, arrives to collect Elizabeth shortly before their departure, Cassandra, infuriated, knocks him over the head with an urn. Assuming she has committed murder, the three flee for their lives to the home of Cassandra's aunt-in-law, Philana, Lady Forster, at Ettrick House in Scotland. They arrive just in time to attend a grand ball at Ryecroft Castle. Little does Cassandra know the ensuing house party will bring her face to face with the incorrigible rake Lucien Hollier -- the man who left her six years ago because of her father's reputation.

Lucien Hollier can't believe his eyes when he sees Cassandra Marston at his friend's home, Ryecroft Castle. When she challenges him to a card game Lucien willingly accepts...and loses. Furious at his loss, Lucien sets out to expose Cassandra as a cheat, only to discover she and her family have fled in the night. He will find her. He will get his money back. Or so he thinks. Lucien can't believe his good luck when he discovers Cassandra, the victim of a carriage accident and amnesia, left alone by her father and sister at the side of the road.

Certain Cassandra has seen the last of Lucien, she's none too happy to be rescued by the rake. Now she must feign amnesia, and hope for the best. What follows is a dangerous game whereby Lucien claims she is his wife, taking her to his lodge. What can Cassandra do, but comply?

ALMOST PERFECT is the delightful debut Regency romp by versatile author, Denise Domning writing as Denise Hampton. Filled with compelling, believable characters and storyline, Ms. Hampton yet again proves herself as a romance author at the top of her game.

Fast paced, exciting, intriguing, and original, ALMOST PERFECT is a perfect read. Whether writing Medieval, Elizabethan, or, now, Regency England and Scotland, Ms. Hampton will capture the reader's attention from first page to last.

I highly recommend ALMOST PERFECT as one of the best Regency romance historicals you will read in the genre. A definite keeper!