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Summary: Excellent example of love of family
Review: As usual, Ms. Kelly shows humor and family values. Marian, a caring young girl, wishes her family and a visiting Earl to have the best Christmas ever. Marian cares more for "inner beauty" than outside looks. Refreshing and entertaining. Reading goes fast.
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Summary: It's a keeper!
Review: I love regency romances, and Carla Kelly's wit and heart make her one of my favorite authors. Marion's Christmas Wish is charming and full of the Christmas Spirit.
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Summary: Heartwarmingly romantic: just perfect for Christmas!
Review: The old Carla Kellys are really among the best Regency romances around. In this one, which I managed to acquire second-hand, she writes a wonderful, heartwarming story which gripped me so completely that I even found myself thinking and wondering about the characters during the day, when I'd had to put the book down.Marian, aged not quite seventeen and not out yet, is nevertheless the only 'sensible' person in her family household. It's a year after her father's death, which occurred just before Christmas the previous year, and this year she's determined to have a *happy* Christmas. After all, her family is practically bankrupt and they may have to move out of their home in the New Year. Then her elder brother, Percy, arrives home for Christmas with two strange gentlemen in tow. One is intended as a suitor for Marian's sister Ariadne; he's wealthy, despite being obnoxious. The other is Lord Ingraham, an earl, badly scarred from a burn and clearly hiding from friends and family as a result. Marian, with her penchant for healing sick and injured creatures, is immediately drawn to Ingraham and wants to help him; she provides him with a salve to lessen the pain of his burn, and in doing so sees the man whom she'd been warned by her brother was stiff and top-lofty actually *smile*. Gil, as she comes to call him and think of him, joins in her amusement and seeks ways to rid the house of Ariadne's suitor. He defends her to Percy when her brother disapproves of her often unladylike behaviour. Marian is, of course, still strictly speaking, in the schoolroom, and - as other characters later remind her and Gil - is 'of the infantry'. Gil treats her sometimes as an equal, finding himself confiding in her, and sometimes as an amusing child; his most common nickname for her is 'brat'. The story is told only from Marian's point of view, which is a fascinating device, because Gil's interest in her - not as a child, but as a woman he is falling in love with - is clearly apparent to the reader, but not to Marian. Charmingly naive as she is with regard to relationships, she misses his hints and doesn't understand his references to changing his mind about marriage and needing to speak to her brother. To the reader, Gil's intentions towards Marian are clear, and it's also clear that, in a scene we aren't privy to, he must have asked her brother's permission to court her. It does take Marian some time - both aided and hampered by the goings-on of her family, and in particular the escapades of her younger brother Alastair - to understand what she feels for Gil, even though, right at the very start of their acquaintance, she ignored the Christmas wishes she'd intended to make for her family, and only wished instead that Gil should have the 'best Christmas ever'. By her efforts, she makes that come true for him... ...and in return, he makes all her wishes come true, and more. A charmingly romantic book you won't forget in a hurry. One of Kelly's best, though - in the spirit of Christmas - without the heartwrenching angst of Mrs Drew Plays Her Hand or Reforming Lord Ragsdale, two of my other Kelly favourites.
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Summary: Sweet, cheerful and delightful!
Review: This is a very early Kelly, first published in 1989 and, clearly, it reflects her efforts to establish herself in the Regency sub-genre. It reminded me very much of some of Georgette Heyer's more lighthearted romances as it does not, as others have said, have the angst and poignancy of some of Kelly's other works. Nonetheless, in the hero, The Earl of Collinwood, she has given us a wonderful character with whom the reader will most certainly fall in love. Marian herself is irrepressible, sweet and loving. The two of them complement each other perfectly. There are some errors here with respect to titles (even the Divine Kelly gets it wrong!) and some sloppy editorial errors. However, this story is wonderful, as summed up elsewhere, and moves along at a cracking pace with a wonderful climax where Marian finally takes the lead in her relationship with Collinwood. The secondary characters are, as always with Kelly, delightful and all of them add pertinence to the narrative. Excellent; I truly enjoyed reading this one!
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Summary: Heart warming
Review: This is one of Ms. Kelly's better books. Marian makes a wish-that the man her brother brought home, will have a 'real' Christmas. she has this habit of taking in strays. This is a very light read, for the most part. Until close to the end. I was, of course, cheering as it finished.
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Summary: once upon a time . . .
Review: When this book was first published in June, 1977, (which means it was written at least one year prior to that date) the gothic novel was still the most popular type of women's story, and this book somewhat bridges the two genres: gothic to Regency. This was the first Regency novel written by the author, whose previously published novels were historical, most of them set in Medieval times. As with all the books of Sandra Heath, there is an absolute essence of Regency England to it; this book could not possibly have been set anywhere else, in any other time. But yet, even though it really isn't as good an example of the Regency romance as her later books, it's still way better than all too many by other writers. This is quite simply one incredible author, who treats her readers with respect, always, when it comes to research and setting and that nebulous quality: believability. (Yes there is one small boo-boo in it, but considering some of the clankers in other books published, it's hardly worth noting, and doesn't really, seriously, affect the plot at all.) I suppose that I should have knocked off one star, considering this, but the writing, the setting and everything else is so good, I'm not going to do that! I stand with my five stars! Sarah Jane Stratford is the natural daughter of a very wealthy landowner, who decides to use her as the tie to his fortune. His nephew Edward grudgingly considers the match, although he'd much rather have his secret amour. The high-flying Jack Holland, friend to the Prince Regent, appears to be enamored of Sarah Jane, but then things are not always what they appear to be, are they? And finally, there is Paul Ransome, who is finagled out of his family's estate by somewhat nefarious means, and finds himself indebted to the Squire. The secondary characters are just terrific examples of their ilk. Most of this story is set in the moors of Southern England, and it's almost as good as a travelogue, not to mention the local lore and legends which greatly enhance the story-telling. This is not the typical Regency romance, and certainly is not a gentle book by any means, but time has not worn away its charms. And certainly, it amply demonstrates the wonderful writing future that lay ahead of this gifted author.
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