Miss Whiting and the Seven Wards (Zebra Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: great fun
Review: If you're in the mood for some fairy tale-like escapist fun, you really can't go very wrong with this first installment in Lynn Collum's latest trilogy, "Miss Whiting and the Seven Wards." Based (quite heavily) on the Snow White fairy tale, this sweet natured and charming story was fun to read. However a small word of warning: "Miss Whiting and the Seven Wards" really does read like fairy tale. The hero and heroine more or less fall in love at first sight, and while there is quite a bit of interaction between the two, never really 'talk' to each other. (In other words, this is not a very 'deep' or multi-layered book). However, if you can overlook this one niggling factor, the novel becomes quite the fun read, and is a good a way as any to have a couple of hours of escapist fun.

When Mrs. Parsons Academy for Girls closes down, Miss Sarah Whiting realises that she will now have to go home to a stepmother who not only doesn't want her but who actively dislikes her as well. Sarah soon finds that her fears are well founded. Jealous of Sarah's beauty, Lucinda, the Dowager Lady Whitefield, keeps Sarah in complete seclusion, while she (Lucinda) does her level best to snare herself another rich husband. And then the ladies receive news that Sarah is now an heiress. Anxious that she should inherit Sarah's new found wealth, Lucinda sets in motion a murderous plan to rid herself of Sarah permanently. Fortunately, Sarah doesn't die, and is rescued by Ward brothers instead.

Elsewhere Sir Evan Beaumont has allowed being badly scarred and the jilting of his erstwhile fiance to give him full permission to sink into a fit of dismals. Alarmed at the state he finds Sir Evan in, his friend Titus Lindon, the new Earl of Longmire, inveigles Sir Evan to take care of a small problem for him. Apparently the previous earl had given one of the Longmire estate's more desirable tenancies, rent free to a young widow with seven sons for the duration of her lifetime. Now Titus has just gotten married. And his new wife wants the cottage for her own mother and invalid sister. Sure that Mrs. Ward was once the previous earl's mistress, Titus wants Sir Evan to get the "widow" to vacate the cottage. Sir Evan agrees to undertake the task. But upon reaching the cottage and making the acquittance of Mrs. Ward and her seven sons, finds himself becoming quite charmed and enamoured with the family. How on earth can he participate in a plan to put this enchanting family out on the streets? However, Sir Evan also senses that the Wards are hiding something. And he is determined to get to the bottom of it even as he finds himself in danger of losing his bruised heart irrevocably to the mysterious Mrs. Ward.

As for Sarah, she has agreed (albeit reluctantly) to pretend to be the boys' mother so that they will not loose the cottage and be put into the workhouse. But that was before the complication of Sir Evan and her feelings for him intruded. Add to that her fear that Lucinda will discover that she is still alive and come after her, and you have one extremely skittish and nervous young lady. Can Sarah afford to trust Sir Evan with truth? But what if he betrays them and the boys end up in a work house? Suddenly, life for Sarah has become a lot more complicated and perilous than she ever thought it could be...

This latest Lynn Collum offering was a pure joy to read. The plot is not very deep, and the characters were all stock character types. But that didn't detract from the enjoyment I gleaned from reading this novel one bit. If anything it's made me all the more eager to read her next installment in this fairy tale trilogy.

Rating:
Summary: Cute Fairytale Regency
Review: Ms. Collum has penned a cute version of the Snow White tale giving it some original twists. Loved the step-mother and her bungling henchman.

Rating:
Summary: A FAIRY TALE FIND OF A SUMMER READ
Review: The innocent Sarah Whiting finds herself in a web of intrigue after she returns home from school to an indifferent stepmother who suddeny has a change of heart when Sarah becomes a heiress. Sarah later goes into hiding after a servant in her home apparently tries to kill her. Posing as the mother of the seven orphans who rescued her in order to save them from eviction, Sarah meets Sir Evan. As she falls for him, her deception begins to haunt her. But Sir Evan has secrets of his own...