Christmas Belles

Rating:
Summary: A Regency romance in Christmas wrapping
Review: Considering the emphasis that was put on Christmas for this novel in both its marketing and title, CHRISTMAS BELLES was a bit of a disappointment. Susan Carroll delivers a fun, well-focused romance story with great character growth, yet fails to evoke the spirit of the holiday.

Sir Phineas Waverly, is killed during a naval battle aboard Captain William Trent's ship. Will is also the closest male heir to take possession of the deteriorating Waverly estate, Windhaven. He is well within his rights to evict Sir Phineas's four daughters, Emma, Chloe Anne, Lucy and Agnes, but instead Will takes guardianship of them. In order to give the situation more propriety, he also offers to marry the eldest, Emma, who accepts. He arrives at Windhaven for the ceremony during the holidays, only to be confronted by the second eldest, Chloe Anne, who tries to thwart their plans every chance she can because Emma is really in love with the local vicar.

The growth between Will and Chloe Anne is provocative. He has been a member of the Royal Navy since his grandfather called the motherless boy to duty at the age of 9. Will has to grow accustomed to being around women and is completely flummoxed when a small child is thrust in his arms. Chloe Anne is a romantic daydreamer, who needs to learn that life sometimes requires compromises. One can appreciate how some of the supporting characters develop, too.

Because of the brood of "unprotected" sisters, this 1992 novel not only reminisces on Georgette Heyer's delightful drawing room comedies, but Jane Austen's stories as well. However, by the looks of Carroll's dedication, it is heartwarming to notice that her inspiration more likely came from her own cluster of sisters.

Much credit should also be given to Carroll for not introducing a German character to persuade the Waverlys to set up a Christmas tree. Despite common belief, it wasn't Prince Albert who first introduced this custom to British society, but Fergie's Georgian predecessor, the Duchess of York (a.k.a. Frederica Charlotte Ulrica, the Princess Royal of Prussia). Regardless of this Duchess's "eccentricities" and other authors' efforts to give their stories a more contemporary feel of the holiday to their readers, it is much preferable to see how the majority of English people celebrated the holiday at the time.

The solitary weakness this holiday Regency romance has--despite all of its celebrations--is that it lacks the Christmas spirit, which is usually defined as goodwill towards man. One argument can be made that Will always has everyone's best interests at heart and even does one of his subordinates a risky favor, but no lessons are learned. Unlike George Bailey, he never learns what "a wonderful life" he has had. Unlike Ebenezer Scrooge, Will is already aware of the warm feelings that arise from doing someone a good turn. Surely a significant subplot could've been woven in with the romance to make it excel.

Regardless of whether CHRISTMAS BELLES comes off weak as a holiday story, it is still a top-notch Regency romance. Although it's great seeing Carroll currently breaking into a more widely-read mainstreamish market, the production of these "little" novels are joys that will be missed.

Rating:
Summary: Very Charming and Sweet Romance Book.
Review: I loved this Christmas Regency romance book from Susan Carrol, Christmas Belles is one of the most charming romance books that I have ever read and all the characters are very likeable and it was just a real joy to read, I won't bother to give a detailed description about the basic plot about the book because the other reviewer already did that and why repeat what was already said but I just wanted to say how much I like the book, my favorite characters in this delightful book are Chloe Anne Waverly and William Trent and I really think they were a good match! This Book is a keeper and a book I will treasure in my little collection of favorite romance books!

Rating:
Summary: Sweet, but not upto initial promise...
Review: This book is part of a series of books I have read very recently that had a naval theme. I should add that this was read after Carla Kelly's MISS WHITTER MAKES A LIST (strongly recommended, despite minor flaws) and Nicola Cornick's THE LARKSWOOD LEGACY (reviewed some time ago). The story has been nicely described by others, so let me take a moment to review what I liked and did not like about this book.

For me, the problem is that this book is too slim, and ends too early and definitely too abruptly. The hero, a young captain who has lost his parents very young and who has been raised at sea by a stern maternal grandfather (an Admiral), inherits the estate of an elderly relation who dies to save the hero's life during enemy action. Partly out of guilt, partly out of a sense of duty, the hero betrothes himself to the eldest daughter of his late cousin - by correspondence (only a few letters). And then, he arrives to be married over a very short break. The heroine is not the eldest sister; she is in love with a very poor curate, and she has resigned herself to marriage. Rather, the real heroine is the young and fanciful Chloe Anne, the third of the four sisters. Chloe is convinced that both the Captain and her sister Emma are making a mistake, in part because Emma loves another man. She is also horrified at the thought of changing anything about her beloved estate.

OK - that is just the beginning. Unfortunately, firstly, the Christmas theme does not really follow through. Although there is a holiday celebration, it does not set the Captain reflecting about his life and wondering what is wrong with it. His efforts to free himself from the betrothal are passive to say the least. And Chloe Anne does not stop to reflect on her life either. And *that* is a problem with this romance. Neither hero nor heroine really change that much; although the hero recognizes he is in love with the wrong sister, he makes little effort to change his situation, or for that matter, to question the harshness of Navy discipline in dealing with his deserting steward.

It seems to me that the only sisters who do change are Lucy (a fortune hunter and title hunter at the start) and the youngest, Agnes (a prude and bookworm, a la Austen's Mary Bennett). Nor, of course, do the curate and his love Emma change that much, although both work up the courage to proclaim their love - literally at the altar. [A trifle embarrassing, one would think].

The epilogue seems a little odd, hastily written perhaps, and tacked on as an afterthought. A longer book might have helped; allowing more time for the captain and Chloe Anne's characters to develop and mature (instead of the ghost escapade) might have helped. There were moments of high comedy, but in general, I did not feel that this book lived upto its initial promise.

Rated 3.5