The first 2/3rds of the stories were very strong but the last few either contradicted what we had learned about certain characters or had characters that were tangentially tied to the original family while one of the daughters, the diligent and talented Susanna, didn't get a story at all. I was especially disappointed in Patience's story.

Overall a good collection. I'll keep reading the Bluestocking Belles. ( )

This lovely mostly NC17 collection of romances about ten orphaned ladies and their Dowager Countess stepmother doing what they can to get by will fill most of a week.

LADY DOROTHEA'S CURATE by Caroline Warfield is a lovely tale about Lady Dorothea Bigglesworth and her fondness for the curate at Pilgrim's Rest.

CONCERTO by Mary Lancaster recounts the plan of the Seahaven daughters centering on 27-year-old Lady Barbara Bigglesworth after she meets the piano tuner Mr. Jack Sutton who is over 30. PG15

THE BUTLER AND THE BLUESTOCKING by Rue Allyn pivots on the Rosetta Stone for which Lady Elizabeth Regina Bigglesworth is verifying the translation of Mr. Thomas Young.

THE FOUR-TO-ONE FANCY by Elizabeth Ellen Carter considers identical twins Ladies Ivy and Iris Bigglesworth, 18, cousins Captain John Bentley, Viscount Tyrell, and Captain James Bentley, and Crimson Lad owned by the Captains Bentley.

LORD CUCKOO COMES HOME by Jude Knight is a PG15 romp in which Captain Lord Diomedes/Dom Finchley, 28, rescues Lady Chloe Tavistock, 22, and her monkey Rosalia.

I'LL ALWAYS BE YOURS by Ella Quinn is a delightful romp involving young people thwarting the Duke of Somerset and his land grabbing plans as well as attending the reform meeting.

LADY TWISDEN'S PICTURE PERFECT MATCH by Alina K. Field, set mostly at St. Hedwig's Place, York, is two and a half hours of sheer delight.

A DUKE FOR JOSEFINA by Meara Platt starts in York and then moves to Cumbe Grange near Scarborough with laughs along the way.

A COUNTESS TO REMEMBER by Sherry Ewing is a lovely romance about Dowager Countess Patience Seahaven and her love at first sight.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. ( )

If you read the book synopsis, you know that the Earl of Seahaven desperately wanted an heir, but after 5 wives and nine daughters, he died without that heir. The stories in this anthology show the struggle they went through when they were left practically penniless and how each of them – including his young countess – found their HEAs. Each of the stories is very well written and I think you will like all of them. With this book, as with all books with this premise, I have to wonder how Seahaven, who loved his family but was old, could leave his family with NO protection. Yes, titles are entailed as are major properties, but there is also bound to be some associated wealth and/or properties that are unentailed. Anyway – that aside, the stories are great and I love how each of the ladies used their unique talents to contribute to the welfare of them all.

You’ll find each story unique and special:

Caroline Warfield’s hotel employee, Lady Dorothea (Doro), and her curate Mr. Clark find their future in Lady Dorothea’s Curate.
Mary Lancaster’s musician, Lady Barbara, and Jack Sutton play a merry tune in Concerto
Rue Allyn’s historian, Elizabeth (Bess), and Malcolm K. Marr discover hidden identities in The Butler and the Bluestocking.
Elizabeth Ellen Carter’s artistic twins Ivy and Iris, who have vowed to only marry brothers, race to find that cousins can be as close as brothers in The Four-to-One Fancy.
Jude Knight’s Chloe (A cousin to the sisters) isn’t fashionable in any way but finds that she fits very nicely with Dom Finchley in Lord Cuckoo Comes Home.
Ella Quinn’s Miss Harriett Staunton and Lord Sextus (don’t you love it) Trevor, go to great lengths to out-maneuver the Duke of Somerset in I’ll Always Be Yours
Alina K. Fields’s Lady Honoria Twisden and Major August Kellborn stirs your heart in Lady Twisden’s Picture
Meara Platt’s botanist, Lady Josefina, and the Duke of Bourne find the cure for their lonely hearts in A Duke for Josefina
Sherry Ewing’s young dowager countess, Patience Bigglesworth, and Richard, Viscount Cranfield finally succumb to fate and find their HEA in A Countess To Remember. ( )