I received a copy of this collection of novellas from the publisher via NetGalley.

A Christmas Surprise:
Lady Audrey is to be presented to society at her father's Christmas ball, which he is holding in a remote but picturesque Scottish Castle. Despite the remoteness of the location (and therefore presumably the scarcity of places nearby to lodge) and the fact that he is rumoured to be running out of money, all their friends and neighbours attend. At the last minute Audrey opts for a masked ball, but then realizes that this has made it impossible to tell who most people are. Who is the attractive stranger who danced with her and then disappeared?

The whole story was preposterous; there's not worrying over much about strict historical accuracy and then there's (SPOILERS) becoming engaged to your father's valet, cuddling him in front of your father and guests and them all being really happy for you. Lady Audrey didn't open her mouth without saying "Stuff and nonsense" - was this meant to be endearing?

A Valentine's Secret
It begins: "The day on which a person's life changes irrevocably is not one that begins with trumpets, but with an idea." Is this supposed to be of general applicability? The idea of the hero whose life is about to change irrevocably is to stroll into the village florist's shop and buy his mother a bunch of daffodils and a fern. Even assuming (and I don't, for one minute) that villages at the beginning of the 19th century had florist's shops, I'm fairly sure the hero's mother (being a baronet's wife and living at Maplebridge Hall) would have her gardener cut flowers for her from her gardens/greenhouses.

Our hero (who has studied Latin and (bizarrely) French at Oxford) proceeds to invite the florist and his family to dinner without consulting his mother, is disrespectful to his father when his father points out that this sort of thing just isn't done and it is implied that his father is behind the times for not accepting the daughter of a village shop as a "young lady". Whatever we may think of such attitudes now, his father is the one acting appropriately; Miss Dryden is a "respectable young woman", but not a "lady" (despite somehow owning pearl earrings) and this dinner party would never have taken place.

There were too many historically inappropriate passages to count and all the characters seemed created mainly to make set speeches about, e.g. women's suffrage or the fact that adoptive parents are the "real" parents. Then there are the editing errors: "It was hard not to live in the small village of Maplebridge and not meet the entire population as you grew up..." ? ..."more preferable"...?

I'm afraid I skimmed most of this (again) preposterous story.

A June Wedding:
Victoria and her family are enjoying the season in London shortly after her brother has unexpectedly become "the fifteenth Duke of Cheshire" (this is mentioned approximately every other page). Victoria is in love with a childhood friend, Isaac, the youngest son of the Duke of Daventry, but he has broken things off with her out of duty to his family and at the end of the season sends her family an invitation to his wedding to Hestia.

Despite being an engaged man, he basically stalks Victoria, forces her to admit she is in love with him, kisses her, and asks her to meet him the night before his wedding. It is very hard for me to decide whose behaviour I deplored the most.

Possibly the most unromantic "romance" I have ever read.

A Harvest Passion:
Sorry, couldn't bring myself to read it. ( )