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Sandra Heath

Autor(a) de Regency Christmas Wishes [2003]

92+ Works 2,179 Membros 43 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Romance novelist Sandra Heath spent her childhood traveling around Europe because her father was an officer in the British Royal Air Force. She won the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards for Best Regency Author and for Best Regency Romance. She currently lives in Gloucester, England with her mostrar mais husband. (Bowker Author Biography) mostrar menos
Disambiguation Notice:

(eng) Please do not combine this page with the author page for Sandra Wilson, Sarah Stanley or Jeannie Machin.

Séries

Obras de Sandra Heath

A Regency Valentine II (5-in-1) (1992) — Contribuinte — 83 cópias
Regency Christmas Magic (2004) (2004) — Contribuinte — 62 cópias
Tokens of Love (5-in-1) (1993) — Contribuinte — 56 cópias
From the Heart: Five Love Stories (anthology) (1994) — Contribuinte — 45 cópias
A Regency Summer (5-in-1) (1992) — Contribuinte — 42 cópias
My Lady Domino (1983) 36 cópias
The Makeshift Marriage (1983) 30 cópias
Second Thoughts (2002) 26 cópias
Love Pursued (2011) 25 cópias
A Matter of Duty (1988) 25 cópias
The Unwilling Heiress (1981) 24 cópias
Mistletoe Mischief (2000) 24 cópias
Lady Jane's Ribbons (1987) 23 cópias
A Perfect Likeness (1985) 23 cópias
Easy Conquest (2001) 23 cópias
Breaking the Rules (2001) 22 cópias
Halloween Magic (1996) 22 cópias
A Christmas Courtship (1990) 22 cópias
The Whispering Rocks (2005) 21 cópias
The Wrong Miss Richmond (1989) 21 cópias
Mally (1980) 21 cópias
Lord Kane's Keepsake (1992) 21 cópias
Counterfeit Kisses (2000) 21 cópias
Hide and Seek (2001) 21 cópias
The Halloween Husband (1994) 20 cópias
False Steps (2003) 20 cópias
A Country Cotillion (1992) 20 cópias
The Second Lady Southvale (1990) 20 cópias
An Impossible Confession (1988) 20 cópias
Haunting of Henrietta (1998) 20 cópias
Diamond Dreams (2005) 19 cópias
Magic at Midnight (1995) 19 cópias
A Highland Conquest (1994) 19 cópias
Fashion's Lady (1982) 19 cópias
A Scandalous Publication (1750) 19 cópias
Marigold's Marriages (1999) 19 cópias
Mannerby's Lady (1977) 18 cópias
The Faun's Folly (1998) 18 cópias
The Magic Jack-o'-Lantern (1999) 18 cópias
Playing with Fire (2002) 18 cópias
Lucy's Christmas Angel (1995) 17 cópias
The Opera Dancer (1981) 17 cópias
The Absent Wife (1987) 17 cópias
Shades of the Past (1996) 17 cópias
A Commercial Enterprise (1984) 16 cópias
Lavender Blue (2003) 16 cópias
Change of Fortune (1985) 15 cópias
Rakehell's Widow (1984) 15 cópias
Camilla's Conscience (1995) 15 cópias
Cruel Lord Cranham (1993) 13 cópias
The Pilfered Plume (1989) 13 cópias
Lady Sabrina's Secret (1993) 13 cópias
Summer's Secret (1997) 13 cópias
The Sherborne Sapphires (1982) 12 cópias
Smuggler's Daughter (1979) 11 cópias
Winter Dreams (2004) 11 cópias
The Lady Cicely (1974) 9 cópias
Alice (1976) 9 cópias
Wife to the Kingmaker (1974) 8 cópias
Less Fortunate Than Fair (1973) 6 cópias
Midwinter marriage (2009) 4 cópias
The Queen's Sister (1974) 4 cópias
Wanton Little Mermaid (2011) 4 cópias
Green Girl (1979) 3 cópias
A Seasonal Stratagem (1992) 3 cópias
Penrich Dragon (1977) 3 cópias
A Winter's Tail 2 cópias
The Christmas Ghost (1995) 2 cópias
Lily of the Sun (1980) 1 exemplar(es)
The Green Gauze Gown (2004) 1 exemplar(es)
The Merry Magpie (2003) 1 exemplar(es)
A Homespun Regency Christmas (Anthology 3-in-1) (2008) — Contribuinte — 1 exemplar(es)
Pharaoh's Beloved (2010) 1 exemplar(es)
Mylady Weihnachtsband 2003 (2003) 1 exemplar(es)

Associated Works

A Homespun Regency Christmas (Anthology 4-in-1) (2008) — Contribuinte — 37 cópias

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Outros nomes
Wilson, Sandra
Stanley, Sarah
Machin, Jeannie
Data de nascimento
1941
Sexo
female
Nacionalidade
UK
Locais de residência
England
Aviso de desambiguação
Please do not combine this page with the author page for Sandra Wilson, Sarah Stanley or Jeannie Machin.

Membros

Resenhas

I will be honest here, RAKEHELL'S WIDOW by Sandra Wilson, bored me. I was so excited by the blurb, too! Unfortunately, I just did not enjoy this book too well. I wasn't really sympathetic with the female lead, Alabeth, as I felt she should have known what she was getting in for when she married Manvers. Also, she was entirely too harsh with Sir Piers Castleton. I understand that after the accident things might have been awkward and uncomfortable, but to not listen to the man for years?

I felt sincerely bad for Piers in fact, as he seemed like a decent guy. The Count, Adam Zaleski, however, was vastly annoying! There are few things I can stand less then a conceited, prima donna male, in real life or in fiction. They go from being amusingly arrogant, to annoyingly all-knowing, to downright irritating as a bee in no time flat. Adam Zaleski lost me pretty much his second appearance.

It's not often that I won't, or can't, read every single word on every single page, but I found myself skipping sentences and skimming interactions in hopes of something livening up. I was disappointed and finished the book with a dissatisfied frown.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
lexilewords | Dec 28, 2023 |
Christmas time, a time for family, friends and gaiety—unfortunately for Miss Blanche Amberley, her Christmas season was going to be a rocky one. A CHRISTMAS COURTSHIP unfortunately plummets Miss Amberley from almost affianced to the man she loves (beyond good sense) to utter desolation as ugly lies surface about her beloved brother Jonathan.

The romance of A CHRISTMAS COURTSHIP is almost second banana to the going-ons of the Amberley family. That's not entirely correct; the romance is not the forefront of the book, but it is very clearly there in hindsight. The attraction between Blanche and the current owner of her former House, Sir Edmund Brandon, starts slowly and builds through numerous unplanned meetings and a gradual sharing of their troubles. It felt very natural despite the quickness of it all (the book takes place over the course of about a week).

My only real complaint is that aside from Blanche and Edmund, the other characters are rather one-dimensional. There is very little spark to their characterization and no real deep depth. Even Miss Jennings, whose role in Jonathan's affairs changes dramatically throughout the book, offers little beyond what we find out during her first official scene.

A CHRISTMAS COURTSHIP is a good light-hearted read for the yuletide season that at least places all the villainous people in their place in the end and rewards the good folk.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
lexilewords | Dec 28, 2023 |
Sandra Heath has long been one of my favorite Regency Romance writers. Much of her earlier work formed the basis from which I became interested in Regency romance and her stories never fail to delight me in some way. A COUNTRY COTILLION is no different in that regard. I found Elizabeth to be a charming woman, though obviously emotionally confused because of her past with her no-account, scapegrace late husband.

The story is a slow one, Marcus not showing up in a substantial way until close to the middle and spending a lot of time shrouded in mystery and cryptic words. For the better portion of the book we spend watching Elizabeth's cousin Isobel working to win Elizabeth's fiancee Sir Alexander away from her under Elizabeth's nose! I was far more interested in watching as Isobel basically manipulated every action, conversation, and event to further her pursuit of Sir Alexander. I could not, for the life of me, understand why Elizabeth was so blind.

Then again, Elizabeth spent a good deal of time being haunted by her late husband's specter. With her impending betrothal to Sir Alexander looming, she has begun to think about when she first married James, how happy and in love she had been. How briefly the two of them seemed to have found the love that so many strive for. She dwells on this to distraction, unintentionally giving her would-be fiancee the cold shoulder.

This is where I had a disconnect with the story, I think. We're told that Sir Alexander spent a good deal of time and effort to woo Elizabeth before the novel takes place; that it took him awhile to prove his suit was worthy and for Elizabeth to realize how stable he was (in comparison to James). Yet it seems almost from the first that their 'love match' was lukewarm. Built on mutual affection, not love. Also, once Marcus comes to the scene, we learn very little about him beyond that he was Alexander's schoolboy friend; was in America and estranged from his father; and had a possible bride in America waiting for him. This is all we learn. We learn little about the man himself and even less about certain circumstances. As Elizabeth began to fall in love with him, I couldn't help but wonder if she was really in love with him or with the fact that he is everything she ever wanted James to be.

In the end, the novel is a sweet one, but leaves a lot of questions for me to ponder over.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
lexilewords | Dec 28, 2023 |
The December 2022 #TBRChallenge is "Festive." I chose a collection of traditional Regency Christmas stories by quite well-known authors. The collection started out beautifully, sagged in the middle, and by the end, unfortunately didn't quite make it back to the high bar the first couple of stories set.

"The Lucky Coin" by Barbara Metzger (63 pages) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sir Adam Standish, an impoverished baronet from Suffolk, is taking the long mail coach ride into London to plead for an extension on his mortgage, which is his pessimistic about receiving. A wizened old man on the coach quite literally gives him a penny for his thoughts - or, at the very least, a coin, which is unusual enough that Adam decides to sell it after his banker turns down his application. While in the rare coin shop, he meets the most beautiful woman he's ever laid his eyes on - and she happens to have a cachet of the same type of unusual coins! Adam's luck changes for the better at every turn after meeting the beautiful Jenna, and it seems to all be down to that chance meeting with the old man on the coach. This story has a lovely, light, fairy-tale quality to it that makes all of the coincidences and reversal of fortune inside a week seem plausible. I quite adored Adam and Jenna, and thought them a good match in the end. Whimsical!

"Following Yonder Star" by Emma Jensen (74 pages) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Alice Ashe is serving as her younger sister's companion during said sister's final days of confinement with her pregnancy. Clarissa (the sister) is utterly self-absorbed; her husband died at Waterloo and she wants a girl child so that she can leave the Irish pigeonhole that is her late husband's estate and remake her life in London. A boy child - an heir - would tie her to the estate for the rest of her life, and she wants anything but that. The dead earl's brother, Sir Gareth, returns for the birth of his niece/nephew. He's hoping for a boy child, or else he's the heir to the estate that he never wanted. He's always been a world traveler, so the idea of being tied to one place in the wild Irish countryside is very much not appealing to him. Alice and Gareth were childhood sweethearts and shared a kiss before Gareth ran off to join the Navy and begin his world travels, so there is some old tension between them. An old Traveler woman advises both Alice and Gareth (at different times) to think hard about their choices in life, and this story culminates in a beautiful, emotional reunion scene between the two, enveloped in Christmas magic and Irish traditions. There is some delightful comic relief in the form of Alice and Clarissa's elderly father, who tries to wander off at every chance to "duel" with his old foe Mr. O'Neill.

At this point, I thought maybe there would be a continuing motif of wizened old strangers giving the MCs a hint at how to resolve their difficulties, and I was really looking forward to it, because one of the hardest things about short stories/novellas is buying that so much happens in such a short period of time. Basically having a fairy godmother/godfather waving a magic wand? That works for me, LOL. Unfortunately, that was not the case with the other 3 stories in this collection.

"The Merry Magpie" by Sandra Heath (61 pages) - ⭐⭐⭐
Sir Charles Neville's infidelity are revealed to his wife, Juliet, via her aunt's one-eyed magpie, Jack, in a horribly embarrassing, public scene one Christmas Eve. Juliet banishes Charles from their home, and he stays away for 6 years, eating his heart out. He knew it was a mistake to cheat on his wife, but basically he married young and thought that ~all~ men took mistresses as a matter of course, and who was he not to sow some wild oats? He realizes his mistake immediately, and wants nothing more than to beg his wife's forgiveness. He returns to the aunt's house to inquire as to where his wife might be, and runs into the infamously bad-mouthed Jack again. The magpie, being attracted to shiny things, steals the wedding band that Charles keeps on a ribbon around his neck and hides it, causing much dismay among the group. Juliet's aunt plays a bit of matchmaker, sending Charles to the island retreat where Juliet is staying, unbeknownst to either of them. The two confront each other and the bird, and eventually settle their differences. I thought this story was a bit unbalanced, and for being the titular character, Jack the magpie actually plays a very small role here.

"Best Wishes" by Edith Layton (55 pages) - ⭐⭐ 1/2
A newly married couple - Jonathan, Viscount Rexford and Pamela Arthur, the daughter of a country squire - are arguing about where they will spend their first Christmas together as a married couple. Jonathan has promised their presence at the Fanshawes' without his wife's consent, and she is very angry. Turns out Mrs. Fanshawe is a former mistress of Jonathan's, which YIKES ON BIKES, I get what Pamela doesn't want to go there. She'd rather spend the holiday with her enormous family in the country. Jonathan is very typically cool and icy Society, estranged from his family, and wants to give his wife the leg up she didn't have before she married him. They eventually compromise and decide to spend half the holiday with the Fanshawes (the Society invitation) and half the holiday with Pamela's family. Well, they end up leaving the Fanshawes early after Pamela is pawed by Mr. Fanshawe during a "scavenger hunt." Jonathan apologizes profusely and they go to the Arthurs in the country. Pamela is so thrilled to be back among her many brothers and sisters and memories that she doesn't realize just how much of an outcast Jonathan (and her brother in law) are among her family, and she gets angry with him for not yakking a mile a minute with all of them. One one think that the point of this story would be that both learn that they are their own family unit now and need to create their own Christmas traditions, but no. In the end, Jonathan is basically absorbed into his wife's family traditions. I didn't really like Pamela - I found her to be very immature - so this wasn't an ending I particularly enjoyed.

"Let Nothing You Dismay" by Carla Kelly (77 pages) - ⭐⭐⭐
Lord Trevor Chase is a barrister at Lincoln's Inn, considered rather hopeless because he advocates for the street children and rarely wins his cases. He is also known to be suicidal around the holidays, so everyone is rather relieved when he's called to his family home in York because of a family emergency. His brother and sister-in-law, the Marquess and Marchioness of Falstoke, are with their eldest daughter's family, as her children are suffering with measles, so Lord Trevor is basically keeping an eye on the remaining, single children: Lady Janet (18), Lady Lucinda (12), and young David (7). Lady Lucinda is returning home from the Select Academy in Bath, accompanied by a teacher, Cecelia Ambrose. Miss Ambrose's plan is basically to deliver Lady Lucy, have a word with her mother about Lucy and Janet's strained relationship, and return to Bath. Unfortunately, when they arrive and realize Lucy's parents aren't there, Cecelia's plans change. She's actually familiar with Lord Trevor's work in the court system and admires him for it, and is willing to stay on and assist when she realizes that he's rather helpless with his own nieces and nephews. A midnight fire at the manor house forces the group to retreat to the dower house on the properly, and basically they are able to repair their various relationships, etc in the cozy comfort of the smaller building. Janet is getting married in the spring and has basically lost herself in the first blush of love, not realizing how she's alienating her siblings. Her pride is taken down a few notches by both Trevor and Cecelia. David is an adorable little boy who basically hero worships his uncle, and Lucy is a spunky tween caught in a tough part of life. Trevor and Cecelia consider themselves black sheep (Trevor, for pursuing a career when he's the second son and then brother to a marquess; Cecelia, because she's an adopted half-English, half-Egyptian who faces lots of racial hatred in lilly white England) and that they have much in common, and eventually fall in love during their forced proximity.

Generally I love Carla Kelly's stories, but this one was kinda "meh" for me because there's quite a bit of proselytizing (like that's the cure of suicidal holiday thoughts, yick) and there's some additional, weird details that could've been cut with no loss of value (like apparently Trevor lied about the extent of the damage to the manor house to purposely keep everyone in the cramped dower house for....Reasons). In the end, this was a disappointing story for me, and never really brought the end of the collection back to the high standards of the first couple of stories.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
eurohackie | outras 3 resenhas | Dec 22, 2022 |

Prêmios

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Associated Authors

Edith Layton Contributor
Barbara Metzger Contributor
Carla Kelly Contributor
Sheila Walsh Contributor
Melinda McRae Contributor
Emily Hendrickson Contributor
Mary Jo Putney Contributor
Laura Matthews Contributor
Emma Lange Contributor
Carol Proctor Contributor
Amanda McCabe Contributor
Patricia Rice Contributor
Marjorie Farrell Contributor
Mary Balogh Contributor
Gayle Buck Contributor
Allison Lane Contributor
Margaret Westhaven Contributor
Anita Mills Contributor

Estatísticas

Obras
92
Also by
1
Membros
2,179
Popularidade
#11,761
Avaliação
½ 3.4
Resenhas
43
ISBNs
212
Idiomas
1
Favorito
1

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