4,5 "Delightfulness is in the Details" Stars When Mr. Alistair Carsington brings, together with his impossibly handsome persona, a breath of London flair and a wave of Industrial Revolution to her peaceful corner of 1818 Derbyshire, Miss Mirabel Oldridge, spinster extraordinaire and local authority, is more than a little outraged. What business does the maddening toff have disrupting her land as she's always known it for monetary gain?And what business does the maddening female have flaunting

Knowing that several readers think that this book is one of Ms. Chase's weakest releases, I didn't have high expectations when I started reading it and I admit I decided to read it only because I wanted to read the next books in this series and I'm OCD about reading series in order. Well, I owe my OCD a big thanks, because I really enjoyed reading this book.The Right Honorable Edward Junius Carsington, Earl of Hargate, is worried about his 3rd son, 29-year-old Baffle to All Human Understanding,

4.5 starsShe began unbuttoning her pelisse. "I am one and thirty years old," she said. “I should like to gather my rosebuds before the petals shrivel up and fall off."Really, this book ought to have been titled “MISTER Wonderful”, because its hero, Alastair Carsington is an absolute dreamboat. He’s handsome, witty and charming – of course – but beneath the surface veneer lurks the heart of a true romantic, a kind, generous man who is troubled by a past he can’t remember.At twenty-nine, Alastair

On Kindle sale for USD 2.99 23rd December 2020I am re-reading all my 5 star rated romance novels. There are 60 on my shelf. This is book 3. (Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Dandy, Wounded War Hero / PTSD, Spinster, Forbidden Love, Starchy hero / heroine gets Unstarched) This is how my 3rd re-read held up. At first it dropped from 5 to 2.5/3, but after getting past a somewhat rocky start, I was invested so my final verdict is a 4.************ - "You are beautiful," he said. "I would give anything in

3 to 3.5 stars. There were aspects of this book that I really liked, but there were also a few things I found frustrating. The key couple, Mirabel (lovely name!) and her war-hero Alistair, are both likeable and they fit well together as a couple. My reservations were related to two aspects 0f the book. One was the whole aspect of the canal-building, around which much of the plot revolved. Yes, historically accurate, no doubt. But my interest in engineering and the merits of canal-building as a t...

This one was only OK. Ending up skimming the last 20% which is not good.... not sure why it did not do it for me.

It's always nice to have a good experience as my first book of the new year. This is my first Chase novel, so I had few expectations (beyond somewhat mixed reviews from friends). I was delighted to find myself enjoying the book so much. Mirabel was a lot of fun, and not least because she was so atypical of the genre. She's a lot older than usual, coming in at an over-the-hill 31 years of age. I liked that Chase made this feel natural and fit the time period by giving her plenty adequate reason f...

No rating, because I didn't even make it past the first 50 pages. I know I'm the odd one out here (yet again) in not loving this, but absolutely nothing that happened in the first chapters appealed to me: - heroine came across as to prickly for my tastes, and while I'm sure she grows, I just wasn't in the mood to put up with her snobbishness - hero had an absurd obsession with clothes that I'm sure is supposed to be funny, but creeped the hell out of me (seriously, every single time he looked at...

So, seriously, I got bored. Up until that last chapter. That hanky panky scene was hot, hot, hot.

Not sure about this Alistair character; he is described as a wastrel, loves clothes, and is considered a hero for something he has no recollection for. Qualities usually not given to lead male characters in books. And to boot our heroine is thirty-one, gasp! What have we here Watson? I'm intrigued. Wow never read someone described so poetically "Her eyes were blue, twilight blue, and for a moment she seemed to be the beginning and end of everything, from the sunrise halo of hair to the dusky blu...

I thought this book was okay, but you know there are problems when you're more interested in seeing what happens with the (very marginal) secondary romance than you are with the main one. I'm not up for writing a long-winded review right now, so here are my impressions, in mostly single- or double-syllabic words:Alistair Carsington - Overcame the dandy impression admirably to the point that I really liked him. I continued reading because I wanted to know more about him. I retained a bit of skept...

There was hesitancy on my part in starting this book due to the “not so great reviews” here and there. However it wove along nicely and I was just in the mood for this type of story. Timing is everything, because I was in a place to appreciate this couple’s story their witty (sometimes sexy)banter, hang ups, wounds and all. I’m especially looking forward to the next brother’s story.. good reviews and all. If you’re looking for nonstop excitement, save it for later. This story has a nice pace whe...

4.5 stars **Mildly spoilerish** Believe it or not, I liked this one better than Lord of Scoundrels. (Well, except for the scene in LoS against the lamppost in the rain, but I can't have everything, can I?)I loved the whole book -- loved Alistair and his "dandy-ish-ness", loved Mirabel and her penchant for jumping his bones whenever she could, (view spoiler)[including climbing a ladder into his room (hide spoiler)] got a charge out of the story, smiled at the secondary characters and all the refe...

I am working my way through the Loretta Chase series narrated by the wonderful (!) Kate reading. This is the first of the Carsington Brothers series, and it is terrific. The story is fascinating, describing as it does the early days of industrialisation in England, with the advent of canals and the railways. The battle that our heroine wages to protect and conserve her beloved part of Derbyshire must surely have been a common one, and still is today. The tension between "progress" and the need t...

Although even mediocre Loretta Chase is better than most authors, I found myself disappointed after reading this, for there had been a very long break in which Ms. Chase wasn't gracing her world with excellently written romances. It was just on the dry side. I had to try really hard to get involved with Carsington and Mirabel, although they both were perfectly nice people and I didn't dislike them. I guess I just have very high standards for the author who wrote my favorite book of all time. So

Loretta Chase fans have waited so many years for audio versions of her books, so how wonderful ("wonderful," heh) is it that Kate Reading is narrating her Carsington Brothers series? This one is zooming to the top of my TBL list.

I'm usually not a fan of the insta-love/lust trope but this one works. I loved the banters between the MCs. I find them to be very witty and humorous. The pacing was good and characterisations were great. However, the oomph factor is missing from this book that could have made me give this book 5 stars instead of 4. I couldn't quite put a finger to it. I almost reached for other books twice whilst reading this one. I just didn't have the urgency to continue this one. However, this was simply too...

I liked this one more than I thought I would. Though, the lack of communication got be to rather annoying. I still don't understand why Mirabel couldn't just talk to Alistair about her misgivings regarding the canal. Her reticence made zero sense considering she wanted to convince him to call off his plans. Thus, she struck me as a bit of a nincompoop. Ah, well, another HR going down in my books as less than it could have been merely due to an irrational, nonsensical heroine. Still, the writing

This quote just sums up the delight of this book. "My love, I am one and thirty," she said. "Did it not occur to you that my hymen might shriveled up and died-of despair, most likely."

The book started very promising. The first half was quiet entertaining and humorous. But the second half became long and tedious. It’s almost like two different stories. I was barely able to finish the story.