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Friday, December 4, 2015

Review: Mistletoe, Marriage and Mayhem by Amy Rose Bennett, Susana Ellis, Sherry Ewing, Mariana Gabrielle, Jude Knight, Caroline Warfield, Nicole Zoltack

Mistletoe, Marriage and Mayhem 

by Amy Rose Bennett, Susana Ellis, Sherry Ewing, Mariana Gabrielle, Jude Knight, Caroline Warfield, Nicole Zoltack

Historical Romance
ebook and print, 400 pages
November 1, 2015 by the Bluestocking Belle


In this collection of novellas, the Bluestocking Belles bring you seven runaway Regency brides resisting and romancing their holiday heroes under the mistletoe. Whether scampering away or dashing toward their destinies, avoiding a rogue or chasing after a scoundrel, these ladies and their gentlemen leave miles of mayhem behind them on the slippery road to a happy-ever-after.

All She Wants for Christmas, by Amy Rose Bennett


A frosty bluestocking and a hot-blooded rake. A stolen kiss and a Yuletide wedding. Sparks fly, but will hearts melt this Christmas?

The Ultimate Escape, by Susana Ellis

Abandoned on his wedding day, Oliver must choose between losing his bride forever or crossing over two hundred years to find her and win her back.

Under the Mistletoe, by Sherry Ewing

Margaret Templeton will settle for Captain Morledge’s hand in marriage, until she sees the man she once loved. Who will win her heart at the Christmas party of her would-be betrothed?

‘Tis Her Season, by Mariana Gabrielle

Charlotte Amberly returns a Christmas gift from her intended—the ring—then hares off to London to take husband-hunting into her own hands. Will she let herself be caught?

Gingerbread Bride, by Jude Knight

Traveling with her father's fleet has not prepared Mary Pritchard for London. When she strikes out on her own, she finds adventure, trouble, and her girlhood hero, riding once more to her rescue.

A Dangerous Nativity, by Caroline Warfield

With Christmas coming, can the Earl of Chadbourn repair his widowed sister’s damaged estate, and far more damaged family? Dare he hope for love in the bargain?

Joy to the World, by Nicole Zoltack

Eliza Berkeley discovers she is marrying the wrong man—on her wedding day. When the real duke turns up instead, will her chance at marital bliss be spoiled?



My thoughts

Each one of the book in the series is awesome. You would never regret reading this. They might be short but they left lasting impression inside you. The collection consisted of seven different stories from seven Bluestocking Belles. The ladies in these stories have remarkable personalities and their dashing gentlemen awaited for them. Fates have unique ways bringing love in this season of Mistletoe, Marriage and Mayhem


All She Wants for Christmas by Amy Rose Bennett (4.5 stars)



I blushed a lot while reading this story and I love it!!!

Tessa Penrose was compromised when Jasper, the Earl of Arlington, kissed her. The consequence was one that she wanted to avoid. But since the damage was done, she had no choice but to marry him. Jasper couldn’t help it when he saw a beautiful woman after he was awake. When he realized he had to be wed to her, it was not fear but happiness that he felt. Can she trust the infamous rogue with her heart?

Tessa was a bluestocking with deep loyalty to her family. Even though she did not wish to be wed, she still respected her family decision so that their reputation won’t be tarnished.

Jasper was in her studio previously with another woman and he fell asleep. Tessa was trying to take her stocking and slipper and Jasper kept teasing her. Jasper was a thoughtful and sweet man despite her roguish nature.

Their courting sessions were great and I love the way Jasper treated Tessa later on.

A must read!!!


The Ultimate Escape by Susana Ellis (5 stars)


Susana made an awesome story as always and this one was none different.

Lady Julia had been in love with her best friend, Oliver Staton. So when he had married Kate, her close friend, she had been devastated. But Kate died in an accident and Oliver needed a mother for his young daughter. He offered Julia to be his wife. In the eve of their wedding, Julia felt that even though she loved him, she couldn’t marry him because he didn’t love her. The best way to escape was by travelling through time. Could Oliver finally admit his feeling for Julia?

It is a really beautiful story. I felt broken heart while reading the pain she experienced when she heard Kate and Oliver were getting married. The vivid description made me love the book more and more.

When Julia went to London two hundred years later, everything had changed. Luckily, everyone thought that she was dressed for an event. I had to agree that the current clothes we have are much more comfortable.

I enjoy the conversation between Oliver and Julia. They were very thoughtful.


Under the Mistletoe by Sherry Ewing (5 stars)


Margaret Templeton was a beautiful clergyman’s daughter. She was in love with her childhood friend who happened to be the Viscount Beacham. When her father received Captain Sander Morledge’s request to let Margaret as his Christmas party hostess and eventually his wife, she had no choice but to accept because her father thought it would be a good match for each one of them.

So she went to London, Frederick’s friend saw her and told him. Frederick didn’t want to miss his chance to rekindle what they had before. He was still hurt from her refusal so he wanted to seek her out. When he realized that she was in Morledge’s house, he tried to make her stop seeing the Captain.

You will be brought to emotional rollercoaster. The rivalry between Frederick and Sander were really intense and I love Freddy’s protectiveness of Margaret. I love the mistletoes around the house. Smart thinking Frederick!

Love this story!


‘Tis Her Season by Mariana Gabrielle (4.5 stars)


This story had some unexpected twist which I found unique. I’ve never read this kind of story so it was really engaging.

Charlotte Amberly was probably the craziest debutante that I’ve ever read. She was really brave but too impulsive. When her parents forced her to marry the old Marquess of Firthley, she ran away. But the most unexpected thing happened. The heir to the marquessate who happened to be the handsome Alexander Marloughe was drunk when she wanted to take her horse, so he offered to take her to her destination

Alexander Marloughe was angry at his grandpa for making him an heir and his grandpa wanted to marry a girl younger by many decades. So he decided to go get a drink and when he returned, he offered his grandfather’s betrothed to ride into the carriage with him.

Charlotte’s adventure was really fun. I wanted to laugh at the trouble the family got after she left even though I probably shouldn’t.

I really like Alexander’s decision later. He proved to be a great man and I love it that he stole a kiss from Charlotte.

Love it!!!


Gingerbread Bride by Jude Knight (4.5 stars)

Mary Pritchard was an adventurous girl. When her coach broke in the middle of street, she took to her own matter to ride to the destination. Naval Lieutenant Rick Redepenning saw Mary, his late admiral’s daughter, on the street so he wanted to help her. He came back to London for his recovery.

I really love this story. He was really sweet to her, but after one other wrong statement, Mary became distant. I love how he tried to woo her and the story had a great twist.


A Dangerous Nativity by Caroline Warfield (5 stars)


The story was really unique and I enjoy unraveling the story behind it. The Earl of Chadbourn got a really difficult responsibility. He had a great patience to deal with a dramatic sister and a scared nephew. He was a great man. Catherine was an intelligent woman with a lot of responsibility. Not only she took care of the husbandry but alson her brothers. Literally she mothered two of them. Chadbourn and Catherine made a wonderful match.


Joy to the World by Nicole Zoltack (4.5 stars)


I like that when the real duke showed up he decided he wanted to try a courtship with her even though he didn't have to which show that he was a responsible duke.


Source: From Bluestocking Belles which did not affect my review in any way.



About the Author


Amy Rose Bennett has always wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. An avid reader with a particular love for historical romance, it seemed only natural to write stories in her favourite genre. She has a passion for creating emotion-packed - and sometimes a little racy - stories set in the Georgian and Regency periods. Of course, her strong-willed heroines and rakish heroes always find their happily ever after.

Amy is happily married to her own Alpha male hero, has two beautiful daughters, a rather loopy Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Devonshire Rex cat with attitude. She is a Speech Pathologist, but is currently devoting her time to her one other true calling - writing romance.



Susana Ellis has always had stories in her head waiting to come out, especially when she learned to read and her imagination began to soar. Voracious reading led to a passion for writing, and her fascination with romance and people of the past landed her firmly in the field of historical romance.

A teacher in her former life, Susana lives in Toledo, Ohio in the summer and central Florida in the winter. She is a member of the Central Florida Romance Writers and the Beau Monde chapters of RWA and Maumee Valley Romance Inc.





Jude Knight has been telling stories all her life: making up serial tales to amuse her friends and children, imagining sequels to books that have moved her and left her wanting more, occasionally submitting short stories to magazines and the radio, starting more than a dozen novels set in different times and places.

She has devoted most of the last forty years to a career in commercial writing and raising a large family (most recently as grandmother-in-residence while a daughter was out of action for three years). She and her own personal romantic hero, with whom she has shared those forty+ years, now live with two cats and frequent visitors in a small town in rural New Zealand.

Judy wrote and published her first historical romance in 2014, and now has the wind in her sails and a head full of strong determined heroines, heroes with the sense to appreciate them, and villains you'll love to loathe.


Mariana Gabrielle is a pen name for Mari Christie, who is not romantic--at all. Therefore, her starry-eyed alter ego lives vicariously through characters who believe in their own happy-ever-afters. And believe they must, as Mariana loves her heroes and heroines, but truly dotes on her villains, and almost all of her characters' hearts have been bruised, broken, and scarred long before they reach the pages of her books.


She is a professional writer, editor, and designer with almost twenty-five years' experience, and a member of the Bluestocking Belles, the Writing Wenches, and the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. She has written two Regency romances, Royal Regard and La Déesse Noire: The Black Goddess, and will soon release three Royal Regard prequel novellas and a mainstream historical, Blind Tribute.

Caroline Warfield is the pseudonym of Carol Roddy, a writer who wishes she had walked through fascinating times in the shoes of one of her characters--but which one?

Caro has at various times been an army brat, a librarian, a poet, a raiser of children, a nun, a bird watcher, an Internet and Web services manager, a conference speaker, an indexer, a tech writer, a genealogist, and, of course, a romantic. She has sailed through the English channel while it was still mined from WWII, stood on the walls of Troy, searched Scotland for the location of an entirely fictional castle (and found it), climbed the steps to the Parthenon, floated down the Thames from the tower to Greenwich, shopped in the Ginza, lost herself in the Louvre, gone on a night tour of the Singapore zoo, walked in the Black Forest, and explored the underground cistern of Istanbul.

By far the biggest adventure has been forty-five years of marriage to a prince among men.

She sits in front of a keyboard at a desk surrounded by windows, looks out at the trees and imagines. Her greatest joy is when one of those imaginings comes to life on the page and in the imagination of her readers.


Sherry Ewing is an Amazon bestselling author who writes historical and time travel romance novels to awaken the soul one heart at a time. Her debut historical romance, If My Heart Could See You, hit Amazon's top ten eBook bestseller list only two days after the paperback release. Always wanting to write a novel but busy raising her children, she finally took the plunge in 2008 and wrote her first Regency. She is a national and local member of Romance Writers of America, The Beau Monde and The Bluestocking Belles. She is currently working on her next novel. When Sherry is not busy writing, she can be found in the San Francisco area at her day job as an Information Technology Specialist.


Although all of Sherry's novels can be read alone, there is a particular order to reading them as her characters are introduced which are:

If My Heart Could See You

For All of Ever: The Knights of Berwyck, A Quest Through Time Novel

Only For You

A Knight To Call My Own

Nicole Zoltack loves to write in many genres, especially romance, whether fantasy, paranormal, or regency. She's also an editor for MuseItUp Publishing and works as a freelance editor.

When she's not writing about knights, superheroes, or zombies, she loves to spend time with her loving husband and three energetic young boys. She enjoys riding horses (pretending they're unicorns, of course!) and going to the PA Renaissance Faire, dressed in garb. She'll also read anything she can get her hands on. Her current favorite TV show is The Walking Dead.

To learn more about Nicole and her work, visit her blog at http://NicoleZoltack.blogspot.com. She can be found on most any social media site under Nicole Zoltack. Stalk away!

Bluestocking Belles















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