Valentine’s from Bath

A fun collection of novellas, “Valentine’s from Bath” features five distinct romances that involve a Valentine’s ball in Bath. In “Beauty and the Bounder,” a man with a secret is drawn to a lady of fortune, but will she accept him when she knows the truth? In “The Earl Takes a Wife”, Celia has loved Adrian for years, but when his sister interferes, more than one heart might break. In “The Beast Next Door,” Charis has loved her neighbor for years, but can the beast have his lady when others conspire against them?  In “The Umbrella Chronicles: John and Emma's Story” a serious academic encounters a spontaneous believer in the superstitious, can such opposites come together? Finally, in “Candles in the Dark”, former solider Doug Marsh does his best to run his candle factory, and support former soldiers, but when a pregnant widow catches his eye, she may be the one to light his life instead. 

A truly lovely Valentine’s collection, each of the tales are diverse, and avoid the typical lady meets a lord, giving the reader a breath of fresh air and a desire to read more. While the stories are predictable in how they will end and the supposed secrets are fairly obvious, the tales are nicely done considering the length, and resulting lack of development. The characters are introduced and fall in love in such a way as to make the reader want to look at more of these author’s works, even if the individual stories do not necessarily make the reader want a longer version of these specific tales. As far as novella collections go, this is a good one, on theme, varying in steam but fitting for the time, and fans of historical fiction will enjoy the character twist and turns!

Sarah E Bradley