A Homespun Regency Christmas - Anthology

It is a sad thing when one starts a new anthology thinking it will be full of new stories and then realises you've read them all. It was nice to revisit them but I would have preferred new ones.

The Wexford Carol - Emma Jensen

This one was a really nice story about a woman who is trying to keep her ancestral home in order and good repair despite the fact that it has been sold by the cousin who inherited it and the man sent by the new owner to oversee the property. Some funny secondary characters helped keeping this a light story. Grade: 4/5

Mistletoe and Folly - Sandra Heath

A pair of young lovers meets again after 5 years. The hero had his heart broken by the heroine when she left to marry another and now that they meet again he is engaged to be married. A rival for the affections of his current fiancee creates a misunderstanding to have their engagement broken which leads to an explanation of what really happened 5 years earlier. I liked this story, it had an unusual plot, a bit more mystery than you usually find here and an unexpected ending for some of the secondary characters. A 4/5.

An Object of Charity - Carla Kelly

Captain Lynch unexpectedly finds himself taking charge of his dead first mate niece and nephew. He plans to return home to visit the mother and brother he hasn't speak with in 20 years and develops a fondness the Sally Partlow, the mentioned niece. I found this the best story of the book mainly due to the hero who was wonderful. I have two complaints though, Sally is at first shown as a very young girl when she is in fact 25 years old and as in all of my previous Kelly reads I wanted a bit more emotion. Grade: 4/5

Amanda McCabe - Upon a Midnight Clear

This story has an original heroine, a Jamaican girl who makes soaps and perfumes. She has come to England to accompany a childhood friend. Then she meets a British naval officer who thinks he is unworthy of love because of his scars and they fall in love with each other. Grade: 3.5/5

Anthology grade: 4/5