Otros nombres: Benedict, Barbara
Fecha de nacimiento: 1944
Género: female
Nacionalidad: USA
Biografía breve: Barbara Benedict obtained an English major in college, and she went on to teach high school but she’s always been drawn to the magical process of writing. For Barbara, books are the keys that open the doors to life and all its wonders. For as long as she can remember, she has been stepping through these portals—by both reading and writing—to explore the myriad worlds they offer.

In 1984, Barbara published her first novel, an historical romance set in colonial South Carolina, and has since written about eras and locales as far apart as present day Louisiana to Arthurian England and Minoan Crete.

Not only does Barbara take pleasure in reading about exotic times and places, she also travels to the actual locations to gather the tiny details — when the sun sets, how the air feels, what sights, sounds, and habits are unique to the area. Accompanying her on these research trips, her husband serves as volunteer photographer and the romantic escort. As she’s often said, she could never "quite pull it off" without him. She firmly believes that the secret of writing a romance lies in "living a romance."

If you have any questions, or would like to contact Barbara Benedict, she can be reached by email at BarbaraBenedictB@aol.com.

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Catch Of The Season por Barbara Benedict

First things first: as is evidenced by the blurb on the back, this is a very silly book. I think its important to go into this novel knowing this aspect, because it is extremely hard to suspend disbelief otherwise.

There is a lot more going on than just what's summarized in the back blurb. To say its a character-driven story is to make the understatement of the decade. Here's a summary:

We have Richard, Earl of Fairbright. He is the hero of this story. He was never expected to inherit the title, but his dissolute cousin managed to kill himself in a horse race so Richard has stepped into the role and is working tirelessly to bring the estate back up to snuff. His lifelong dream is to restore the family castle, Hazard Hall, but due to family shenanigans he doesn't have any actual money to do it, other than making his estate run at a profit.

His dowager countess aunt Lady Sarah is determined that Richard sire an heir posthaste, which means he needs to marry. Richard has no time for the Season, so Sarah devises a "hunt" on his estate, for which Richard himself in basically the prize. Twenty young ladies and their chaperones have been invited. Each day, the ladies will receive a question about the history of the Fairbright family and title, which they have to answer correctly or else they're eliminated. These questions will also lead them to clues as to where the Fairbright betrothal ring has been hidden. Whichever lady finds the ring has the right to wear it and receive the Earl's marriage proposal.

Among the competitors are Elysse, femme fatale; Richard's former flame; desperate to get her hands on his supposed money more than the man himself. Pretty much nobody likes Elysse except her co-conspirator, one of the servants, whom she's hired to find the emerald betrothal ring by hook or by crook.

Also there to compete for the Earl's hand are twin sisters Amanda (aka Mandy, aka M) and Pandora (aka Pandy, aka P) Grantham, the youngest daughters of the dissolute Gambling Gerry. They are being chaperoned by their eldest sister, spinster Andrea (aka Andy). Andy and Richard have a meet-cute run-in prior to Richard unveiling his identity as the Earl (everyone still thinks its his cousin Reggie), and Richard presses Andy to take part in the "hunt," seeing her as the perfect anathema to Lady's Sarah's desire to see him leg-shackled and loving it. After all, this is probably the one woman on his entire estate who *doesn't* want to marry him! Surely she would turn him down flat if she won.

So he encourages her to win, of course.

Andy is our ever-resourceful Mary Sue heroine. She has a humiliating experience in her past with a former childhood sweetheart, Geoff, who dumped her for Elysse back in the day. Geoff, along with Lords Bellington and Foxley, are conveniently friends with Richard and are on hand to even out the numbers on the hunt. M and P immediately gravitate towards Bellington and Foxley, each plotting to fix Andy up with her preferred Lord. When Geoff shows his face, they decide to switch their matchmaking efforts to him, knowing Andy was once in love with him.

Also hanging about is Richard's current heir, his dissolute cousin Horatio, who loathes everything Andy represents but is somehow enchanted with her anyway.

So basically, there's a lot going on in this book. Andy does her best to answer the daily questions wrongly, but somehow she is never disqualified, much to her consternation. She's extremely uncomfortable having Elysse hanging around, not to mention Geoff - who begins to court her in earnest with the twins' egging on. Meanwhile, she is at turns frustrated and captivated by Richard. Their interactions are based on physical lust and bittersweet banter, with tons of convenient misunderstandings thrown in for good measure.

Considering all of this going on between this huge cast of characters, the romance is pretty thin on the ground. Amusing and light, yes, but ultimately unconvincing. The pairings are telegraphed waaaaaaaaaaaaay in advance so it is quite the predictable read.… (más)

Denunciada

eurohackie | otra reseña | Jan 23, 2020 |

Catch Of The Season (Regency Romance) por Barbara Benedict

The Bachelor reality show, regency edition. Actually rather charming.

Denunciada

GanneC | otra reseña | Mar 12, 2018 |

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