Conocimiento común

Nombre canónico: Alexander, Victoria
Nombre legal: Griffin, Cheryl
Fecha de nacimiento: 1965
Género: female
Nacionalidad: USA
Lugar de nacimiento: Washington, D.C., USA
Lugares de residencia: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Premios y honores: Career Achievement Award
Biografía breve: Cheryl Griffin was born in 1965, she grew up traveling the country as an Air Force brat, but now is settled in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband, two teenaged children, and a bearded collie named Sam. She has spent much of her life with a microphone in one hand and a photographer by her side, because she was an award-winning television reporter, who covered presidents, the Pope and movie stars, until she discovered fiction was much more fun than real life. Published since 1995 as Victoria Alexander, she turned to writing full time and has never looked back. In 2009 she received the Career Achievement Award from RT Bookclub. She firmly believes housework is a four-letter word, there are no calories in anything eaten standing up, procrastination is an art form, and it's never too soon to panic.

Miembros

Reseñas

A Visit From Sir Nicholas por Victoria Alexander

A wonderful full story. With a very subtle plot twist. Hints of christmas but not over powering, characters were funny at times.

Denunciada

bkluvr4evr | 3 reseñas más. | Nov 6, 2023 |

The Lady Travelers Guide To Scoundrels And Other… por Victoria Alexander

{first of 4+3 in [[[Lady Travellers]]] series; fiction, Victorian romance, Paris, steamy}(2017)

It certainly did not look like the type of place where genteel, older ladies were bilked out of their life savings. Nonetheless - India Prendergast narrowed her eyes - it was.

India has come to a meeting of the Lady Travellers Society to find her aunt, whom they seem to have misplaced.

Lady Guinevere Blodgett, Mrs Persephone Fitzhew-Wellmore and Mrs Ophelia Higginbotham founded and run the Society but have not answered India's written queries.

Derek Saunders is Lady Blodgett's great-nephew and, alerted by India's letters to look into the Society, is concerned that the three elderly ladies are running a fraudulent enterprise - especially considering that none of them have ever actually travelled themselves.

’Then you are aware that she and two of her dearest friends have started an organisation ostensibly to assist women with information and travel arrangements but in truth does little more than provide her and the other ladies a steady income? …
And did you know they are offering services they are not competent to provide nor do they feel compelled to provide? Which might be well seen as, oh I don’t know - fraud?’

And far from denying it when he tries to question them, they are evasive and try to deflect his attention. To prevent authorities looking into the Society too closely, he decides to go looking for Lady Heloise himself. India decides to take matters into her own hands and accompany him to Paris.

I'm afraid this was a chore to get through. I was hoping it would pick up and it did lift a little bit at around the three quarter mark but not enough. The banter, far from being witty, was wittering and rather than being sharp was repeated in different ways to ensure the message was hammered home (why India would be an unsuitable wife for Derek was detailed about five different times to various characters, for instance). I found the 'banter' pointless, the characters annoying - especially the three old ladies who seemed not only unhelpful but unrepentant - and the behaviour improprietous for the period (for all that we're constantly told that India is the model of propriety). The steamy scene towards the end looked like it was awkwardly shoehorned in afterwards just because it was obligatory. And I felt that Sir Martin was done a disservice; his character was changed almost completely between when we first see him and the end of the book.

The scattered tidbits about Paris at the height of the 1889 World's Fair are fun. I like the characters of Derek and his brother; the women in this book not so much. I was looking for romance (not steam) with this read but didn't get any. The trope is antagonists to lovers but I'm not sure what Derek sees in India; I suspect he doesn't either.

India Prendergast was the exact opposite of everything he'd ever wanted in a woman. She was soundly practical, terribly sensible and horribly annoying. She knew everything, or at least she thought she did. She was stubborn and determined and overly concerned with propriety. And he had serious concerns over whether she ever indulged in anything he would consider fun. In very nearly every way he could think of, she wasn't at all his type of female, not the type he was usually attracted to.

Though the narrative improved a touch towards the end, the steamy scene didn't help (I was a bit disappointed that Derek didn't stay in character as a gentleman and firmly but politely decline). The prequel I read a couple of months ago (which is included at the end of this edition, too, and is the story of how his parents met and married) had the improvement of being a novella so the shorter format kept the waffling to a minimum. Other than that, this novel is probably almost on par, really, with the majority of other novels (by modern day writers) in this genre. (To be honest, I've given up on authors (who mostly seem to be from outside Great Britain) following the ways of speaking or of behaving that guided people in Regency/ Victorian times, unless it's to poke ridicule at them.)

I didn't enjoy this one - but maybe it's to other people's taste.

(October 2023)
2.5 stars

I previously read and reviewed the prequel which is included at the end of this edition:

The Proper Way to Stop a Wedding (in Seven Days or Less)

{prequel of 4 + 3 in Lady Travelers Guide series ; Victorian romance, novella} (2017)

Celia's half sister, Katherine, is engaged to marry Henry Saunders, the brother of an earl. However, Celia, having met him in a bookshop prior to his meeting Katherine, loves Henry and he reciprocates the feeling but they are both too honourable to end his engagement to Katherine. But Katherine is a fortune hunter who only wants Henry for his money - enter Celia's aunt Gwen who plots with her good friends Effie and Poppy to bring about Celia's happily ever after.

Short, sweet and (thankfully) no steam. Oddly, both Celia and Henry feel the spark of instant true love though they both question it - but the both still succumb to their feelings. I suppose this was a way of moving the action forward while keeping the story short as this is a novella.

(September 2023)
3-3.5 stars… (más)

Denunciada

humouress | 3 reseñas más. | Oct 2, 2023 |

The proper way to stop a wedding (in seven days or… por Victoria Alexander

{prequel of 4 + 3 in Lady Travelers Guide series ; Victorian romance, novella} (2017)

Celia's half sister, Katherine, is engaged to marry Henry Saunders, the brother of an earl. However, Celia, having met him in a bookshop prior to his meeting Katherine, loves Henry and he reciprocates the feeling but they are both too honourable to end his engagement to Katherine. But Katherine is a fortune hunter who only wants Henry for his money - enter Celia's aunt Gwen who plots with her good friends Effie and Poppy to bring about Celia's happily ever after.

Short, sweet and (thankfully) no steam. Oddly, both Celia and Henry feel the spark of instant true love though they both question it - but the both still succumb to their feelings. I suppose this was a way of moving the action forward while keeping the story short as this is a novella.

(September 2023)
3-3.5 stars… (más)

Denunciada

humouress | 3 reseñas más. | Sep 14, 2023 |

The Importance of Being Wicked (Millworth Manor) por Victoria Alexander

Loved the woman living her own life and leading an architecture firm. It didn't grab me though, so I'll probably give the author another shot to see if that was a fluke.

Denunciada

msmattoon | 15 reseñas más. | Aug 24, 2023 |

Ver Más Reseñas