... dashed hopes and daunting gossip!

A pair of stories that both start of with what seems like very shallow minded ladies as the heroines who fortunately develop into more than thought at first glance. Gossip at both the village level and within tonnish circles certainly comes to fore in some way in both novels.

Rivals of Fortune.
The story of a young woman whose marriage hopes are dashed in no uncertain terms when her childhood sweetheart goes to London Town and very quickly marries another. A quite superior and sure of herself wealthy woman. Broken hearted and convinced that this is the end of the world Joanna Rowntree is positive that she will never recover. Can she survive the village gossip surrounding her dashed hopes? As time goes on she eventually does, particularly with the advent of an attractive new neighbour, but perhaps not so compelling as the man of style and tonnish manners, Sir Rollin Denby, the brother of her true love's wife.
Add a delightfully recalcitrant younger brother and rumours of treasure to be found on Rowntree's inherited Abbey property--a ramshackle ruin, and the story gets better further along--once all the wailing has stopped!

The Impetuous Heiress.
Lady Alicia Alston is mean sprinted and misunderstood. High in the instep and yet incapable of feelings beyond her own satisfaction. Spurned by Ian MacClain, Earl of Cairnyllan, she determines to make him suffer and leads his younger sister into a devastating situation. Not well done Alicia! It was at that moment that I did not like you and wondered how on earth your behaviour was going to be redeemed?
Fortunately Jane Ashford is able to just that. I ended up quite liking Alicia once I'd seen past her unthinking and reprehensible behaviour towards a young woman she really had no grudge against. And yes old stories can provide new flesh for gossips! Certainly the resolution to the challenges we are presented with are convincing.

A NetGalley ARC ( )

Rivals of Fortune/ The Impetuous Heiress by Jane Ashford are a 2016 Soucebooks Casablanca publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Two for the price of one! How can you beat that? This book as two stories in it, the first one being, “Rivals of Fortune.”

This story begins with Joanna Rowntree in tears, watching the clock, knowing that at that very moment the man she thought she would marry someday, is getting married to someone else. To add insult to injury, the newlyweds are returning to the country to live, which means Joanna will have to face them. However, Joanna soon finds her hurt feelings and broken heart has healed with amazing speed, when she makes new friends and is sought after by not one, but two men!

This classic regency romance, originally published in the early 1980’s, is the very definition of fluff, the plot is transparent, but it is also simply delightful. Joanna’s character is annoying at first, but slowly begins to mature and realize what really matters in life. But, she must endure some humiliation, and makes some monumental mistakes along the way.

While normally, the silly, petulant characters, like Joanna, would find my last nerve and sit on it, I couldn’t help but smile while reading this one. Mainly, it is because I know this is a classic romance, and that is why it’s so charming. This is a nice, clean, sweet romance, with a little adventure and intrigue tossed in to keep things interesting.
Overall, a fun, entertaining and easy read. 4 stars

The second book featured is:

The Impetuous Heiress

This story centers around bored, spoiled, Lady Alicia Alston, the daughter of a Duke. She is intrigued by the arrival to London of the Scottish Earl of Cairnyllan, Ian MacClain. Alicia is accustomed to having men fawn over her, so when Ian is decidedly unimpressed she becomes flustered, and finds herself actually having to work at garnering his respect.

Ian, hates the Haute Ton with a passion, and Alicia represents all that he resents about it. He immediately makes judgments about her, and the two end up at odds for one reason or another almost to the bitter end.

In this story, Alicia’s character proves more substantial than what appears on the surface and Ian, a product of his past, proves to be one stubborn, difficult nut to crack. Can Alicia melt his heart and show him the error of his ways?

This story was originally published in 1984, and is another typical Regency romance of that era. For such a short book, there is a rather large cast of characters, with a few side stories and romances, that disrupted the flow of the story, making it just a little too ‘busy’.

However, this is a lot of fun to read, especially knowing it is a classic Regency, written in a traditional style, that despite its flaws, is charming. Once again, this story is clean and sweet, an easy read, and terrific vintage fun!
3 stars

So overall, I think it is very important that everyone is aware these stories are classic, or retro romance reads, and if that is made clear, I believe the approach to these vintage regencies will prevent the modern reader from misjudging it.

For those who are familiar with this author, and love the old style Regency stories, this new digital release is a real treasure and is so much fun to re-read. I’m so happy to see these stories restored and available for everyone to enjoy anytime, anyplace.

4 combined stars. ( )

I received a free copy from NetGalley for an honest review. This book contains 2 stories. Overall, I found both stories to be uninspiring and boring. Rival of fortune just demonstrated an immature girl who was clueless to her feelings. Overall, all the characters seemed lacking any depth. I didn't enjoy either story. ( )