In Praise of Younger Men

Rating:
Summary: Very romantic
Review: "A Man Who Can Dance" by Cathy Maxwell. In Regency Scotland, Graham quits his uncle's business to start work as a doctor. When Graham falls in love with Lucinda, he asks governess Sarah to help him, but will he realize whom he truly loves?

"Forevermore" by Lauren Royal. In 1667, Clarise and Cameron first meet at a wedding and are immediately attracted to one another. However, he must go back to the harvest even if he leaves behind the woman he loves.

"Written In the Stars" by Jaclyn Reding. In 1816 Scotland, Gill informs her niece Harriet that the latter must marry before her next birthday or face unhappiness. Harriet knows that her Aunt's visions always come true. When Gill explains that Harriet must marry, family friend Tristan offers to be the groom, but though Harriet loves Tristan, she rejects his offer.

"Imaginary Heaven" by Jo Beverley. Lord George finds his estate bankrupt and his father dead. About to commit suicide, wealthy widow Maria hires him to pretend to be her fiance. Van accepts. They fall in love, but she knows that once he learns the truth about her he will want nothing to do with her.

IN PRAISE OF YOUNGER MEN consists of four well-written historical romances in which an older woman and a younger man fall in love. Each tale is entertaining because all four couples are charming and easily belong together regardless of the tabboo. Sub-genre fans will enjoy this anthology.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Only worth buying for the Jo Beverley story
Review: I bought this anthology solely for the Jo Beverley story, The Demon's Mistress - and I only wanted that because it's the first in Beverley's new series about the Three Georges, continued in The Dragon's Bride and The Devil's Heiress. And it's just as well that this is the only story which interested me, because it was the only one worth reading in this anthology. On its own, Beverley's story would have received four or five stars, but since the others are barely deserving of any, that brings the book as a whole down to two.

The first story, A Man Who Can Dance (Maxwell), suffered first and foremost from being far too short; approximately 60 pages is not long enough to develop characters to the point where I could care what happens to them. Besides that, the story was unconvincing and badly written. Since the hero was Scottish, Maxwell seemed to feel the need to ape Scottish inflexions in her dialogue - this chiefly manifested itself by use of 'Tis here and there, which felt extremely false. She compounded this irritant by using 'Tis and 'Twas in *narrative*, which made me want to stop reading the story. One star.

Moving on rapidly. The second story, Forevermore (Royal), is actually the second in a series by this author, thus putting at a disadvantage anyone who has not read the first book. Besides that, it also suffered from 'anthology-itis', in that it was too short and the characters and plot insufficiently well developed. Again, I didn't really care whether the characters got together or not. That apart, I found the ending very unsatisfying. One star.

The third story, Written in the Stars (Reding), was better written than either of the first two, and actually a little more interesting. The plot - young woman has been in love with her brother's best friend almost all his life, and now that he's home from the war he realises that he loves her too - was good and interesting. However, the 'magical' elements which surrounded it: dreams, 'signs', storms and portents, were very off-putting. Two stars, perhaps.

And then we have Beverley's The Demon's Mistress. I wanted this story because it's actually the first in her Three Georges series, and I'd read The Dragon's Bride a few months ago without realising that there was another story preceding it. This one is about George Vandeimen, known as Van, who returns from Waterloo to find his father having committed suicide and his estates in ruins. In an attempt to recoup his fortune, he loses a fortune at the gaming tables, and attempts suicide. However, the widow of the man who was chiefly responsible for Van's father's misfortunes wants to help, and in order to do so in a manner which she knows Van will accept, she offers him a bargain. Act as her fiance for six weeks in order to deter fortune-hunters, and she will pay him twenty thousand pounds...

This, in typical Beverley fashion, is a beautifully-written story, with compelling plot and excellent characterisation. My only complaint is that I think it would have been better as a full-length novel instead of a 100-page novella; I would have liked to see much more exploration of both Van's and Maria's feelings as they fell in love, and more history of the three George's friendship would have been good. Four/five stars.

Rating:
Summary: Jo Beverley's 1st story in the Three Georges Trilogy
Review: I don't like short stories or novellas, they are just not my cup of tea but Jo Beverley's novella (110 pages), "The Demon's Mistress", in this anthology is a keeper. I was disappointed that the first story in the Three Georges trilogy (the others are The Dragon's Bride and The Devil's Heiress, and the trilogy is linked to the Company of Rogues series) was issued as a novella and not a full length romance. Luckily the novella length is long enough here to pack in the complexity of a novel (thank goodness it wasn't issued as a 70 page short story!) and I really got lost in the story and felt like I was reading a full length romance. Must have book to fit into the Company of Rogues/Three Georges series. Characters in the other books are met or mentioned also, and it explains some things about the other two Georges books. Goes on keeper shelf and is sure to be reread.

Rating:
Summary: Read it for the Reding story
Review: I picked this up because I'd heard of Jo Beverley and Cathy Maxwell and wanted to try them in short story first before buying their regular books. I received a nice surprise -- and a new author to buy -- in the story by Jaclyn Reding, a new name for me. While the Beverley and Maxwell stories (and Lauren Royal's too) were certainly enjoyable, I really liked Jaclyn Reding's WRITTEN IN THE STARS the best. It was clever and unique and uplifting. I am now going out to buy all her backlist. If you've never read this author before, give her a try. You'll become an instant fan. And if you've never read the other authors in this collection, give this book a try. They are all well-written and enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Read it for the Reding story
Review: I picked this up because I'd heard of Jo Beverley and Cathy Maxwell and wanted to try them in short story first before buying their regular books. I received a nice surprise -- and a new author to buy -- in the story by Jaclyn Reding, a new name for me. While the Beverley and Maxwell stories (and Lauren Royal's too) were certainly enjoyable, I really liked Jaclyn Reding's WRITTEN IN THE STARS the best. It was clever and unique and uplifting. I am now going out to buy all her backlist. If you've never read this author before, give her a try. You'll become an instant fan. And if you've never read the other authors in this collection, give this book a try. They are all well-written and enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: highly uneven quality
Review: I really wanted to like this book, but the quality is so uneven -- from miserable to splendid -- that each story must be considered individually.

The first, by Cathy Maxwell, was so bad that I'd like to give it no stars. This is the first thing I've read by her and I certainly hope she normally writes better. The characters were poorly developed; she really didn't deal with the age difference; and the entire story was superficial. As a reader, I felt only 1-2 moments of empathy with the characters. The idea of a new doctor and a governess was excellent, but the warm and wise doctor was very foolish with regard to his uncle and cousin and to falling in "love" at first sight. The way in which he gains his uncle's favor was highly predictable. And how on earth did he learn to dance, especially all the steps of the quadrille, in only a few days? The real kicker, though, was Maxwell's use of "tone deaf" as explaining the hero's inability to dance. Dancing is about rhythm, not pitch (which applies to tone deafness). Tone deaf people can dance but not sing. Frankly, even people who can sing beautifully may not be able to dance, since it involves a physical use of rhythm. 1 star.

Lauren Royal's story fairs somewhat better. I am not as familiar with this historical period (the 1660s) and so cannot say how accurate it is, especially regarding social conventions. However, the time period seems to have little to do with the actual story other than an irrelevant song. The hero is pleasant but superficial; the heroine seemed deeper but we are given few details; the child is adorable. Evidently, these characters were introduced in other books and may be more fully developed there. However, someone just reading this story will be left wanting to learn more about them. The age differences are dealt with in a minor but realistic way. 2 & 1/2 stars.

At least each story is better than the last. The third, by Jaclyn Reding, uses a welcome twist on the age issue: she must marry a younger man or face dire consequences, and the hero and her lifelong love is not younger. The characters are engaging, and there are nice historical touches in which the setting provides additional flavor. The reader gets a better sense of Scotland in this tale than in the last which relied too heavily on the Scottish dialect. 3 & 1/2, maybe 4, stars.

Definitely saving the best for last with Jo Beverley's novella. This is JB at her best, covering all the bases necessary for an excellent romance. This work is the first of her Georges series (a corollary to the Company of Rogues series). I just happened to read them in reverse order, but it would benefit the reader to read them in the correct order with this one first. Van really stays with you, poor man, and the heroine saves him, quite literally. They are indeed just what the other needs.

If you buy this book, buy it for Beverley's novella alone. Otherwise borrow it from the library and read her story. 5 stars! Better yet, get "Three Heroes" & have the stories of all three Georges in one book.

Averaging the individual scores, the book as a whole comes out to 3 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I'm not a fan of anthologies usually finding them to be poor quality stories but the authors here are favourites of mine and so I bought the book - sad to say I was disappointed! The stories were 'run-of-the-mill' for this type of book. Why do authors insist on penning such sugary-sweet stories for inclusion in an anthology? Their offerings are often so unlike their full-length novels that I feel I either cannot be reading something written by a favourite author or that they have simply chucked in a second class effort they otherwise wouldn't have bothered having published but feel that it will suffice for an anthology! No more of them for me I'm afraid.

The reviews for this book were not much help in making a decision whether to buy or not, I realise that some of the reviewers are #1 or top 500 reviewers (whatever that really signifies!) but goodness some of them didn't really enlighten me at all - too many commas in inappropriate places coupled with waffling, disjointed sentences - sorry reviewers!!

Rating:
Summary: Praiseworthy only for Beverley's tale
Review: IN PRAISE OF YOUNGER MAN could well be a titillating perspective to view Regency romance but the full potential of most of the stories have yet to be realized. Especially the inchoate tale penned by Cathy Maxwell where it tells of Graham McNab who aspires to be a physician makes a bet with his malicious cousin to win the heart of his amorous target a Ms. Lucy Whitlaw. Being tone-deaf, he has difficulty mastering dancing and he seeks tutelage from best friend Sarah, who has long been in love with him.Sadly underdeveloped characters fail to attract readers. Ms. Maxwell has seemed to abandon the theme and doesn't give any insight of romance couples with age gap.

Lauren Royal's tale of Forevermore is simple and average. It tells of Clarice Bradford overcoming the fears of loving a younger man Cameron Leslie. She is split between duties and passion. Jaclyn Reding fares better with a Scottish tale where Harriet Drynan decides between a curse and love for childhood sweetheart Tristan Carmicheal. A leap year might prove a magical solution; the story is rescued by Reding's input of fairy tales and mythic aura.

JO BEVERLEY's The Demon Mistress makes the other stories look juvenile in comparison. It is poignant, exquisitely sensual and stays relevant to the theme. It tells of this widow Maria Celestin who tries to convert the profligate Vandermein. She sees it an obligation to undo the hurt her demised husband has inflicted on Van. With a promise to finance his debts, on the condition he be her fiance for a period of six weeks - they experience a shower of passion and love this short time. The flawed Van scarred by war and loss of kinship and friends sees a chance of redemption. He covets the love Maria withholds for his sake - the public ostracizing over their age gap will pose a barrier to them.

IN PRAISE OF YOUNGER MAN is bolstered solely on Jo Beverley's marvellous contribution. The inconsistency here unfortunately ruins what could have been a vint-age read.

Rating:
Summary: Unusual plots
Review: Three storys are set in Scotland and in the regency era, one is set in the restoration time. I liked all storys, yet the last one with the wealthy widow who rescued the suicidal Viscount was the best in my opinion, and had more depth than the usual light regency read. Both characters were extremly believable. Maria was a sexual experienced and worldly-wise widow who found her true match in the world-weary viscount who was far too complex and broken for the usual virginical and naive regency heroine. I wished there were more novels of that kind. The other storys were sweet, sexy, entertaining and original, but without the depth of the last one.