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A review by nicolepeck
European Collection by Michele Paige Holmes, Nancy Campbell Allen, Heather B. Moore, Sarah M. Eden, G.G. Vandagriff, Annette Lyon
4.0
Received a review copy from one of the authors.
War of Hearts: The love story was predictable, but there's only so much time to develop that in a 6-chapter novella. What I found the most interesting was the history and the setting - Finland during WWII. I did like the characters and would have loved for this to be developed into a longer story, for both the romance aspect so it wasn't quite as quick and predictable and also to learn even more about Finland's role and fight with Russia in WWII.
The Earl of Oaksey Takes A Wife: Also predictable and a bit cheesy but cute and enjoyable, a regency style romance. The author's bio at the end states that the characters appeared in one of her novels, so I would think that this novella would be for readers of that story who want to know what happened with Thomas and Melissa.
Gift of Love: I liked this one a bit more than the other 2 so far, another regency one. I liked the heroine and the set-up was interesting, with a bit of mystery revealed at the ending when you don't realize there was even one up until then. Again, short and I would have wanted more to develop the story and the characters, whom I found very likable, interesting and engaging.
A Lesson in Love: I liked this one better than the previous ones in this book, but it was still a bit cheesy. However, it wasn't quite as rote (to me) and had a twist and was less predictable (to me). I thought the play between the women and the men was a lot of fun and, again, wish it could have been a bit longer and developed more. Fun story.
An Ocean Away: This one I think is my favorite. I liked the heroine and could relate more to her. I would probably be a lot like her--sneaking out to read, slightly defiant, extremely romantic notions from books, slightly daring, impulsive. OK, she sounds a lot like me, except for her height.... This one seemed slightly longer than the others, with a bit more time taken to develop the story and not rush the happy ending, but the ending did still come too fast for me and I would have loved more time on the characters, especially since I related so much more to the heroine in this one.
When in Venice: I really liked this one. I connected to the story and the characters right from the beginning. I loved that it was a slightly reversed Cinderella tale (with the evil stepfather versus evil stepmother) and the location. I picked up on the "mystery" right away but loved watching the relationship between Matteo and Evangeline blossom. Definitely would have loved to read a much longer story with these characters and, of course, visit Venice!!!
***I really liked reading these short stories. As I received it from one of the authors to review, I read it in a PDF form and it took much longer than it would have taken with a hard copy. I liked the last 2 stories the very best, but I really did enjoy all of them. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in this anthology series and even would like to pick up some other books by these authors. Clean reading, but the stories are not strictly LDS, as most of the stories refer to things against the LDS religion, so I feel the stories were written to appeal to a wide audience.
War of Hearts: The love story was predictable, but there's only so much time to develop that in a 6-chapter novella. What I found the most interesting was the history and the setting - Finland during WWII. I did like the characters and would have loved for this to be developed into a longer story, for both the romance aspect so it wasn't quite as quick and predictable and also to learn even more about Finland's role and fight with Russia in WWII.
The Earl of Oaksey Takes A Wife: Also predictable and a bit cheesy but cute and enjoyable, a regency style romance. The author's bio at the end states that the characters appeared in one of her novels, so I would think that this novella would be for readers of that story who want to know what happened with Thomas and Melissa.
Gift of Love: I liked this one a bit more than the other 2 so far, another regency one. I liked the heroine and the set-up was interesting, with a bit of mystery revealed at the ending when you don't realize there was even one up until then. Again, short and I would have wanted more to develop the story and the characters, whom I found very likable, interesting and engaging.
A Lesson in Love: I liked this one better than the previous ones in this book, but it was still a bit cheesy. However, it wasn't quite as rote (to me) and had a twist and was less predictable (to me). I thought the play between the women and the men was a lot of fun and, again, wish it could have been a bit longer and developed more. Fun story.
An Ocean Away: This one I think is my favorite. I liked the heroine and could relate more to her. I would probably be a lot like her--sneaking out to read, slightly defiant, extremely romantic notions from books, slightly daring, impulsive. OK, she sounds a lot like me, except for her height.... This one seemed slightly longer than the others, with a bit more time taken to develop the story and not rush the happy ending, but the ending did still come too fast for me and I would have loved more time on the characters, especially since I related so much more to the heroine in this one.
When in Venice: I really liked this one. I connected to the story and the characters right from the beginning. I loved that it was a slightly reversed Cinderella tale (with the evil stepfather versus evil stepmother) and the location. I picked up on the "mystery" right away but loved watching the relationship between Matteo and Evangeline blossom. Definitely would have loved to read a much longer story with these characters and, of course, visit Venice!!!
***I really liked reading these short stories. As I received it from one of the authors to review, I read it in a PDF form and it took much longer than it would have taken with a hard copy. I liked the last 2 stories the very best, but I really did enjoy all of them. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in this anthology series and even would like to pick up some other books by these authors. Clean reading, but the stories are not strictly LDS, as most of the stories refer to things against the LDS religion, so I feel the stories were written to appeal to a wide audience.