Review: All The Pleausures of the Season by Lecia Cornwall

Posted December 16, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 5 Comments

Warning – this story contains spoilers
On the first day of Christmas:
Lady Miranda Archer accepts a marriage proposal.
On the first day of Christmas, fifteen minutes later:
Miranda realizes she’s made a huge mistake.
For the next twelve days:
Miranda must find a way out of her engagement—which is harder than it looks, especially since her fiancé is pompous, mean, and desperate for her family’s jewels—and convince her true love that all she wants for Christmas is him.
Lady Miranda wants to make her grandfather and her sister happy. She has had a ton of marriage offers and it’s only her first season! But she wants to do what’s right and what’s expected even if she’s in love with someone completely unsuitable.
Miranda accepts a marriage offer from the Earl of Kelton but she’s a bit unsure she made the right decision. She talks herself into believing that he’s a good person and that she just needs to charm him and they’ll have a comfortable marriage as friends. Miranda soon finds out however that Kelton is a complete jerk and is only interested in getting married and then going off to have his fun with other women. He’s mean and nasty to Miranda after just one day and she sees his true colors.
Gilbert is the second son of a baron. He’s got no title and no fortune but he loves Miranda to the depth of his being. He knows that he has nothing to offer her and that his suit would be put down immediately by Miranda’s grandfather if he offered marriage so he stays away. His friend Phineas, Miranda’s brother, finally talks some sense into him and Gilbert sees that maybe there would have been a chance…but since Miranda’s marrying Kelton he just needs to pack his bags and move on. What will Gilbert do when he finds out that Miranda isn’t marrying the Earl? Will he step up and take a chance or let his love go?
This is a lovely story about believing in yourself and going after what you really want in life. Gilbert and Miranda had fallen in love although we don’t actually get to see that part. When the story begins they’ve already fallen but haven’t shared their feelings with each other. Despite missing the actual falling we get enough of a sense of love that we root for the couple completely. Kelton is a right bastard. He’s not only mean and nasty but rude and a thief on top of that. I just wanted to kick the man. I was so happy when Miranda broke her engagement to him and he felt the power of the Archer family.
In the end it all worked out and I very much the story…but I have to tell you that I have a little devil on my shoulder. Why? Because Miranda was completely in love with Gilbert but since he hadn’t offered marriage to her she decided to go with what made her grandfather happy and marry a titled man. So…if the Earl of Kelton hadn’t been such a lowlife scoundrel and had been a nice man that Miranda thought that she might have been happy with, would she have gone ahead with the marriage? I would like to think that she wouldn’t but that devil on my shoulder keep nattering at me and I can’t help but think that….maybe she would. IDK – something to think about! lol
Anyway – despite that little devil talking I really liked the story, the family love and the Christmas theme running through it. A most enjoyable read.
Rating: 4 out of 5
This book releases on 12/20


Tagged: , , , ,

5 responses to “Review: All The Pleausures of the Season by Lecia Cornwall

  1. As you know, I read my share of holiday novellas, short stories, and such. But I have to admit that I like the historicals the best. I just don't know why. Maybe the contemporary stories remind me too much of what I have to do or must do or whatever. Anyway, this looks like a fun read and I appreciate knowing a bit more about it before I tackle it.

  2. That's a pretty good grade. I have Ms COrnwall's debut novel in my TBR pile, but I've heard it was so-so. So I'm glad to hear that this little novella was good.

    My question is why didn't Miranda just break it off with Kelton? If he's so nasty, wouldn't she be able to make her grandfather understand and be done?

  3. Dr. J – I love my historicals as well – I must have gotten that from you! 🙂
    I think you'd like this one.

    Nath – I liked her first book and this was really good too.
    The story happens in just a couple of days – maybe a week? So it's not long before Miranda takes action against Kelton. Besides – you know how parental units and grandparents were in those days…you just didn't break engagements without them getting mighty pissed off! lol

  4. Lovely review Tracy!

    So…if the Earl of Kelton hadn’t been such a lowlife scoundrel and had been a nice man that Miranda thought that she might have been happy with, would she have gone ahead with the marriage?

    Ohhh…good question. In that time period, it was marriage or a governess role or…relying on family. So, you'd have to wonder if she would have broken off the engagement if the Earl was nice. Because…she didn't know Gilbert loved her, did she? So…would would propel her to find out? Hmmmm.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.