The Switch

The Switch by Lynsay Sands


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Beth and Charlie are caught red handed. Or red ... dressed. Trying the sneak out the window of an inn that they and their uncle are staying at, Lord Jeremy William Radcliff comes upon them and berates them for trying to leave the inn without paying. Charlie is dressed as a boy even though she is a girl.

The pair (identical twins) explain that they are running away from their uncle (who is their guardian) because he is marrying one of them off to a brutal man who only wants to sire a son and is suspected of already killing two of his wives.

Lord Radcliff immediately takes the pair under his wings, traveling with them to London. Here's the problem. Because he is under the impression that Charlie is a boy, Charlie has to sleep with him (in the same bed) at the first inn they stay at.

Radcliff is perplexed. He loves women, in all shapes and forms and in all quantities. But suddenly, he is feeling more than friendship for the little slip of a boy, Charlie. So he takes him to a brothel (a disaster) and then a gambling parlor (where Charlie wins a boatload of money). But even as Radcliff tries to make a man out of the boy, he's feeling more and more "unnatural" emotions for him.

Throughout the book, Charlie and Beth switch back and forth between who is playing the boy and no matter who is which gender for the day, Radcliff seems attracted to Charlie (whether she is dressed as a boy or a girl).

This book is ok. Amusing at times but nothing to drop other books and start this one over.

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Always

Always by Lynsay Sands


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Rosamunde is the bastard daughter of the king of England. Training to become a nun, she has lived at the convent with the sisters for her entire life. That is, until her father shows up with a terrific specimen of the male physique (or what she assumes is a great example since she really has never met such a man or warrior before) and tells her that she is to marry.

Rosamunde is one day away from taking her vows as a nun when Aric shows up, marries her and consummates the marriage. She's bewildered by the man and what it means to be his wife.

King Henry insisted Aric marry his beautiful daughter, the product of the one woman, albeit a mistress, that he had loved. He knew that someone was out to kill him and possibly all those he loved to take the throne from him. What he didn't know was how soon it would happen.

Rosamunde and Aric go to the estate that King Henry gave the pair as a wedding tribute and begin to set things in order when the Bishop of Shrewsbury shows up with news that the king is dead.

Throughout the novel, we get a glimpse into Rosamunde and Aric's characters. Aric was cuckolded by a former woman with whom he was betroved. He fears that Rosamunde will cheat on him too ... in the exact same fashion ... in the stables with a stable boy or master. The problem is that although Rosamunde was never educated in how to care for a household, she is a wunderkind when it comes to animals, husbandry and veterinary care. So when Aric forbids her from attending the animals any longer, Rosamunde is lost.

Always is not one of Lynsay Sands's best. It's actually pretty much one of the ones I would catagorize as her worst. But as always with Lynsay Sands, because everything she writes is pretty awesome, Always is still up there in comparison with other novels.

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A Mother's Way

A Mother's Way Romance Anthology by Lisa Cach


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I only read Lynsay Sands's addition to this anthology. It was decent for an anthology. A quick read. Less than an hour total for Lynsay Sands's story.

Hers is set in medieval England where a Lord is told by the King that he must marry in the next two weeks and have produced offspring by the following summer's end. So, his mother decides to help him by having the daughter of friend sort through all the eligible women at court.

The problem starts when he finds himself falling for the daughter that his mother has said is off limits.

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Love Is Blind

Love Is Blind by Lynsay Sands


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Love Is Blind is not one of Lynsay Sands's best. Some of her "historical romances," which all seem to be set in England in the medieval days or in time of Regency London, seem to me to be written early in her career when she has yet to find her voice or humor. It's this humor that draws most readers back to her.

Lady Clarissa has maimed, set on fire, burned with scalding water and stomped upon the feet of most of the ton. But it's not her fault, her step-mother Lydia won't let her have her glasses. She says that no one will want to marry an ugly girl who wears glasses. But Clarissa can't imagine anyone wanting to marry a girl who seems out to kill them with her ineptitude!

At the first ball he's attended in ten years, Adrian Monfort notices Lady Clarissa and, with her aunt wandered off to find a bit to eat, he takes her dancing across the floor telling her to close her eyes and allow him to lead. Clarissa seems a natural at dancing with Adrian's help.

Amusing little asides happen. There is a dead plot against Clarissa and then everything ties up at the end. Not something I'd pull off the shelf again but not a horrible read nonetheless.

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The Reluctant Reformer

The Reluctant Reformer by Lynsay Sands


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Maggie is just doing her job. She's a journalist. Well ... she has been ever since her brother died and left her the pen name of G.W. Clark.

Maggie's latest article is a piece on the working girls of one of London's houses of ill repute. Maggie is interviewing one girl when a client of that girl comes in. It's Maggie's beau and the local pastor. In an attempt to get Maggie out of the room (and the wardrobe she's hidden in), the girl changes dresses with Maggie and gives her a mask. Maggie sets off on the outside ledge of the building and hops into the next window she comes across.

There she is accosted by a stranger, bound up in his cape and stolen away from the brothel.

James has rescued Maggie at last. After having her followed for days, he has discovered that she is Lady X (a well-to-do Lady about the ton who has fallen on hard times). Now he must save her from herself. He had, after all, promised her ding brother (his companion in war) to watch over the chit.

But what will happen when they get back to his home in the country? And what will Maggie think of him when she realizes who he thinks she is? Will Lord James ever find out if she is in fact Lady X?

And who's trying to kill Maggie!?!

Not one of Lynsay Sands's best books (it seems I do not appreciate her Regency London novels as much as other people) but it's a good read. I would have finished it fast (it took me a week) but I had bronchitis and a sinus infection and I wasn't into reading ... I was into sleeping.

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