Review: A Grand Tour (Timeless Victorian Collection) by Anthea Lawson, Jennifer Moore, Heather B. Moore

My rating: 4 stars / I really liked it

Synopsis

From the publisher of the USA TODAY bestselling Timeless Romance Anthology series, comes our new Victorian Romance line, with A GRAND TOUR.

Three brand new Victorian Romance novellas by Anthea Lawson, Jennifer Moore, and Heather B. Moore.

A LORD’S CHANCE by Anthea Lawson
After her first romance ends in disaster, Miss Isabelle Strathmore vows never to fall in love again. She will travel, certainly, and see the world, but it will be a spinster’s life for her. She has learned the most painful lesson of all—that her heart simply cannot be trusted. Gavin Reed, the Earl of Jasper, is unexpectedly charmed by Isabelle. Past encounters have made him wary of taking a chance on love, but by the end of the Grand Tour, he is determined to make Miss Strathmore his wife. But fate has more in store than either of them guesses. Beneath the Mediterranean sun, can Isabelle and Lord Jasper find their happily ever after before disaster strikes?

FALLING IN ROME by Jennifer Moore
Chaperoning two young women on their grand tour is the opportunity of a lifetime for Eleanor Doyle. Although she’s an expert in many languages, her gender has made further education impossible. If the tour is successful, the young women’s parents have promised her a position at a university in London. Eleanor hopes to instill her charges with a love of Rome, but not until they meet up with a group of young gentlemen and their fascinating professor, Russell Kendrick, do the young ladies show any interest at all. Attraction blossoms between Eleanor and Ken, but Eleanor’s future depends on maintaining propriety. The headstrong charges have other ideas, and Ken and Eleanor will have to decide which is most important, accolades in the academic world, or being with the one they love. 

A SECRET ARRANGEMENT by Heather B. Moore
Evelyn Tucker has finally graduated from finishing school, but dreads living with her widowed aunt. On the appointed day, Aunt Margaret comes to collection Evelyn, and Margaret informs her that they’re going on a Grand Tour to spend as much of the estate money they can before a distant cousin inherits all. When Henry Gaiman discovers he’s inherited his distant uncle’s estate, he loathes the thought of returning to England since he’d rather continue with his archaeology dig in Egypt. Return he must, and there, he meets Evelyn, a woman who will change his world in more ways than one.

My Review

A strong collection of stories that take our English characters abroad to the Continent with adventure and romance! Two of the stories are focused on archaeology and it was fascinating to learn more about the relatively recent discovery and uncovering of ancient ruins. I was surprised by how little oversight there was by the country or government, and could see the controversy over removing the artifacts for a greater population of British to witness and appreciate versus keeping them in their original location where they "belong." Each story had a good plot, arc, and romance, and it was an enjoyable collection to read with settings that are a bit unusual for the genre.

(I received a complimentary copy of the book; all opinions in this review are my own)

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Books in the Timeless Victorian Collections:

SUMMER HOLIDAY
A GRAND TOUR 
THE ORIENT EXPRESS (coming 2018)

Books in the Timeless Regency Collections:

AUTUMN MASQUERADE
A MIDWINTER BALL
SPRING IN HYDE PARK
SUMMER HOUSE PARTY
A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS
A SEASON IN LONDON
FALLING FOR A DUKE
A NIGHT IN GROSVENOR SQUARE (coming 2018)
ROAD TO GRETNA GREEN (coming 2018)