Review: A Gentleman For All Seasons

A Gentleman For All Seasons by Shana Galen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A bright anthology collection that happens over a year in one village with some connecting characters.

Kate Noble's "A Madness in Spring," starts the collection off with a classic 'oh my lord, you are so irritating!' to 'fine, I'll marry you,' story. As with most of Noble's work there is a thread of humor through the whole story. The relationship of Belinda and Adam had been built on misunderstandings and social expectations to the point that they can't seem to see each other through their history. A history that is different to both of them. Luckily the Gages move into town for the season and the young Miss Gage needs a hobby after her convalescences and smashing her friend's heads together and yelling 'now kiss!' seem to fit the bill.

Shana Galen's 'The Summer of Wine and Scandal' is both a very nice love story but also a bit of a downer. it's nice that writers are now trying to be more truthful about how women were treated during the era, and a very traumatic story is handled quite well in this story line. I did find myself cheering at the end.

Theresa Romain's 'Those Autumn Nights' is another story that talks about how a woman had so little agency during the Regency. Although it still gets a bit into the area of how starting out with the truth is always a good idea.

Vanessa Kelly's 'The season for Loving,' Miss Gage-matchmaker gets hers. Did you think that you would be able to get through a whole historical anthology without at least one Highlander? Well keep looking because it isn't this one. Fergus Haddon suffers from the curse of the kilted cinnamon bun. He just wants what's best for everyone he cares about, he just doesn't bother to find out what that actually is, which seems to be a common problem with most men in this anthology. Luckily Miss Gage ain't got time for that.

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