Hungry for Love by Barbara Cartland

(Image from Goodreads.com)

Araminta Sinclair is horrified when she learn her brother Sir Harry Sinclair has lost £600 gaming, to the Marquis of Wayne.

She offers to five up the small sum collected for her debut in London and then has an inspiration as to how they can obtain the rest. 

Her father, the previous Baronet, a gourmet and an epicure insisted on his daughter becoming an exceptionally fine cook. 

How Araminta enlists the help of General Sir Alexander Bracknell, one of Wellington's Commanders, how there is a bet that her cooking can rival that of Careme - the Prince Regent's Master Chef - and how her deception brings her heart-break and finally happiness is told in this dramatic 186th book by Barbara Cartland.

This has to be one of those books that even if it was stripped of all romance I would have still enjoyed it.

Heroine

I really liked Araminta. She had a head on her shoulder and she used it. When her brother gets into debts (£600!) she immediately starts thinking of how to pay it and fix the situation.

How?

She is going to cook her way to it!

Hero

Arrogant and distant the Marquis of Wayne has no qualms about taking money from young idiots who have nothing better to do than gamble away their fortunes. And then he make a bet that involves the Prince Regent’s cook and Araminta and his perception of life tips.

While not my favourite Barbara Cartland hero he isn’t my least favourite. He was a bit of an overbearing numpty but he comes through at the end.

The Romance

Hmmm…I found the romance lacking a wee bit. It was very much love at first sight and lacked a bit of development.

All in All

I really enjoyed the random cooking details about kitchens and ostrich brains (no ostriches were harmed in the reading of this book).

The occasional historical detail popped in too. 

Barbara Cartland Finale

In conclusion Barbara Cartland books are great to escape into – regency England, Elizabethan England, far of countries you have never heard of… They are fluffy and you can read them knowing that there will be a very happy ending. Sure none of them are perfect and there is always – more often than not – something that annoys me in them (hero, heroine, something niggley) but they are addictive. They are quick happy reads and you don’t pick them up expecting to read Charles Dickens.

I have Barbara Cartland to thank for finding a few more of my favourite authors.

Image from Amazon

It was while looking for a Barbara Cartland novel that I stumbled across Marion Chesney’s Sweet Masquerade at the library. Marion Chesney is one of the ­many pen-names used by M.C. Beaton who is better known for her Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin novels. She has a gorgeously long back list. I have already read her Traveling Matchmaker series and I have the Six Sister and School for Manners books on my TBR pile.

Image from Goodreads

I also found Georgette Heyer through searching for ‘Authors like…’ and These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer is one of my ultimate favourites.

So guys, if you want a happily ever after filled with sweetness and goodness find yourself a Barbara Cartland and settle in for a sappy happy read!

Lost Enchantment by Barbara Cartland

‘Help me…Oh help me! My dog…he is caught in a trap…’

The cry interrupted the Marquis of Alton as, despondent and furious, he strode through the grounds of his estate.

The girl who came running towards him was quite unknown. A pretty girl, fair hair, a strange elfin attraction, but not at all fashionable in her dress and style. The sort of girl that Lady Leone Harlington would have dismissed with an amused sneer.

At the thought of Leone, the toast of the Prince Regent's Carlton House set, the Marquis' brow clouded. Beautiful, passionate, desirable Leone was trying to manoeuvre him into marriage, that he knew....

As he turned his attention back to the rusty-toothed gin trap and the little, whimpering spaniel caught in it, he realised that he might also be trapped – into a marriage that he did not want.

What he could not know was that the strange girl was also trapped- trapped in a web of deceit and treachery that was to involve them both...

(Image from fantasticfiction.co.uk and description from back of book)

I couldn’t ignore Lost Enchantment – after all it was one of the first two Barbara Cartland novels that I read. It has a sentimental place on my bookshelf for life.

Checklist time!

Hero to the rescue – check (and he is slightly less arrogant than others too)

Orphans heroine plus canine companion – check

Slightly stupid but not wicked brother – check

Hero’s super cool tell-it-how-it-is Grandmother – check

A real slime ball of a villain – check

So, you know that ‘Favourite Barbara Cartland Books’ pile I have mentioned? Well this book sits at the very top. All thanks to the hero. I just love the guy.

From the minute he meets Sylvina he tries to help her – becoming her own knight in shining armour. And he is a genuinely likeable guy (which always helps) who is lacking some of that arrogance and entitlement that comes along with some of the leading men.

But the one thing that I love most of all is that he all but bends over backwards trying to win her over. She does care for him but circumstances have led to her being engaged to someone else and he still perseveres knowing something hinky is going on and desperately wanting to rescue her.

Awwwwwe!

‘I believed in those days I had no heart,’ the Marquis replied.‘And now?” the Dowager asked quietly.
‘I find it an unpredictable, irritable and extremely painful part of my anatomy,’ the Marquis said bitterly.

Barbara Cartland - Heroines

Hah! Bet you guys thought I had forgotten about the leading ladies for a second there didn’t ya? 

Well fear not!

I give you.

The heroines.

It doesn’t matter what background the heroine has – they could be an heiress or a pauper – one thing that they ALL have in common is that they will be virtuous and innocent. Almost to such a degree that it becomes a bad thing. But after that the rest of her characteristics are a free for all.

(On a side  note) - The orphan heroine is a favourite of mine because there are no annoying parents around. Admit it, how many times have you read a romance novel and wanted to just throttle the mother and started praying that the father would die in a hunting accident in the next chapter? Exactly. That doesn’t mean I am totally against parents. I am a sucker for a dotting, loving and completely emotionally balanced father.

The thing about Barbara Cartland heroines – that I have notices – is that none of them are the same. You may be sitting there rolling your eyes at that thinking ‘of course none of them are the same Alex, they are all different people!’ but Barbara Cartland wrote a heck of a lot of books (each of them I can only assume with at least one heroine in them) and it would get pretty hard not to get repetitive after the first 10, never mind over 600. I haven’t read ALL of her books, I wish I could say I have as that would be one heck of an achievement, but I think I can safely say I have read over 100 of them and I have yet to come across 2 heroine who are exactly alike. The differences may not be huge but they are obvious enough to make you realise that you are reading about different people.

Some of the heroines are very brave in an obvious kind of way and will face up to any challenge that comes there way – even taking the hero in hand and getting him sorted out.

And then there is the total opposite. The heroine who at first glance you think is a bit of a drip and you are really wanting to scream at her from page 1 to grow a spine already and buck up. But then when you thing about it or go back and have a re-read you notice al the subtle little things that she did. And that yes, in her own way, she was being brave.

The one thing that grates on me a little is their ignorance in things and I have to keep reminding myself that these young women are for the most part sheltered and well-bred. Even if a heroine is more savvy she still has that air about her that scream ‘I didn’t grow up in the real world’.

But at the end of the day the heroine is always someone you can cheer on and you want her to get her happy ending!

Barbara Cartland - Fathers

After mentioning the dad is so many of the posts I couldn’t not post about the dads all by themselves.

The fathers in Barbara Cartland novels are a funny breed. And by funny what I really mean to say is that on the whole they are weak, selfish and have no self-control – they give dads in general a pretty bad name!

How do I come to this conclusion? Well it is amazing how many of them are willing to sell or marry off their daughter just so that they can wither pay off gambling debts or continue living a life of idol luxury.

The fathers -

There is the gambler – by connection it is usually safe to assume that he has no money and has a daughter at home trying to keep the account book balanced.

The deathly ill and about to die father – made ill either through overwork (because he wasn’t the first son of a family and had no inheritance so the cash flow isn’t so…flow-ey), through debt (not necessarily from gambling this time – usually it is thanks to some less than honest ‘friend’ who talked him into investing EVERYTHING (because dude! It’s all or nothing) into some scheme that goes belly-up) or from grief thanks to his wife dying.

The clueless father – this is the one that you just want to slap for his cluelessness. He appears to be harmless and loving but in some way he still manages to screw with our heroine’s life.

But it never seems to matter what kind of father he is his daughter always seems to have some kind of maternal view to him. She views him almost as a child who needs to be cared for and protected…

The thing that always stands out the most to me is that at some point these men were the heroes! Their wives thought the world of them and yet they seem so…watery. If the novel was to go beyond happily ever after with our heroine would her hero end up that way? (Just a thought – and a slightly depressing one at that)

A Hazard of Hearts by Barbara Cartland

Serena was happy at Staverley. She loved to roam the stately gardens of her family manor and dream of her future love. But then a cruel fate dealt her shattering blow. Her father was killed in a duel after losing her hand, her inheritance and her home in a game of cards. All this was now the property of the infamous Marquis of Vulcan-- a man whose reputation made it unwise for any decent woman to be seen in his company. A strange, cold man whose cliff top mansion echoed with terrible secrets. Serena could run, or she could bow to the will of the brooding stranger who held her father debt. Either way it meant dishonour-- and the end of her dreams.

(Image and Description from fantasticfiction.co.uk)

This is one of those very few times when I enjoyed the film version of the story way more than the book. I think it is because in the book there seems to be so much down time away from the hero and heroine. That being said it is still at the top of ‘Alex’s Favourite Barbara Cartland Books’ pile.

Check list time!

Arrogant hero – check

Slimy villain (who also tries to kidnap and rape the heroine (the dude is doubley evil!)) – check

Hero’s wicked, nasty, gambling, drunken mother – check

Heroines father (who was a gambler and did love his daughter dearly before dying) – check

So the above leaves us with an orphan Serena.

Heroine with a head on her shoulders and a faithful canine companion – check

And get this!

A Highway Man!!!!! (who is a good guy for his short appearance)

So, yip, a lot happens in this books. Serena is thrown from the world she knows and dumped into one of intrigue, balls, smuggling and secret passages. I felt really proud of Serena, she held herself together remarkably well and tried her hardest to handle things the best she could. 

Lord Vulcan is not one of my favourite heroes. My main complaint is that he has a very heavy handles way of introducing himself to Serena. She had found out that she had been gambled away and her house was not hers and what does he do? He shows up, at night when she is in bed, with three of his friends. I am sorry but how inconsiderate can you get! The swine! I did warm to him as the book went on but that was a pretty big hurdle for me to get over.  

“Is it not enough that I have had to suffer the indignity of being abducted? Of being touched and kissed by a man I loathe more utterly than anyone else in the world? Is it not enough that I reach home bruised and exhausted only to be bullied by you and insulted by infamous suggestions that I have been enjoying myself? I hate you! Go away and leave me alone! Leave me I tell you!”

Barbara Cartland - Villains

The thing about Barbara Cartland villains is that they are just so danged evil. They just ooze it.

Some things about the villains -

They are sometimes completely and utterly insane. Don’t you just love crazy bad guys? They don’t need a reason to do anything they just do it.

Heroes have mistresses! Villains visit brothels (or sometimes run them). Ok, this is not a fail-safe identification factor but it does crop up quite a few times.

More often than not the villain is a family member though. 

With the hero’s very ownests villain it is usually some cousin who wants to give him a helping hand towards the pearly gates so he can inherit and then squander all of the family cash (that was left to the hero because everyone liked him so much more and it had nothing to do with him being the eldest – obviously). There is also the hero’s brother who will do the same thing for pretty much the same reasons…unless he thinks that his brother isn’t using the money properly and wants to give it all to the poor (totally happened by the way!).

And then there are the pre-made villains that come along with the heroine -

There is the dastardly uncle who wants to force her to marry his son so that they can get her inheritance.

Or there is the wastrel brother who may be trying to steal from her or be using her to further his own ambitions.

Or there is the villain who just wants her because…well, he just does! And he will do anything from bribery to kidnapping to murder to get her. Mwahahahaaa.

Got to love a good baddie!                                                                                                                            

Love Under Fire by Barbara Cartland

Sorry again for the glare :/

Elvina, cruelly ill-treated by her Portuguese step-other, decides to run away an d leave Lisbon, where she has been living, for England. Dyeing her blonde hair, she hides on board the yacht of Lord Wye, who came with dispatches for the Duke of Wellington…

Elvina stood before the ship's captain feeling more afraid than she'd guessed she would. She watched him appraise her black hair, dyed the night before, her skin, darkened with berry juice, her skinny frame of a figure. She could see that he believed her story-- that she was an orphaned Portugese child. "What is your name?" he asked. "Elvina?" She said. "What is your surname?" "I haven't one," she lied. "Everyone has a surname," he said patiently. "Come child, why don't you answer my question?" "It is a lady's privilege," Elvina said with a toss of her head, "to be unpredictable." With that Lord Wyse laughed heartily. "I am ashamed to admit it," he told her frankly, "but I think I shall enjoy having you aboard."(from Goodreads)

(FYI this book is set against the Napoleonic Wars in 1813)

I love this book!

Elvina is a girl with her head fixed firmly on her shoulders when she needs it (not that she doesn’t go all girly and flake out at some points) and really pulls her own weight when she ends up following behind an army and coming into contact with things that would send other girls into a dead faint.

Lord Wye made a wonderful leading man as he tried his best to protect Elvina – although like most Barbara Cartland heroes he is a bit dim in his dealings with the fairer sex.

One of the funny things about this book is that Lord Wye has a fair amount of internal wresting going on when he finds himself in love with Elvina. Yay, he is on love with her. All good and well you may think. Yeah, well, you’d be wrong. She had disguised herself as a child and he is worrying, thinking that he has developed a romantic attachment to a 12 year old girl.

But, the one thing that I love about this story is that their feelings grow during less than ideal circumstances. They are trailing behind an army and trying to survive. It doesn’t matter how rose-tinted you romance glasses are it would be pretty icky. Mud, blood, and sweat…So I found this to be a nice change from royal courts, country mansions and intrigue. The danger was a lot more immediate.

‘You would not marry me if I were a penniless soldier, without wealth or title.’‘Why should I throw myself away on anyone in such circumstances?’ Lady Cleone asked, her eyes flashing.‘Why should you indeed?’ Lord Wye replied. ‘Yet if she loved such a man – Elvina would.’

Barbara Cartand - Heroes

Barbara Cartland heroes are very human and as such they have plenty of characteristics that get up by nose.

When I first thought of doing this post I wrote up a list of all the qualities and characteristics that have stuck out to me and I was blown away by how many of them I loathe in a hero.

First and foremost loads of them can put arrogant on their CVs. But I think that this is mainly a by-product of the way that they had been raised. They want something so they will get that something. On some occasions even offering to set up our virtuous heroine as their mistress – because they want her but why should they have to give up their single status for her.  I always love how they are always shocked when she says no and removes herself from the situation.

Weak – Yip, some of our Sir Perfect-a-Lots have gambling debts coming out of their ears and not ven 2 farthings to rub together. This I don’t mind but it is the fact that they are determined to continue living the life to which they have grown accustomed.

Dandy – yeah, I am not a huge fan of the dandy hero…

Controlling – some of them are pretty high up on the alpha male scale. Sometimes I don’t mind this but other times I just want to throw the book across the room. It depends entirely on how it is portrayed and on the hero’s personality.

And then we have my favourite.

The jaded, worldly hero - Jane Eyre is one of my favourite books and Mr Rochester one of my favourite heroes and if he does not fit into this category then I have no idea who will, so I always love it when I come across this type of hero. Why? Because I know that by the end of the book out heroine will have given him a new lease of life and changed his opinion on just about everything.

There are plenty of other personality traits that defines a hero some that I like and some that I hate beyond all thinking but there is always one thing that redeems them by the end of the book.

Their love, devotions and adoration of the leading lady!

A Fugitive from Love by Barbara Cartland

“My love is boundless, as boundless as the sea and the sky”

Her back criss-crossed with weals raised by the Prince’s whip, Salena first hesitated, then plunged into the grey waves…

Salena’s happiness at joining her father in Monte Carlo had quickly turned to terror and despair when she learnt that she must marry the sadistic Prince Petrovsky to pay her father’s debts.

Saved from a watery grave and nursed back to health by the debonair Duke of Templecombe, Salena finds a strange new contentment in exotic nineteenth-century Tangiers. But the long arm of the Prince brings unforeseen dangers before the touch of the Duke’s lips brings Salena a rapture beyond words.

(FYI – set in 1903)

Ooo loads of drama going on here.

Salena (our heroine) is made to marry and the on her wedding night she discovers that her ‘husband’ is already married with children. She refuses to go along with the lie and is whipped for this. Add in a struggle and a knife and Salena throws herself into the sea. But her attempt at suicide has a hiccup when she finds she can’t sink as she knows how to swim. And then along comes our Duke and plucks her from the wave…And all of that before page 70!

One of the best things about this book is that very nearly all of the romance boxes are ticked.

There is –

• The jilted mistress
• The vile, slimy villain (complete with evil intentions aimed at the heroine)
• Dead beat dad (seriously, the guy basically sold his daughter!)
• The heroine may as well be an orphan for all of the care her D-B-D shows her.
• And the arrogant hero (but he takes care of Salena from the second he rescues her so I am willing to forgive a lot for this)
• And not to forget an abduction as well!
• 
  

The thing that I enjoyed most about this book is the way the Duke is with Salena. I am a sucker for protective men (not controlling though!) and the pretty much from the minute that he sees her he feels the need to keep her safe – even from her nightmares.

Barbara Cartland - Villainesses

The women we love to hate in romance novels. That one woman trying to come between out meant-to-be couple and trying her level best to get her claws into our hero.

The Villainess.

Mistresses often get a lousy hand in romance novels and in the Barbara Cartland novel I have read it is no different. They want to keep their man and they will do anything to keep him. And I mean anything, some even going so far as to pull a ‘if I can’t have him then no one’ stunt, that we all know will end badly for her.

And then we have the evil mothers. Occasionally we have the mother of the hero (if she is still alive) not being willing to give up her state as mistress of the house, or not approving of the heroine or whatever crazy reasoning goes on in crazy-moms head and trying to kill the heroine. Sometimes they are even in cahoots with the slimy villain of the tale who – needless to say – has twisted designs on our heroine.

And for the more traditional in the audience we have *drum roll*

The wicked step-mother – because everyone knows that step-mothers are EEEEEVIL. Now, one interesting thing about the wicked step-mother story line is that in a couple of the novels I have read the relationship between the hero and our heroines step-mother begins in what could be viewed as the land of taboo by having them involves – yip, that kind of involved. I don’t know about you guys but I haven’t come across that in a novel before…

So there we have a quick thought on the Wicked Ladies.

Nothing beats having a right witch that you can root against from the beginning, although in some of the books the hero ends up being so dim and arrogant that I wouldn’t mind if the jilted mistress got her way… (sorry is that treasonous talk?)

See you tomorrow when I’ll be posting another book and talking about the man of the hour himself – the hero!

A Knight in Paris by Barbara Cartland

Whoops, sorry about the glare ;)

“I hope never to see fear in your eyes again”

At the sound of gunfire, the horses reared and the carriage moved backwards. “It is an ambush!” Lynetta cried…

Piqued by her indifference, the most eligible bachelor, the Earl of Chantcliffe, sends a proposal of marriage to Elaine Dale and leaves at once for France to make some special purchases on her behalf.

At an old Chateau outside Paris he saves the lovely Lynetta de Marigny from certain death only for them both to face further perils when forced to pose as husband and wife at the glittering Court of Napoleon Bonaparte.

As Lynetta grows even more dependent on him in a strange and frightening world so the Earl realises his love for her increases hour by hour. But he is not a free man.

Even the very wheels under his carriage add to his torment as they echo ‘What about Elaine?’. To jilt his betrothed would cause a family scandal but how could he bear to lose Lynetta?

I enjoy books that have a backdrop of an actual historical event. Not books that have the event front and centre but where the characters’ lives are affected by what is happening around them. A Knight in Paris is set in 1803 during the time of the Treaty of Amiens – a peace treaty between France and Britain that lasted a little over a year.

Personally I think that our Earl is asking for everything that he gets (and way more because in the grand scheme of things he doesn’t really have to deal with an awful lot) by giving into the request *cough* demand *cough* from the woman he marries. What does she want him to do to ‘prove his love’ go to France and pick up some furniture for her. Because nothing screams ‘I love you and I want to marry you’ like sending the poor bloke off to a country your own had been at war with not all that long ago! He asks for it even more because he knows it is ridiculous but he still goes along with it anyway.

Lynetta, the heroine, is one of the more…watery heroines that I have read. She is very much the kind of girl who needs a big strong alpha male around. She has lived a very sheltered life which then turned into living in hiding when her parents were killed by revolutionaries. I didn’t really mind that she was the fawning type who needed looking after it was the way that she was constantly telling the Earl how smart he was. So fair enough he did use his smarts to keep them alive but really…(see above)

Napoleon and Josephine Bonaparte also make an appearance in this book when the Earl and Lynetta find themselves smack bang in the middle of the French court before they can leave for England. Got to love it.

So why is this one of my favourite Barbara Cartland books when I have just picked apart the main characters? I think it is because of the refreshing reversal in the character rolls. I am so used to reading in books about the heroine being in love with someone else and then the hero trying to persuade her that he is the guy for her it made a nice change to see the hero realise he had majorly screwed up. He had already proposed to the woman he stupidly thought himself in love with and then spends a wee while stewing over how he is going to get himself out of the engagement when he realises that she isn’t the love of his life. I wouldn’t have minded watching him panic and sweat for 50 more pages – because I’m not going to lie, the guy was an arrogant jerk at the beginning of the book.

“It is always a mistake to tease a woman about herself,” the Earl said. “It is a subject on which they have very little sense of humour.”
 

An Arrow of Love by Barbara Cartland

"No one is really happy without love"

Threatened with the choice of marriage to the odious Dan Thorpe or being whipped into submission by her new stepmother, Melissa is in despair. 

Thankfully she takes the role of lady's maid to her friend Cheryl, who must pay a most reluctant visit to her guardian, Sergius, Duke of Aldwick, a hero of Waterloo. 

The deception unmasked, Melissa is soon engaged in a succession of verbal duels with the cynical woman-hater - even after she saves his life!

Faced with fresh dangers and the threat of scandal, Melissa knows that Sergius matters more to her than anything else in the world...

Ah yes, nothing beats having a woman hating man as the hero especially when we get to read from the beginning with a smug satisfaction knowing that he is going to be whistling a different tune by the end of the book.

Melissa father has remarried and his wife – a right witch of a woman – is in a hurry to get rid of her stepdaughter so gets dead-beat dad to agree to have her wed the slime of all slimes – Dan Thorpe. Melissa is given the choice, marry or be thrown out of her home. Of course daddy dearest has nothing to say about this because his new wife is the one with all the money and he wants some pretty ponies to ride and needs to stay in her good graces.

“…as Melissa knew only too well, his promises were as weak as pie-crust.”

What I loved about Melissa is that she is not the kind of girl to just sit around and cry over her situation. She takes action and does what she can to get herself out of situations without looking to anyone else to give her permission or to come to her rescue.

Sergius – the hero – is a self-proclaimed woman hates after catching the woman he was going to marry with another man when he was younger. But it was nice to watch him NOT being a total prat to Melissa (who can guess why not ;)) and at times their interactions reminded me of moments between Jane and Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre.

There are several story lines all going on within this 171 page book. We have Melissa’s best friend Cheryl who is wanting to marry the man she loves but needs her Uncle Sergius’ permission first. There is Melissa and the Duke and their relationship and then winding through all of this there is someone out to kill the Duke.

So, this is quite a busy wee book.

Barbara Cartland Week Introduction (Barbara Cartland #1)

Welcome to Barbara Cartland Week 

I am a huge Barbara Cartland fan! If I could own every single book she has ever written I would (she has a pretty dang impressive back list of 723 book – not counting the unpublished books now being published as TheBarbara Cartland Pink Collection).

I still remember the day I found a copy of An Arrow of Love and Lost Enchantment in a local charity shop – over ten years ago now – and I haven’t looked back since. I still get a huge thrill whenever I come across a novel by her and I all put pounce on it.

So, for the next week to kick start Romance Month I am going to be posting about some of my favourite Barbara Cartland novels and whatever other goodies I can think about.

Sit back, relax and prepare for a week of fluff and star-crossed lovers!