The Lady Most Willing...: A Novel in Three Parts

The Lady Most Willing...: A Novel in Three Parts by Julia Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second collaboration of authors Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway was as delightful as the first. They have again nearly seamlessly woven together three novellas into one novel. It's not spelled out whose story is first, second, and third, but my favorite was the first, and Quinn's name is first on the cover, so perhaps she wrote it?

The premise is that a drunken Scottish laird and his equally drunken "men" decide to find brides for his bachelor nephews so as to ensure the continuation of the laird's bloodlines and an unbroken succession to inherit the castle and its responsibilities. Accordingly, they crash a party and snatch four young ladies of sufficient wealth and breeding. Er...well, or three heiresses and the daughter of a local squire...and a duke who happened to be sleeping in the carriage (his) they used to abduct the women. Whoops. Now everyone is trapped in the drafty castle until the storm blows over and the passes can be cleared of snow. The pairings don't go quite as Taran had planned, but all's well that ends well, right?

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, setting is secondary (1819 Scotland). Mild historic swearing, one sex scene, and some steamy make-out sessions.

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The Lady Most Likely...: a novel in three parts

The Lady Most Likely...: A Novel in Three Parts by Julia Quinn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lady Carolyn Finchley believes a house party will be the perfect way to find her horse-obsessed brother Hugh, the Earl of Briarly, a bride. Trouble is, other gentlemen keep falling in love with the women on her list of potential countesses. Hugh may just have to take matters into his own hands and convince the woman he secretly loves to take a chance on him despite her poor opinion of matrimony.

Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, and Connie Brockway do a splendid job of weaving together three novellas into one virtually seamless story. Each author focuses on a different romantic pair meeting and falling in love at the same house party, with transitions between told from the viewpoint of their hostess. I picked the book up because Quinn is one of my favorite authors, and I was delighted to discover that James and Brockway are similarly witty.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, with setting secondary (Regency England). A bit of swearing and some increasingly steamy sex scenes.

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