Stephanie Laurens' story, 'The Fall of Rogue Gerrard', has a reformed rake meeting up with a very important woman from her youth. Lydia Makepeace is known as a sensible woman, rather on the shelf, and so it's a real surprise to Ro Gerarrd to discover she's planning to break into a country house to steal back some indiscreet letters that her sister wrote. Of course Ro considers it his duty to help Lydia, but finds that spending time with her might bring him more than he bargained for. This was a good story if at times rather improbable and the relationship between the central characters was fairly convincing.
Mary Balogh's 'Spellbound' wasn't quite up to her usual standard, for this reader at least. The story felt rather familiar, that an estranged husband-and-wife couple meet randomly at an inn and rekindle their relationship, discovering the web of lies and misunderstandings that has kept them apart. The story contains Balogh's usual excellent writing style but was missing that certain extra quality of emotional depth that she usually offers.
Jacquie D'Allesandro's 'Only You' was very enjoyable, a story of youthful friends whose completely different stations mean that they are separated. Cassandra Heywood ended up married to an Earl and her life was a misery; her childhood playmate Ethan Baxter, a stable hand, has now made a life for himself as an inn owner. When Cassandra stops at Ethan's inn they rekindle their friendship and discuss the ten years that have passed since they last saw each other - but can the countess and the innkeeper have a future together? The emotion and personalities of the hero and heroine in this story were well described and it was an enjoyable read.