Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D'Alessandro & Candice Hern, It Happened One Night

It Happened One Night

Stephanie Laurens, Mary Balogh, Jacquie D'Alessandro and Candice Hern

Avon, Oct 2008, $7.99

ISBN: 9780061354168

'The Fall of Rogue Gerrard' by Stephanie Laurens. Robert and Lydia search for some missing papers; he may be the rake, but she has the seduction planned.

'Spellbound' by Mary Balogh. A decade ago Nora and Richard eloped, but her family annulled the marriage. Richard rescues Nora from a coaching accident; both want to elope again as they remain in love.

'Only You' by Jacquie D'Alessandro. Widow Cassandra Heywood has always loved the innkeeper Ethan though their social classes keep them apart until now; she is determined to marry her beloved

'From This Moment On' by Candice Hern. While at war, Sam hid his love for Wilhelmina. Now home, the former captain plans to make the duchess his wife.

The plot premise of this enjoyable anthology as described by Ms. Balogh in A Letter to the Reader is: 'A man and a woman, who have not seen each other in ten years, meet again when they find themselves staying at the same inn for a twenty-four hour period.' That concept provides the underlying fascination to this compilation as historical romance fans will compare each work (and rank them). These are four gutsy authors to do this somewhat limiting method. However, each provides a strong novella starring interesting lead couples; and more important different well written slants on the basic theme.

Harriet Klausner