A Night in Grosvenor Square (2018) by Three Authors

This is a collection of three novellas. My rating: 3.5/5 stars

A Match for Princess Pompous by Sarah M. Eden

Summary

Matchmaker Adelaide Northrop may be embarking on her greatest challenge yet. Miss Odette Armistead has been dubbed “Princess Pompous” by Society’s elite, and Odette’s parents are desperate to see her married off to a respectable gentleman. When Adelaide first meets Odette, she is expecting a young lady who fits the pompous description. Instead, Adelaide discovers that Odette is far from conceited, but has chosen to wear a mask in a desperate attempt to hide her love for a gentleman who has been chosen for someone else. It seems that Adelaide has far more than matchmaking to accomplish.

Thoughts

Of the three stories, I think I liked this one the best. While the other 2 novellas have the first meeting and lingering thoughts afterward, this story has the our pair already in love, a love built on mutual respect, affection and grown organically out of their childhood friendship. While the other 2 stories have the standard connection/attraction that is typical in historical romances, this pair have developed a deep and lasting regard for each other. Their main obstacle are their parents, rather than a cavernous difference in rank. Her parents will never agree to the marriage without his parents' approval because they're slightly higher in rank, and his mother is angling for him to marry a different girl in the neighborhood, one whose family is newer to the area and has a bit more money.  

The way that Adelaide works her magic to bring about the happy endings (yes, that's plural) made me wishing I had a matchmaker :) While she doesn't always say much, when she does, it's obvious that she understands human nature, has solid convictions on how women should be treated, and is able to say just the right things to just the right people to bring about the best results. 

I couldn't help feeling like it was a missed opportunity for the other novellas in the book. Having the matchmaker work her magic on the other 2 couples would have been a great way to pull all three stories together. Thinking of the other stories, a matchmaker's intervention could have been possible: our second couple meets while she's working at Gunter's Tea Shop. Adelaide could have had a penchant for ices and noticed the exchange. In the third, Ellen is of age but had no come-out because of her mother's neuroses. Her aunt intercedes and Adelaide could have been brought in to teach Ellen the graces for mixing with the ton. But neither of those things happened. 

Confections and Pretense by Annette Lyon

Summary

Anne Preston dreams of opening her own dessert shop some day and saves every spare penny she earns working at Gunter’s Tea Shop. She makes ice cream molds to perfection, bakes and decorates cakes, and hopes to one day be an independent shop owner. When an American man orders an ice, Anne is immediately taken with Davis Whitledge, but he is far above her station in life, so she tries to forget about his cordiality. Soon, she finds herself in a dangerous situation when confronted by two troublemakers, and Davis happens to be nearby. He sends the scoundrels on their way, but this only makes Anne more of a target. He doesn’t understand London ways, and his generosity has the potential to steal Anne’s dreams, or to make them soar.

Thoughts

Out of the three, this one felt the least developed as far as getting to their happily ever after. They meet, briefly talk, and then can't stop thinking about the other. Their paths cross again, he comes to her rescue, and another brief talk. Their paths cross again and after something dramatic, he proposes that they go back to America (where she's always wanted to go) and marry on the way. This one felt the most rushed of the three and it felt unfinished. I wished that there had just been a little more, like seeing them together, married, in the US doing the acts of service for the poor that Davis had mused he wanted his wife to join him in doing. 

Little London by Heather B. Moore

Summary

Ellen Humphreys has never had a Season, has never danced the waltz, and will likely never do so while confined to watching over her ill mother at their country estate. Therefore, Ellen creates her own Little London, and imagines all the gentleman she’d dance with and all of the friendships she’d have with other young ladies, if only she were allowed to have a Season. When Quinn Edwards, Marquess of Kenworth, comes upon her quite by happenstance while Ellen is imagining herself in a London ballroom, she is mortified about her playacting. But a chain of events is set off from this one meeting that has Ellen questioning if her reputation would ever survive a Season or another encounter with the marquess.

Thoughts

This is the one that I wish had been a novel rather than a novella. There was enough time that passes in the plot to develop things more fully and we get a nice epilogue so there's that sense of closure and what their lives will be like in the future. Both Ellen and Quinn were 2 people that it would have been great to get to know even more. I mean, our hero is a science nerd and gets nervous and tongue-tied. Our heroine is sweet, practical, and intellectually enthusiastic. It would have been great to see them grow together (and 'Carl' have a hot air balloon fly for more than a few moments).