The Incomparables by Various Authors

The Incomparables
By: Cerise DeLand, Sabrina York, Suzi, Lynne Connolly, Suzanna Medeiros, Dominique Eastwick
Published: June 18, 2015
Genre: Historical, Anthology, Romance, 
Length: Multiple Novellas
Heat Level: Spicy
Reviewer: Toni
Date: June 3, 2015

 

From the Duchess of Richmond’s ball in Brussels to the Battle of Waterloo and beyond, join these six unforgettable heroes as they journey back from the physical and emotional trials of war and discover the passion that thrills the body can also heal the heart.

Interlude with a Baron by Cerise DeLand
After Waterloo, Drayton Worth watched the woman he loved suffer because of his failures. Riddled with guilt he tries to improve Emma Bedlow's dreadful existence, while cursing his never-ending desire for her. Five years later, when he finally has the chance to convince her to share his life, she refuses. No man will control her ever again. She desires only an interlude with the charming baron, who is determined they'll have more.

The Captain’s Heart by Suzanna Medeiros
When the man who saves his life during the Battle of Waterloo dies from wounds that were meant for him, Captain Edward Hathaway must live with the guilt of having survived and is determined to fulfill that man’s dying wish.
Grace Kent only accepted her childhood friend's proposal of marriage so he wouldn't go off to war with a broken heart. But while she still grieves for her friend after learning of his death, she cannot resist her attraction to the handsome Captain Hathaway.

He is determined to discharge his duty at the expense of his own happiness. She wants only one taste of true passion. Can Captain Hathaway and Grace Kent overcome the guilt that continues to haunt them both and find true love?

Love After Waterloo by Suzi Love
Lady Anne Melton joins her brothers on the continent after the death of her soldier husband, hoping to keep her unborn baby from the clutches of his strict relations. With one brother an army physician and the other on Wellington’s staff, Anne uses her nursing skills at the battlefields and feels safer and more valued there than in London. Captain Gabriel Belling deems ladies near the army an unnecessary distraction for soldiers and makes his feelings known to Anne when they meet in Brussels.

Gabe, Anne, and her son travel with the last group of wounded to leave Waterloo and learn to depend on each other’s skills, Gabe as a soldier and leader and Anne as a compassionate nurse, during their skirmishes with crazed deserters from both armies. In London, social restrictions force them apart, with Gabe opening his club for returning soldiers while Anne battles her son’s grandparents. But when Anne begs for Gabe’s protection, will their love be strong enough to overcome their troubles and form a family?

Dreaming of Waterloo by Lynne Connolly
They called him “Lucky,” but not all injuries are physical ones. Plagued by headaches and living nightmares, Paul, Lord Sherstone returns to London to a wife he doesn’t know and an estate he has to manage. He daren’t let her close, even though he is falling in love with her all over again.

Married and abandoned in a month, Hetty learned to manage a large estate and fend off would-be lovers, but a threat emerges much closer to home and from an unexpected place. In need of help she turns to Paul but since his return he has only shut her out. Refusing to give up on the man she fell in love with five years ago, Hetty has to persuade her husband to let her into his bed—and his heart.

For Love or Revenge by Dominique Eastwick
Captain Roarke Wooldridge returned from Waterloo a different man than the one who left. Captured and detained as a prisoner of war, he endured both torture and betrayal at the hands of his captors and a single traitorous turncoat. Now, those who survived the nightmare of that cellar in France are determined to get revenge.

The widow Lady Alexandra Grafton is quite content to live out her life in the country cottage her husband left to her in his will. Having been married to a man with one foot in the grave, Alex has no desire to enter the confines of marriage or its bed again. But when a handsome, haunted captain crosses her path, will she take a chance on love?

Can two people scarred by their past experiences find in each other the solace they so desperately crave? Can the power of love outweigh the desire for revenge, or are their wounds too deep to be healed?

Tarnished Honor by Sabrina York
Daniel Sinclair is a broken man with wounds that are physical and spiritual. He’s weighed down by grief and guilt that he could not save his friend, Graeme Lennox, and is convinced that a French lance left him less than a man. He has no prospects. Nothing left but his tarnished honor. But then he meets a vexing boy who makes him question even that.

Fia Lennox’s world turned on its end with her brother’s death. She’s gone in one fell swoop from lady to servant…to a woman on the run. The world is a dangerous place for a woman alone—even when she’s masquerading as a boy—so when she meets up with a strong, valiant ex-cavalryman, she decides to become his traveling companion. Whether he likes it or not.

Battling villains, would-be-friends and their own finely-forged battlements, Fia and Daniel rush toward their destiny, a scorching passion and, hopefully, redemption. Can love conquer all? Even the ghosts of the past?

The Incomparables limited edition box set includes 6 scorching romances that commemorate the 200th anniversary of the June 18, 1815 Battle of Waterloo!

These six ladies did an amazing job combining very different men and women into a cohesive collection set around the return of the soldiers to normal life from the Battle of Waterloo. The idea centers around the brilliant idea of the club, The Incomparables. It’s a club that is either owned, a place of employment, or just utilized by some of the soldiers. It is a home away from home them. Either they need the escape from everyday life or they need a step up in life. Offering the men a place to relax, heal and find themselves again.

In Cerise DeLand’s story “Interlude with a Baron” we have a couple who has a chance at renewed love…maybe. During the war Drayton was put into a position that ruined his first love. Now he wants to make it up to her and love her again, but she has other plans.

They I really enjoyed Drayton’s determination, perseverance, and humility. He never let his success change him. He used his pain from the past and became an amazing man. Emma was so much fun. She kept her innocence even though she has gone through hell. She didn’t’ let her circumstances changer her for the worse but developed a strength that was noble and resilient. Their relationship was well paced and read smoothly. Ms. DeLand utilized flashbacks perfectly so they helped the story flow well giving a perfect balance to the story. .

“The Captain’s Heart” by Suzanna Medeiros was a story was a bit of a surprise for me. Captain Edward Hathaway was a man riddled with so much guilt, but he stood strong to complete a task that no man would ever want to take on. Grace is a woman stuck between her desires and her commitments. She never truly loved her betrothed, but felt bound to accept his proposal. She knew she would have to face the truth of her feelings when he returned, but he never did.

I was on pins and needles hoping for a different kind of story. That being said I’m not disappointed in the least at the final product. Yes, I would have enjoyed it more if the gut wrenching angst continued but the story evolved into a sweet tale of destined love. The “Captain’s Heart” is a story of instant attraction with a twisted third wheel. It’s a very nice read.

I’m not really sure how to label “Love After Waterloo” by Suzi Love. I can’t really say that this is a story is of enemies turned lovers love story. Attraction was instant but the characters had strong differing views that potentially could keep them apart.

Gabe is a man with very defined views of male and female roles. He is set in his ways and believe that women shouldn’t be anywhere near the battlefields. He is black and white and never grey.

While Anne is all about blurred lines. She has lost her husband and needs to get away from the clutches of her in-laws and decides to seek the shelter of traveling the war with her brothers, helping injured soldiers. She loves what she does, but now that the battle is over, she needs to return to London and unfortunately has to travel with the handsome, but opinionated Captain Gabriel.

At first I thought that the way that their feelings switched so easily, I would hesitate to enjoy the story but I enjoyed it thoroughly regardless. Due to the circumstances they found themselves in, they had much more freedom to explore their mutual attractions and never looked back. Ms. Love didn’t make us wait for the sparks to fly and made the story heated, sexy and a real page turner.

In “Dreaming of Waterloo” by Lynne Connolly we get our first returning husband story; a romance with a touch of intrigue. Before Paul left for the war he had a new marriage and a blushing loving wife. What he came home to was a woman of his own making. With his continued abandonment and poor choices, Hetty has become a totally different wife than when her husband left for the war. Now can they find their way back to each other?

Paul is a man who from outside appears to be golden but he feels anything but. He feels like a tortured man with a glass exterior ready to shatter at any moment. Hetty has been shunned once too many times by her husband. Now that he is back he seems to still be pushing her away. She has made it years in the business world without his help, while she has taken care of the estate. She doesn’t need him to return to take things over and push her away from everything she has neutered and built. This is a story full of pushing and pulling.

Paul was too damaged for me to warm to him completely in such a short story. While my heart did start to melt for him I really needed a bit more time to love him. I kind of feel the same way about Hetty. She is a strong heroine that deserved a much brighter spotlight. No real mystery in the story but it was still a sweet romance of reunited love.

“For Love or Revenge” by Dominique Eastwick was the best surprise for me. I will admit that I adore Ms. Eastwick. She writes in every genre that I enjoy and she has yet to disappoint me. With “For Love or Revenge”, she has introduced me to a family I can see loving, whole heartedly and then some.

Captain Roarke was a man filled with such pain and suffering, you never knew which direction he would go, but he always followed his upbringing. He was a gentleman through and through. Lady Grafton was exceptional. I love a strong widow who snubs her nose at societies BS and makes a life for herself.

All I can say is wow. What a great story of two people with insurmountable amount of baggage between them. Roarke with the pain and suffering put upon him by a colleague. He is a man filled with rage and the burning desire for revenge, but has the heart of a gentleman. Alex has finally found peace. With her husband and tormenter gone, she can finally enjoy the life she has determined is for her. While her heart has always wanted more, she will settle with what she has, never wanting to be bound by the binds of marriage.

I enjoyed how Roarke and Alex met, how they loved and how they finally came together. I just loved this story from start to finish. I can say I was lovingly trapped in its pages until well after four in the morning. I remember gasping, smiling and “no that didn’t not just” happen. Ms. Eastwick wrote such a great story that I couldn’t put it down. Even for much needed sleep.

The amount of pain in “Tarnished Honor” by Sabrina York is almost its own character. Daniel with his on the outside and inside and Fia’s crushing her spirit and sense of self.

Daniel has determined that he will live with the way his life has become. Content with setting to work at The Incomparables club until his dying day. He has nothing to offer to a wife, so he will be here to support his fellow soldier however he can.

Fia had it all and in one moment she lost everything; her family, money, prestige and future. Now the only thing she has to look forward to is to live the life of a servant. One night gone too far and she has to escape the confines of her station and venture away from it all. Out into the world she runs, never expecting to find salvation.

“Tarnished Honor” is a story that is seeded deeply with redemption. Daniel had enough guilt in his soul for all of the characters and this is one of the very rare times that his pain was believable for me. Usually I’m reading thinking, get over it already. I felt his loss and hopelessness. Very well done.

Fia was a socialite thrown to the wolves. From riches to rags, she lives the other side of the coin and it shaped her into the woman her dead brother would have been proud of. She has the strength that Daniel lost. She picked him up and showed him the light. Though he still had a few things to learn, she definitely started him on the road to recovery. “Tarnished Honor” was such a great story. Ms. York told a very depressing tale in such a sway you were not brought down but relished the heroes recovery. I very much enjoyed it.

This is an exceptional anthology that shouldn’t be missed. If you love historicals, romance and anthologies, you will love this one. I’m not sure how long the sale will last, but at $.99 this is one that can’t be missed. Preorder today!!