Mistletoe Mischief

by Sandra Heath

Book Overview

Sir Greville Seton cannot abide women who work as companions. But when he meets his cousin's companion, the lovely Megan Mortimer, the Christmas spirit allows him to embrace the greatest gift of all. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451201477
• ISBN13: 9780451201478
• Release Date: October 2000
• Publisher: Signet Book
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.1" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Cute and clever Christmas story

I've said in other reviews that I don't do fantasy or magic and am one of the few people on the planet who refuses to read Harry Potter. So, when I encountered Rollo Witherspoon, ghost extraordinaire, in this book, I was a little apprehensive that I would have to abandon it. Well, I was wrong - Rollo was perhaps the best character in this multi-layered story. It's the archetypal Christmas Regency - a cluster of people come together and sort themselves out into happy couples over the course of the holidays. Because Sandra Heath is herself English, she was able to create a clever and realistic framework for her story with good descriptions of her setting. Here's what appealed to me: Rollo had a tragedy but we learn about it only at the end of the story and it's poignant and quite believable. Lady Evangeline, too, had a tragedy but she is on target to a happy middle age with a kindly and gruff retired sea captain. I loved the fact that she suffers from menopausal hot flushes. Wonderful!! Never encountered that in a Regency before and it was a brilliant touch! Our hero, Sir Greville Seton is a bit dour and touchy but he becomes enamoured (in spite of himself) of our heroine, Megan Mortimer. Add in some really comical peripheral characters, and a few wicked ones, good descriptions of Brighton and a well structured plot, and you have a good read. I really liked this, much to my surprise, and recommend it. It's not the best Regency Christmas story ever written but it is appealing and highly readable.

MISTLETOE, MATCHMAKING AND MYSTERIOUS MISHAPS

If you like Christmas, romance, laughter and ghostly happenings, this book will entrance you an all counts. A snowbound Brighton is the setting when Megan meets aloof and disdainful Sir Greville Seton (Megans employers' nephew) - Megan is a companion - Granville detests companions, his fathr ran off with one. So see the matchmaking skills of Lady Evangeline develop - she knows secrets about Megan's past that make all the difference. Master Rollow Witherspoon has a plan too, but he is a ghost what can he do to seek his long lost love - he is obliged to haunt Lady Evangeline to gain success for his plans. The story takes you on an enchanting romp though Regency Brighton, hilarious fates befalling the bad guys and much happiness in store for the good. Rollo gets his girl too. This book is filled with love, laughter, excitement, spooks and mystery. It is a perfect read and an excellent Christmas present or all year round present. Read and enjoy.

Mistletoe Mischief

This is a light and enjoyable book that seems to employ nearly every stock device that I can think of: from a brave young orphan, Megan Mortimer, who has been cruelly dealt with by her sole surviving relative, Oliver March; to a pair of erstwhile lovers, Lord Rupert Radcliffe and Miss Chloe Holcroft, who are on the outs because Rupert has made the mistake of spurning Chloe's affections, not realising until too late that he does actually love her. We also have an eligible bachelor, Sir Grenville Seton, who despises all companions because his father deserted him and his mother for one; and a ghost, Rollo Witherspoon, who is somehow bound to the eccentric Lady Evangeline Radcliffe. This is a book rich in quite a few sub-plots, and Sandra Heath manages to tie all the different plots together in a highly entertaining manner, that is bound to give satisfaction to most regency romance fans.Megan Mortimer has just lost her position as companion because of the unasked and untoward attentions of her employer's male relative. Lady Evangeline, hearing of this great wrong, hires Megan to be a companion to her, and takes her to Brighton. Megan soon comes to realise that Lady Evangeline's closest companion is actually a ghost, Rollo. And while she is a little daunted at this prospect, she resolves to do her best in her new situation.Once in Brighton, both ladies are surprised to find that Lord Rupert and Sir Grenville have taken up residence in Lady Evangeline's house. Both young men are also surprised at Lady Evangeline's return, and not a little chagrined as now they have to participate in Lady Evangeline's production "Twelfth Night". However since both young men are fond of their relative, they give in. Sir Grenville however is incensed to discover that he has to share a roof with a member of that dispised profession, the 'companion'. However it is not long before he finds himself admiring Megan for her fortitude and honour. Especially when Oliver March tries first to bribe and then to blackmail Megan. March is now courting Chloe Holcroft, and cannot afford to have anyone discover than Megan is a relative and that he has treated her shabbily. However Megan refuses to be intimated. And March resolves to ruin her socially instead. Will March succeed in destroying Megan? Will Rupert and Chloe find their way back to each other? Will Grenville overcome his prejudices and acknowledge his growing affection for Megan? And what of Rollo and Lady Evangeline?Since this a romance novel, I'm sure everyone can guess the various outcomes to all these sub-plots. The journey towards these resolutions will bring a small smile of satisfaction to most readers at this novel's end. Sandra Heath has provided us with a highly entertaining and very 'christmasy' book.

A Sleigh full of Smiles . . .

Ooooh! Delish. At last, a woman of a certain age, actually having 'hot flushes'! Lady Evangeline Radcliffe is a woman you'll come to love--and laugh with--as you read through her various trials and tribulations during the Christmas season of 1806. This will be the last Christmas for her extended family in the big old Radcliffe House in Brighton. After all these many years, she's finally acceded to the wishes of the Prince Regent and has agreed to sell him her home so he can expand his marvelous Pavilion. However, she has no plans to inform her family of this decision until--oh, perhaps New Year's Eve will do. In the meantime, however, she has a multitude of things to do to get ready for the season. Never married, Lady Evangeline has a nephew, Lord Rupert Radcliffe, who had been happily traveling down the path towards perfect matrimony, until something untoward happened. Now his former fiancée, Chloe, is being mentioned in the same sentence with that bounder Oliver March. Well, Evangeline will just have to get together with her dear friend (and Chloe's father) Admiral Sir Jocelyn Holcroft, to get the errant lovers back together again. Maybe such a conference will even have other results, who can tell? Sir Greville Seton isn't really a nephew, but is still always part of the family gatherings, especially since the death of his mother some years earlier. The poor woman and her little boy had been abandoned by husband and father--for a companion, of all things!--giving Sir Greville a life-long aversion to that category of female. So, who does Evangeline bring to Brighton with her? A companion, that's who. But--what a companion! Miss Megan Mortimer is also an orphan, for whom Evangeline has been searching--lo, these many years. And then there's Rollo Witherspoon, although to be honest, only Evangeline and Megan can see or hear him. For Rollo is a ghost--a Shakespearean actor of no little repute in his own time, and the guiding light behind/beside Evangeline's annual New Year's production of one of the Bard's plays. These are the main characters in this delicious seasonal present to us from the always-unusual, always-creative Sandra Heath. In addition to these folks, there is a wonderfully hilarious cast of supporting players, plus a hint of a mystery, and enough love to tangle several couples in the strings from the mistletoe-bedecked kissing bough. I'd strongly suggest you purchase the book now, wrap it up and put your own name on it, just to make sure that Santa doesn't overlook the necessity of providing you with at least one item that will deliver only pure pleasure as well as a sleigh full of smiles. It's a treat that will last you for many seasons to come.