Cover to Cover 25

As I mentioned on a couple previous blogs I recently got my hands on a few e-books written by the husband and wife writing duo, Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson.

This week I read out two of their books...Winnie Childs, Shop Girl which they wrote in 1914, 1916 and Secret History Revealed by Lady Peggy O'Malley (1915) .

Now, genre-wise, both books can only be described as historical romances which can prove to be worthwhile for persons interested in stories written at the turn of the century, with English-American characters set in the time period when young ladies were debutantes and married for titles and wealth rather than love.

Winnie Childs, Shop Girl was an okay read throughout, although it is a far-cry from what I consider a love story since the woman (Winnifred Childs) and man (Peter Rolls Jr.) in question spent only a few brief days in each other's company and for the majority of the book they were apart, having no communication whatsoever and neither having confessed their feelings for each other. What really peeved me about this book, was that Ena Childs who was the sole cause for the couple's time apart, did not get her deserved comeuppance at the end of the book (true she did not get the Earl she had wanted to propose marriage to her, but she did end up with a Marquis!).

Secret History Revealed by Lady Peggy O'Malley managed to capture my attention from the get-go with the protagonist, Lady Marguerite O'Malley being a high-spirited no-nonsense girl who loses her heart to Captain Eagleston March who in turns falls in love with her elder more beautiful sister, Lady Diana O'Malley. Admittedly, all the drama about the El Paso fiasco bored me, which was a shame since the "secret" was centred around it but at least the salvation for the European War was that Eagle's and Peggy's paths crossed. Again, what irked me about this story is that the villain did not get his just-desserts! They had the evidence right there in their hands and destroyed it! Fine, even if they weren't planning to use it at that moment, they should have at least kept it as insurance for some time in the future.

So I'm on to another of their books...I just hope there aren't any annoyingly pretentious women in this one too!