JANUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Mary Jane Wells deftly weaves the four stories in this anthology. When four friends at Madame Rochambeaux’s Gentle School for Girls find an old sixpence, they’re convinced that it will bring them luck in getting married. The stories follow the old rhyme: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in her shoe.” The listener easily envisions the ballrooms of the English aristocracy as each heroine meets her true love. Wells subtly distinguishes the voices of the four couples, matching the pace of each story. All four stories blend into a satisfying listen. S.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
From the Publisher
Each love story in this superbly crafted anthology is expertly imbued with the distinctive literary DNA of its creator, and the end result is a wonderfully witty, sweep-you- off-your-feet romantic experience for long-time fans as well as readers new to these marvelously gifted writers.” — Booklist (starred review)
Booklist (starred review)
Each love story in this superbly crafted anthology is expertly imbued with the distinctive literary DNA of its creator, and the end result is a wonderfully witty, sweep-you- off-your-feet romantic experience for long-time fans as well as readers new to these marvelously gifted writers.
Library Journal
12/01/2016
When four boarding school roommates find an old sixpence hidden in one of their mattresses, they make a pact that each will use it in turn as a lucky charm to find true love and the perfect husband. As adults, they know this was all in fun—until it begins to work! Quinn's brief prolog, "Something Old," beautifully sets the stage for the four novellas that follow. A young woman who must wed before she turns 21 accepts the aid of a rakehell duke in finding a worthy husband and winds up with the duke instead in Stefanie Sloane's "Something New"; a desperate young woman begs her childhood friend to pretend temporarily to be her fiancé in order to stop her meddling aunts' matchmaking attempts in Elizabeth Boyle's "Something Borrowed"; a government investigation and the theft of the sixpence cause problems for the disillusioned heroine in Laura Lee Guhrke's "Something Blue"; and a science-oriented heroine who's never believed in the coin's power learns otherwise when she connects with an especially intriguing physics scholar in Quinn's "…and a Sixpence in Her Shoe." VERDICT A clever premise, inventive situations, and witty repartee make this sexy anthology the perfect romantic read for those cold midwinter nights. Favorite historical authors Quinn, Sloane, Boyle, and Guhrke all live in the Pacific Northwest.
JANUARY 2017 - AudioFile
Narrator Mary Jane Wells deftly weaves the four stories in this anthology. When four friends at Madame Rochambeaux’s Gentle School for Girls find an old sixpence, they’re convinced that it will bring them luck in getting married. The stories follow the old rhyme: “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in her shoe.” The listener easily envisions the ballrooms of the English aristocracy as each heroine meets her true love. Wells subtly distinguishes the voices of the four couples, matching the pace of each story. All four stories blend into a satisfying listen. S.B. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2016-11-07
Four boarding school friends find everlasting love with the help of a magical coin in this historical-romance anthology that weaves through the popular wedding rhyme, "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue—and a sixpence for your shoe."Anne, Ellie, Cordelia, and Bea, friends at Madame Rochambeaux's Gentle School for Girls, discover a sixpence in Anne's mattress and whimsically decide that the old coin will help them find true love when the time comes. Ten years later, Anne is close to the deadline to find a husband set by her strict uncle when she meets the rakish Duke of Dorset. He agrees to help her find a husband, then falls in love with her himself and must convince her that he's worthy. Happily married, Anne hands the coin off to Cordelia, who turns to a childhood friend to escort her to Anne's wedding, since her aunts are trying to match her up and she's told them she's engaged to Kipp. Unfortunately, Kipp is an impoverished earl practically engaged to an heiress, so even though Cordelia moves him like no other woman, he can't afford to marry her. Can he? Once Kipp and Cordelia are sorted, she gives the coin to Elinor, who is set on marrying an aristocrat whose connections may save her father from being investigated for war profiteering by the man she had once thought to marry, Lawrence Blackthorne. When Blackthorne steals the coin from her, they may have to revisit their romance, and Ellie may have to face some difficult truths about her father. Finally, Bea, a scientist at heart with no desire to marry, meets her perfect match in an injured lord who is learning to see the world through new eyes after a devastating accident. A fun idea connects four charming stories, though they build to a pinnacle with Quinn's.
