Kisses, She Wrote: A Christmas Romance (The Prince Catchers Book 1)

Excellent writing and storyline by Katharine Ashe.Background: We were first introduced to Jacqueline, Princess of Sensaire and Charles Camlann Westfall, the Earl of Bedwyr, otherwise known as Cam in "I Married the Duke." Cam is cousin to Lucien, Comte de Rallis, otherwise known as Luc. The happenings in this book take place concurrently with "I Married the Duke." I highly recommend "I Married the Duke" if you have not read it. However, reading this book will not hinder your enjoyment either way.Jacqueline has always known that when she marries she must marry according to the wishes of her brother, Reiner, Prince of Sensaire. However, when Cam accompanies Luc and her governess-to-be, Arabella, to Luc's chateau in Brittany where Jacqueline and Reiner are guests, she is immediately taken with Cam's beauty and his overall persona. In fact, who would not be? He is considered quite the experienced gentleman having known many women intimately during his 29 years. He knows exactly how to talk to the fairer sex and has a solid reputation of knowing how to please them in other ways. Due to this, her brother, although very good friends with Cam, would never consider him a potential mate for Jacqueline.Therefore, Jacqueline, who is considered somewhat slim and plain can only have a relationship with Cam in her fantasies. She does have a diary and oh, what a diary it is! Unfortunately, or one might say "fortunately," she doesn't hide the diary very well. When Cam happens upon her diary and begins to read passages that are obviously written with him in mind, he doesn't know quite what to think or how to respond. Up until this time, he hasn't given Jacqueline much thought. Although he does feel some pangs of guilt over reading her diary, he finds himself constantly drawn to the diary to see what she has written since his last perusal. Over the course of time, he becomes absolutely fascinated and begins to see her in a totally different manner.Eventually all the parties who are at the chateau travel on to London where Jacqueline's brother will try and find a suitable mate for her. Thankfully, he is a very good brother and allows her some choices regarding her potential mate even obtaining background information on a few and letting her check them out.In the meantime, Cam has begun to show a lot of interest in Jacqueline and they become good friends. Although she was very uncomfortable in his society at the beginning, their friendship and her boldness in writing down her fantasies result in bringing her out of her shell so to speak. For Cam's part, he has found his former lifestyle of debauchery is beginning to hold very little interest. Instead he has actually taken to writing poetry about a princess all based on the writings of Jacqueline's diary. Major complications to their budding romance come up. His aunt threatens to withhold his inheritance if he doesn't cooperate with her wishes to marry the young woman she has picked out for him. Reiner and Jacqueline's mother are bringing more and more pressure to bear on Jacqueline to choose her future husband, or Reiner may choose for her. When will the contents of Jacqueline's diary and Cam's poetry collide? All these complications serve their purpose as we head toward the big collision or shall we say "climax" of the romance and HEA of the H/h.Other observations: I am amazed at Katharine Ashe's ability to write actual poetry. In truth, I'm not big on poetry but I do know when it moves me a little. I think she is quite skilled based on the lines "Cam" wrote in this book. She is also a very gifted writer and knows how to build a romance a little at a time and keep the reader intrigued with her characters. I love her Falcon Club Series and can't wait for the rest of the Prince Catchers Series. "Kisses She Wrote" is worth way more than the 99 cents I paid for it.

I discovered a few months ago that I really enjoy Katharine Ashe's prose, and this relatively short novella was no exception. I found Kisses, She Wrote a sweet, sneakily smart and engaging holiday story that delighted and even genuinely moved me. As a novella/short story fan, I felt the length was ideal: not so long that the characters' conflicts and conversations start to feel tiresomely repetitive and drawn out (a complaint I have about far too many of those 400 page romance novels these days!), yet still long and substantive enough to make me feel it was a worthwhile, satisfying read. The hero and heroine are connected to the H and h featured in Ashe's I Married the Duke, though you certainly don't have to have read that novel to appreciate this one.I truly loved and connected with the heroine, which is definitely not a given for me. Jacqueline is endearingly shy, smart, candid and quietly self-aware, yet with more spirit and courage than one may initially assume. My one complaint is more about my own subjective preferences than the objective quality of this book: I just happen to be extraordinarily weary of the debauched rakes we find in so very, very, VERY many romance novels. To Ashe's credit, she does a fairly convincing job of showing how our rakish hero 'reforms,' due in large part to getting to know the heroine and reading her touchingly candid journal. But I'm the oddball romance fan who finds heroes who have merrily slept with every pulse-having woman in England and while spending the majority of their lives gambling and "partying" to be unappealing rather than sexy. Personally, I wish romances featured fewer Regency era frat boys and more men of high intellect, compassion and substance, but that's just me ;) Even after getting to witness the hero's (semi-)reformation, I found myself thinking that our extremely kind, keenly intelligent heroine deserved better and even wondered how she could ever fully trust this man who'd so proudly slept with so very many married women, despite his charm, inherently good heart (at least Cam's not one of those alleged "heroes" who qualifies as a mean-spirited sociopath!) and flair for romantic poetry.If you like rakish heroes more than I do, though (and, to be fair, most romance readers do!), I highly recommend this enjoyable, well-written and very reasonably priced novella. Poetry lovers are especially encouraged to check this one out, as our hero composes a few gems. Happy holidays!

This is a whimsical story with lots of poetry included. Lucky for me, I like poetry and especially enjoyed these sections of the book. I read this last year and it held up very well to a second reading. The story opens with the hero, Lord Bedwyr, finding a diary written by Princess Jacqueline in which she writes her fantasies about him. Needless to say, he's intrigued and finding the diary makes him take notice of the plain, shy princess.The concept of his golden beauty bringing her to life is poetically written with sensitivity and passion. Lord Bedwyr is inspired by the diary to resume his writing and create a poem. He hasn't written since the death of his beloved mother several years ago, so he's excited about finding a new muse, in addition to being flattered by the content of the diary.As Jacqueline and Bedwyr get to know each other and become friends, their feelings for each other grow into something more. Unfortunately, Princess Jacqueline is supposed to marry an influential man chosen by her loving brother. And Lord Bedwyr is bullied into considering marriage with his Aunt's goddaughter. Will they be separated by their marriages to other people who they don't love? You will need to suspend disbelief to enjoy this book, especially the ending, but it was worth setting aside my quest for logic to just go with the flow to enjoy this book.

Cam Westfall, the Earl of Bedwyr findet auf einer Hausparty das Geheimversteck des Tagebuches des Mauerblümchens Princess Jacqueline of Sensaire, die kleine schwester seines Freundes. Cam liest es und kann kaum glauben, was diese unscheinbare Unschuld so alles sieht in ihm, daß sie ihn trotz ihrer Naivität fast komplett durchschaut und ihn dennoch als einen Art Held sieht, was er nun ganz und gar nicht ist. Sie beschreibt eine Lustvolle Fantasiewelt mit ihm, ohne dass auch nur irgendetwas der Realität entspricht. Jedes zusammentreffen und sei es noch so kurz hält sie in diesem Tagebuch fest und schmückt es immer mehr und Lustvoll aus. Cam wird fast süchtig nach diesen Eintragungen und sie inspirieren ihn sogar wieder zu schreiben.Nach der Hausparty besucht er seinen Freund Reiner, den Bruder von Jaqueline, in London fast täglich nur um auf Jaqueline zutreffen und sie zu Eintragungen über und mit ihm zu inspirieren und um diese dann heimlich lesen zu können. Und diese Eintragungen werden immer "heißer" und somit auch seine eigene Schreiberei und zu seiner Überraschung auch sein "Verlangen", nur nach was?!.Während dieser Begegnungen lernt er Jaqueline auch näher kennen und ist immer mehr auch von ihr angetan. Jaqueline ist zwar eine Unschuld und auch nicht gerade ein Schönheit, aber sie entspricht sogar nicht dem Bild was er sonst von Frauen hat, auch ist sie das völlige Gegenteil von dem wie sie sich in ihrem Tagebuch verhält, sie reizt ihn immer mehr. Er will die Frau ergründen, die dieses Tagebuch schreibt und kann einfach nicht verstehen, wie ausgerechnet Jaqueline die Schreiberin sein sollte, obwohl er weiß, dass sie es ist.Ich war wirklich überrascht wie gut sich dieses Buch liest und wie "spannend" die Entwicklung der Beziehung der beiden beschrieben wurde.Es geht wirklich nur um die beiden Cam und Jaqueline, die Tagebucheintragungen und was die Begegnungen, die Eintragungen bewirken und die langsame Wandlungen der beiden zu einander hin, obwohl sie doch so verschieden sind. Er, der Rake und Lebemann und sie die Unschuld und ein Mauerblümchen, aber beide Realisten, keine Träumer.Und dabei geht es doch nur um ihre Fantasien, die von jeweils anderem erweckt werden. Jaqueline weiß was er ist und das er nicht gut für sie ist, aber bevor sie ihre Pflicht als Prinzessin erfüllen wird, will sie diese Fantasie noch weiter schüren, wissend es wird kein Happy End geben.Er nutzt sie zuerst nur aus, aber je mehr er von ihr liest und über sich, um so mehr verändert er sich zu dem Mann, den sie in ihm sieht.Es ist für 178 Seiten eine wirklich tolle Geschichte und obwohl kein Bösewicht oder ein üblicher Spionage Polt enthalten ist, ist es spannend mit zu verfolgen was sich da wie entwickelt und warum.Es ist sicherlich etwas holprig an manchen Stellen, aber ich habe das wirklich immer schnell vergessen, weil die beiden einfach toll miteinander umgehen und man einfach weiter lesen muß, um zu sehen, wie und wann sich endlich welches HEA einstellen wird.Das ist wirklich eine prickelnde, pure Liebesgeschichte! Lohnt sich wirklich!!!

This is a novella, and it is a complete story in itself, nothing is missing; it's definitely not an excuse for a Christmas theme, but a little Holiday gift, although it could be read in the middle of summer. It's absolutely charming, although it could have been a trifle creepy because of the snooping Earl, it's not; it is enchanting ! Her wallflower comes off as a real person, you live the story along with Jacqueline. Ms. Ashe is a wonderful writer. I call her style "golden prose" because it's elegant, classy, her writing style is perfect for historicals. In fact, she's in the same class as Jane Austen: clean, clear, simple prose; a complete mastery of the English language, as it should be written. If you don't know her, it's a perfect book to start, and you will go back for more.

After a few slow chapters this novel picks up speed and delivers a resounding punch in the end. I'm not into poetry normally but in this book itworks and I loved how they both wrote a final " Part 3 " to the " Stone Princess"

Endlich mal eine flott geschriebene Liebesgeschichte, die eine neue, unterhaltsame Story jenseits des altbekannten Schemas bietet! Auf nicht mal 200 Seiten habe ich mich besser unterhalten gefühlt und mehr mitgefiebert als bei so manchen "dickerem" Exemplar. Absolute Empfehlung für alle, die sich auch an englische Bücher trauen und mal was anderes als "Unschuld trifft Dandy, blablabla" lesen wollen!

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