Book review : From Cairo, With Love by Nancy Campbell Allen

From Cairo, With Love
novella
by Nancy Campbell Allen

GENRE: Regency clean romance
My rating: ★★★★★

5 full stars !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A little gem I devoured! A novelette, clean romance, that is a solid 5-star read for me, and I'm still smiling!
If you're looking for something romantic and light, refreshing, and utterly delightful, you absolutely have to pick this up.

Right from the start, I was hooked, but before I keep going on, let me tell you...
...the PLOT IN A NUTSHELL :

Valentine Baker, who's craving adventure, arrives in Venice to visit her cousin Eva, when during the stay she accepts an offer to be a companion to the wonderfully unconventional Contessa (Eva's mother-in-law ). So soon enough, they're off on a ship bound for Cairo.

They are accompanied by the charming boxer Mr. Maxwell, who has the task of accompanying them to his brother's excavations (excavations financed by the countess), to discover the truth behind the thefts of archaeological finds and to protect the two women.

Maxwell tries to keep his distance from Valentine, but her warm nature and easy laugh draw him in. He soon comes to cherish their time together, until someone attempts to drug him, and the aftermath reveals serious consequences for Valentine. He’ll do anything to keep her safe and her reputation intact, yet with treachery on board and his heart at stake, Mr. Maxwell must make a choice that will change his life forever.

______ ******* _______

What truly made this novella shine for me was how complete and satisfying it felt, despite its shorter length.
Nancy Campbell Allen is a master at crafting engaging stories, and this one is no exception.
It's a brilliant comedy romance through and through.

Forget heavy drama; this story is all about one incredibly embarrassing – and utterly hilarious – situation that pushes our two protagonists to finally declare their mutual attraction and love. It’s written with such a light touch and a wonderful sense of humor that I was genuinely laughing out loud. The engaging plot keeps you turning pages from start to finish, and the humor is just the perfect ingredient to make it feel so refreshing.


___ WONDERFUL MAIN CHARACTERS ___

Even though it's a novella, the characters really come alive. Valentine and Mr. Maxwell are fantastic, and their brilliant dialogue and personal thoughts let you into their heads and hearts immediately. Their interactions are precious, and you can practically feel their connection growing.


A tiny heads-up about the title :

"From Cairo, With Love" might make you think we're spending a lot of time in Egypt, but Cairo actually only appears right at the very end. But honestly, that's not a complaint at all!
In fact, I actually loved the little HISTORICAL NUGGETS, like discovering that Shepheard's Hotel in Cairo was a real, super famous place from the 19th century until its destruction in 1952.
It’s those little details that show how much care the author puts into her stories.:-)

And yes, for all you romance lovers out there, you'll be happy to know there's a LOVELY HAPPY ENDING!

_YEAHHH ! ___
I discovered that this novella has a prequel, again a short story named "What Happens in Venice", by the same author (inside A Timeless Romance Anthology #5), telling the love story and marriage in Venice of Valentine's cousin!
I love N. Campbell Allen write style ( I rated 5 stars some other proper romance by her ), I've already added it to my "must-read ASAP" list.

All in all, From Cairo, With Love is a delightful, charming, and genuinely funny read that will leave you with a huge smile on your face. Highly, highly recommend!

Thank you for reading my opinion and please be lenient with any error in my text ( English is not my native language ).

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Book review : Upon the Midnight Clear by Tasha Alexander

Upon the Midnight Clear #13.5
A Lady Emily Christmas Story
Lady Emily Mysteries
by Tasha Alexander
My rating: 3.4 of 5 stars

Short Christmas story from a mystery series that I love very much, not only thanks to the 2 main characters, Lady Emily, an amateur sleuth, and her husband Colin, a spy in the service of the English crown, but also thanks to the historical part always included by the author in her novels and to the mysteries/detection aspect always very well thought.

While usually I really love the novels in the series (almost always 4 and 5 stars for me), the short Christmas stories had disappointed me a little so far: set at Christmas, they had nothing Christmas-like about them.
That didn't stop me from reading the last short Christmas story I had left with these protagonists and finally in this little book I was able to breathe a bit of festive air.

___THE PLOT___ London, 1901. While Lady Emily and her family are shopping in Hamley's toy shop, a stranger gives her three sons some Christmas crackers that, when opened, reveal a mysterious messages.
Meanwhile, a slightly eccentric man requests the help of Colin and Lady Emily to find his daughter, taken away by the parents of his wife who died during childbirth.

---> In this story, as in the longer novels is palpable the mutual love between Emily and her husband and the joy and serenity of the whole family with their 3 children and the faithful nanny.

The moments of shopping, ironic but affectionate jokes between the two spouses, the excitement of the children in opening the crackers, give a lively and fun atmosphere to the story.

The mystery of the disappearance of the daughter of the man, who hired our two investigators, is well thought out despite the brevity of the story and it's engaging until its conclusion.

---> The only thing that always annoys me are the dialogues that the author writes for the 3 children: they are 5 years old and even assuming that they are ultra-intelligent kids, at that age they cannot speak as politely as 20-year-old adults who they have already completed the entire course of their studies. We know that the 3 children already know how to read and one of them is a little genius... but the speeches made by all 3 children are unlikely in reality.

Despite this, I always recommend this series to all lovers of historical mysteries, in my opinion it is one of the best, especially if you love the historical component (don't start from the Christmas stories, start from the 1st or 2nd novel in the series)

(Thanks for reading my review, please pardon me for any errors in the text, I'm from Italy and English is not my language )

If you are interested in other reviews about Lady Emily mysteries you can find 2 of them here ( I also reaad other books in the series past years, but I didn't have my blog yet, I'm trying to rewrite them all, but it takes time )

BOOK #2 : "A Poisoned Season"

BOOK #3 : "A Fatal Waltz"


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