AAR

[MMcA]

I've somehow never read Barbara Metzger before, but somewhere (DA?) had recently mentioned her books being available on Kindle, so I looked and there were tons for between £2 and £3.
Based on nothing in particular I bought two - 'Miss Lockharte's Letters' and 'An Early Engagement.'
I very much liked the start of 'Miss Lockharte's Letters' - where a vicar's daughter, now working at a terrible school for young ladies, thinks she is dying and writes to a number of people. Very funny, and worked well to set the wheels in motion. I wasn't keen on the subplots, both of which semed to meander to nothing, and one of which meant that every second character in the book had the initials 'T.H.' making it very hard to keep minor characters straight.
'An Early Engagement' I enjoyed a lot more. I particularly liked the fact that having made the hero and heroine friends from infancy the author makes that friendship part of their relationship throughout - they both have a fairly good idea of what the other person is like, and trust each other.

I have now looked at the reviews of her books here, but I just don't know which to read next. Would anyone have any recommendations? And did she ever do connected books? I'd love to read the story of the younger brother from 'An Early Engagement'.

[angelika]

I too like many of Barbara Metzger's books; my favorite is "Wedded Bliss" and I think I saw yesterday on Amazon that it is now available on Kindle. I also enjoyed: "The Pimrose Path", "Saved by Scandal", "Lady Sparrow", "A Perfect Gentleman" and "Lord Heartless". This being said, I did also enjoy her series about the gentlemen who were able to tell if someone was lying by either smelling it, seeing colors or getting a bad headache. I can't remember the name of that series right now.

Have fun reading.

[PWNN]

Those were both B-/B reads for me with liking An Early Engagement more but neither were my favorites of Metzger's.

My Favorite (though I still haven't even read 1/2 of her backlist) is A Suspicious Affair though other A/A- reads for me:

Father Christmas
Lady Sparrow
A Debt To Delia
Lord Heartless
Cupboard Kisses

I also enjoyed (B/B+ level):

Snowdrops And Scandalbroth
Christmas Wishes[
A Perfect Gentleman
_________________
"My safe word is monkey"

[Mark]

These are my humor scores for her books:
metzger, barbara
series
ace of hearts**.5
jack of clubs**
queen of diamonds**
series
truly yours**.5
the scandalous life of a true lady**.5
the wicked ways of a true hero***
non-series
an affair of interest****
an angel for the earl****
the bargain bride**.5
bething's folly***
the christmas carrolls***
christmas wishes****
cupboard kisses****
a debt to delia****
the diamond key****
the duel***
the earl and the heiress****
an early engagement****
an enchanted affair*
father christmas***
the hourglass**.5
lady in green****
lady sparrow***
lady whilton's wedding****
lord heartless***
a loyal companion****
the luck of the devil***
minor indiscretions****
miss lockharte's letters***
miss treadwell’s talent****
miss westlake’s windfall***
my lady innkeeper***
the painted lady****
a perfect gentleman**.5
the primrose path****
rake's ransom****
saved by scandal***
snowdrops and scandalbroth****
a suspicious affair****
valentines***
wedded bliss***
a worthy wife****

[MMcA]

Thanks, all of you.

Mark, I hadn't realised that her backlist was so long.

Triangulating that as best I can, I can't find one that everyone loved (I thought I had my winner when I saw both angelika and PWNN had mentioned 'A Perfect Gentleman', but then Mark only gave it 2.5 stars )

So I'm going to start with 'The Primrose Path' and 'A Suspicious Affair' and work my way onwards from there.

Thank you so much.