I hope that this anthology is a precursor to a series by one or both of these authors because this only whetted my appetite to learn more about Miss Brodie and her academy. How did her school come to have such diverse offerings in the curriculum? How did she come by instructors who could and would teach those diverse subjects? How did she even come to start a school?

The Way to a Gentleman’s Heart by Theresa Romain

Marianne Redfern’s family wasn’t wealthy, but she was happy – after all, she loved Jack Grahame and he loved her in return. He wanted to marry her! Then, she learned the scoundrel was betrothed to a rich heiress when the banns were read in church. She could understand him needing to marry for money in order to save his family, but she couldn’t forgive that he didn’t even have the courage to tell her. Since she couldn’t stand to stay there, she just packed up and left for London. Since the skills she’d learned in the household of a gentleman didn’t really have any value in the employment market, she got desperate pretty fast. Luckily, she came across Miss Brodie’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies where Miss Brodie was willing to take a chance on her. She started in the kitchen as a kitchen maid and, over eight years, she worked her way up to cook. She was proud of herself for what she had accomplished. It was hard but very rewarding work and she was good at it.

Jack Grahame loved Marianne Redfern with all of his heart – and it broke that heart when he had to do as his father said and marry an heiress in order to save his family from ruin. It wasn’t the happiest of marriages because each of them was in love with someone else, but they did become friends of a sort. The money saved his family and the lands, but it didn’t save his heart. Then, he lost his father and his wife and had been in social mourning for the last two years. Now, it was time to find his heart again – if she’d forgive him and have him back.

Jack and Marianne have a bit of forgiving to do – on both sides. Their journey to their HEA isn’t smooth, but they each learn a lot about themselves during that journey. There is also a bit of humor – as in Marianne makes Jack a kitchen maid when she is short-handed in the kitchen.

Counterfeit Scandal by Shana Galen

Bridget was working for the Home Office as a counterfeiter when she fell in love with Caleb who was a spy. Caleb left on a mission, a long and very dangerous mission – and he didn’t tell her he was going. Just as she learned she was expecting Caleb’s child, she was told that Caleb had died. She resigned from the Home Office and soon met a man who cared for her even though she didn’t love him in return. He was fine with her having Caleb’s child. So, she married him because she thought it would give her child a better life. Well – that was a mistake. Her husband was good to her and her son, James, but he was naïve when it came to money, so Bridget and her husband ended up in debtor’s prison. Rather than subject her young son (about 3 years old) to life inside the prison, she took him to a foundling home and told them she’d be back for him.

Several years later, her husband is dead and she’s out of prison with all debts paid. She’s been working at Miss Brodie’s Academy for a year and has saved up enough money to rent a room and to retrieve James from the orphanage. Except, the orphanage isn’t there anymore. It burned and nobody can tell her what happened to the orphans who lived there.

She rents the room with the intention of spending every spare minute looking for James. However, as she is leaving the home where she has rented the room, Caleb is entering the same home. She is absolutely and totally shocked. She tells him that he must find a new place to live and otherwise expresses her anger. Later, she realizes that she needs Caleb’s help to find James, so she tells him the whole story. He has also explained why he hasn’t contacted her and why they faked his death. They decide to work together even though it will put Caleb’s life in danger.

Their search takes them to Spitalfields and Mayfair and into a lot of danger. Quite an exciting search.

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