The Last Chance Christmas Ball by Mary Jo Putney

Francis Scott Key appears as a character (Callie’s lawyer), and he shows Callie and Richard his new poem about the battle of Fort McHenry right after he’s written it. First, it’s mostly a love story about the American national anthem. MY TWO CENTS: There’s a lot to say about this book. Callie is actually on the run from her stepson, who wants his “stolen” slaves back and Richard’s family is still hoping they’ve heard the last of him.

But a few more rounds of danger wait for them. Joining them means waiting out the attack of Fort McHenry, and Richard and Callie begin to reconnect and become more than friends. But she’s not ready to return to London just yet she’s sent her surrogate family of former slaves ahead to Baltimore, straight into another battle.

It’s not until he’s rescuing her from British soldiers that Richard realizes his charge is actually his childhood friend. Audley” wants her brought back to England. The city is about to be attacked by the British, and the family of “Mrs. Years later, Richard, now calling himself Gordon, is hired to find and save a widow from Washington, DC in August 1814. Richard is therefore transported to Australia instead, but Callie believes he died on the voyage.

But they’re caught, and while Richard’s own father would have no trouble allowing his son to be put to death, Callie makes a deal with her father: she’ll peacefully marry the plantation owner if he allows Richard to live. When Callie’s father plots to marry his troublesome daughter off to a West Indies plantation owner, the teenagers run away together to elope in Scotland. THE PLOT: Richard and Catherine Callista “Callie” Brooke were childhood best friends, a pair of innocent troublemakers completely hated by their horrible noble families. Once a Rebel front cover (Zebra/Penguin Random House)

Once Upon a Christmas Eve (Maiden Lane #12.75).

The Ladies of Ivy Cottage (Tales from Ivy Hill #2) by Julie Klassen.

Queens of the Conquest: England’s Medieval Queens, Book One by Alison Weir.

The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin.

The Secrets of Flirting (Sinful Suitors #5).

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The Last Chance Christmas Ball by Mary Jo Putney