Romance

good plot and characters, not quite believable but a tinge of fantasy is fine ( )

Reviewed by: Crystal N
Book provided by: NetGalley
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book

This book was a great read. I started reading it and got into it. It’s the book that you can’t put down. I never realized how long the book was until after I read it and went back to see how many pages it had.

If I was in the situation that Annabelle is in I could see myself doing the same thing that she does. She isn’t doing it to be mean, she does it for her family. When it comes to family you will do whatever you have to, to make sure that they have what they need to survive. She never thought about the consequences. Well not until she meets Owen.

Owen is the man that you would want to take things over. He loves his two sisters and has a soft spot for all of his handful of aunts. When he gets a note threatening his sister and her reputation he decides to take matters into his own hands.

Nothing goes as planned between Owen and Annabelle. That is what makes it such a wonderful story. You can tell that they have something going on between them but they can never be together. I love how the author brings out her characters. How she brings out their personalities.

The story line was great and something that you could see happening in real life. You get to see the love that they both have for their families and what they both will do to protect and help them. It shows you that love doesn’t care what social status you are. You can fall in love with anyone and you can’t control it.

I loved reading this book and can’t wait until the next book comes out and see what other adventure I will get to experience. Who will next fall in love and how long it takes for them to realize it and quit fighting it.

If you love historical books then I will tell you that you really need to try this book. ( )

Okay, this was a First Reads win (thanks) and it was something of a cotton candy sort of book: sweet, fluffy, and quickly gone.
This is apparently Anne Barton's first novel, and she does have a capable way with words and characters within the narrow and expected confines of the genre in which the poor servant/governess/struggling young woman (or in this case, seamstress) encounters Prince Charming (or Owen, duke of Huntford). She is valiant, plucky, innocent but passionate, etc. There are secret nubs of pleasure and manly rods (the erotic scenes are tame, no need to take out your fans, miladies and gents). Although our heroine is a seamstress there is not much detailed description of the gowns and suits and such, contrary to the general Regency tradition in which writers seem to sit with a vocabulary list to chatter on about flocked dimity and whatnot. Also not much detail of the food, another regency tradition. But the plot moves swiftly, the good characters are good and the villains are very bad and there is of course a happy ending.
It was well written enough to keep me up reading straight through, because, despite myself I did care about this mass of characters, and there is a sort of mystery imbedded in the plot (why has Lady Rose ceased speaking?).
It looks as if Barton intends a series with the Honeycote women (sister Daphne gets the sequel). And I will look for her books. ( )