Review: The Heiress of Winterwood (Whispers on the Moors #1) by Sarah Ladd

Amelia Barrett made her best friend a dying promise: to take care of her child, Lucy, at all costs….and Amelia plans on fulfilling that promise.

Lucy’s father has been away at sea and has never met the child but he is returning from his adventures soon and will meet her for the first time.

Amelia is fearful that he will take the child and she will never see her again. Lucy has become like her own daughter and she can’t stand the thought of never seeing her again.

So Amelia has devised a plan to keep her and Lucy together forever….her can Captain Sterling will need to get married.

There is a slight problem however, Amelia is set to marry another man who is to become part of her uncle’s business and ultimately the lord of Winterwood. While she expected a loveless marriage, Edward Littleton, has expressed a romantic interest in her. But he has forbidden Lucy to stay with them once they are married.

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Review: Gracelin O’Malley (Gracelin O’Malley #1) by Ann Moore

In Ireland, poverty is dominating the country throughout the 19th century. It’s a time of British rule and the Irish people need to make some concessions in order to survive to famine.

Gracelin (Grace) is forced to put aside what dreams she had for herself and marry an English lord, Bram, to save her family from ruin.

Though her brother encourages her to hold out and wait for love, Grace proceeds with the marriage.

Initially the marriage seems like it will workout. Bram seems tender and gentle but after a time his true colors begin to shine though and their marriage rapidly becomes one of promise, to nothing short of a nightmare.

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Review: The Chalice (The Crown #2) by Nancy Bilyeau

Henry VIII changed the face of England when he broke with the Catholic Church to marry his great love, Anne Boleyn. This decision was felt by all those at court and those in the monastic sects.

Joanna Stafford was once both a noble and a novice nun in training. Once King Henry made the choice to split from the church, Joanna struggles to make a common life for herself in the small village of Dartford.

As the world around her takes shape based on the whims of a tyrannical king, Joanna and those closest to her, feel King Henry’s decisions acutely.

All Joanna really wants is to start her tapestry business close to the priory and close to two men who fight for her heart: the dashing constable Geoffrey Scovill and a close friend and former friar, Edmund  Sommerville.

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Review: A Wreath of Snow: A Victorian Christmas Novella by Liz Curtis Higgs

It’s Christmas Eve and snow has started falling on the small Scotland town of Stirling. Margaret Campbell has just had a row with her family and wants nothing more than to catch the first train out of Stirling back to Edinburgh.

Gordon Shaw has just completed his interview for the newspaper he works for and he too is eager to leave Stirling but for an entirely different reason. Stirling was his home long ago until the shame of a tragic accident forced him to move away.

The snow is coming down harder when the train finally departs from Stirling with Margaret and Gordon on board when it collides with a large snow drift (also known as a wreath in Scotland). It looks like Margaret and Gordon will be forced to stay the night in Stirling after all.

As they begin the long, cold walk back to town they start up a conversation and when Gordon reveals who he is, Margaret is angry but after he explains his past and the guilt he has been harboring for so many years, she can’t help but see him as a changed man.

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Review: The Tutor’s Daughter by Julie Klassen

High on the cliff tops of Cornwall, the distant sounds of a pianoforte can be heard echoing through Ebbington Manor late at night.

Emma Smallwood and her father have come to Ebbington Manor as live in tutors for Sir Giles Weston and his family. Emma and her father ran a small boarding school where the two eldest Weston boys, Henry and Phillip, attended in their youth.

Emma doesn’t harbor much affection for the eldest brother, Henry. All she remembers of Henry was that he was a bully who always played pranks on her when he was at the school. As for Phillip, Emma remembers him as a kind hearted, friendly boy.

When a letter arrives asking for their presence at Cornwall, Emma and her father quickly accept but Emma is worried she might run into Henry, a thought she does not relish.

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