Synopsis

Amber Marie Sterlington, the Rage of the Season in Regency-era London, has her pick of men, and she knows what she wants most in a husband: a title and a fortune. Why would she ever marry for something as fickle as love? And why would she ever look twice at Thomas Richards, a third son of a country lord?

But when Amber’s social standing is threatened, the character of her future husband becomes far more important than his position. After a public humiliation, she finds herself exiled to Yorkshire. Alone except for her maid, Amber is faced with a future she never expected in a circumstance far below what she has known all her life. Humbled and lonely, Amber begins to wonder if isolation is for the best. Who could ever love her now?

Review

I had read the author’s cozy mysteries and enjoyed them so thought I would see how she fared with Regency romance.

In a way it reminded me of the beginning of Downton Abbey with the maids and servants, being presented and searching for a husband. Amber is the jewel of the season until a medical condition throws her and her mother for a loop and it takes her out of society. She is banished to Yorkshire by her father but this is really where Amber begins to change from the spoiled society girl to a compassionate and self sufficient woman. Thomas Richards met Amber in London and was immediately smitten despite her condition, but he didn’t know she was living so close to him until much later.

I did wonder how he knew that it was Amber living in Step Cottage since she went by Mrs Chandler and did not see or converse with anyone. It is explained a little later but at the moment he realizes who she is in the book it doesn’t make a lot of sense. He just knew who she was somehow.

I think the lesson in this book (whether there was meant to be one or not) is that Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder and that having a caring and compassionate heart will get you further in life than your looks.

I thought the book was enjoyable and would give it 3 1/2 paws

About the Author

Josi S. Kilpack hated to read until her mother handed her a copy of The Witch of Blackbird Pond when she was 13. From that day forward, she read everything she could get her hands on and accredits her writing “education” to the many novels she has “studied” since then. She began writing her first novel in 1998 and never stopped. Her novel, Sheep’s Clothing won the Whitney Award 2007 for Mystery/Suspense. Lemon Tart, the first book in the Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery series was a finalist in 2009.  She was the Best of State winner for fiction in 2012. Josi currently lives in Willard Utah with her husband, children and super-cute cat.

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