What's a Lord to do?
A Lord Apart (The Way to a Lord's Heart #1) by Jane Ashford
A bit of a conundrum and then some. Arthur Shelton, Earl of Macklin is still pursuing his aim of helping others to deal with death and the loss that represents. He wanders in and out of the story like a benevolent fairy god father. As he explains to his current array of guests, “Grief is insidious, almost palpable, and as variable as humankind ... No one can understand who hasn’t experienced a sudden loss. A black coat and a few platitudes are nothing.”
This time Daniel Frith, Viscount Whitfield is the person he turns his attention towards. Daniel has had a solitary upbringing due to his parents always being abroad so frequently. And now with their deaths the abandoned inner child and the adult Daniel feel that disconnect keenly.
In attempting to taking over the reins of his earldom, a puzzling question is why Rose Cottage been left to a complete stranger, one Penelope Pendleton. When Daniel meets her it is obvious that she's a woman with a genteel background. Yet here she is learning to make bread and manage a cottage without the requisite servants. Daniel is determined to find out all he can. Macklin's assistance is given. Although sometimes Macklin's helpful enquiries don't bring the outcome desired. More like, they just add to the tension as the story develops. I love his assistant Tom and am expecting more interesting developments of his character.
Penelope it appears is daughter of a peer and sister to a traitor, a Luddite who according to Penelope "was murdered ... at the Peterloo." Then "her brother Philip was posthumously convicted of treason and stripped of his title and estates. [Their] home went to the government."
Penelope was homeless until Daniel's parent's will was read. She had spent the past year being interrogated by the Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth's agents. A devasting experience! This surprise inheritance of Rose Cottage gave Penelope a place to flee to.
However interaction with the viscount and the search through Daniel's mother's papers bring something even more sinister to light. As does the arrival of Sidmouth's agents demanding those papers and threatening Penelope. One of those agents interrogated her. Penelope is fearful. Who would not be?
Daniel puts in place a plan!
There were amusing parts. The dogs and the goat interactions are the loveliest of whimsies. The novel is a very busy place with all sorts of things happening off center stage but the story flowed well with enough romance and intrigue to hit a nicely balanced note.
A NetGalley ARC
****
This time Daniel Frith, Viscount Whitfield is the person he turns his attention towards. Daniel has had a solitary upbringing due to his parents always being abroad so frequently. And now with their deaths the abandoned inner child and the adult Daniel feel that disconnect keenly.
In attempting to taking over the reins of his earldom, a puzzling question is why Rose Cottage been left to a complete stranger, one Penelope Pendleton. When Daniel meets her it is obvious that she's a woman with a genteel background. Yet here she is learning to make bread and manage a cottage without the requisite servants. Daniel is determined to find out all he can. Macklin's assistance is given. Although sometimes Macklin's helpful enquiries don't bring the outcome desired. More like, they just add to the tension as the story develops. I love his assistant Tom and am expecting more interesting developments of his character.
Penelope it appears is daughter of a peer and sister to a traitor, a Luddite who according to Penelope "was murdered ... at the Peterloo." Then "her brother Philip was posthumously convicted of treason and stripped of his title and estates. [Their] home went to the government."
Penelope was homeless until Daniel's parent's will was read. She had spent the past year being interrogated by the Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth's agents. A devasting experience! This surprise inheritance of Rose Cottage gave Penelope a place to flee to.
However interaction with the viscount and the search through Daniel's mother's papers bring something even more sinister to light. As does the arrival of Sidmouth's agents demanding those papers and threatening Penelope. One of those agents interrogated her. Penelope is fearful. Who would not be?
Daniel puts in place a plan!
There were amusing parts. The dogs and the goat interactions are the loveliest of whimsies. The novel is a very busy place with all sorts of things happening off center stage but the story flowed well with enough romance and intrigue to hit a nicely balanced note.
A NetGalley ARC
****
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