Author: Sabrina Jeffries
Publishing Date: February 2010
Genre: Historical
Rating: B+
Sensuality: Hot
Book Disclosure: Free copy from RT Convention
The Truth About Lord Stoneville is the first in a new series by Sabrina Jeffries, The Hellions of Halstead Hall. Lord Stoneville, or Oliver is the eldest of five siblings in the Sharpe family. His grandmother, the owner of a successful brewery wants her grandchildren to settle down, marry and have babies. The only way she figures she can force them is to threaten to disinherit them from her will if in a year’s time all of them do not wed. Oliver thinks to get around this by choosing an unsuitable wife. He goes to a brothel intending to get a whore to pretend to be his betrothed. Instead, he runs into Maria Butterfield, an American looking for her fiancé who has disappeared.
This was my first Sabrina Jeffries book and I can say it won't be my last. I was lucky enough to have my interest peaked at RT when Sabrina Jeffries herself read a chapter of this book at a session when we were playing bingo. We were supposed to be looking for key words, but I kept getting distracted by the story and forgot to look for the words on my bingo card. That may be a good indication right there of this book's capability to capture my attention.
Oliver is one of those tortured heroes. He feels responsible for a tragedy that occurred early in his life. He blames himself and ultimately feels that he is deep down not deserving of love in his life. Maria enters his life and begins to change that and eventually heal him. There is a very good balance between heavy subject matter and light fun moments.
I really liked the family connection that centers the book. The reader can see each family member's distinct personalities. The tipping point is that the romance between Maria and Oliver is still front and center. The balance between the family and Maria was done very well and only enhanced the story.
Here is what others had to say:
Book Binge
Long and Short Reviews
The Book Girl
Babbling About Books and More
Buried By Books
This book can be purchased in print or kindle format from Amazon
6 comments:
I need to read this! I own it. I was looking for a book to pick up last night that I could read from beginning to end. Can't believe I didn't think of this one!
Nath was telling me about this one too! I'm definitely interested in checking it out!
LOL, this was one of the first books I've read coming back from RT :)
I thought it was good, although I didn't think the rest of the book lived up to the excerpt she read :D Still, not a bad book :D I liked Oliver's characterization :)
I love reading Sabrina Jeffries, she is one of the first authors I started reading from!!! So I am sure the more you read from her the more you will love her books!!! Happy Reading!
I really liked this book a lot. Like you, the family connection was a great part of the book. I'm looking forward to the next in the series. Great review!
I haven't read this one, but I do like Sabrina's books. I think The Pirate Lord has been my favorite so far! Such a nice pirate story :)
Post a Comment