Tag: Deborah Hale

Review: The Baron’s Governess Bride by Deborah Hale

Posted June 10, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Plain, Prim…Perfect! Lord Steadwell’s three motherless daughters were heartbroken when their last governess ran off to elope. In her dowdy cap and spectacles, Grace Ellerby seems an ideal replacement-a nurturing, intelligent woman uninterested in marriage. No wonder Rupert doesn’t recognize Grace as the golden-haired vision at a masked ball, who slips away before midnight…. Frightened by the unwanted attentions of previous employers, Grace resolved to hide her beauty…and her growing feelings for Rupert. One enchanted evening-and a sweet, breathtaking kiss-changes everything. For with Grace’s three adorable charges playing fairy godmother, Rupert may discover his happy ending is closer than he thinks.
Grace Ellerby has not lived an easy life. As the daughter of a vicar she was safe and well taken care of until her father remarried. It was a contentious relationship between husband and wife and with her and the stepmother as well. When Grace’s father died the stepmother then sent Grace to a school where she was demeaned on a regular basis and treated cruelly because the other girls were jealous of her beauty.
When Grace grew up and became a governess the last thing she expected was to have guests of her employers coming on to her and making her life miserable. She had moved from family to family trying to escape the attentions of knaves who thought she should put out. When she applied for a position for Lord Steadwell she went in under disguise with thick glasses and a horrid mobcap that covered her hair completely.
Lord Steadwell is a man still grieving for his dead wife 4 years after her death. He had hired a governess that his three daughters loved but she had eloped with the son of a neighbor. Rupert wants the plainest governess he could find so that there would be no chance of her leaving his family and causing his daughters more heartache.
Grace and the girls start out a bit rocky but soon, through many trials and tribulations, all three come to respect Grace and enjoy her teaching. Grace and Rupert spend time together going over the girls studies and sometimes just walking in the garden. Grace soon realizes that she is in love with Rupert and wants to tell him about her true self but she’s afraid he will be mad about being duped and fire her. Rupert likes Grace as well but knows that he must marry and provide a mother for his children. He starts courting the next door neighbor who is a widow but the girls are adamantly against having a wicked stepmother. The girls implore Grace to stop the marriage and they all go about it in a strange way. Eventually Rupert finds out the truth about Grace but can Grace stay knowing her love is not returned?
This was a cute story. I liked Grace a lot and understood her feelings about men in general. They had shown themselves to be complete cads so I didn’t blame her at all for not trusting Rupert. As she wouldn’t have gotten the position if she had shown her true face it was a good thing she went in disguise.
The relationship between Grace and the three girls was lovely. I adored seeing each child come around to accepting grace in their own way. One the girls had given Grace their approval they were quite fierce in their defense of her. I have to say that I admired the children a great deal for that.
Rupert and Grace’s relationship was slow in forming. They were kind of friends but Grace knew that Rupert would never marry a governess. Rupert had no idea about Grace’s background but he knew that he liked being around Grace – even before the big reveal. I wish that we could have seen more of them together once Grace told Rupert the truth but the relationship really happened separately in their own musings. It all ended nicely I just wanted the couple to share more page space together.
Overall a nice story.

Rating: 3 out of 5


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What I Read Last Week

Posted June 4, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 2 Comments

Hi ho the merry-o!
How the heck are you this fine sunny day? Ok, it’s only a little sunny here but it’s still a fine day. 🙂
As most of you have noticed I’m participating in the Digital First Read-A-Thon this month. Along with Book Binge (who has so nicely organized everything), Novel Thoughts and The Book Reading Gals we will be featuring guest posts and giveaways all month at all four blogs. I have to admit that I haven’t actually picked a goal number of how many digital first books I will read this month but hopefully by next week I’ll get my shit together enough to do that. lol I know DFRAT just started on the first but I DID read one digital first book. I read 5 ebooks but only 1 of them was digital first. I’ll do better on that this week. Here’s the schedule for DFRAT for the week. I posted the schedule for the week a couple of days ago. You can see it here if you want to know what author will be where.
My poor kitteh went in to heat this past week. My GOD! lol She never yowled but she meowed non-stop for 3 days. I thought my hubby (who is the lightest sleeper in the world) was going to lose it there for a while. No rest for the wicked, right? We ended up getting her spayed on Thursday and she came through with flying colors. We’ve only had to put the cone of shame on her poor little head twice and she hated it so much both times that she stopped licking altogether. 🙂 Smart kitteh. She was hanging out on the area rug right in front of the stove a lot because the canister light right above it puts off some heat and she was luxuriating in it. My daughter took a picture and because of the flash and the lighting in the kitchen it turned out like this:
Cool, huh? I thought so.
Ok – on to what I read this past week:
First up was Heart of Darkness by Lauren Dane. This is book one in her Bound by Magick series and is about Meriel who is next in line to take over her clan of witches in Seattle. She gets assigned to check out a club that is using the clans font of magick and let the owner know that it’s a big no-no. She meets Dominic who she finds out is her bond-mate and sparks fly. No, they don’t just go at it like bunnies right away – they wait to make sure they get to know each other first. It was a great story and I really enjoyed it. You can read my review at Book Binge here. 4.25 out of 5
Next was Too Tempting to Resist by Cara Elliott. Book 2 in the Lord of Midnight series focuses on a sister who is trying to take care of her no good brother while at the same time trying to save their estate, save money so she can get away from said brother and make a life for herself while still creating the art she loves. She meets Marquess Haddan who is supposedly a rake (though we never see that) who is reforming and writing a book of poetry. Their paths cross and lust blooms. You can read my full review here. 3.75 out of 5
One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn and M.J. O’Shea is the story of a gay man who ends up with a daughter and how he, his best friend and his neurotic next door neighbor make a life for themselves. I’ll post my review on Friday.
Snowbound with a Stranger by Rebecca Rogers Maher has 2 emotionally stilted people meeting during a hike and a snowstorm and spending 3 days together finding themselves and a bunch of passion. I’ll post my review on Thursday.
Echoes at Dawn by Maya Banks is book 5 in the KGI series. This is the story of Rio, one of the KGI members and his team while they head out to rescue Grace who has been tortured almost to death. Rio knows from the first moment he sees Grace that she is his woman but it takes Grace a bit longer to come to terms with Rio and his possessiveness. The story was good but Rio bothered me a bit. Grace was pretty admirable and didn’t have her using her powers throughout the book. 3.5 out of 5 (read for Book Binge – releases 7/3)
Next was Chaos Burning by Lauren Dane. Book 2 in the Bound by Magick series was just as good as book 1. I’m not normally a fan of witch stories but these are pretty darned good. This story had Simon who is a Lycian becoming friends with visiting witch, Lark. Lark is one bad-ass mofo and not to be trifled with. I loved her character. Simon and Lark were friends first before Simon realized that she was the one for him. It’s a good romance and a great story of witches kicking butt and taking names. 4.25 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)
Last for the week was The Baron’s Governess Bride by Deborah Hale. The story is about Grace who is beautiful and a governess. She’s tired of getting hit on and then having to leave her positions. She applies for a job but goes looking as dowdy as possible. She gets the job but then falls in love with the Baron. How to tell him she’s not who he thinks she is? I’ll post my review of this on Sunday.
My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:
Happy Reading!!


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