Grace Elliot

I was sent this book as a free read by the author. This in no way reflected the review I am giving.

This was a wonderful short story about cats. The author had done so much research to tell this story. This book is so interesting. This was truly an amazing book to read and should me read by all people that love cats. I learned so much about my cats from this book. The author wrote a very good book. I will admit the title of the book does not describe or portray the book but it does not take away from anything in the book.… (más)

I really liked the heroine of this story and she had such a strong will and presence, I had to keep reminding myself how difficult it was for women to be strong-willed and autonomous back in 18th century England. The lady in question has such a hard time being accepted fully as who she truly is that she masquerades under three separate names and identities as Henrietta, Hetty and Henry respectively (the latter identity passing herself off as male in order to perform on her horse in the show). It's no surprise that she catches the amorous attentions of someone nice and someone not so nice, thus setting up the conflict to come. It's all heady stuff and don't let the stolid appearance of the time and period fool you; the story moves along at a very brisk pace and the hot romance is just as steamy as any modern-based novel, some things never change, after all. I think this is the first of a series but I really liked how the story resolved (spoiler alert: happy ending) and I wasn't left hanging until the next one in the series comes out.… (más)

This tale by Ms. Elliott combines the tropes of a Romance Novel with villains in abundance, with the mid Georgian period to give us a historical novel as well. The setting where most of the story takes place is the south side of the Thames on a site called FoxHall Gardens. One is quick to think that the tale is that of Vauxhall gardens, and one where a later Becky Sharp is going to be at home at.

That we have a plot of the gardens needing to be renovated gives us those extra scenes that help us to see and appreciate them as they are built. But they are not the central pillars of our story. We have a heroine who finds she has skills beyond what she ever had known and grows into a role she was meant for.

We have a hero with a past that causes his thoughts to be overshadowed by that past and cause events in the present to play out in ways all would rather be different were the hero able to realize the difference between truth and fiction all the more quickly. That these two individuals go beyond mere attraction to love and caring shows the skill which Ms. Elliott is able to weave. To bring trouble to their path so that all is not easy makes the drama and conflict cause the reader to need to turn the page and find out what resolutions may be lurking after a tense or intense tete a tete.

Those who are enamored of romance and would like a visit to the later half of the 1700s and a side of London not usually seen, should pick up this work and delve through it for the treasures that lie within.… (más)