An Unconventional Lady is a Regency romance featuring Ella Wilde, who wants to open a school for girls in the grounds of her family home … a home she stands to lose if she doesn’t marry before her father dies.
Her father is the current headmaster of the Keatley Hall School for Young Men, and wants Ella to marry a man who could take over as headmaster and so secure her future. Before that, they will again play host to the annual Natural Philosophers’ Society gathering. This year’s guest speaker is Mr. Thomas Bauer, one of the men who labelled her dead mother–and her–as unstable.
Ella is an intelligent woman destined to become a victim of the laws of the age, that a woman must marry to secure her financial future.
I love novels with intelligent heroines.
I liked and admired her tenacity in standing up for what she believed, even when all the men around her didn’t agree with her.
Gabriel Rowe is a lawyer who has his own reasons for distrusting Thomas Bauer. Ella and Gabriel join forces to try and show the other members of the Society that phrenology is fake science, and that Mr. Bauer is a fraud.
The story was excellent.
There was a well-executed balance between the predictable (the romance) and the unpredictable (but saying what would be a spoiler). The romance was nicely done, moving fast enough to be interesting but not so fast as to be unbelievable or inappropriate.
My one criticism of the story is that it’s godless, as illustrated by this quote:
“A true home did not reside in a place, but in loving another person wholeheartedly–and being loved in return.”
As Christians, we believe our true home is heaven, and our true purpose comes in loving God wholeheartedly because that’s how he loves us.
Having said that, the story is a strong historical romance with suspense elements, and I enjoyed reading about an intelligent woman meeting a man who isn’t intimidated by her and doesn’t try to turn her into something she’s not.
Thanks to Thomas Nelson and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
About Sarah E Ladd
Sarah E. Ladd is an award-winning, bestselling author who has always loved the Regency period–the clothes, the music, the literature, and the art. A college trip to England and Scotland confirmed her interest in the time period, and she began seriously writing in 2010. Since then, she has released several novels set during the Regency era. Sarah is a graduate of Ball State University and holds degrees in public relations and marketing. She lives in Indiana with her family.
Find Sarah E Ladd online at:
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About An Unconventional Lady
She faces the worst ultimatum possible for a woman–marry a man she detests or lose the future she’s always imagined.
Charming and headstrong, Ella Wilde always knew she was different than other women. Thanks to her unorthodox upbringing as the daughter of Keatley Hall School for Young Men’s headmaster, Ella has long dreamed of opening a school for girls that would meet the needs of inquisitive, brilliant, unconventional young women just like her–girls who longed for the education exclusively reserved for boys. But there’s just one catch: Unless she marries before her father dies, Keatley Hall will pass into the hands of a distant cousin. In that case, Ella will be left destitute, and at this point her only option appears to be an undesirable marriage.
Ella’s family had long been proponents of phrenology, the belief that an individual’s personality and dispositions were predetermined by the shape of their head. Shortly before her death, however, Ella’s mother’s views on phrenology changed, and she endeavored to expose phrenology as nothing more than a fraudulent parlor trick. Consequently, she earned the wrath of phrenologist community, who called her “unstable,” “bizarre,” even “dangerous”–and branded her daughter the same.
Now, renowned phrenologist Thomas Bauer is about to arrive at Keatley Hall to speak at the Natural Philosophers’ Society gathering, and Ella embraces the opportunity to clear her mother’s name–and her own–once and for all. And her partner in crime? None other than her childhood friend Gabriel Rowe, who’s grown into an ambitious, handsome London solicitor.
Gabriel has his own scores to settle, and when he learns that Thomas Bauer is visiting Keatley Hall, he jumps at the chance to prove himself and right past wrongs. As he is drawn deeper into the unusual happenings, it’s clear that he and Ella must work together if they want to unmask the truth. Over time, Gabriel’s attraction to Ella’s beauty and wit becomes impossible to ignore, and as the lines between professionalism and passion blur, they both must decide what they’re willing to risk for happiness.
Award-winning Australian author Jennifer Mistmorgan sometimes feels like she was born in the wrong era. So she writes romantic historical fiction set in the 1940s, against the backdrop of WWII and its aftermath. She infuses her sweet romances with wartime drama, gentle faith and a dash of intrigue. She lives in Canberra with her family and a wonky-eared West Highland terrier.
Roseanna M. White pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna has a slew of historical novels available, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to her new British series. She lives with her family in West Virginia.
Kimberly Duffy enjoys writing historical fiction that takes readers back in time and across oceans. Her books often feature ahead-of-their-time heroines, evocative settings, and real-life faith. When not writing or homeschooling her four children, she enjoys taking trips that require a passport and practicing kissing scenes with her husband of twenty years. A Long Island native, she currently resides in southwest Ohio.
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