The Elusive Miss Ellison
Litfuse Review
About the book The Elusive Miss Ellison:
Handsome appearance counts for naught unless matched by good character and actions.
That’s the firm opinion of not-so-meek minister’s daughter Lavinia Ellison. So even though all the other villagers of St. Hampton Heath are swooning over the newly returned seventh Earl of Hawkesbury, she is not impressed. If a man won’t take his responsibilities seriously and help those who are supposed to be able to depend on him, he deserves no respect from her. In Lavinia’s pretty, gray eyes, Nicholas Stamford is just as arrogant and reckless as his brother-who stole the most important person in Livvie’s world.
Nicholas is weighed down by his own guilt and responsibility, by the pain his careless brother caused, and by the legacy of war he’s just left. This quick visit home to St. Hampton Heath will be just long enough to ease a small part of that burden. Asking him to bother with the lives of the villagers when there’s already a bailiff on the job is simply too much to expect.
That is, until the hoydenish, intelligent, and very opinionated Miss Ellison challenges him to see past his pain and pride. With her angelic voice in his head, he may even be beginning to care. But his isn’t the only heart that needs to change.
These two lonely hearts may each have something the other needs. But with society’s opposition, ancestral obligations, and a shocking family secret, there may be too many obstacles in their way.
Fans of Georgette Heyer, Lori Wick, and Julie Klassen will enjoy the spirited exchanges between the bluestocking minister’s daughter and the bruised war hero as they move past pride and presumption to a humbled appreciation of God’s grace and the true strength of love.
About the author of The Elusive Miss Ellison:
Carolyn Miller lives in New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. A longtime lover of Regency romance, Carolyn’s novels have won a number of RWA and ACFW contests. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Australasian Christian Writers.
My thoughts:
I adored this book. To me it’s written in the style of the Bronte sisters. A good strong heroine who can take care of herself and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. Who then has to learn how to allow her heart to have a voice as well.
Poor Miss Ellison. I loved her character. She’s worked so hard to make herself the doer. The one who cares for the poor and unfortunate because she knows no one else will, certainly not the landed gentry who are supposed to do this. After all, they own the houses the poor live in, the ones that are crumbling.
Then she meets that new landowner. The new master of the village if you will. She’s already got her mind made up about him though. He’s horrible, he’s arrogant, he’s only out for a good time and spending money. And of course, he will never care for these people. Mainly because he and his brother caused the death of her mother. Something she’s never been able to let go of much less forgive.
Such a wonderful book. Well written. It flies when you’re reading it. I loved getting to know Miss Ellison and making her my new friend. And of course there is some suspense and danger as well. And you get the chance to love and hate the same character but at different times. I won’t give away the ending but I will say Miss Ellison, sweet Lavinia, learns a lot about herself and who she is. That may have to do with a side of the family she’s never known or it might have to do with who she is inside. I’ll let you find out whether she’s rich in money or love or both!!
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