Book Review: Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

How refreshing it is to find romances out there that refrain from the smut that we so often see, even in “regency romances” (*cough* Bridgerton *cough*). Over the past year or so I’ve become a fan of the proper romances found at bookstores like Deseret Book, so it only made sense that I should check out one of the first ones that people always recommended me to read. I guess I feared that it would be a bit cliché, but I was surprised in that regard. Let’s take a look.

Summary

Marianne Daventry is a young woman living in the shadow of her confident and elegant twin sister Cecily. However, fortune begins to smile on her as she is named heir to her grandmother’s estate. But this fortune is not without its dangers; as young Miss Daventry struggles to avoid the danger that such an inheritance could bring, she meets a dashing young man who values her without the knowledge of her fortune. Can she believe that such a love could be possible without it?

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Review

• Story: Despite its sometimes-predictable moments, the story is quite original and kept me intrigued enough to wonder what will happen to our heroine next.
• Protagonist: Despite her sometimes damsel-in-distress-y attitude, she has moments of heroism and strength that make her a likeable character.
• Love-Interest: Though the handsome Phillip Wyndham seemed like a rake at the beginning (as most regency love-interests seem to do), he is a likeable enough character who defends the honor of our heroine on more than one occasion, which never fails to make me go “Aww!”.

Author

Julianne Moore is the author of not just proper regency romances but also nonfictional books with gospel topics pertaining to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No doubt she received a lot of her inspiration for English regency settings from living next to a 500-year-old castle! _{(according to fantasticfiction.com and amazon.com)}

Overall, I enjoyed listening to this book and look forward to reading the sequel to it titled Blackmoore. I recommend Edenbrooke to fans of Regency Era stories and romances alike, especially readers who are looking for nice clean romances.