Review & #Giveaway: The Schoolmaster's Daughter by Naomi Laeuchli
- Merissa
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
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Deep in debt and desperate for a solution, Julius Claydon knows that marrying a wealthy woman is his only hope. When he meets the beautiful and rich Clara Haughton in Bath, he believes she could be his salvation, but there's one obstacle in his path: Lydia Cray, Clara's sharp-witted and penniless companion.
When Lydia quickly sees through his fortune-hunting motives, Julius proposes an alliance. He will help secure her future if she helps him secure Clara's heart.
But Lydia is not all she appears to be, and she has a plan of her own: to teach him a lesson he won't soon forget. But her scheming soon leads to unforeseen consequences for them both.
Can love spring from deception?
available in #KindleUnlimited,
He fetched them both a glass. “Now, tell me. How goes our business?”
“Do we have a business? I thought we had a scheme.”
“Business sounds more honorable.”
“Do you care about honor?”
He frowned and opened his mouth to retort, and then noticed her expression. Her voice might be serious, but her face was laughing, and her eyes glinted gaily. She was, he thought, very hard not to laugh along with. And so he did. “Touche,” he said. “Scheme it shall be.”
“Well then, our scheme is going quite nicely. Clara was in raptures over your care of William and Margaret. She said she had never known a man could have such a natural affinity with children.”
He grimaced. “Maybe as a rule we can’t, but we can have a natural affinity with rogues and ruffians and those two were equal parts of both.”
“I wouldn’t tell her that,” she replied thoughtfully. “It would probably not go over very well.”
“She can’t actually think those children are well behaved?”
“She thinks they are naturally high-spirited and that high spirits in children must not be checked.”
“William at least, if not checked, is likely to end up on the gallows. Margaret may even join him there. And I shall watch with pleasure.”
4 out of 5 (very good)
THE SCHOOLMASTER'S DAUGHTER is a gentle and genteel story of mistaken identity and the amusing shenanigans that follow.
Julius is neck-deep in debt and has come up with a plan to marry an heiress to get himself out of it. When a friend tells him of an heiress in Bath, far from the London crowd that knows of his predicament, he travels there and tries to win her hand. Unfortunately for him, the woman he presumes is the companion is actually an heiress herself and none too pleased with his plan. So Lydia decides to teach him a lesson, all of which leads to an amusing story of brightly coloured fashion disasters and wayward children.
This story is well-paced and treads lightly on topics such as generational debt, forced elopement, blackmail, and poverty. It made for a great read to see Lydia's feelings of guilt make themselves known once she started to have feelings for Julius. It is a sweet read, with no spice, that perfectly suited the cooked-up scheme between Julius and Lydia.
A thoroughly enjoyable read that I have no hesitation in recommending.
** Same worded review will appear elsewhere. **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
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Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Naomi Laeuchli has lived overseas in nine different countries on three different continents where her family was posted with the American Foreign Service. In November 2012 she moved from the Democratic Republic of the Congo back to the states and currently lives in Arizona with five horses. She works as a freelance writer and part time at the local library. She has written several interactive stories for Choice of Games, Tales, and Dorian.
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