The Other Countess by Eve Edwards

The Other Countess is a wonderful book set in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First.

Ellie has a meaningless Spanish title, her father is determined to find gold by alchemy but it seems impossible. She has no fortune yet she has fallen in love with the young Earl of Dorset.

Will Lacey is the Earl of Dorset, however his family have no money at all. Will realises that he must marry a woman of great fortune or his family will be in ruins. However, Will is falling in love with Ellie.

Is love greater than gold?

Will Will ever stop hating Ellie for what her father has done to his family (Will's father funded the alchemist and when he was unsuccessful plunged the Lacey's into poverty)? 

Read this excellent book to find out. I really enjoyed this book as I love any historical romances I give it a nine out of ten!

Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer

Friday's child is a wonderful historical comedy romance set in the eighteenth century.

The story begins when Sherry (a Viscount) proposes to the beautiful Isabella, however when she rejects him Sherry is determined to marry the first woman he sees to spite his uncle. If he marries now he will be able to get the family house and fortune straight away instead of waiting for his twenty-fifth birthday.

The first woman he comes across is his old play-mate, Hero. Hero is an orphan living with her horrible cousin Jane and her two daughters. Sherry decides to marry her (he did promise), even more so when he discoverers she will be sent off to become a governess.

So Hero and Sherry escape to London and automatically get married. Hero slowly learns how to live Sherry's extravagant lifestyle and heartily enjoys herself along the way. She becomes great friends with Sherry's own friends; Ferdy Fakenham, George (who is head over heels for Isabella) and Gil Ringwood.

Hero still isn't too sure how a lady behaves and she keeps on embarrassing herself and Sherry throughout the book.

Hero has always loved Sherry but will Sherry ever realise how much he loves her? You'll have to read the book to find out. I loved this book as it was very amusing and a lovely tale; I give it a nine out of ten.

River Secrets by Shannon Hale

This is the third book in the series, The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. Here is my review for the first book and here for the second book.

The first book is told by Princess Anidori/Isi and the second is told by her friend Enna. This third book is about their friend, Razo an animal worker in the Bayern kingdom. Razo has always wanted to be in the King's army, however only City people can, not lowly Forest Borns. So it's a big surprise for Razo when the King asks him to join the army. Nobody respects him as he is not a great fighter like everybody else. Can Razo prove himself? All of his friends are in love, can he find the woman of his dreams? This is a fantastic book for anybody who loves fantasy books! I give it a nine out of ten!

The next book that I am going to review is The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson.

This is a fantastic novel by a great author. It is about an eighteen year old Russian countess (Anna) who is forced to flee her country, leaving all her riches and wonderful life behind her, in 1917. She reaches England with nothing but her old governess, Miss Pinfold aka Pinny, her ill mother and her little brother. Anna understands that there must be something she can do to help and she soon secures herself with a job as a servant for an English aristocratic family. But Anna gradually starts to fall in love with the young earl of the family and as she does so it gets harder and harder for her real identity to remain anything more than a secret.

I Was Jane Austen's Best Friend by Cora Harrison

This is a great book, which was set on a true story about Jane Austen's cousin - Jenny.

In this novel Jenny goes to stay with her cousin, Jane, when they were both in their teenage years. This novel is written like a diary, all about Jenny's worries, her cousin and all of Jane's handsome brothers and also about how Jenny falls in love with a dashing young man for the first time in her life after meeting him unexpectedly. This is a great novel especially if you love anything about the life of Jane Austen. I give this novel a nine out of ten!

Sorry....

I am so sorry that I haven't blogged in ages as I have been reading more, sewing more and cooking more. Sadly, this means that it is harder for me to remember what exactly happened in the books I have been reading. So just for a short while I am going to be writing very brief reviews about the books I have been reading; what they are basically about, what I thought about them etc. So here goes....

Triss by Brian Jacques

Triss is one of the books in the Brian Jacques series called The Redwall Books. This book is telling three stories at once that all link into one another in the end; the story of Triss and her friends escaping slavery of the evil ferrets, the creatures of Redwall Abbey searching for a mysterious place near their Abbey and two creatures that have decided to sail the seas. This is an excellent  and very interesting book. I give it a 9 out of 10.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Wuthering Heights is an amazing book by the great author, Emily Bronte of the Bronte sisters. It’s such a shame that she didn’t write more novels as this one was fantastic. I tried to read it about a year ago but got bored of it but now I have no idea how I could think that as it was excellent. For most people, I know, this is a novel that you have read many times, so I hope that if you have never read it you will want to by the end of this review.


This novel was set in 1801 and written in 1847, so obviously some of the language is difficult to understand (especially Joseph’s – the servant – way of speech). This story is about how a man called Mr Lockwood is hoping to buy Thrushcross Grange from Mr Heathcliff and howe he learns all about the story of the people of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange.

Mr Lockwood learns some of the story from the young lady - Cathy - of Wuthering Heights diary but mostly from Nelly Dean – the servant of Trushcross Grange and previously Wuthering Heights – who says the whole romance happen before her eyes a couple of years before the book is set.

The story is about the love between Cathy Earnshaw and her orphan adopted brother, Heathcliff. As children the two were play-mates even though Cathy’s elder brother Hindley tries his best to make Heathcliff’s life a living nightmare, just because he is quite below their station.

When the children grow up Cathy rejects Heathcliff of his offer to marry, she wishes to marry him because she loves him so dearly but she knows that she must not marry him because he is so below her. Instead Cathy marries a very rich man, Edgar Linton, who lives in Thrushcross Grange a house near her own.

Mr Heathcliff is determined to have his revenge and to win Cathy back whatever he must do. He torments the servants and inhabitants of Wuthering Heights as he believes it is their faults that Cathy did not love him, even though they had nothing to do with it.

Edgar’s sister soon falls in love with Heathcliff when he comes to visit Cathy and they eventually elope together. So how will this sad and sorry tale end? Will Heathcliff ever get his revenge? Read this fantastic book to find out.

This book is full of revenge, passion, need and greed and it shows the bad and evil side of love and what it can make you do. I think that this is an excellent book and if you haven’t read it, which I very much doubt, I advise going and buying or borrowing one from your local library very soon and find out what you are missing out on! I think that anybody twelve plus could read and enjoy this book. I give it a ten out of ten.