A Discovering Diamonds review of: The Viscount and the Vicar’s Daughter by Mimi Matthews

Amazon UK £2.29 £6,73

Amazon US $3.09 $8.99

Amazon CA $3.82

Romance

Victorian era

Yorkshire, England

The story begins with Tristan Sinclair, Viscount St. Ashton, in a black mood as he approaches the Fairford estate in North Yorkshire to attend one of the Brightwells' notorious parties. Upon hearing a woman weeping in the woods he goes to investigate and finds Valentine March, a drab, mousy companion recently victimised by the daughter of the house, weeping over a ruined piece of artwork that had belonged to her mother.

The storyline is fairly predictable, as is usual in the romance genre, with a brooding hero and a beautiful young woman alone in a dreadful situation, but the writing is lively and entertaining without errors or typos and tells the tale from both his and her perspective. Minor characters are less finely drawn. St. Ashton’s father is important to the plot, but is scarcely more than a name and a series of orders that mightily displease his son. In true romance style, the focus is all on the feelings of the couple who are slowly drawn together. The pacing of the story is good and the dialogue between the couple is entertaining.

My only negative is that having followed their adventures I flicked over to the next page expecting more only to find I had reached the end of the book. A rather abrupt ending in my view. I find it difficult to tell length or word count with an e-book, but this one felt much too short. The fact that I wanted more must say something good about the quality of the author’s work!

 © Jen Black

<previous   next >

click here to return to home page 'Bookshelf' then scroll down for more items of interest