[Audiobook Version]

The narrator was Veida Dehmlow. I don't have complaints with her performance.

At 12 hours of audio it felt like there was a lot of time spent doing not a lot. I ended up cheering more for the ending than any of the individual characters. And while I know there is more books in the series it felt like once the climax of A story was reached, the reader was shoved out the door. For the amount of pages this book is I marvel a chapter wasn't alotted for the reader to enjoy the end of the book.

This books is alright. Not terrible, not great. If you enjoy Christian Historical Romance, you'll probably enjoy this just be warned things take a loooong time to happen. ( )

My time for reading is somewhat limited nowadays, so I opt for Audiobooks as much as I can, to read alongside a physical or eBook.
Since I have a review copy of the third book, I thought it was the best idea to start from the beginning.

I'm sort of new to Georgian Fiction, and since I don't know the period very well, I would not really spot any errors easily. A reviewer friend remarked that this was remarkably free of errors and Americanisms that tend to mark out a lot of 'British Fiction' written by Americans, and I generally agree. I did notice one or two ('closet' instead of cupboard or wardrobe), but most were in the narration instead of the speech of the characters.
Since I have not consistently followed Downton Abbey, I cannot make any real comparison, except on a superficial level (the great house, the struggling aristocratic family etc). I felt that the setting was generally pulled off well, as well as the intention of weaving religious elements into the story, which tend to be left out of popular TV series.

That said, I did find Julia to be a little sanctimonious and overbearing at first with her attitudes, and her views of what people should and should not do. Like 'How dare he not let his sister marry a commoner if he's a good Christian- How dare he care about what society will think'?
I guess I don't appreciate stories in which those who care about their families' honour and position in society are regarded as evil enemies of God's will.

That said, there was some resolution in the end, with her realizing it was not such a great idea to impose her opinions on everyone else. Overall, she was a likeable person and a good example, and a lot of the other characters were good too.
I did like that the story was focused on family drama and relationships, instead of some implausible plotline about espionage, murder or political intrigue that are added to some stories to crank up the drama.
I was not too keen on the narrator of the audiobooks though. I think they would have been better with a British person doing them, as she did not always represent the different characters well, and struggled with different regional accents

I've now started on the second book, and I'm glad I started this series. Worth a read, but dont expect another 'Downton Abbey'. The period and setting are the same, but this trilogy should stand out on its own, without having to ape other stories.

( )

Since I am in my car so much I decided to listen to this book in CD. I loved it. The narrator made the characters come to life with Turansky's vivid, but not overly done, descriptions.
I was a bit disappointed to not learn how the fire started though.
I will be listening to more audio books by Carrie Turansky. I know she puts a lot of research into her writing and it really pays off. ( )

Readers who love romance set in last century will really enjoy this lovely romantic story. The setting is appealing - English countryside, large estate, all the quaintness of English upstairs/downstairs relationships. I found the story a little too predictable and would have liked a little more besides the romance, but still enjoyed the story. Definitely would appeal more to Christian readers than non-Christian, as the mind-set of the main character is clearly from a Christian perspective. ( )

I really enjoyed reading this book. Although the point of view was primarily from the title character, we also see bits from the Lord of the manor, William, his sister Julia and a couple of the servants. In some ways it made me think of Downton Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs. This was different though, in that Julia is a Christian and William's faith is restored, I think mostly because of her prayers and living by example. I could hardly put this book down and hope to read more of this author in the future. ( )