The Lady of a Grump
Linda Rae Sande
Historical Regency
He’s a grouch. She’s the reason.
Having said her farewells to her son when he departed for his Grand Tour of Europe, Patience Grayson, the newly widowed Marchioness of Billingsley, heads for the country. She intends to spend at least a year living by herself in the Grayson family estate in Shropshire.
If only her traveling coach could make it that far. When a wheel breaks, it does so in a most inconvenient location.
Saddled with an earldom left nearly bankrupt by his late father’s gambling and drinking, Max Higgins, Earl of Greenley, hasn’t had a good day for over twenty years—not since the woman he was supposed to marry threw him over for another. Ever since, his bitterness has him known throughout the peerage as the Earl of Grump. Although he found another to be his countess, the poor woman died giving birth to his heir, some say to escape his surly moods.
Max’s solitude in his Staffordshire country manor house is about to be shattered when the cause of his grumpiness invades his home—and his bedchamber—on a late winter night.
Will life ever be the same?
Uncaged Review: In London, Lady Patience Billingsley sends her beloved son, Thomas, the Marquess on his ground tour and realizes that she can finally relax at Grayson Park. Patience tells Thomas to make sure that he writes to her there. At Higgins House in Staffordshire, Maxwell Higgins, seventh Earl of Greenley, tried to hide his harsh temperament from the world, especially from his lost beloved, Patience. When, suddenly, Maxwell hears a loud knock on his door. Maxwell wonders who would bother him in his solitude, so he is utterly surprised when he sees Patience is in dire straits at his door, needing shelter. Maxwell, being a gentleman, can’t turn Patience away but decides, since she hurt him, he won’t let her into his heart again. As Patience stays though, Maxwell begins an affair with her, but can’t imagine his life without her and neither can his staff. Still, Maxwell isn’t willing to lose his heart again when so much is at stake.
When a novella is written very well, you hardly miss a full-length novel and know that the tale leaves you wonderfully satisfied, no matter the length. This book does that easily enough that you aren’t questioning everyone else and their story. That is what I really enjoy about this novel and admire when the authors pull it off effortlessly. Ms. Linda Rae Sandes does it with such ease and also writes such charming, charismatic characters that they even become a part of you too! Patience might be a widow, but it isn’t hard to associate with her. While Maxwell, the surly hero, isn’t so untouchable that you don’t want to know him but find the softness that he keeps carefully hidden. Will I read more? Of course, I will and if all the stories entice me, so I won’t delay either! Reviewed by Roslynn Ernst
4.5 Stars
