Hello!
Out of all the books in the “Ladies of Devon” series, I have been the most excited to get into Hattie’s story. I was so ready to get into mischief with her.
Check out my reviews of the previous books: The Jewels of Halstead Manor, The Lady of Larkspur Vale, and The Widow of Falbrooke Court.
She is holding out for her soul mate; he believes it’s him.
Hattie Green is five and twenty, unmarried, and growing tired of waiting for fate to hand her a soul mate. But when her sister-in-law arrives for a visit with the intent of helping her find a husband by any means necessary, Hattie digs in her heels—for everyone knows that fate cannot be forced.
The Duke of Bentley has gone to extreme measures to ensure his privacy and seclusion far away from Society—the distance is imperative if he wants to keep his family name free of scandal. So when his lovely neighbor breaks through his carefully constructed barriers and piques his interest with their shared affection for painting, Bentley agrees to give her lessons on the condition that they keep them secret.
As their clandestine meetings grow increasingly more difficult to hide, Bentley realizes that he must make a choice. Is it worth sacrificing his carefully guarded privacy for the woman of his dreams?
Book four in the Ladies of Devon series, The Recluse of Wolfeton House is a clean Regency romance that continues telling the story of the four women who make up a literary society in Devon and form a lasting friendship.
taken from Goodreads.
Hatte is on the hunt to find her love match and was constructed to pour hemp seeds around her local church on Midsommer’s Eve by the “Cunning Woman,” another term we’d use for women who deals with white magic, with Amelia Fawn. What she ended up seeing was a fox. She didn’t know what it meant, nobody did, and I assumed it would be someone aloof and mischievous, but that’s exactly what I consider Hattie to be.
Now, getting into her story was a joyous experience. I wondered how Kasey would give us more of Hattie’s personality, and how she is around her own family, and it was interesting to find out that she is well-loved by her father, and is allowed to be who she is, an artist. While reading the other books, and this one, you notice right away Hattie is very bold. She’s a little aloof but has a strong grace about her as a woman. And she believes whoever comes to her is brought by fate.
And then, we (Hattie and the readers) meet Bentley. I didn’t think we’d meet a guy right away, but I was delighted at what could happen, if this truly was fate working its magic.
There was one thing that thew my head for a loop, and it was the man’s a damn Duke! When I heard this for first time I shouted, “THE DUKE!” in my room hoping to get some sleep in the next hour or so… I did not sleep well that night!
“You are the duke.” He didn’t flinch but instead nodded gravely. Bending into a low bow, he raised his face, his eyes on her. “Most people simply call me Bentley.”
The Duke of Bentley is a lonely person, but he chooses to, which is fair for his sex. It was generally okay for men to be bachelors their whole life, but it was frown above for women. Everything belonged to men. Money, titles, and even their livelihood of ever marrying, sometimes having a mistress or many of them at a time was part of life of the Regency era.
Honestly, I found Bentley to be different; he is taken by surprise of Hattie’s bold attitude, overall quirkiness and sprinkles of freckles on her face. He has tried to paint the woman since their first innocent meeting, but nothing works, until they continue to find themselves together and he dares to ask her to sit for him in lieu of lessons for her.
As much as I loved Hattie, learning more about Bentley’s life and what led to him being out of Society and even some of his family members. Something has happened in his past that was highly traumatic in itself even if it eclipses his own father’s final days. I felt somewhat sad for him and understood why he craved to be left alone, but then again, he was pulled away by an invisible hold to a woman such as Hattie Green is a very large step for him. Thankfully, he was already curious about her mind–between unruly chickens and Hattie’s delicate freckles—even I knew nothing was going to stop this anytime soon.
“She was wholly aware that her husband was out there somewhere, and she had faith she would find him—or the opposite, perhaps, if he found her first—when the time was right. Waiting had grown tiresome, it was true, but she would not press fate.”
The book’s only downfall was how it ended, as the epilogue goes forth in time about ten years and you see all of the characters and their husbands and children, and it’s so enduring and sweet. I think what Kasey was trying to gear things up for Pippa’s story, as she is mentioned to be around 19 years old than seven when featured in the second book about her older sister Mabel, but it came out as a perfect ending to the entire series. It too me at least a day and a half to begin on The Smuggler of Camden Cove. You will be getting that review at the end of June by the way!
Have you read “The Recluse of Wolfeton House” yet? If you have, how do you compare it to the others in the series?
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