Book Review: “The Widow of Falbrooke Court” by Kasey Stockton

Hello again!

Every time I start on the next book of this series. I realize I need to work on the previous books’ review too. I can’t get too mad at it as I feel like I’m coming out of my blogging rut, and branching out to check out a genre of books I thought I would hate forever. I owe a lot of credit to certain classics like Charles Dickins and Daphne du Maurier in the last year or two.

If you’d like to check out my reviews of the other books in the “Ladies of Devon” series, click on the titles mentioned here. The Jewels of Halstead Manor and The Lady of Larkspur Vale.

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Can true love break the curse?

Amelia Fawn is cursed—or so she believes. How else can she explain each of her husbands’ deaths within the first year of marriage? So after the ton names her the Black Widow and warns eligible men to stay clear, Amelia vows never to marry again. Not even if she falls in love.

Charles Fremont has loved Amelia Fawn his entire life. But after enduring countless rejections and watching her get married three other times, he’s finally had enough. He swears a vow to never ask anything from her again. Even if it kills him.

Book three in the Ladies of Devon series, The Widow of Falbrooke Court, is a clean Regency romance continuing the story of the four women who make up a literary society in Devon and form a lasting friendship.

taken from Goodreads.

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I was fairly excited to learn more about Amelia Fawn since I started reading this series in late April. She was brought to Halstead Manor in a hope to become a friend to the newcomer Giulia. My first impression of Amelia was that she’s very proper and understands her role in life is to be a good wife, mother and mistress of an estate, but within the first meeting with Giulia, you are told she’s a newly widow, but isn’t told much else until the ladies attend a literary society meeting with two other women of Devon, Mabel and Hattie.

While you meet Amelia in Giulia’s story, you also learn about Charles Freemont in the second book, as Mabel, Pippa and Charles are cousins. Charles is mentioned to have always been in love with Amelia, but she does not feel the same way about him. As much as I was into Amelia’s character, I’ve also lived like Charles, loving a person from afar. Charles does in fact try to give her all of the space they desperately need, but they are being pulled together by unseen forces–well, Miss Hattie Green helps just a little with her own quest to find romance. You can look forward to that review coming soon!

Amelia Fawn had married three times. It was a truth generally accepted between those who knew her intimately, as well as the majority of the local parishioners, that Amelia would never, ever marry again.

These two characters are very caring. I found myself drawn towards Charles, especially after he promised a man by the name of George Halpert, he would look on his wife and unborn child if anything was to happen to him. Amelia and her brother Andrew, who is an early doctor of the Regency period, allow the widow to stay at Falbrooke Court to heal and recover, and this makes an awkward but lovely awakening for Amelia and Charles.

The one thing that messed with me was hearing about Amelia’s feelings about not being able to fulfill a life that many ladies were doing at that time. She completed a Season with other ladies her age to find a husband, and it was an actual love match which is wild in the Regency-era (hell, it was practically nonexistent throughout the Victorian and Edwardian times as well!) but getting married was the easy part, making the marriage last long enough to produce children was another part of life.

“Trust me, Amelia. A man does not purposefully spend so much time in any woman’s company unless he has feelings for her,” Charles said, his voice dropping.

The poor woman has been made a widow three times. This is a lot of heartache for someone to take, doesn’t matter the age or sex, that kind of experience of loss is largely traumatic. She has been the blunt of gossip in society, but her friends are there for her to show her how much love she has on her side. She’s a wonderful lady who does deserve a rich marriage and children. I understand her hesitation of wanting to quit hoping for those things, but you sense she can be a jealous woman, despite not having any feelings for Charles early on.

I mean, Charles is in the same boat. He’s never been married or had any mistresses in the past. He’s a perfect catch for any woman, but as much as he’d like to forget about Amelia, he can’t and they start to pull into each other that reminds readers, everything happens for a reason.

Have you read the third book, “The Widow of Falbrooke Court” by Kasey Stockton yet? If so, please leave me your comments below!

Book Review: “The Lady of Larkspur Vale” by Kasey Stockton

Hello!

So, I am back with the second book of the “Ladies of Devon” series by Kasey Stockton. If you haven’t seen what I thought about The Jewels of Halstead Manor, you may want to check it out or if you’re on the fence about giving the entire series a try, you can skip these posts altogether because they contain spoilers here and here.

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She wants to forget she ever knew him; he just wants her.

Mabel Sheffield is too tall, or so she believes. It one of the reasons she has given up on finding a husband and instead embraces her role as a spinster, dedicating her days to managing her grandmother’s estate and her seven-year-old sister. But when Liam MacKenzie shows up at her house to stay for the summer, she’s unsure if she can keep her resolve. The problem: he’s the other reason she’s a spinster.

Book two in the Ladies of Devon series, The Lady of Larkspur Vale is a childhood friends-to-lovers and second chance romance story. It 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.

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Mabel is at the heart of the Sheffield House, being its mistress, taking care of her staff, family and friends is what she’s been doing, since her father has returned to the Royal Navy. Even with chronic issues with her leg, she’s fine to sit out whenever her friends go dancing, she thinks about the next day’s menus and dealing with a stubborn seven-year-old sister, she feels like she is the head mistress of the manor, with no husband. Mabel can and will do it all.

Out of everything going on, reuniting with her cousin Charles Fremont, and meeting a small group of his friends Misters Desmond Pemberton and Liam McKenzie. or “Mac” at least that’s what tell his friends and definitely want to continue this way around Mabel as they have a history, Unfortunately for Mac though, Desmond has invited his two sisters Lydia and Sophy with their chaperone Ms. Boucher. Poor Mabel and the rest of her staff at the Sheffield House are about to have a lot of guests popping in and out all summer long.

If she needed them, Giulia, Hattie, and Amelia would be at her door without hesitation. And she always had Pippa and Charles. She would not be alone.

There were a lot of things that resonated with me. Mabel’s leg issues are real to even the modern times, and there was a scene where she knew she’d done too much in the day and her leg wasn’t going to hold up much longer. I imagine having any kind of a disability like Mabel’s, she’s lucky she’s not in a wheelchair or worse put in an asylum for the rest of her life. There wasn’t much to reduce the pain like we do, but I’ve been in Mabel’s shoes in a way. Mabel’s bad leg does affect her day-to-day life, and being the mistress of the house, means she’s enduring longer hours and making sure everybody is enjoying the Sheffield hospitality.

I had explained to my mom that as much as I am enjoying learning about Mabel and her family’s story, but my focus was really on Mac. This happens every once in a while, where I find the male main character can pull me in the story, I thought he was different, but there’s an echo to families who did deal with members gambling away almost everything, Mac is trying to do right for his mother while trying to save up money to bail his father and his overall reputation as a gentleman. He is definitely affected by Mabel and her life, but I liked knowing more about his family.

The larkspur was in full bloom, a sea of dark violet stretching forth and filling the small valley surrounded by a grove of full chestnut trees.

There were a lot of things I found deeply humbling about Mabel and Mac. Mabel has just off that side of her of being the best dancer at the balls and parties, but she has found a way to be at the foreground of her life as “Mistress of the House” and she takes it all like a pro, even though. Mac is dealing for his issues and as he leaves without a word to her, he wants to settle the other stuff before going back to Graton and possibility make a fool out of himself once again.

I really enjoyed this story. I was worried about it, because I like the elements in Guila’s story, but as I continue reading through the rest of the series, I am finding out that I see myself in all of the women. Mabel for her toughness and despite her disability, she works through it, and everyone understand her requests for time to herself to heal up before an even more exciting adventure with her family, friends, etc.

Have you read “The Lady of Larkspur Vale” by Kasey Stockton? If not, you can find it on her YouTube channel and listen to the audiobook. They have captions and time stamps too! Anyways, if you have read this book, what were your thoughts on it?