Set in 1800s England, Maria Wyndham is the younger and more vivacious, twin stepdaughter of the late Lieutenant Mark Wyndham.After their mother’s death, she and her sister, Harriet, move to Eastease in Lincolnshire, and become wards of the lieutenant’s friend, Alexander Harker, and his cousin, Nathaniel Ackley.Just in time for ball for the twins’ sixteenth Birthday, a friend of their stepfather … their stepfather and guardians, Robert Davenport, arrives to lavish them with gifts and to dance.
Family and friendship bonds are pushed to the limit, as Maria’s story plays out. She finds her strength of will to survive and pursue the happiness of true love.
Maria’s silliness and love of life, often hide her intelligence and loyalty, in this story of sisters, and a girl, too soon pushed into the world of a woman.
This is the second book in the Redway Acres series. The first is Book 1 – Helena.
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After finishing Trish butler’s first book in her Redway Acres Series – Helena, I dove right into Book #2 – Maria. I fell just as hard into this piece of the saga as the first.
This time the author focuses on Maria, identical twin sister of Harriet, both of whom we met in book #1. In this book we learn a little more of how they came to be at Eastease. We see them come of age, the celebrations that come with it, the feelings that emerge with their entrance into maturity and the consequence of choices made. The author does an amazing job of seducing us into a maze that we don’t even know we are in – until we find ourselves at the exit and shaking our heads!
Once again we are drawn into the era with descriptions and vernacular of the time that shows an enormous amount of research by the author. This allows us to be totally immersed into the lives of the characters we have met before and the ones introduced here as this saga moves forward.
On to Book #3 – Martha!
One thing I love about series is getting to follow the characters you’ve fallen in love with from book to book. In this second installment of the Redway Acres historical family saga series, we’re back with some of our favorite characters from book one “Helena” including Captain Nathaniel Ackley (who seriously, is like the biggest cinnamon roll closeted softie of the series), who is one of the caretakers of twins Maria and Harriet, who had the misfortune of losing both their parents at a young age, and having their stepfather choked with grief over their mother’s death (the opening chapters are quite riveting) to the point he could not continue raising them. And so now they are the wards of two well-meaning and wonderful gentlemen.
But of course, trying times come for everyone, and when Maria is lavished with the attentions of a man who may not have good intentions at heart, her family will have to come together to protect her. These are difficult times to be a woman. Death in childbirth and domestic violence is a common theme throughout and the story does an excellent job of illustrating how bleak things were even when your loved ones cared desperately for you. I loved all the new characters we were introduced to, here, and I confessed I found myself peeking ahead in the series rather hoping to see who else was going to get a “book” and happy to see several of my favorites would be coming up!
Book 2 of the Redway Acres series is titled Redway Acres: Maria and, as you might have guessed, highlights more of Maria’s life at Eastease and beyond. You will, however, still get to check in and catch up with some of our favorite characters and horses from book 1 like Helena, Ackley and Harriet to name a few.
This second book really pulled on my heartstrings and I have therefore awarded it five stars. What happened to give it five stars, you ask? I’m not sure I can do that justice without revealing some key turning points of the book so I highly recommend you head over to Amazon and/or Kindle Unlimited to check it out yourself.
As you may recall, Harriet has a twin named Maria. The book first moves back in time to capture the twins’ younger years, primarily around their 16th birthday. There is a grand ball in honor of their birthday and the event ultimately leads to a marriage. Harker and Ackley are shocked to say the least.
The marriage isn’t the only shocking thing. There are several characters who show their true characters in both a negative and positive manner. For example, Mr. Brooks ends up realizing his love for a woman even after he had met with many families and their daughters with no success. Helena and Ackley have a few bumps in their marriage. And to top it off, there are some events that will shock you to your core.
The twists and turns of this book easily captured my attention and made me feel even more deeply invested in the characters. While there are again some topics and situations that may be triggering for some readers, I wish more people would read these books. I firmly believe it is important even in this day and age that we talk about things that have happened to us, and that others outside the situation know how to react and discuss respectfully. I also find the reactions and discussions to be empowering which is incredibly important.
Again, I’d like to thank Trish Butler for providing me with a copy of Redway Acres: Maria. I’ve voluntarily read this book and the review expresses my own personal opinion.