The Baron and the Enchantress

Wonderful characters. Interesting plot. Vivid descriptions. The perfect addition to the Enchantress series. Simply a GREAT read!

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Will she, or will she not?

Although Lilith Chambers’ still found contentment within the small parish she called home, her life was still unsettled by the revelation that she was the abandoned daughter of an earl. Her brother wants her to take her place as Lady Lilith, but aristocrats have never treated her well. She decided after her familial revelation that she wanted nothing to do with society. Then she met Walter.

Regardless of how many times his mother insists he needs an heir, Walter Hobbs, Baron Collingwood is just not interested in settling down. He has yet to meet a woman who interests him. He may never meet her. Then he met Lilith.

If you’re looking for a character driven love story, The Baron and the Enchantress by Paulette Golden is worth your time. Although the pace is slow, the writing is exquisite and the characters are flawed but real. Their fears, dreams and struggles seem plausible and the solutions seem distant and unattainable. The internal musings, along with the witty and believable dialogue help to understand the lead characters from each of their perspectives. In addition to Lilith and Walter’s passionate characters, the supporting characters enhance and fill out this well woven story. Lastly, the happy ending is smile-worthy, and with an epilogue it is also satisfying.

Content alert: There are only a few (12) swear words, some passionate kissing and only one moderately described sexually intimate scene.

I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.

Best So Far

I have read most of the other books in this series. I liked one but didn’t completely like another. However, I think this is the best one I’ve read yet. (Though I do have one to go!) What makes it the best? I absolutely adored the hero. The chapters written from his perspective were so well done. Walter is a through-and-through aristocrat, therefore a bit uptight, and the author is able to portray this brilliantly. At first, Walter has no self-awareness in this regard whatsoever, but we slowly see that change. Given what we know of the book’s world and the heroine’s thoughts, his thoughts are sometimes downright amusing, especially in the beginning. Truly, Walter made this book. I kept turning the pages just to savor his sections.

Weighing in at over 500 pages, this is a long book. That annoys me at times, I’ll admit, but I liked watching the relationship slowly unfold between the couple. Given their differences and need to grow individually to truly become a couple, it seemed natural and allowed me as a reader to truly get to know them. Because of her background, she has antipathy for the aristocracy, and as I said above, Walter is the epitome—at least on the outside—of what she despises. There are other hurdles and lessons, of course, but I’ll leave that for you to discover.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book is that there was a point where Walter wasn’t as involved with the storyline. I missed him!

I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

This was such an interesting book in that it did not follow the norm when an author presents an English historical novel. The (h) is not a simpering debutante or a bluestocking or any of the usual types of female characters we have come to expect. Lilith is the previously-thought-deceased sister to Sebastian whose story is featured in book 1 of this series and she is not particularly happy to find out that she is a member of the nobility. She is quite happy with her simple life as a parish midwife, thank you very much and has no desire to change that at all! Then she meets Walter who is a Baron of all things and her world tilts. Now she has a quandary. If she wants Walter she will have to embrace her place in society. But if she rejects his suit she will be able to keep her quiet life albeit without the one she has come to love. Walter also has some soul searching to do in regards to his feelings for Lilith. In order to marry Lilith he may have to face a scandal but is he willing to consider a life without her? It was truly wonderful to see how both of these characters had to take a good long look at their options and determine if love was worth the risk. Of course it is!! The questions about how and more importantly why Lilith and Sebastian had been separated as children are answered with the villain being revealed and of course a HEA for our main characters.
I have only recently discovered this author and I just had to read all of the books in this series one right after another!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

As the illegitimate sister of the Earl of Roddam, Lilith has been hidden for years in an orphanage. It hasn’t been easy for her to accept her new station in life when she’s reunited with her brother. As a midwife and a teacher at the orphanage, she has a purpose and she’s happy. All that changes when she meets Walter, Baron Collingwood, the cousin of her brother’s wife. The powerful attraction between them scares her from trying to fit in with society. What kind of life can they have? A long book with ups and downs that takes a while to get to an HEA. A very good series that I recommend reading in order, because if the overlap of characters.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t like this story as much as the prior to in the series. This one is still good. It’s just hard to see someone so proud and stubborn turn away from an opportunity at love and to see the man that is spurned still be humble enough to forgive. It’s a hard story to read knowing how much the two main characters read each other wrong, especially Lillith, or don’t say way they need to say due to propriety. Oh, so much sadness could have been saved. It’s a wonderful story about historical England and how society could treat orphans and illegitimate offspring. Very eye-opening.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Was her old life a big lie? Or would it be a lie the life they offered her for the future?

Miss Lilith Chambers, midwife and teacher, 33.
She lived happily in the small town of Allshire. The villagers mostly respected her for her work. There was one person or another who would rather have the horse run through the mud to get her dress dirty, but about these people Lilith knew how to handle.
However, when an Earl showed up in town saying she was his disappeared sister – the sister he thought had died – Lilith saw her life change dramatically.
Before accepting everything with open arms, she needed to understand what lay ahead, and one of the changes was when Reverend Harold Sands came to see her differently and insisted that she agree to marry him, despite her illegitimacy.

Giving this discovery a chance – she had a vague recollection of Sebastian as the little boy she played with on the beach, like Poseidon – she would have to deal with her prejudice against the aristocrats and live with them for a while, mainly because her sister-in-law was about to give birth to their first child.

But in her brother’s house there were more people besides the couple.
Lizzie’s family members – Lizbeth – were there to wait for the baby to be born.
Aunt Hazel, Lizzie and Charlotte’s father Papa Cuthbert… and Walter Hobbs, Baron Collingwood.
At first Lilith thought she wouldn’t be comfortable with so many aristocrats except her brother. But as the days went on she was comfortable with them, especially with Walter.

Walter, Lizzie’s cousin, was handsome, with a respectable heritage, but still felt lost in life since his father’s death. In fact, deep down, Walter felt responsible for his death and not enough to carry the title. He was looking for a purpose in life, to put aside his listless. And it was upon meeting Miss Chambers that he saw a promising future.

“Before he could stop himself, he stood and walked towards her, drawn to her as though bewitched. Her eyes lit on his once more, captivating him. They were as dark as her hair, full of wisdom and silent humor, laughing at the world, and likely at him. A swirl of breeze brought her scent to his nostrils, intoxicating him with mixture of sweat and earth, heady aroma of woman rather than perfume. Who was this enchantress?”

While Walter was enchanted by the midwife who had braided hair and old-fashioned clothes, she saw him intriguingly quiet, always staring her. Until they could have a moment alone.
In fact, Walter was irresistible with his dreamy manner. And dreams were something Lilith didn’t feel worthy of having. She was an orphan who always had to think of a practical future to keep up.

While Lizzie’s relatives knew that Lilith was Sebastian’s sister, they didn’t know her real origin.
Turns out she was his half-sister, the fruit of an Earl old affair with the daughter of one of the servants. She was left at the door as soon as she was born, with a letter saying her name was Lilith, and her mother was never seen again.
The Earl’s wife, Lady Jane Lancaster, fell in love with the girl and took her to herself, but the earl never accepted it.
Years later, he managed to send the girl away to an orphanage. The mother died of sadness, and Sebastian became the target of his father’s wrath.
It was Lizzie who discovered that Lilith was alive and went after her, to the peace of mind of her husband.
Having forgotten the beginning of her life at former Earl’s house, Lilith felt like an impostor taking his sister’s place.
Knowing that Walter had a romantic interest in her, and her being a bastard, how could this marriage work?

But contradicting all predictions, the proud and prejudiced in this situation was not Walter but Lilith.

“Lilith, I haven’t dreamed for three years. Not until I met you. A light shone into my world when you walked out the gazebo. I saw before me the woman who would give my life meaning. I’m not a morose person. I haven’t spent three years wallowing. It’s only… I’ve been lost. Listless. Unable to envision what I wanted out of life. But then I saw you. Everything fell into place, even the legacy I want to create and leave behind. That’s what I dream about, Lilith. YOU.”

She fell in love for him as a man, but not the life he brought with him (aristocracy, London, gossips).
She insisted that he knows her in loco, in Allshire, not Lady Lilith, and Walter accepted the challenge.
But once he and Sebastian appeared in Allshire for the purpose of surveying the works done with Sebastian’s donated money, Pandora’s box opened, and her life would never be the same.

Lilith learned that what she feared most she had among the aristocracy could happen anywhere with people with a ferocious tongue. And then she would have to learn to be someone again. And why not be the one that so many people already knew she was, except herself: a lady capable of helping others on a larger scale?

The book brings us how appearances can be deceiving, and how people can create histories and destroy lives, depending on their purpose.
Walter was a sincere dreamer who saw Lilith as his inspiring muse to achieve great deeds. He had the connections, the knowledge, the money, but he had no purpose. Until her.

Lilith had her life erased by the woes of a proud, devilish man. Even while she had her peaceful life as a midwife in town, she was already the target of mischief among some women. No, Lilith hadn’t fit Allshire either. But there was vain hope.
Knowing her true life, she was afraid to change; fear of being rejected more than life had ever rejected her; fear that the happiness she was aiming for in her future would have a very high price to pay.
Walter was from the aristocracy she had learned to despise. Until him.

It is a story of resilience, new beginnings, learning, leaving the comfort zone, reaching goals and dreaming.
Dreams are mentioned several times throughout story.
The dreams that he did not feel worthy to realize; the dreams she feared had become their fairy tale, with an unusual marriage proposal and many achievements ahead…
5 stars

I love the chemistry between these two people, but Lilith unwillingness to change destroys the relationship between Walter and herself. Fortunately, Lilith will be forced to change her life, and she does it with the help of her brother. After Lilith leaves Walter, he changes and follows his dream of opening an orphanage and hospital. His relationship with Lilith changed him and made him want to be a responsible Baron. This story is about courage and grabbing on to your dream and reaching for the impossible. I loved the characters and the beautiful settings. The story writes itself as the characters act and make decisions according to life’s bends and twists.

Miss Lilith Chambers is an overcomer. Left by her aristocratic father at an orphanage when she was just a little mite, she has learned to overcome the slurs of the gentry and to find a place in the village for her skills as a teacher and a midwife. The surprising discovery that she has a brother who wants to integrate her into his family life leaves her floundering, as she has determined to hold onto every shred of independence that she can. Since she cannot ignore her brother’s request to be with his wife when she will need Lilith’s help, she embarks on a visit to his estate. Meeting Walter, Baron Collingwood is not part of her plan. However, Walter is smitten and he sees in Lilith the woman that he needs to achieve his goal to make a meaningful contribution to society. Both Lilith and Walter are in a process of self-discovery and one aspect that jumped out at me is that so often ordinary, working-class people have predetermined ideas about the wealthy. Certainly, Lilith was every bit as wrong about the gentry, as those who demeaned her. This book is part of a series and I quickly became aware of the fact that there were aspects of the story that had been covered by a previous novel. Nevertheless, it is a standalone and comes to a happy successful close. I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.

The author’s writing is phenomenal! She makes me feel I am privy to the thoughts of the Enchantress Lilith. I laughed so much while reading this book!
I am a fan of first person POV, when it’s done right. Paullett does it more than right, she pulls it off with distinction. Her characters live and breathe most realistically, the scene setting is wonderful, the action is abundant. The dialogue is so witty at times and dripping with sarcasm at other times. The little things, food, flowers, weather, everything works together to make the world come alive.
All in all, the story is so enthralling. I award “The Baron and The Enchantress” a score of 5 stars! It’s so good!