A Second Chance Regency Romance“I didn’t really understand what love was. I didn’t know what it meant, that I should’ve fought harder for it.” Banished from home by her angry father, Julia Devon travels to Bath to fulfill her role as family spinster by assisting her cousin, Lady Macon, in caring for her dying husband. Nathaniel Hastings’s life runs in a predictable pattern, until a routine visit … pattern, until a routine visit to one of his ailing patients brings him face to face with Julia, the woman who broke his heart five years before in London.
Julia and Nathaniel find themselves unlikely allies as they work together to tend to the family’s needs, fend off Lady Macon’s scheming brother-in-law, and avoid confronting the pain of their shared past. But could this accidental meeting be their second chance at love?
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Enjoyable read. Many tears falling with this one.
Great book! I loved hearing about how doctors worked and new ways for treating patients.
The characters were so fun to get to know (except Julia’s father).
I don’t want to give anything away but the story does have a great happy ever after for the main characters.
I was able to listen to the audio version of this book and I loved it. The narrator is fantastic!
I loved this book. It is my favorite Britton book so far. So sweet and swoony. One thing that made this different is that so much of the story is about Julia’s cousin and the loss of her husband (which made me cry). So while a lot of emotional energy is spent on that story we still spend energy hoping for Julia and Nathaniel but we don’t spend so much energy dwelling on their angst. I love how the two stories balanced each other.
The whole time I was reading it kept reminding me of Persuasion and it wasn’t until the end that the author’s notes clarified that it was indeed inspired by Austen’s fantastic novel. There were plenty enough differences that it was obviously not a rewrite of Persuasion but it had the same second chance at love in its story and the same Austen-like feel. No wonder I loved it.
I loved all the main characters and almost all the minor characters as well. Can’t love Mr. Macon. Horrible man. But everyone else was good and kind and lovable. Even the staff were good, loyal and supportive. Society doesn’t play much of a role in the story so there isn’t even snotty people who think they are better than others to dislike. I guess we can dislike Julia’s father also but we just hear about him and never really meet his awful self.
I really can’t think of anything I didn’t like except a couple things. The death was sad and made me cry. It was heartbreaking reading the Baron’s farewell scene with his young sons. So touching. But I would never want to take it out of the book. I just didn’t like feeling sad and crying. And the other thing would be that I would have loved to see the court fight with Mr. Macon play out and him get put in his place. I’m sure it would have detracted from the love story wrap up but still the vindictive part of me would have loved to see it happen.
Sex: kisses
Language: no
Violence: no
Once again Britton creates wonderful and believable characters! I really liked Julia and Nathaniel and thought that their reasoning for staying apart made sense. This book does have a lot of sadness as one of the characters is very ill. I did very much enjoy the ending though and it ends on a very happy note. Recommend to fans of regency!
Book two in the Branches of Love series by Sally Britton was a great book. I loved the characters and the plot was a bit emotional.
If you like romance, regency, or just a good story, then I recommend this book.
This book was such a sweet romance. After “The Social Tutor,” I desperately wanted Julia to have her own story! I actually think I liked this book more than the first. I felt like the character development was deeper and the way Julia and Nathaniel have to work through the difficulties of their past made for a very interesting story. I also loved that historical details, such as what can happen to a widow after her husband’s death or how male relations can cause problems with her children, were included in this book. I am fascinated and disgusted that a man’s word was generally held above that of a woman’s, even a mother of a child! I hope we get the chance to hear more of Lady Macon’s story later.
I really like Julia. In the first book, I thought she was a little selfish. Keeping entirely to herself and not helping her sisters get ready for their respective debuts into society, to the point where Christine has to go to extreme measures to educate herself on a lady’s appropriate deportment, seemed quite self-centered. I understood more after learning her story, of course. And isn’t that just like life? We sometimes make poor choices when we are hurting or focused too much on ourselves. Needless to say, this book helped redeem Julia in my eyes. She opened up into a loving, caring person. I loved how she treated her nephews, how she supported and helped her cousin, even at her own discomfort, and helped her cousin’s husband. She even wanted to do what was right for Nathaniel, which showed a high level of maturity. In fact, that’s what she tried to do for him all along!
If you follow along with my book reviews, you know a good story that includes lower classes. I guess I just really love an underdog story!
Nathaniel provides just such a diversity I enjoy reading about. He’s a wonderful character and also goes through his own development that is so well done. I loved that he is a caring country physician, who goes above and beyond to care for his patients. He is a gentle, kind soul, and though I got a little frustrated with him a time or two, I still loved him.
Beautiful book, Sally! I can’t wait to read more.
Rating:
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Read by Rachael Beresford: As with the first book in the series, Rachael read very well. Accent is fantastic (possibly real? I’m not good enough to tell for sure, but she’s good either way) and the reading was very well done.
I was excited to read Julia’s story after I finished the first book about her sister Christine. While I that book was good, Julia’s story was excellent. Tormented by her father for her “failure” on the marriage mart, Julia couldn’t wait to get away from him. What her father thought was punishment turned out to be means for Julia to finally be happy. All the characters in this book were well defined and I’m looking forward to reading Virginia’s story next.
I noticed in many reviews of this book that the question of what happened to Virginia was asked and many reviewers docked it one star because of it. Well, I already knew the answer to this since I read The Earl and His Lady before this book. I would not consider docking it one star solely on that reasoning especially since this is a part of a series and often times an author leaves a few unanswered questions in order to be answered in future books. The Gentleman Physician is Julia and Dr. Nathaniel Hasting’s story and I would not detract from their story by explaining about Virginia’s. I appreciate that they both get their own story. Consequently, I thoroughly enjoyed the doctor and Julia’s story. A very clean read and appropriate for the time period. The angst was just enough to keep my interest and root for the couple. It is very well written and I loved the characters, even the dastardly villains. What is a good book without villains? I look forward to reading the other books in this series to find out what else is in store. Highly recommended.
The characters were really well done and the story was great. While it continues the story of the family in the previous book, you’d not be lost if you didn’t read it. The main theme was sad, but the story itself wasn’t. It had a “don’t be sad that it’s over; be happy that it happened” vibe.
4 stars
A Wonderful, Sad & Sweet Story.
A Clean Romance Novel.
Julia & Nathaniel’s Journey to HEA was a joy to read.
Since Julia was sent to help her Cousin Virginia because her husband was dying, it was sad.
Julia & Nathaniel had met years prior when she arrived in London for her 1st Season.
After breaking his heart, he shows up to visit with his Patient who happens to be her cousin Virginia’s husband.
I really enjoyed this sequel. It was very well done and enjoyable to read. I already have the 3rd downloaded and ready to go.
After having read everything from this author starting at book 3 of this series, I’m finally going back and reading the first 2 books. The overall series is solid and I can now appreciate what happens in later books.
This particular story is much more emotional than the others as it involves the death of one of the characters. But, having read the other books already, I see how important this story is to understanding the storyline in one of the later books.
This story centers on Julia, immediately after the events in book 1. She is now essentially banished from home and finds herself in Bath, helping her cousin who is facing the death of her husband. What she doesn’t expect is to find the family physician none other than her previous beaux.
Nathaniel Hastings thought he was over Julia. That is, until she shows up at the home of one of his patients. What he doesn’t expect is the feelings he has for her are as strong as ever before. But, will she reject him a second time?
This story deals with some very real life struggles – especially those of Julia’s cousin. But, as Nathaniel and Julia get reacquainted, can they move past what happened in the past? I loved how even though the surrounding storyline dealt with sickness and death, there was still the light hearted scenes involving Nathaniel’s friends.
Romance – PG / kissing
Language – clean
My rating – 5 stars
The Gentleman Physician by Sally Britton is one of the sweetest Regency Romance I’ve read in a while 🙂 it had wonderful characters, a great plot, really nice descriptions of the setting (Bath) but which did not slow down the pace of the book. I enjoyed this story more than the first one, and I guess it had to do with its use of the second chance romance trope. Completely recommended!
A very nice clean romantic story.
I enjoyed myself and will read others in the series
I absolutely loved, loved, loved this story. Reading about Julia Devon in The Social Tutor was great, but learning more about why her first and only Season in London was such a flop to make her father so angry with her was so much better in this book.
Julia was banished to Bath to help her cousin Virginia with her husband who was gravely ill, because Julia helped her sister, Christine, marry for love instead of going on her first Season in London and marrying for money and a title the way their father wanted all his daughters to do. While in Bath, Julia meets Doctor Nathaniel Hastings, who is the doctor for her cousin’s family. They had met five years ago and Julia broke his heart when he asked to court her. Because he wasn’t even a doctor yet and was only a second son, Julia had to tell him no, but the way she did it tore Nathaniel apart.
How will Nathaniel handle his feelings for Julia now, and vice versa? Are they meant to be together or will Nathaniel break Julia’s heart this time? If you like clean, Christian, historical romance, you will love this one. The plot is believable and the characters are likable and well-rounded. The story is well-written and wonderful. So pick up a copy today. Enjoy!
I received a review copy of this book from the author; all opinions in my review are my own.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its gentle descriptions of the quiet town of Bath, a handsome physician, an eccentric patient, and a lovely lady.
I enjoyed this Bath regency read. It had some really good elements in it. Julia is a strong character with a brute of a father and can’t marry the man she loves. Years later they are put together again and you get lots of nice “tug at your heart moments’. Nathan is a great leading man. These two are all that is proper and the author does a really good job of sticking to the reality of the time. This book had a good old fashioned feel to it and would make a great BBC movie. There is just something magical about this time period and the author captures it so well. This book also has a great cast. Virginia and her sad situation, the Dr.s friend- Nathan ,even the older meddling duchess. The bad guy was sinister but not so out there as to be unbelievable. I am so glad Virginia will eventually get her own story. This was very chaste with no religion.