She can only stay as long as the invalid needs her… so he makes it his business to need her forever.
When a cryptic invitation brings Giulia Pepper to her uncle’s remote estate in Devon, she arrives in dire need of a benefactor, only to discover that her uncle never sent her any invitation—nor does he want her there. Forced into a corner, Giulia must contrive a way to convince him to allow her … way to convince him to allow her to remain, just long enough to figure out where to go next.
Nicholas never asked for an earldom, but when an aged lord arrives at his door and tells Nicholas that he is next in line for the title, he willingly goes to Halstead Manor to learn the role. But someone isn’t pleased with the heir, and after a gunshot wound in the arm, Nicholas must discover who is out to get him.
When Giulia stumbles—literally—over a fallen man on the lane to Halstead, she has her answer: she can stay at Halstead and nurse her uncle’s heir back to health. But as mystery builds and danger mounts, will Giulia and Nicholas be able to solve the puzzle before the Earl forces Giulia to leave for good? And furthermore, can they manage to work together without losing their hearts in the process?
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I have just discovered a new-to-me writer and I must voraciously read all her books! For all those interested, the author is Kasey Stockton. If you have not heard of her, I HIGHLY recommend checking out all of her novels. The other night I just happened to see an ad for The Lady of Larkspur Vale on one of my social media platforms. The cover intrigued me so I immediately went to Goodreads to check it out. The premise sounds pretty good, but I saw it is book 2 in a series. Naturally, I had to check out book 1, The Jewels of Halstead Manor, because I cannot knowingly begin a series in the middle. That just doesn’t work for me. The Jewels of Halstead Manor sounded so good to me that I bought it right then and there from Amazon and devoured the story in three days. If it were not for my full-time job there is a good possibility I would have had this book finished in one 24-hour period, it’s that excellent a read!
There really is so much to love about The Jewels of Halstead Manor. It’s a Sweet Regency Romance, which means the reader gets to escape into a unique historical time period and the romance is swoony and filled with passion, but there is none of that bedroom stuff happening. I’m all for realism in my books, but I am definitely not into voyeurism. I found the characters well crafted. I adore Guilia’s character. She is independent, strong-willed, and highly intelligent, but she is also incredibly self-aware and can be vulnerable when she needs to be. Nicholas is one of my favorite types of heroes and he pairs very well with Guila’s wit, verve, and sense of adventure. Nicholas is handsome, charming, and intelligent, but what I love the most about his character is his ability to truly see Guilia. He pays attention, he listens, and he isn’t afraid to ask her the probing questions she needs to answer for herself. In addition to the hero and heroine, The Jewels of Halstead Manor boasts a lively cast of secondary characters who bring spunk or friendship or mystery to the storyline, and make the story all the more rich. I also appreciate the topic of self-reliance. Guilia is beholden to no one. She is a woman who can stand on her own two feet. She asks when she needs help, but she never takes advantage. And when life brings her surprises that scare her a little, she runs to no man. She stands tall and takes the next right step. This illustration of self-reliance is my most favorite aspect to this superb Regency Romance.
I could go on and on about The Jewels of Halstead Manor, there really is that much to love about this book. It’s highly engaging and hard to put down. If you are a fan of well-written Sweet Regency Romances then I highly recommend The Jewels of Halstead Manor. For now, I’m going to go check out all of Ms. Stockton’s novels and may purchase one or two or all of them! LOL!
I purchased a review copy of this novel in eBook form from Amazon on August 13, 2020, in order to review. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
There is so much to love about this book: mysterious strangers, hidden passageways, secret pasts and a lot more besides. I loved how the main characters met. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
Guys. This book is just so lovely! Absolutely delightful! I love the strong female character (seriously very little to dislike about Giulia), the great mystery surrounding the whole story, the discoveries and character development and plot and character. *sigh* Just so good. Some of the mysteries I figured out pretty early on but a couple of them surprised me!
Giulia (or Jules) really is a fantastic character. I fell in love with her right from the beginning when she tripped over a man’s head in the road (intrigued? You must read it!). Her little quirks, her independence and strong will, her knowledge and tenacity and spice all make for a fantastic character.
Nick is a lot of fun. It took me a second to like him a lot (I guess that’s not even fair; I always *liked* him but didn’t know how serious he was what with his flirtatious ways) but he won me over pretty quickly. I loved his trustworthiness, the way he softened up with Giulia and worked to persuade Robert, the way he helped her and kept up his invalid ruse, were all fantastic. The only thing I didn’t really like about him was how he treated Jack, but that ends up feeling somewhat justified. Also, you can’t go wrong with green eyes and winning smiles (why don’t more heroes have green eyes?). He was perfectly swoony!
Lord Hart (Robert) is the perfect grumpy uncle. I don’t know why but I liked him almost right away.
Ames was kind of thick. Just write the blasted letter man! Giulia was probably much more understanding than I would have been.
Jack is…I’m not going to tell you what I think of Jack. It’ll give too much away!
Amelia, Hazel, and Mabel (The Swans) are such lovely characters! I don’t know what Nick’s problem is. I loved all of them! (Especially for how they brought Giulia into their circle and gave her friendship. It was really perfect.)
I just loved this book and don’t know how I will stand to wait until August to read the sequel!
This is a wonderful read. Giulia is a strong heroine. I love how she grows and learns throughout the book. She gains confidence and knowledge of who she is and what she wants. Nick is a great hero and good foil for Giulia. He sees Giulia, but he also challenges her and challenges how sees herself. The story is a good mixture of romance and mystery.
Absolutely amazing!
Usually it takes about a chapter for me to read in order to really capture my attention but this book caught me in the very first paragraph. From then on I was hooked. And rightly so. This book is absolutely amazing! Very well written. I love the characters. Nick and Giulia (pronounced Julia) were adorable. So romantic! The secondary characters were very entertaining as well, the good and evil ones. Ms Stockton’s descriptions of the time period, the clothing, the scenes and actions were well depicted. I had no problem picturing them in my mind’s eye. There were many twists and turns in this story it keeps you guessing. I thought I had it all figured out but needless to say, Ms Stockton had her own plot to write, not mine thank goodness. You certainly get your money’s worth with this one. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I loved this book!
I fell in love with the writing of Kasey Stockton! The story was so beautiful I couldn’t put the book down! It had everything I enjoy to read about: Well written characters with great chemistry, a story is the Regency era, clean romance, a beautiful castle, and a good mystery. Giulia and Nick were so cute, and I loved all of their interactions. I specially love how Nick didn’t want to ruin Giulia’s reputation (and hurt her emotions) by forcing his feelings on her. I can’t wait to continue the series and read about Giulia’s friends, the Swans!
The Jewels of Halstead Manor (Ladies of Devon #1) by Kasey Stockton — Guilia realizes that everyone in her life has secrets, but she has a limited time to unravel her father’s before it might kill her. After saving the life of her uncle’s heir, she is allowed to stay on as his nurse. Lucky for her, Nick is taken with the angel who saved his life and he is determined to unravel the mysteries surrounding the lady who has snuck into his heart. You are gonna love her new friends! Happy Reading!
An excellent book. Intriguing to read. I could not put it down. The storyline and sub storylines had so many unpredictable twists and turns. It was the perfect mystery. I loved the characters. Especially the grumpy Earl who was our heroine’s uncle. She won him over with her kindness, love and honesty. His heir, our hero, knew that our heroine was special from the moment she found him injured on the side of the road. The H/h had a special connection with each other. But our h had promised to wait for another. When danger returned again it was frightening for our h. It was the last person in the world she ever expected to see. But this person was hunting for a treasure that the person thought the h had. The H/h had their ups and downs but someone was trying to break them apart. Again, it was the last person anyone expected. Surprises, romance, adventure, mysteries and building a family, a home. Which is what the h desperately needed and found in the arms of the H and in the love of her no longer as grumpy uncle. A wonderful story. I highly recommend it. You will not be disappointed.
First book in the wonderful “Ladies of Devon” series. Each book follows the friends as they make their way to lasting love. Read them in order as each story leads to the next!
Loved them all!
Absolutely amazing!
Usually it takes about a chapter for me to read in order to really capture my attention but this book caught me in the very first paragraph. From then on I was hooked. And rightly so. This book is absolutely amazing! Very well written. I love the characters. Nick and Giulia (pronounced Julia) were adorable. So romantic! The secondary characters were very entertaining as well, the good and evil ones. Ms Stockton’s descriptions of the time period, the clothing, the scenes and actions were well depicted. I had no problem picturing them in my mind’s eye. There were many twists and turns in this story it keeps you guessing. I thought I had it all figured out but needless to say, Ms Stockton had her own plot to write, not mine thank goodness. You certainly get your money’s worth with this one. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
I really enjoyed this story. I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration. It was not distracting to the story. I really liked how the author wrote this; a great mix of mystery, character development and romance. The characters were fun to get to know.
This book was really good! I liked the mystery element. The main characters were cute and the chemistry between them was perfect! The only reason I knocked off a star was one character’s part in the mystery was odd to me. But other than that I really enjoyed the book! I even made lemon tarts when I was done with the book because I was craving them, thanks to late night meetings in the kitchens to eat them.
What a delightful read! I always enjoy regency romances with an element of mystery and intrigue and this one has plenty!
Jules was a strong heroine and I enjoyed watching her relationship with her uncle grow and change. There were some plot twists I did not see coming and I ultimately did not guess the villain until just before the big reveal. The romance between Jules and Nick was very sweet and I loved their banter and friendship.
4.5 stars for this great read! Next time I read it I will have to make some lemon tarts.
I really enjoyed the mystery that was weaved through this clean Regency Romance! I listened to the audio version and the narrator was fantastic!
Giulia Pepper was brave to go to her Uncle Robert’s on a letter she received from him. She has never met him and he rejected her father years ago. At first he rejects her too, but she saves his heir Nick Pepper after he’s been shot and he agrees she can stay while she is tending to him. Nick and Giulia discover a mystery as they pour over her father’s journals and search for a missing jeweled key and hidden treasures while worrying about continued threats to their lives. Despite their attraction to each other she thinks Nick is just a selfish flirt and breaker of women’s heart and besides she is sort of promised to her deceased father’s employee. Giulia had quite an adventurous life traveling around the world and living off her father’s tales. I was surprised she would be content to stay in one place with a simpler life. At first I wasn’t sure about the ladies in the village she made friends with, but they each have their own challenges to deal with.
The British narrator has a rich accent and moves well from one character to the next with inflections in all the right places. She did well to distinguish the character’s voices so your could tell who it was even before she told you. I held my breath during the suspenseful moments and smiling and laughing at the sweet ones.
This novel is a page-turner! If you want romance, suspense, and humor all tied up in one neat bundle, you will love this book.
This is such a delightful story filled with intrigue, mystery, and romance, I found myself immersed in the book until the very end. I just could not put it down! Ms Stockton did an amazing job with her descriptions and her writings style is so well put together that the story pulls you in and keeps you captivated until you finish. The plot was intriguing and exciting with many twists along the way that really keep you guessing. It’s a very proper romance with a bit of mystery sprinkled in! Giulia and Nicholas are a lovely couple. I fell in love with them right away and couldn’t wait to see how things turned out. Their witty interactions always had me smiling. A beautiful and enchanting story all the way through – I am really looking forward to the next book!
I received a complimentary advanced reader’s copy and am voluntarily giving my honest opinion.
A great read! Mystery, intrigue, family drama and new friends!
Mysteries:
1) who shot Nick
2) who shot at Giulia?
3) the key- what is it and to what does it belong?
4) why is her mother back?
5) is her mother Her Mother?
6) what is the full story behind her father’s leaving home?
7) why is the tower locked? What is it hiding?
A good skeleton upon which the story has been built:
Giulia is returning to the hereditary home after her father’s death. Alone, uncertain of her reception, Giulia, she stumbles onto a shot man for whom she’d renders some basic first aid before going for help.
I liked the story and how the mysteries build in it. The villain comes as a total surprise (at least to me) and the resolution of all the mysteries leaves nothing “hanging.” The H is a reformed rake and proves it before the heroine accepts his overatures. A clean romance that all ages will enjoy.