When a headstrong beauty clashes with the man she once loved, she’s determined that the spirit of Christmas will open his mind, heal his heart, and perhaps give them a reason to celebrate—for many seasons to come . . . As far as Ethan Fortescue is concerned, his family’s seat in Cornwall is only a source of torment, one that he’s managed to avoid for two years. Now that he’s the Earl of Devon … to avoid for two years. Now that he’s the Earl of Devon however, he can close the door on his haunted past by locking up the cursed place for good. But upon arriving at Cleves Court, he is shocked to find the house aglow with Christmas celebrations, filled with music and laughter. And right at the center of the holiday madness is the infuriating—and eternally tempting—Theodosia Sheridan . . .
Thea has always loved the town of Cleves, especially at the holidays. As a girl, she also loved Ethan with all her heart. It’s painful to see how his brother’s tragic death has embittered him. Still, she will do anything to make sure the town thrives—even if it means going to battle with Ethan to save Cleves Court. Now she has only until Twelfth Night to make a Christmas miracle happen—by proving that his childhood home can be a source of love and wonder. But before long, she finds herself wondering if she’s trying to save the house—or its handsome master…
more
A delightfully entertaining holiday read. It is full of sweet love and redemption. While this book doesn’t feature any of the Sutherland’s, it does feature one of the characters we met in the last book, Lady Charlotte’s First Love. I liked Ethan in that book even though he was somewhat presented as a bad boy. You knew he had a good soul because of the way he stood up for Lady Charlotte. I was so glad to visit with him again in this book and learn his story.
You just have to like and smile at Ethan Fortesque, Earl of Devon, from the beginning. It is almost Christmas, he’s in his cups and he’s on his way from London to his country seat, Cleves Court in Cornwall. He’s thinking about all of the bad things that have happened in his life and especially about his wastrel father and he has this conversation with himself. “Too much . . . . earling? Earlishness . . . ? Lordshippery … .?” You can tell he has a good sense of humor.
Ethan had vowed never to set foot in Cleves Court again. He wanted to let it molder into the ground, to put it and everything in it from his mind forever. He thought his father had closed it up two years ago just before he died, but has just recently learned that it had been left it up and running. Ethan doesn’t care that it is almost Christmas – he wants it closed and closed now!
He’s tired and cold as he approaches his childhood home. He expects to find his old housekeeper and maybe one or two other servants in residence. Imagine his surprise when he arrives to a brightly lit home with carriages in front and the sound of Christmas carols wafting out to him. Well, he’ll put a stop to that right away – how dare they have a party in his house, without his permission.
Theodosia (Thea) Sheridan, has loved Ethan since they were children. She wants, above all else, to help him learn to deal with his pain and to learn that he cannot run from it. She knows that closing Cleves Court won’t quiet his demons – they’ll follow him wherever he goes if he doesn’t deal with them and make peace with them. Her challenge is to get him to stay at Cleves Court long enough to realize that and to make his peace.
You’ll meet three delightful imps in this story – Henry and George who are ten-year-old twins and Martha their six-year-old sister. They are orphans who are staying at Cleves Court while the orphanage is being repaired. These three have impishness and mischievousness fine-tuned to an art. Maybe they are just what Ethan needs to push him along the way to deal with his ghosts.
I hope you’ll give this lovely book a read. It is so much lighter and sweeter than the other two books, Lady Eleanor’s Seventh Suitor and Lady Charlotte’s First Love, in the series. It truly is a lovely holiday read.
“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”
Christmas and historical romance. How could you go wrong? When I saw this title available for review, I knew it was right up my alley and jumped at the chance to read it. And I’m glad I did. This is the first of Anna Bradley’s books I’ve read, but I’m going to have to rectify that. This is the third book is a series, but I didn’t feel lost. In fact, I’m not entirely sure how this book fits into a series… but on to my review of this book.
Ethan is one of those heroes that was really hard to like in the beginning. He has demons from his past that are plaguing him, but they’re slowly revealed. So, his early behavior didn’t win me over and I was really wondering what I was getting into. As his past was revealed, I began to understand and cheer him along. Considering this was a short story, I found there to be good character development and growth,
Then we have Thea. She’s a strong willed woman. She and Ethan were childhood friends and she’s surprised to have him come home. And she’s determined to “fix” him. Thea was definitely easier to like since her backstory wasn’t shrouded in mystery and she was more of an open book. I won’t say that Thea’s character wasn’t as developed, but she definitely didn’t have the same growth as Ethan.
The romance between the two relied heavily on their history. There wasn’t really any wooing or that “dance” around each other than typically happens in a romance. In this, I was a little let down. I felt that they both kinda had this epiphany that they’ve always loved the other and *bam*, they’re in love. I’m not sure if this was due to the fact it’s a short story and a focus on character development.
All that said, I did enjoy the story. If you’re a fan of historical romances set at Christmas time, you may want to check this one out.
My review originally posted at Romancing the Book
You might remember Lord Devon from the previous books in the Sutherland Sisters series. He was thought to have murdered his brother to gain his money, land, and title. The ton whispered about him and even feared him, although Charlotte Sutherland was not among those who thought that not that it’s pertinent to this particular book. Lord Devon was wildly wicked and wasn’t well-received by anyone. Carry that reputation over to this book and it’s almost believable.
Ethan Fortescue is the Lord of Devon. He has to go back to his childhood home of Cleves Court to shut down the house since his father didn’t do it. It’s Christmas. He’s already aggravated that he has to do this and has been tipping his flask pretty heavily when the house comes into sight and sees all the lights and hears the music coming from it when he was expecting most of the servants to be gone and the place to be dark. He literally crashed the party and was greeted by two small boys who didn’t give two hoots if he was a lord. He demanded to know who was in charge and what a surprise he got when he discovered Thea, his childhood friend, was holding the festivities and she didn’t have his permission.
From there, he is a royal pain in the backside. He’s ridiculously spoiled with his temper, wanting to sleep late in the mornings, having meals delivered to his room when it would have been so much easier on everyone if he’d gotten off his high horse and joined them in the kitchen. He ran Thea ragged with his demands because no other servants would wait on him, but she hung in there because she wanted to keep the house open.
These two were so in love with each other and, unlike some other books of this trope (childhood friends-to-lovers, mixed classes), these two didn’t see their relationship as impossible for the regular reasons. Yes, he was a lord and she was a servant, but they were raised together with his brother Andrew, who’d passed away. Ethan and Andrew’s mother treated Thea as if she was one of her own children, yet Thea ended up being a servant. Odd, but it worked for me. This whole book worked for me. What made their relationship impossible was their opposing views on the death of Andrew. Stand back, folks, my heart is going to burst.
Thea desperately wants to stay in the house. Ethan wants to go back to London. He hates the place so much. It’s filled with horrible memories and ghosts; he can’t get out of there fast enough. But she’s there and his heart is working against his desire to leave.
So much happens in this little book. There are a lot of feels, so much tension, and more than one steamy scene. The love between Thea and Ethan was tangible and flew off the screen. Throw three orphans into the mix, some tragedy, forgiveness, and giving of oneself to the other and you have this take-my-breath-away book.
I loved everything about it. I loved the characters, the story, the events, and especially how Ethan clawed his way out of his grief and guilt. So good!
Easy, easy five stars.
*This book is part of a series, but can be read as a stand-alone novel
Ethan Fortescue, the Earl of Devon is on his way to Cleves Court, his family’s seat in Cornwall. His intention is to permanently close it up. Cleves Court arouses too many memories for Ethan. Although his family spend many happy times there, he is trying to forgot, run away from the unhappy ones. One too many tragedies occurred there, his father leaving, his mother and brother dying there. That is Christmas makes his journey even more trying. Just think of his horror when he hears the Twelve Days of Christmas, a greatly disliked Carol being played in what seems to be a full blown an Christmas party. It only heightens when he comes face to face with two very misbehaving orphans. Just what is going on in what he expected to be an almost empty, falling down house. Finding that his childhood sweetheart, Theodosia Sheridan is responsible is more than he can handle. His attitude antagonizes everyone from the servants, the orphans and even level headed Theo. Can Theo get Ethan to remember the good times with his family, but accepting the bad ones? Can Theo stop him from closing up the house? Will they admit that they always loved one another? This read has some very nice characters, especially the children. They definitely add a bit of humor to what would have been a sad tale. I do hope they appear in follow-up books. I received this eBook from NetGalley for an honest review.
One of my Christmas reads. Helps to get into the holiday spirit.
I liked it.
Once you sorted out the large number of characters this was a very entertaining story.
I’ve very much enjoy Ms. Bradley’s stories and this one is no different. Ethan Fortescue, Earl of Devon, is a man haunted by his past. Cleves Court, the family home in Cornwall, is nothing to him now. Tragedy there has erased every fond memory he’d ever had of the place and he’s determined to close it down and never set foot in it again. That’s it until he arrives to find Theodosia Sheridan, his childhood friend Thea, is now housekeeper of the grand home and she’s determined to keep the place open while helping Ethan to remember the good times they had here.
Ms. Bradley has a way of letting the reader into the painful memories of his brother’s Andrew death and his mother’s passing of a broken heart. Ethan suffers from nightmares and they only intensify the longer he’s at Cleves Court. Thea is a wonderful character, although I would have liked to see her get angry at Ethan’s horrendous behavior once in a while. They both witnessed the horrific deaths, but Thea worked through her grief and Ethan has not. Even though this wasn’t a very long book, Ms. Bradley skillfully weaves a intense and wonderful story. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
As far as Ethan Fortescu, Lord Demon is concerned, his family’s seat in Cornwall is only a source of torment, one that he’s managed to avoid for two years. He’s now the Earl of Devon & so he can close the door on his haunted past by locking up the cursed place for good. But upon arriving at Cleves Court, he is shocked to find the house aglow with Christmas celebrations, filled with music and laughter. And right at the centre of the holiday madness is the infuriating and eternally tempting Theodosia Sheridan who’s now the housekeeper & she has always loved the town of Cleves, especially at the holidays. As a girl, she also loved Ethan with all her heart. It’s painful to see how his brother Andrew’s tragic death has embittered him. Still, she will do anything to make sure the town thrives even if it means going to battle with Ethan to save Cleves Court. Now she has only until Twelfth Night to make a Christmas miracle happen or Ethan will depart for good.
A heart warming story, we met Ethan in Lady Charlotte’s First Love & I’m glad he’s had his HEA. Ethan & Thea have loved each other since they were children & shared a kiss when they were teenagers. Ethan needs to remember the good & happy times at Cleves rather than just the heartache & Thea tries everything she can to do this plus she’s aided by three orphans who worm their way into Ethan’s heart. This is the third in the series but doesn’t feature any Sutherlands & it could very easily be read on its own. The characters are well developed Ethan changes from the haughty Earl to be the man who cares about others
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read
Beautiful short and sweet story about facing our fears. Funny but provocative enough to teach us so many lessons like love wins with patience and belief and faith. Great read!
Twelfth Night by Anna Bradley
Sutherland Sisters #3
Not really the story of a Sutherland sister although Ethan, the hero of this book, did appear in a previous book and I liked him quite a bit upon meeting him then. I have to say he was definitely unlikable, at least at first, in this novella but it was easy to warm up to him as the story progressed.
Ethan heads home to close down one of his estates only to find someone he knew well in the house and holding a party…and according to my notes…he behaves as a “pompous jerk” when first he steps into the room. With the housekeeper a young woman he knew well and held in his mind as his “first love” loving the house he only holds horrible memories of the two definitely butt-heads as they spend time under the same roof. The question is whether or not he can overcome his beliefs and guilt related to the past and if so move forward into a positive future…and if he can…will it be with Thea, his housekeeper or with someone else entirely.
Enjoyable holiday romance that does end on a happy note for all – I would like to thank NetGalley and Kensington – Lyrical Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.
3-4 Stars