Nathan Grant is the embodiment of everything that frightens Sara. Which is why she can't understand why the handsome but reclusive and gruff man is so fascinating to her. When Sara decides it's time to take a chance and experience all that life has to offer, Nathan is the first person she thinks of.
Will Sara's walk on the wild side ruin her chances at a simple, happy life? Or has she just opened the door to a once-in-a-lifetime chance at passion?
Comment: This is the third novella in the Governess Club series by Ellie MacDonald. It follows the friendship of four young women who worked as governesses and who have opened a school together.
Sara is the quietest of the friends and a sweet soul. She had a demanding childhood as a vicar's daughter and her mother was terribly domineering and always accusing her of being close to sin. This shaped up Sara's personality and she prefers to not call attention to herself, which is why she has never really confessed to her friends that teaching isn't a vocation for her. She is hopeful the young vicar might propose, though, because she believes she would be a good vicar's wife, after all she already helps the community as best as she can. What she wasn't prepared for was the arrival of Nathan Grant, the new neighbor, and how much tempted she would feel to be adventurous if he is with her...
The books in this series are more novella sized than full length and in a way this can be seen negatively because more pages might help the subjects to be developed better, which is often the issue with this. The vast majority of novellas I have read seem to be quite limited in what they achieve, unless they are part of lengthier series, from which we can already have enough information to sustain what we see happening in the new/next one.
In regards to this installment, having read the others, the sequence of how things are developed isn't hard to follow, but I think a new reader would not find things to be that hard, for the author does include the necessary to make sense to certain information shared. The thing is, the stories on themselves are simply too quick and some situations are unrealistic for the type of setting we are given. Meaning that there are historical romances that are incredibly anachronistic or just too focused on improbable things that feel great to read. In these stories, i just don't think the author achieved that perfect balance.
Sara is a likable and sweet person, no doubt on it and I can understand why she has such a reserved nature and personality and why she doesn't like confrontation. I can also see why she would not be daring and why she would prefer things she is happy to do instead of pushing for something else, as her friends advise her to try sometimes. But, of course, there is also a part of anyone who would love to try different things too, everyone has dreams, and Sara's aren't that high all things compared.
Therefore, my biggest issue, apart from the lack of pages to properly develop the subjects, is how unrealistic Sara's behavior is once knowing Nathan challenges her perspective of life. I mean, I can accept that she would be tempted to think about her dreams differently, but the whole "teach me about being a woman" idea is just too out of place in such an historical setting, considering her personality, her timidity and the social pressures on how wrong her "adventure" with Nathan would be, even more so when we know she and her friends had a reputation to uphold.
I suppose something like did happen for real people in the 19th century but it just doesn't seem realistic for this her character. This means that, to me, the romance wasn't really believable, even after they say the right things in a scene one could label as romantic... plus, Nathan's character was not developed well either, and while his attitude in regards to Sara might make sense (why she would be special to me) I just didn't buy his change of mind.
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