Julie Klassen - The Silent Governess

Believing herself guilty of a crime, Olivia Keene flees her home, eventually stumbling upon a grand estate where an elaborate celebration is in progress. But all is not as joyous as it seems.
Lord Bradley has just learned a terrible secret, which, if exposed, will change his life forever. When he glimpses a figure on the grounds, he fears a spy or thief has overheard his devastating news. He is stunned to discover the intruder is a scrap of a woman with her throat badly injured. Fearing she will spread his secret, he gives the girl a post and confines her to his estate. As Olivia and Lord Bradley's secrets catch up with them, will their hidden pasts ruin their hope of finding love? 

Comment: I've been interested in this book for a long time. This past September, I was given this as a birthday present and I was quite happy to finally have a book that probably would be one of those I'd never hurry to get but eventually would. I'm glad to have gotten it much sooner than I expected!

This book is focused on Olivia Keene, a young woman who is traveling to find a post as a teacher. The problem is that Olivia is actually running away from a situation that makes her both fearful and regretful and she only knows she needs to arrive at her destination so her mother can reach her later on.

On the way, Olivia stumbles upon a place that offers her a bit of help when she needs and before moving along, she decides to visit the grounds of a property setting things up for a party. Everything is beautiful but Olivia inadvertently hears a conversation she shouldn't. Before escaping the property fully, Olivia is captured and attacked and later on, saved. The responsible for the house then offers Olivia a post so she can keep quiet about the secret she heard but as the time goes by and new things happen, Olivia starts to be fond of everyone and even the lord of the house starts to become someone she cares about. But Olivia is running from a secret as well...

This is not the first book I read by the author but I think it became the one I liked best so far.

I really appreciated how rich and detailed this story seemed to be and how interested I felt through it all. 

The plot isn't that unlikely to have been close to reality even if some details could be seen as a bit too imaginative.

What I liked best was how sweet and captivating the stay of Olivia at the new house looked like. She was only the help but she provided a very good aid to everyone. Her interactions with most characters were always interesting and each chapter seemed to have useful content.

I liked Olivia as well. As a child she would impress others with her math skill, encouraged by her father but one day things changed and Olivia has always had a different perspective on her relationship with her father because of that. How interesting it is to realize we can't truly rely in our childhood memories when it comes to what others feel as well, things change with time...

The relationship between Olivia and lord Bradley, her love interest, is cute. Nothing really happens except a kiss at the end, since this is an inspirational story. Obviously, however, we are supposed to focus on the rightness or the credibility of their feelings and the fact they don't embark on something before they have the certainty they are taking the right step. I liked their interactions and how small scenes and gestures implied a huge meaning every time they talked or thought about the other.

Lord Bradley has a complicated situation going on and I did feel for him, for the fact he was worried and wanted to do the right thing. The plot devices around him and his personality (because he was fair and wanted to make things right if needed) provided interesting conflicts and problems from being too easily solved or ignored. I liked the emotional aspect of this, and how the male protagonist had as much issues to solve as the heroine but he wasn't an "alpha type" trying to do things his own way. Again, an inspirational where the hero is meant to think about his attitude and so on, but the romance/emotional content was well balanced, I'd say.

There are some twists, I wouldn't say out of this world, but they were suitable for the plot. Other things not as much but nothing is ever perfect anyway. I particularly didn't appreciate how a certain issue ended up being explained but...

All in all, this was very good, entertaining, I had a great time reading. This makes me more eager to read the other titles by the author too, even those I wasn't thinking about getting.

Grade: 8/10

Julie Klassen - The Tutor's Daughter

Emma Smallwood, determined to help her widowed father regain his spirits when his academy fails, agrees to travel with him to the distant Cornwall coast, to the cliff-top manor of a baronet and his four sons. But after they arrive and begin teaching the younger boys, mysterious things begin to happen and danger mounts. Who does Emma hear playing the pianoforte, only to find the music room empty? Who sneaks into her room at night? Who rips a page from her journal, only to return it with a chilling illustration?
The baronet's older sons, Phillip and Henry, wrestle with problems--and secrets--of their own. They both remember Emma Smallwood from their days at her father's academy. She had been an awkward, studious girl. But now one of them finds himself unexpectedly drawn to her.
When the suspicious acts escalate, can the clever tutor's daughter figure out which brother to blame... and which brother to trust with her heart?

Comment: After having read another book by the author five years ago, I found myself intrigued by this book's blurb and I added it to my TBR list. Months after that, I finally decided to read it. In terms of writing there aren't many differences but I can say I sort of enjoyed reading this one a bit more.

In this book we meet and follow father and daughter to a manor in Cornwall so that the father, a teacher, can go and tutor the younger sons of a family who has sent their older boys years ago to the teacher's academy. The teacher has found it weird the younger boys weren't sent but after a letter exchanging, he is invited to tutor them and Emma, his daughter goes as well.

When they arrive at the house, however, it seems they were not being expected and from then on, there is an aura of weirdness and secrets Emma can't seem to put behind. At the same time, she is confronted with the older boys, now men, who were part of her childhood and growing up and how she feels about both of them: Phillip, the friend she always trusted on and Henry, the boy who mocked her and who made pranks...

I liked the overall idea of this book and there is certainly an atmosphere of secrecy that makes this book feel almost gothic and dark. But it never gets to that despite one or two elements that clearly are present to give us that impression.

The plot intrigued at me first and although this is a book also labeled as "christian fiction", meaning no explicit sex nor any sort of intimacy scenes, I think it provided enough interest and situations that one can easily overlook the lack os obvious romance scenes.

I think the author did an interesting job in depicting every character. The main characters are solid and in every scene they appear it's obvious how much integrity they really have and why they can be trustworthy. This is something one would expect of course, them being protagonists.

It's the secondary characters that really make the story move along. Those are the ones with the secrets, the hidden motivations... it's interesting that we are led to believe somethings and after all the explanation is simple. Some secrets aren't difficult to find out but others can be trickier, not because it's such a complex plot but (in my opinion at least) some of the secrets just arise from situations I think were used to add some drama. I'm thinking, for instance, on the reason why a certain character was found so often near the house when apparently he had no business being there. The explanation is good but well, he didn't really have to be there, you know...

As for Emma, as a protagonist, I liked her, I liked how she acts through the book and I think the love interest is too obvious for it to not simply be part of the blurb. Emma also puts herself in some situations which seem rather pointless but I suppose something would have to happen for the story to move along... the fact the POV isn't just Emma's is interesting but she is the biggest "narrator" if one can say so when the narrative is in the third person. I'd liked to have others' POV more often. Of course, this allowed the story to keep that sort of secretive aura.

I just think that Emma wasn't always as strongly present both in the story and in terms of personality as she could but well..she was just a guest at the house anyway, so...

At the end of things I believe the author has managed to keep the story simple for the most part, which makes it look better structured too. Some themes used were interesting but they were not explored to the maximum and in one hand I guess this was a good thing, it didn't become too boring to read. The Christian fiction part was also not too obvious nor preaching and that is also good; one can interpret at their own will.

All in all, I think the plot and the execution feel a little more interesting and solid than int he other book I've read. Even the romance feels better done, when comparing. I'll try another book to see if this is a matter of choosing the right book or if the author is a hit and miss for me. This one I liked best and any reader who likes historicals would find good reasons to appreciate it too.

Grade: 7/10

Julie Klassen - The Girl in the Gatehouse

Mariah Aubrey lives in seclusion with her secrets. Will an ambitious captain uncover her identity...and her hidden past?
Banished from the only home she's ever known, Mariah Aubrey hides herself away in an abandoned gatehouse on a distant relative's estate. There she supports herself and her loyal servant the only way she knows how by writing novels in secret.
When Captain Matthew Bryant leases the estate, he is intrigued by the beautiful girl in the gatehouse. But there are many things he doesn't know about this beguiling outcast. Will he risk his plans and his heart for a woman shadowed by scandal?
Intriguing, mysterious, and romantic, The Girl in the Gatehouse takes readers inside the life of a secret authoress at a time when novel-writing was considered improper for ladies and the smallest hint of impropriety could change a woman's life forever.

Comment: I've had this book in my TBR list since last year. I don't even want to know how long many others have been there...
Hum, so this is an historical story labeled Christian fiction, which means it's all about the romance and the character's personalities and not the physical part of things.
I loved the blurb the minute I read it. But I confess I thought it would be much more emotional, I mean, it has emotion, but I wish it would be more passionate too..we can have passionate books without sex, this was what I hoped for.
The story is about Mariah, we first meet her when she's leaving her home, for some unknown reason at the time, to go live alone with a companion because her family doesn't want her there. We get the feeling she's done something bad. Mariah goes to live in a gatehouse in her aunt's estate, near the poorhouse, where many people live, including some that are key to the plot. Then, a man leases the estate in hopes to win another woman's affection, but there's a relationship happening and developing between Mariah and him, but Mariah is still afraid her past might ruin their friendship.
Captain Bryant wants public recognition of his value so he can be worthy of the lady he wants to marry and for his father to be proud of him. What he didn't count on was the mysterious girl in the gatehouse and how, with time, she would mean so much to him.
Well, in terms of plot, the story is very appealing. We want to see what happens next, there's a certain eagerness to find out some secrets and to see if some characters found out about Mariah or about other mysteries in the story. But considering the type of story, I think it's very obvious what happened to Mariah and how the book will end. The beauty of it it's in the descriptions, the way the author has written the story in such a way it becomes beautiful.
But like I mentioned, I feel it lacks some passion..it's all so...tidy, so organized. Beautiful and sweet, but too sweet. I would like to see the main couple express a bit more of feeling, of passion and not only in their inner thoughts. I get why is so, but it would make tis book more intense, which I think would benefit it.
Some scenes in the book are memorable for me, tough. Like when a group of people make fun of Mariah, I felt for her and having been mocked myself, the way she reacted felt real and emotional, for once. Also when young Maggie asks old Jeremiah why he has a hook instead of a hand, his answer touched me. So, in the small things many details bring life to the story, it's just the overall feeling that feels lacking.
In the end of the book more than one subplot is solved. To be honest, some things were a little bit exaggerated, I don't think coincidences happen like that although the explanations are very well presented. But everything together feels a bit over the top.
There's a HEA of course and I was glad to see it, to see the protagonists talk and defend themselves and even ask for forgiveness. It was a sweet touch to the story.

I'm not sure I'll read another book by the author so soon. There's another one, very well reviewed by some blogers and I'm curious, but my idea of lack of passion might not be the same as anyone else's so...thoughts to consider...