Charlotte Betts

This is a wonderful debut novel, set in London in 1665 in the midst of the bubonic plague. Not a scenario I expected to enjoy, but the writing is excellent, with just enough detail to paint a vivid picture of the tragic, often ghastly scenarios, without gratuitous gore.

Susannah is the daughter of an apothecary in an age when women did not generally work outside the home; her life changes when her widowed father decides to marry again. There's a gentle love story underlying the whole of the show more book, with jealousies, betrayals and suspicions, but there's a whole lot more too. Not just the background of 17th century London in the grip of plague, although that was very well done and brought the time alive to me in a way that history lessons could never do; I also began to understand the real dangers of childbirth and unscrupulous medics, and also learned first-hand (or so it seemed) about how African slaves were perceived, even encouraged in this era.

Possibly a little long-winded in places, but overall an excellent read. Highly recommended. I'd give it four and a half stars if I could. show less

1665, Suzannah Leyton lives and works with her father in his apothercary shop. Her farther announces that he is to remarry a lady who already has children. It's clear that Suzannah and her new stepmother are not going to get on. However Suzannah gets a proposal of marriage from the charming Henry Savage which seems like a way out.

I liked this book and quite enjoyed seeing what was going to become of Suzannah. The basis of the story has been told many times so did sort of become predictable. show more What made the story more interesting was the time period.

The story of Suzannah is set in the time of the plague and leading up to the great fire of London. This made the story more interesting than what it may have been. Without the historical elements to the story it would have been just an ordinary romance. I would have liked perhaps a few more pages about the fire as this was just a short section towards the end. The ending was sugary and in true romance style all well that ends well.

Overall an good read set against an interesting part of history that kept my interest. show less

La peste e la pandemia, cosa c'è di più attuale? Se poi, verso la fine del libro, scopri che raffreddore e febbre possono essere sintomi e che la malattia si diffonde nei luoghi più degradati, dove regnano la sporcizia e il sovraffollamento, il parallelismo, certamente non voluto dall'autrice, è inevitabile.
Fra colpi di scena ed equivoci vari, la storia d'amore di William e Susannah si sviluppa in una Londra devastata dalla peste e dall'incendio. Temi di fondo sono l'emancipazione e lo show more schiavismo. show less

The year is 1792 and young Madeleine Moreau travelers to France after a tragedy to find out more about her father's family. She is not alone, she travelers with her friend Sophie who for her own personal reasons need to go away from her family. Also, with them is Comte Etienne d'Aubery who offers them to stay with him in France since the country is in turmoil.

If I have to read a romance book is a historical romance probably my first chose. But that probably quite logical since I find show more historical books generally interesting. Especially if the subject is interesting and I have always found the French Revolution interesting.

The Chateau on the Lake was a pleasant surprise because the story never got too cheesy. I can't stand romance novels with a cheesy story or with characters that are not believable. But the story in The Chateau on the Lake was really good, from the beginning to the end and the characters were well done and not flat.

There was a love triangle between Madeline, Etienne and his Jean-Luc, an old friend of Etienne who works at Chateau Mirabelle. But the love triangle never got really frustrating irritating to read about. Mostly because Madeleine's feelings for Etieene was hard to miss, at least I thought so.
I liked this historical romance very much, I especially liked that it took place during the French Revolution which meant that both Madeline and Sophie had to be careful not to reveal that they are English and not French. That made the story so much more fascinating. Madeleine and Sophie do what they can to blend in and build up a life and at the same time they must be very careful not to reveal themselves to the people around that doesn't know the truth.

Charlotte Betts has written a wonderful book and I'm looking forward to reading more books by her. It was really refreshing to read a romance book with a strong female character and an engaging story.

Thank you Piatkus for providing me with a free copy for an honest review! show less