Barbara Dawson Smith

Reviewed by: Allison
Book provided by: book provided by the publisher for review
Review originally posted at Romancing the Book:

My favorite fairy tale of all time is Cinderella, so I was excited about reading If the Slipper Fits by Olivia Drake. Based loosely on the tale of the lonely Cinderella, we meet Annabelle Quinn on the day her life changes for the better. Abandoned as a child at a school for young women, she grew up and became a teacher, but longed for adventure and a family to call show more her own.

Sent to the wilds of Cornwall to be governess to an orphaned eight year old duke, Annabelle embarks on a life of quite unlike her past at the school.

Told from Annabelle’s and Lord Simon’s viewpoints, we see this unlikely couple as they meet and feel an instant attraction to each other. But Simon is bitter and completely shuns the young nephew in his charge except for a once-weekly recitation of what the young duke has learned in his studies.

Annabelle quickly sees that not only does young Nicholas need love, but so does Simon. She must fight her growing attraction to him so she’s not sent away from her young charge.

For all that Annabelle is raised by the teachers in the school, she has a wisdom and a love inside her that comes from somewhere deep inside her. She is headstrong and willing to speak her mind on the risk of losing her hard-won position in the household. I quite admired her doing verbal battle with Lord Simon in order to do what is right for Nicholas, and for the tragic Lord himself.

The author did an excellent job in describing the wilds of Cornwall, and I found myself longing to stand beside Annabelle, watching the churning sea. The love scenes were sensual without being overtly steamy.

This is not just a romance, but a mystery as well. Ancient treasure, attempted murder, and kidnapping all come into play in this story. I must admit I had the enemy figured out, but then a devious twist was thrown into the mix. By the time the book ended, I was shocked and very pleasantly surprised. But I won’t tell you what happens, you’ll just have to read and enjoy it for yourself.

This is a must-read for lovers of fairy tales and Historical Romance.
I look forward to the next in the series, to see who the lucky young lady will be to wear the lovely ruby-red slippers. show less

An unconventional governess, an eccentric duke, and an unruly four-year-old charge. It’s a delightful Cinderella story with a twist.

Miss Tessa James wants to be a hatmaker and Guy Whitby, the seventh Duke of Carlin, is going to help her get her dream. He just doesn’t know it yet. Tessa lost her mother when she was six, ran away from an unsavory orphanage at the age of fourteen, and quit her job in a millinery shop for a tyrant who has no sense of style when it comes to women’s hats. show more But she has a plan. A plan to apply for a governess job for a duke’s wild-child so she can find the man who fathered her and get a loan for her own millinery shop. However, there are a few challenges with her plan. She is a baseborn commoner who has to convince the duke she is a governess. She is falling for her employer and his precocious daughter. And someone is attempting to murder the duke. Apparently, real life is no fairytale.

Guy Whitby, a botanist who has traveled the world, did not want the dukedom, but due to unfortunate demises of the heirs before him, he is now one of the richest men in England with an unmanageable child who hates him and a governess with a questionable background. When the young Tessa arrives at his door, he comes close to sending her away until she proves that her firm, but gentle ways with his daughter, Sophy, is working very well as she gradually repairs the tentative father/daughter rift created during his travels abroad. Once Tessa confesses her true intentions to find her father, Guy is angry about Tessa’s ruse, but sympathizes with her predicament and slowly falls for her beauty, spunk, and clever audacity to dupe a duke. However, something is amiss when his study is ransacked and an attempt on his life is made. Rumor has it the Curse of Carlin has made it to his door.

Tessa and Guy are two atypical nonconformists in a society that puts status before everything. Tessa refuses to stop looking for her father and is hell-bent on owning her own millinery shop even when her circumstances change for the better. And Guy loves being a botanist and prefers staying home to write his book rather than going to balls and social gatherings. These two are definitely made for each other with their unshakeable resolve, their love for Sophy, and their great passion for each other.

In addition to the romance, there are some surprising secrets and revenge plots going on that makes for a stimulating read. As well as another romantic backstory that I suspect will appear in another book in the series.

As for supporting characters, my favorite is Guy’s daughter, Sophy who is a little imp badly in need of a steady life with the people she loves and it is a pleasure to see her start to interact with her father due to Tessa’s careful and kind maneuvering.

Overall, this is an entertaining standalone book in the series that includes subterfuge, intrigue, and a forbidden romance.

Thank you to Ms. Drake for giving me the opportunity to read this book with no expectation of a positive review. show less

This book annoyed me with its anachronisms. I don't care if a girl's family is 'in trade' or if she was raised in India, there is no way during regency times that she would be sneaking in and out of unmarried gentlemen's houses trying to recover lost goods. Especially as she was trying to be proper and not destroy her reputation (and that of her family). Regency romances that can't stay with the social mores of the time annoy me SO MUCH.

I enjoyed this well-written book. It is a lovely second-chances love story with flawed but likable main characters and a ‘perfidious peahen’ of a villain. Overall, I loved the story, but I did think that some of the middle section could have been pared down and that space reallocated to flesh out the end because I thought the end was a little abrupt.

Abigail (Abby) Jane Linton is just weeks away from her thirtieth birthday. This upcoming birthday has her considering her life – she is show more unmarried, has no prospects and is at the beck and call of all of her much older siblings and their families. At this very moment, they are all around her loudly discussing her future – which of them she should live with, what she can do for them, which of them needs her services the most. Not one of them has asked her where she wants to live or what she wants to do. This will be her future – going from one home to the other being the unpaid companion, caregiver, nursemaid – whatever. Now, she loves her family unconditionally – and they love her, but she just has to have at least one adventure in her life. So, amidst all of the family arguments, she interrupts and announces that she is going to apply for the open governess position at Rothwell Court.

Rothwell Court is the property of Maxwell Bryce, the Duke of Rothwell, although he hasn’t lived there for fifteen years. He’s actually only visited there once, very, very briefly in those fifteen years. However, it is the home of the duke’s much younger sister – Gwendolyn (Gwen). Gwen has spent most of her life living at Rothwell Court with only the company of her governess, an old aunt who pays little attention to her and the servants.

Maxwell (Max) Bryce’s father whisked Max and his newborn sister away from Rothwell Court when his wife died. Max was sixteen and he was in love with the girl from the neighboring estate – Abby, who was fifteen. They had a tiff on the day of his mother’s funeral and they never saw or spoke to each other again for fifteen years. Each had promised to write and Max had told Abby that he would come back and marry her when he reached his majority. Each kept their promise about writing letters, but neither received any letters, so each thought the other to be faithless. Max’s father preached at Max constantly about not falling in love because love only made a man weak and brought him nothing but pain and heartache. Max took that advice to heart and became one of the biggest rakes in London.

When Max unexpectedly visits Rothwell Court and finds Abby there – sparks fly – and not necessarily the good kind. Max has brought several friends from London and one of them is the woman he wants to become his mistress. Abby can’t believe it and constantly takes him to task about exposing Gwen to that woman. Max and Abby still feel that strong attraction that was there when they were 15 and 16, but both fight those feelings – especially Abby because she doesn’t want any part of the debauched man Max had become. So, I loved watching the two of them grow and come back to the sweet love they once had for each other. I did think it took a bit too long to get there, but when it happened, it was lovely.

I recommend this book and hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did.

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"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." show less