Book Blurb:
A Sweet Victorian Historical Romance
Matchmaking Gone Wrong
The clock is ticking. Widowed Dr. Rafe Reynolds will soon be left alone when his daughter and favourite backgammon opponent weds.
Shortly before the Christmas holidays, Rafe's daughter Ellen and meddling sister Mary convince Rafe to let them find him a suitable wife. He reluctantly agrees, but insists that love doesn't signify at his age, and ladies who are loud and demanding need not apply.
Mrs. Lavinia Fitzroy, exuberant widow and old friend, is bold, well-connected and entirely uninterested in marriage for herself. She is just the woman to help find the gruff doctor a wife, but finding the perfect match for Rafe proves to be as thorny as winter holly. One minute everything is going as smoothly as clockwork, and the next, it's gone to the dogs!
Will Lavinia discover the perfect bride...one who ticks all the boxes for the doctor? Only time will tell!
Book Four in the Cherrybrook year, "Time Will Tell" may also be read alone. With older protagonists, it's a later-in-life romance. Fans of classic Regency romances by Jane Austen or Georgette Heyer will enjoy this story.
"A Year in Cherrybrook” is a book series of sweet late Regency/early Victorian era romances. Four light-hearted, character-driven love stories take place in spring, summer, fall and winter in or around the charming English country village of Cherrybrook.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/WSAvL98
Author Bio:
I am delighted to add story-crafting to my many romantic life experiences. Life has its ups and downs, and the "ups" for me have included rather ordinary, wonderful things like mothering, wife-ing (should be a verb), reading, traveling, cottage gardening and an art career which carried me and my family to Italy for a couple of years.
I grew up with a book in my hand, often a classic or high fantasy adventure with a strong romantic subplot. As a young adult I took a hiatus from most fiction in favor of lots and lots of art books. But one particularly dreary January day, my husband bought me a first official romance novel and I've been reading and writing romance ever since!
My author style has been described as "light, flowing prose" with "well-developed characters" who often engage in "witty" dialogue. I would describe my Cherrybrook Series as light-hearted classic; more in the line of Heyer, Austen and L.M. Montgomery than Quinn. I don't claim to have their mastery, but undeniably they are my guiding lights.
Editorial Review:
Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook by Charlotte Brothers is an entertaining story about a small-town doctor set in the Regency era. Ellen has kept her widowed father, Doctor Rafe Reynolds, company for years but with her wedding imminent, Ellen is worried about her father being alone. Ellen and Mary, Rafe’s meddling sister, believe the only solution is for him to consider marrying again. They enlist the help of a childhood friend, Lavinia, to help them find a suitable match for her father to keep his days from being filled with loneliness after her wedding. Lavinia must also deal with her own feelings for the doctor. It is a lighthearted and endearing tale that is filled with both emotions and humor. It is also free of detailed intimate scenes that can often make readers uncomfortable.
”You are right of course,” Mary was saying, ”having your father remarry is the only sensible way for us to know that he will be cared for. As it is, he has no sense of what a lady needs to do to keep a rattling old house like this running properly. We cannot have that sort of negligence. Besides, by the looks of him, he hardly remembers to eat.”
Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook is the fourth book in Brothers’ A Year in Cherrybrook series. Even though it is the fourth book, Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook works nicely as a stand-alone book. Readers should be able to easily pick this book up and enjoy the story without reading the three previous books. The ability to write a book that is both a part of a series and can also be read alone is often the sign of a good author and so is the case with Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook.
“In order to find him a wife or at least an introduction to a likely candidate by the fourteenth of February, she needed to work quickly and comb through her connections for any possibilities. A friendly little gather would be just the thing, she felt, and it would give her household staff something to do. There was nothing they liked better than to show off the house in all its dripping splendor. The Fitzroy residence had been fitted out to the tastes and specifications of Lady Fitzroy her mother-in-law. It had never felt like home to Lavinia but she had made the best of it and had entertained the Fitzroy’s friends and family with a confidence that needed no apology. Massive pieces of furniture, luridly-coloured chairs, extravagantt drapes, and glowing gilt-framed mirrors hung everywhere.”
The characters in Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook are well-written and developed. Each one is respectable and endearing. The protagonists of the book are more advanced in age than is typical for a Regency romance but it is a very interesting take on the romance genre. The characters' respectability also goes as far as to keep the novel free of detailed intimate scenes which many readers find uncomfortable or unpleasant to read. The pure, clean relationships between the characters are incredibly refreshing for a romance novel.
Historical fiction set during the Regency period is often quite popular thanks to authors such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. Readers who enjoy these authors will appreciate Brothers’ more modern take on the genre. Brothers does a good job of maintaining the historical accuracy of the time period while also making the characters, the plot, and the settings believable. It is clear that Brothers has a thorough understanding of the time period.
“If you want a female companion, you will need to find a way to manage yourself. I assure you that no woman deserves to eat alone three meals a day.”
Charlotte Brothers’ writing flows nicely and is easy to read. The prose is not peppered with overly complex sentences or complicated language making Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook a great book to read take to the beach or read when you are trying to relax. The story is also easy to relate to making it a good choice for many readers. However, many readers msy find the beginning of the book to be a bit slow
““It is as beautiful as a picture here, is it not?” asked Rafe.
“Yes, because it is home. Home does not have to be beautiful, but when you love it, it always appears so.” Lavinia did not look his way, but was scanning the horizon and blinking as her hair spun around her cold-kissed nose and cheeks. She looked lovely.”
The target audience for Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook is those who enjoy historical fiction, particularly historical fiction set during the Regency period. The protagonists of the novel are also of a more advanced age which will appeal to adult readers more than young adults. Coming in around only two hundred pages, Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook is easy to read and would be a great option for readers wanting to try a Regency novel for the first time.
“What would it be like to travel to such a place with her? To enjoy days of golden sunlight, exploring the streets of ancients, and sharing fresh oranges? Of course, Lavinia would be holding onto his arm, laughing, pulling him from ruin to ruin.”
Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook earns a four out of five rating. The story is engaging and full of lovely characters. While the writing style is not overly fancy and spectacular, it it both enjoyable and easy to read. The authors commitment to historical accuracy and conservatively appropriate romances will appeal to many reader. It is the perfect book for those whole love literature set in the Regency time period.
*****
“Time Will Tell: Winter in Cherrybrook” by Charlotte Brothers receives four stars from The Historical Fiction Company
To have your historical novel editorially reviewed and/or enter the 2023 HFC Book of the Year contest, please GO HERE
Comments