Road to Rosewood by Ashtyn Newbold

Lucy Abbot longs to return to the country estate where she spent the best days of her childhood with her cousins and their charming neighbor Nicholas. Her protective parents, however, have other plans for her. When she finally dares to escape, her carriage is besieged by highwaymen with a familiar man leading them. Could this mysterious outlaw be exactly the person Lucy has been searching for?

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There are just so many secrets swirling around this book.  Of course, that leads to misunderstandings and mishaps because if you don't know the secrets, you tend to get into some trouble!  That's exactly what happens to Lucy.  Over and over again.  Poor Lucy.  All she wants is to break free of her cage and travel to where she remembers being happy and carefree.  She defies her parents, leaves secretly and then finds herself in quite a mess when her ride is held up by highwaymen.  It's the beginning of quite an adventure for Lucy.

Lucy wants to appear more grown up than she really is, I think.  She sometimes acts very childish, as if she doesn't quite know how to go about being an adult because she lacks experience.  I guess the word for that is naive.  Sometimes this was endearing, but sometimes it was frustrating.

There are many entertaining situations in this story and also a bit of intrigue.  Secrets begin to unfold taking the story in some surprising directions.  It was light and kept me engaged and entertained.  I liked it!

Content:  Clean, mild violence

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Ashtyn Newbold was introduced to the Regency period early on, and the writing soon followed. Fascinated by the society, scenery, and chivalry, she wrote her first novel, Mischief and Manors, receiving a publishing offer before high school graduation. Ashtyn is currently attending college with plans to obtain a degree that will help her improve in writing and creativity. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, singing, spoiling her dog, spending time with friends and family, and dreaming of the day she’ll travel to England.

Ashtyn Newbold was introduced to the Regency period early on, and the writing soon

followed. Fascinated by the society, scenery, and chivalry, she wrote her first novel,

Mischief and Manors

, receiving a publishing offer before high school graduation.

Ashtyn is currently attending college with plans to obtain a degree that will help her

improve in writing and creativity. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, singing,

spoiling her dog, spending time with friends and family, and dreaming of the day

she’ll travel to England.

introduced to the Regency period early on, and the writing soon

followed. Fascinated by the society, scenery, and chivalry, she wrote her first novel,

Mischief and Manors

, receiving a publishing offer before high school graduation.

Ashtyn is currently attending college with plans to obtain a degree that will help her

improve in writing and creativity. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, singing,

spoiling her dog, spending time with friends and family, and dreaming of the day

she’ll travel to England.

Sophia by Paula Kremser

Small-town Sophia Spencer can’t believe her luck when an unexpected inheritance allows her to experience London’s social scene. But her happiness disappears when she is caught napping in a grumpy gentleman’s room—and forced into an engagement to protect her reputation! Personalities collide and love blooms in this stunning debut novel.

This book is one in the Pure Romance line from Cedar Fort.  Basically this means that they are squeaky clean and focus more on the romance of it all, which I LOVE.  

Sophia may be from a small country town, but she has been taught and educated in all the ways of a lady.  One thing Sophia does know is that her mother and father loved each other very much.  She is looking to have that same kind of love in her life.  When Sophia unexpectedly inherits money from her estranged grandmother she is thrown into London society with an aunt who may not have Sophia's best interest at heart.

I loved Sophia.  She is kind and eager to believe the best about people.  Some may call her naive, but I don't.  I call her kind, innocent and tender hearted.  The world needs more people like Sophia.  Sophia knows when to stand up for herself and she does a better job of it than she thinks.

This is a great regency romance with engaging characters.  The storyline may be predictable but I still enjoyed it so much.  I love a good, clean romance that leaves you feeling good in the end.  This title releases on Oct. 14th but you can pre-order it today!

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EXCERPT

From the author: After enduring a ball as a favor to his friends, Alex escapes to his room. What he doesn’t know is that a young lady has also sought refuge from the crowded ballroom. This is his first encounter with Sophia.

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Alex pulled off his boots, then picked up his candle and looked around the room for where he had left his book. That was when he saw her. A young lady—either asleep or dead—was on his sofa! He almost dropped the candle, but quickly steadied it instead and rushed over. Her skin was warm, but it seemed as if she wasn’t breathing. He forced himself to be calm as he checked again and realized that she was breathing, just very slowly and deeply. He sat down hard on the floor and leaned his head back against the sofa. Then he took his own deep breath in an effort to calm his racing heart. She was alive, thank goodness! She was just sleeping.

How strange that a young lady was asleep in his room…his eyes widened and his heart began racing again. He needed to get her out of here. Now!

He quickly turned around and tried to gently speak to her and shake her shoulder. Several increasingly more frantic pleas of “Miss, you need to wake up!” produced no results. So he lifted her up to a sitting position, but still she wouldn’t regain consciousness. He sat down next to her and pulled her arm around his shoulder, ready to stand up, which would hopefully rouse her enough to walk, and that was when he heard a commotion from the hall and then a knock on his door. He barely had time to blurt out, “One moment, please!” before several matronly women barged in.