A Lady at Willowgrove Hall, by Sarah E. Ladd {Book Review}

A Lady at Willowgrove Hall is the final book in the Whispers on the Moors series by Sarah E. Ladd.

The story begins with 16-year-old Cecily Faire, the daughter of the blacksmith at Aradelle Park in Detham England, 1814. She believes she is about the elope with the 17-year-old heir to Aradelle Park, Andrew Moreton. Cecily's alcoholic father discovers this and puts an immediate stop to it. The same night, her father drops her on the doorstep of the Rosemere School for Young Ladies (the setting of the second book in the series), and leaves for good. She is completely disowned and separated from her twin sister, Leah. Feeling that she has shamed her family and ruined her chances of ever getting married (as she had physically given herself to Andrew), she settles in at Rosemere.

Nathaniel Stanton, the 21-year-old son of the steward at Willowgrove Hall in Wiltonshire, is at the bedside of his ailing father. On his deathbed, his father tells him that Nathaniel is not his son, but the son of the deceased master of Willowgrove Hall, Mr. Trent. Nathaniel is told to tell no one, not even his sisters, and upon the death of Mrs. Trent, Nathaniel will inherit a property in the north.

Fast-forward five years. Cecily has been given a position as lady's companion to Mrs. Trent of Willowgrove Hall. Nathaniel is the steward over the house and land at Willowgrove Hall. Nathaniel and Cecily are drawn to one another almost immediately, but because of the secrets they keep, they do their best to ignore the attraction, knowing that nothing good could come of it.


My Thoughts: This book was unique in that there were no kidnappings or dangerous situations for the characters as there were in the previous two books. The story is told from the perspectives of both Cecily and Nathaniel. Sarah Ladd does an excellent job in her descriptions. The story was not a mushy romance, and not much actually happened in the book, but simply followed the internal struggles of the characters.

I was nervous when Cecily's path crossed again with Andrew Moreton. I wasn't sure of his character and whether or not he would take advantage of Cecily in regards to their shared history. It ended up being quite the opposite. I think Andrew always loved Cecily but it was clear that Cecily had moved on. I was relieved that he didn't make some sort of big announcement about Cecily's transgression in an effort to publicly embarrass her.

I thoroughly enjoyed not only this book, but the entire series. All of the books could be read alone and only had small tie-ins with the books ahead of them. I cannot fail to mention that the covers on each book are absolutely gorgeous. They all do very well in capturing the main characters and settings in each book.

I look forward to reading more from Sarah Ladd's in her Treasures of Surrey series.

Check out the entire Whispers on the Moors series: