The Elusive Miss Ellison

Legacy of Grace Series, Book 1

By: Carolyn Miller

Narrated by: Anna Parker-Naples

Hampton Hall's new owner has the villagers of St. Hampton Heath all aflutter - all except Lavinia Ellison. The reverend's daughter cares for those who are poor and sick, and the seventh Earl of Hawkesbury definitely does not meet that criteria. His refusal to take his responsibilities seriously, or even darken the door of the church, leave her convinced he is as arrogant and reckless as his brother - his brother who stole the most important person in Lavinia's world.

Nicholas Stamford is shadowed by guilt: his own, his brother's, the legacy of war. A perfunctory visit to this dreary part of Gloucestershire wasn't supposed to engage his heart, or his mind. Challenged by Miss Ellison's fascinating blend of Bluestocking opinions, hoydenish behavior, and angelic voice, he finds the impossible becoming possible - he begins to care. But Lavinia's aloof manner, society's opposition and his ancestral obligations prove most frustrating, until scandal forces them to get along.

Can Lavinia and Nicholas look beyond painful pasts and present prejudice to see their future? And what will happen when Lavinia learns a family secret that alters everything she's ever known?

©2017 Carolyn Miller (P)2018 Tantor

Redemption and Forgiveness

This is a great story of love, redemption, and both God's forgiveness and man's forgiveness.

Awesome Heroine!

Great character development and plot. If you can ignore the narration the story is great.

Transporting in both writing and narration!! Just magnificent

The narration was so good it felt like several different people were doing the voices for the different characters. Great job miss Anna Parker Naples. Though I would advice to listen at 1.05 speed. It seemed oddly slow at the normal level but delightful at 1.05.
The characters were so intricately fleshed out! The choice of words so smart and full of witty loveliness. We love us some witty characters.
The story telling was so entrancing. The period appropriate English-top 2 compared with all the many present day authored Regency period books I have read, added so much wonderful flavor to an already rich story. Not sure how I am going to read other authors' books now that I have read this kind of Regency writing truth be told. The bar has officially been set quite high.
Augh I did not want to say goodbye to Nicolas and Lavinia. I really really enjoyed their journey. Can't wait to run into them in book 2 of this series!!!

would have been a better book 1/4 shorter

nice book that spent way too long in trite dithering. when actually moving forward, enjoyable.

A delightful story!

The characterizations are clear and the plot had delightful surprises past the halfway point. Lots of twists and turns, And I especially like the faith-based point of view!

Okay way to pass a limitless time

I very much liked the faith and redemption storyline and appreciate the book is
wholesome with a moral uprjght heroine. However the romance was not as good. The pace was slow and the book was longer than it needed to be. The actions of the characters were inconsistent.

Sweet love story

A lovely sweet love story with a great narrator. A little too religious for my liking but still a good story.

“So pure, so lovely”…so annoying

I liked the premise of this story and it really did have some clever twists. I also appreciate not being dragged through any intimate scenes. However, the novel’s plot follows the oh so annoying “I love him, I love him not” trope. Just make up your mind already! A strong minded woman should also be strong minded in the arena of love, leaving room for a plot that is driven by something more interesting than insipid worries that could be taken care of if she was truly forthright in her conversation.

I may try another of this author’s books just to see if this was simply a one-off. Perhaps, too, the book would have been more enjoyable with a better reader.

Uneven, but worth the effort if you like regency

*SPOILERS*
This is a pretty common format, similar to Pride and Prejudice (in fact some verbiage was lifted from a few Austen movies)—rich but world-weary lord meets spunky, free-speaking, less-rich young miss who is not an adequate choice of mate. They clash, then (slowly!) influence each other and by the end are better people who can’t live without each other. The religious aspect lent some much-needed depth—I really liked that.
WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:
1. This story moved too slowly—could have used a good edit.
2. Some elements were simply unrealistic. Heroine starts out obsessed with using every waking moment to helping the poor in her village. Toward the end of the story she discovers she is secretly a member of the top echelons of society, with a fabulous dowry, and goes to London for the season. It’s like she suddenly and effortlessly becomes a different person and requires ZERO training—well other than a dance lesson—to fit in with the Ton—though she isn’t accepted, anyway. What about the poor back home? Earlier she was freaking out if she missed any time at all with them. I suspect the original story was too short and this extra situation was dumped in there to prolong things. It’s like an entirely different story.
Plus there were the usual anachronisms that come with people generating these stories 200 years later. Fairly early, Lord Hawkesbury begs to be called by his christian name, a liberty not to be imagined unless a couple were engaged, and that wasn’t even in his mind at that point.
Stuff like that.
Nevertheless, I liked it.

Beautiful story

I especially enjoyed the storyline with biblical verses and moral life lessons. A book that I can encourage youth teenager to read.