Acquired Book By: I have been hosting blog tours with Cedar Fort Publishing and Media for several years now, wherein their new blog tour publicist (Ms Sydney Anderson) also runs her own publicity touring company: Singing Librarian Book Tours (or SLB Tours for short!). I happily joined her team of book bloggers as a hostess in late Spring, 2018 wherein my first tours with her as a hostess began Summer, 2018. I appreciate reading INSPY literature and was happy to find these are most of the stories she is showcasing through SLB Tours! Most of her authors are published through Cedar Fort, though she does work with authors who are either Self-Published or Indie published through different publishers as well.
There is a bit of a long gap between when I first received these novels for review consideration and when I am actually reading them for review. I cannot remember exactly what took me away from reading them – however, I have a suspicion it was due to migraines and health afflictions as throughout [2018] I had ten months of health issues and severe bouts of high frequency of migraines to battle through – whilst [2019] has gone better in that regard, I have still had issues dealing with migraines despite the fact this year has had a more limited frequency of them compared to last year. When I learnt this author was going on a blog tour for the fourth novel in the series – I knew this was a second chance to redeem myself and properly bring the series to Jorie Loves A Story. Therefore, I am reading all four novels and reviewing them within the week of the blog tour.
I received a complimentary copy of “My Fair Spinster” direct from the author Rebecca Connolly in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
What I am enjoying about the Spinster Chronicles:
There is a wicked sense of ease of alighting inside the Spinsters novels by Ms Connolly – in fact, she charms you outright with her sense of pacing, direction of insight she gives her characters and the fact, that as a whole she uses the turns of phrase you’d expect to find in a Regency Romance. I love the fact that this is an atypical Regency Romance in that traditional regard, as there is much more to the plot than a trajectory of interest which would lead into a settled relationship. No, there are layers here to pull apart and appreciate – as Ms Connolly has written a very modernly apt series re-positioned into the Regency where we find lovely young women who are as independently minded as we are today (and I am quite sure, there must have been a few back then as well!) who are determined to right their own fates against what they deem is right for themselves. What isn’t to love about a Historical Romance series like this one? Feminist driven story-lines, wholly curious characters and the entire backdrop of the series is an era you feel most at home re-visiting as it has become a favourite mainstay of your readerly life – or at least, it has been for me!
I loved at the start of each of the chapters are portions of the Spinsters column – you can denote what is most fetching on their minds by what they are disclosing to their readers; those observations also serve as a foreshadow of what the chapter will next reveal within their lives – a bit of a clever way of nudging you along their thought-process and to better understand their motivations overall. They were a bit more complicated and complex than you first imagine them to be as there are hidden layers which are earnestly drawn out as you read further into the context of the novel.
You have to give credit where its due and that lies in the cheek and frankness of Lady Hetty! She has this clever way of speaking truth when you aren’t suspecting she’s still observing enough of the singletons to know of their ‘secrets’ or at least, what they are attempting to hide from others; for her eyes, she sees them as they are and of whom they are rather than what they wish to mask. She’s one of the supporting cast members who truly strikes your fancy because she is as affirmative as Maggie Smith on Downton Abbey but with a bit less abrasive moxie! She’s also the type of person you would like to strike a conversation with yourself – if only to preen the observations she can grant you and give you something to chew over whilst you contemplate how the tea in your cup was brewed.
Connolly takes us into the balls, the places where the dances, the conversations and the choices in fashion are only part of the story being played out – the other half, the slight murmurs of a match, the potential suitors striking out to find their winsome partners and the girls’ themselves either ready to embrace that next stage of their life or not, find themselves in the march towards courtship. It is here where Connolly develops the keenest of insight into her characters’ – to put on display what is instinctively motivating Sterling to advocate for the Spinsters and where Georgie most feels like the Queen Protector for all the girls’ who may or may not know of her existence.
Watching them as you do – being swept into the intrigue of the scene ‘behind’ the ball itself and having Lady Hetty ready on the sidelines to pull back the veils of what is hidden from the surface, you have a ready made drama to soak inside. It isn’t just the fact the Spinsters consider themselves necessary to be present at these kinds of events for the sake of future knowledge to impart lateron in their articles but it is earnestly their desire to be more visible to those girls’ they are trying to impress upon the better sensibility they wish they had had someone give to them at their younger ages. And, that dear hearts is the beauty of the novel itself – how women who have lived their lives caught up in the motions of tradition, duty and expectation wish to give back to the generation behind them. In that, you become one of their cheerleaders, second only to Sterling.
There are little nudges of insight threading through the narrative – something you start to notice as you dive deeper into the heart of the first installment The Merry Lives of Spinsters – Connolly has left behind a lovely little world for you to entreat inside. You get to enjoy the aspects of Pride and Prejudice which whisk you into new variants of the novel whilst giving you a wholly refreshed view of the Regency with characters who were penned with an honesty of purpose and position. I loved how Connolly re-visits an era I readily read but re-illuminates it through a door not oft opened.
-quoted from my review of The Merry Lives of Spinsters
My Fair Spinster
Subtitle: Oh, what a beautiful spinster... | A Spinster Chronicles Romance
by Rebecca Connolly
Source: Direct from Author
The spinster next door…
Grace Morledge is a failure. Or so her father believes, as she is unmarried despite her advantages. In his mind, Grace must have significant flaws to be a spinster and something must be done about them. To her mortification, he demands she be fully examined and all flaws recorded. And the man he chooses is the worst possible candidate of all.
Aubrey Flint, Lord Ingram, has known Grace since childhood, but he never anticipated Lord Trenwick demanding he examine her for flaws. How can perfection have faults? Reluctantly, he accepts the assignment, and finds far more than he bargained for, and perfection becomes more and more tempting.
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9781943048885
Also by this author: Author Interview Rebecca Connolly (Spinster Chronicles), The Merry Lives of Spinsters
Series: Spinster Chronicles
Also in this series: The Merry Lives of Spinsters
Published by Phase Publishing
on 1st October, 2019
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 298
The Spinster Chronicles:
The Merry Lives of Spinsters (book one)
The Spinster & I (book two)
Spinster & Spice (book three)
My Fair Spinster (book four)
Published By: Phase Publishing (@PhasePubLLC)
Published on: 1st November, 2018 | ISBN: 9781943048700
Formats Available: Paperback and Ebook
Converse via: #SpinsterChronicles, #Regency and #HistRom
About Rebecca Connolly
Rebecca Connolly writes romances, both period and contemporary, because she absolutely loves a good love story. She has been creating stories since childhood, and there are home videos to prove it! She started writing them down in elementary school and has never looked back. She currently lives in the Midwest, spends every spare moment away from her day job absorbed in her writing, and is a hot cocoa addict.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Wearing the Greek Millionaire's Ring 
Wanders Far
Hall-o-ween