Review: Lily of the Manor

Lily of the Manor by Anita Stansfield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There was a movie a long time ago starring Paul Newman and Joann Woodward that could have been truly boring, but instead was fascinating. This is that kind of novel/romance.

If written any other way, it would have been so boring. But this melodrama is actually fascinating because it is character driven rather than event driven. The only thing that could be improved is the character of the children could have been developed more. It would have made it more interesting. But then there are 12 of them, and that would have been a daunting task.

Rather predictable, but how the problems and situations are resolved makes it readable. Also, there is an interesting reveal of just how children were treated in the 1800s. It isn't graphic, but you get the idea and it sort of churns your stomach. We've come a very long way.

Good story premise, and could be a tad unbelievable except Lily suffered some prejudice because of her looks, and Fredrick suffered child abuse that he barely remembers.

What i really liked about it was that Fredrick and Lily found qualities about each other to love and thus it isn't handsome hunk and gorgeous woman thrown together and magically love abounds. It's a lot more real than most romance fiction. The faith factor is a bond that draws them together at first, and this faith factor never dissipates. Just a lovely story.

It gets 4 stars instead of 5 because it is a lot wordy and there's quite a bit of rehashing that could have been trimmed out with good editing. Although this book was a Netgalley and Covenant ARC (thank you!) so it might have been trimmed after I got the ARC.

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