What a lovely way to start off my reading year for 2023! As Ellie Hastings interferes and investigates prospective suitors for her pretty cousin – at the behest of her aunt – she is skeptical when it comes to the secretive but eligible Lewis Thornton. What ensues is a delightful little romp of a novella, with surprising twist and turns on the way to a happy ending.
Denise Weimer’s novella A Winter at the White Queen is an amusing and enchanting start to the Romance at the Gilded Age Resorts series from Wild Heart Books. Recommended.
This review refers to a print copy I voluntarily received and read, courtesy of the publisher. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own.
About the Book
In the world of the wealthy, things are never quite as they appear.
Ellie Hastings is tired of playing social gatekeeper—and poor-relation companion—to her Gibson Girl of a cousin. But her aunt insists Ellie lift her nose out of her detective novel long enough to help gauge the eligibility of bachelors during the winter social season at Florida’s Hotel Belleview. She finds plenty that’s mysterious about the suave, aloof Philadelphia inventor, Lewis Thornton. Why does he keep sneaking around the hotel? Does he have a secret sweetheart? And what is his connection to the evasive Mr. Gaspachi, slated to perform at Washington’s Birthday Ball?
Ellie’s comical sleuthing ought to put Lewis out, but the diffident way her family treats her smashes a hole in his normal reserve. When Florence Hastings’s diamond necklace goes missing, Ellie’s keen mind threatens not only Lewis’s secrets, but give him back hope for love.
A Winter at the White Queen by Denise Weimer (Romance at the Gilded Age Resorts, #1) | Wild Heart Books, January 3, 2023 | paperback, 188 pages
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