The Headmistress of Rosemere (Whispers On The Moors Book 2) by Sarah E. Ladd

  

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Clean Romance, Historical Romance
Content: Clean

 

Patience Creighton has devoted her life to running her father’s boarding school. But when the enigmatic master of the estate appears at her door, battered and unconscious, the young headmistress suddenly finds her livelihood—and her heart—in the hands of one dangerously handsome gentleman.

This is the second book I've read in this trilogy of companion books, and I don't really remember anything about the first one The Heiress of Winterwood, except that I gave it 3 stars. It's been a few years. These are standalones with the moors being the only thing all three books have in common, so it really didn't matter. I wanted to give this author another chance after thinking the first book was just ok, but unfortunately this book was also a 3 star read. I'm probably making it sound like 3 stars is bad. It's really not, it means I liked the book, but didn't love it. I was just hoping I would find this one a bit more memorable.

The story started off interesting when William was attacked, and then was found and cared for by the stable hand and Patience at Rosemere. However, this part was unexpectedly brief. I also enjoyed the way this book ended, but there were some bumps in the road getting there that really annoyed me. One was the former love interest and how presumptuous he was. The other was Patience not speaking up more about how she was never going to take him back. Also, at times the book was rather slow and boring, but it finally picked up again at some point.

One big part of this story was that Patience thought it was her dream to teach in the girls' school at Rosemere, which her father started and was the headmaster of before his death,. Rosemere had been her home her whole life, and she hardly ever left it. It's mentioned to her later that she's possibly just been living her father's dream and not her own. She does eventually realize this is true, and that she needs to live her own dream and not her father's. I do wish that the author had delved into what Patience's dream was. She loved the girls at the school, even if she didn't want to spend the rest of her life running it, and she of course had the dream of getting married and having her own family, but I wanted more insight into what she wanted to do with her life besides that.

There were several characters in this book that had to learn to accept change in their lives. I liked the message this book gave about change and how it's important to embrace change in our lives, even when it's unexpected. Sometimes with that change comes something even better.