Mist Of Midnight by Sandra Byrd, Book review

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• Series: The Daughters of Hampshire
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Howard Books (March 10, 2015)
• ISBN-13: 978-1476717869
• Also available in KINDLE format

SYNOPSIS:


In the first of a brand-new series set in Victorian England, a young woman returns home from India after the death of her family to discover her identity and inheritance are challenged by the man who holds her future in his hands.

Rebecca Ravenshaw, daughter of missionaries, spent most of her life in India. Following the death of her family in the Indian Mutiny, Rebecca returns to claim her family estate in Hampshire, England. Upon her return, people are surprised to see her...and highly suspicious. Less than a year earlier, an imposter had arrived with an Indian servant and assumed not only Rebecca's name, but her home and incomes. 

That pretender died within months of her arrival; the servant fled to London as the young woman was hastily buried at midnight. The locals believe that perhaps she, Rebecca, is the real imposter. Her home and her father's investments reverted to a distant relative, the darkly charming Captain Luke Whitfield, who quickly took over. Against her best intentions, Rebecca begins to fall in love with Luke, but she is forced to question his motives—does he love her or does he just want Headbourne House? If Luke is simply after the property, as everyone suspects, will she suffer a similar fate as the first “Rebecca”? 

A captivating Gothic love story set against a backdrop of intrigue and danger, Mist of Midnight will leave you breathless.

Link to Mist of Midnight on the Simon and Schuster/Howard Books Website:

http://books.simonandschuster.com/Mist-of-Midnight/Sandra-Byrd/The-Daughters-of-Hampshire/9781476717869

My thoughts:

From the first chapter Sandra Byrd grasps your attention with a mysterious plot set in Victorian England. Mist of Midnight is everything you seek in a good historical romance novel! Entertaining, intriguing and filled with details about life in the Nineteen Century. But it is her main protagonist which pulls at your heart with her stoic approach to a disturbing welcome upon her arrival on English soil. Rebecca is a survivor of the Indian mutiny and thought to find a refuge in a land she barely remembers.

Upon learning an impostor arrived with her Indian maid the previous year claiming to be her, Rebecca straightens her back, lifts her head and forges ahead. Someone must remember her gentle mother or perhaps herself as a child when she last visited Headbourne House and vouch for her character? 

Whilst thoroughly confused but determined to find out what happened to the deceased impostor, said to have been hastily buried, Rebecca finds herself strangely attracted to Captain Whitfield, now in residence in her childhood home.

Find out for yourself later this month what happens to Rebecca and her claim!
Good suspense, intelligent plot and with just the right amount of historical details to make it a pleasant read!

4 stars!

Meet the Author:

After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published more than forty books.
A life-long lover of Victorian Gothic romances, Sandra’s new series, Daughters of Hampshire, weaves elements of that mystical, traditional genre with inspirational and literary threads. Mist of Midnight, the series’ first book, debuts in March, 2015.

For more information visit her website (HERE)

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this ARC courtesy of CBA as part of the book promotion. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC 16 CFR, Part 255 'Guides concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising. I was not asked to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.