Valentine's beautiful society mother was pregnant and alone when the vicar married her to save her. Val grew up understanding her mother was a fallen woman, a sinner, and her father endeavored to ensure that Val did not follow her mother's path.
The death of her father brings Val to be the companion of a vain and shallow beauty who forces Val to wear dowdy clothes and glasses. Val dreams of escape by going into missionary work abroad.
Unaware, Val is brought to a gathering of dissolutes, ensembled for a drunken and adulterous spree. There she meets Viscount St. Ashton, the devilishly handsome rake with a score of conquests behind him, an heir to fortune who has made nothing of his life. St. Ashton is attracted to the girl and when he makes advances he is not repulsed. He proposes to Val, but she believes he is motivated only by societal expectations, expiating for a drunken and unwise moment of passion. A time apart is forced upon them.
As St. Ashton tries to prove he is a changed man, both to his father and to Val, she discovers her true heritage and is offered other options. Misunderstandings arise as St. Ashton constrains his desire. The road to love is rarely smooth. And in Victorian society it is fraught with concerns that have little to do with the human heart.
Mimi Matthews employs her deep understanding of the Victorian world of 1861 in this romance.
Learn more about Matthews books and blog at https://www.mimimatthews.com
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
The Viscount and the Vicar's Daughter: A Victorian Romance
by Mimi Matthews
Perfectly Proper Press
Publication January 23, 2018
Ebook: $2.99
ISBN: 9780999036426
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