Review: Just so-so
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 25, 2013
This is the familiar story of the poorly treated orphan girl.  Freddie`s mother died giving birth to her and her father never forgave her for that -- despite his being a doctor and an educated man.  She grew up learning all about herbs and their uses for medical treatments but very little in the way of womanly pastimes.  When her father died she went to live with an uncle, but when she overheard her aunt`s plan to marry her off to an elderly lecherous man, Freddie writes to a man who was a good friend of her father.Lord Stacks assumes Freddie is a young boy and invites `him` to come to his estate.  Lord Stacks is about the same age as Freddie`s father would have been, and he is a widower.  His wife's death is something only whispered about.  People say he murdered her.Freddie falls in love with him, though the reader has to wonder if this only because this is the first time someone has been good to her.  He does come across as a decent fellow, and he does try to find the girl a husband even though he finds himself attracted to her.There are rivalries among the men for Freddie`s hand as well as lures being cast by women to gain Stack`s notice.I found it hard to believe that Freddie would become an idiot after a misunderstanding.  She had been a relatively strong female character up to that point.  She had confronted the man several times before but at a time when it mattered most she couldn't?The truth of the wife`s death is revealed and the couple live happily ever after.This sort of reminds me of Jane Eyre.  Young woman - Freddie is 18 - falling in love with a man old enough to be her father; the horrible treatment by her relatives.It was a decent story and a nice afternoon's read.  I would recommend it for that, but this isn't one I would read again.