Review: A pleasant, relaxing, uncomplicated reading experience.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 23, 2011
I almost decided not to review this book, but after thinking about it I realized that it deserves to have reviews so others can have the chance to enjoy it as much as I did.  If you can get an idea of what the book is about, you might decide to take a chance on it.Originally published in 1993, this novel is reminiscent of an innocent by-gone time which will not appeal to those who particularly enjoy the more explicit historical romance novels released now.  It suited me just fine.The year is 1819 in the village of Pennwick near Bath.  Spinster Clarissa Driscoll is 27 years old and, until her father died five years ago, lived at Pennhurst, the estate which had to be sold to pay off his gambling debts.  Now Clarissa teaches children of the local gentry the arts of singing, drawing, watercolor painting, pianoforte and dancing.  To satisfy the scruples of the day she lives with her companion, Lorelia Snolgrass, in a cottage in the village which she was just able to buy with the money left over from the sale of her home.  Clarissa is what you would consider unconventional because of her attitudes and how she relates to her students, their parents and the villagers.  Alexander Barrington, Fifth Earl of Kinsford, has arrived from London to find out why his 17 year old half-brother, William, has been sent down from school.  William and his sister Aria, fifteen, have been students of Miss Driscoll's, but the Earl wants an explanation for why Clarissa is interfering in the discipline which is his rightful duty.  Alexander and Clarissa have known each other all their lives, but when he left Kinsford Hall to join the military he lost contact with her.This novel does make use of some very familiar plot devices to create the story line, but they are written very well and at least it wasn't 'the big misunderstanding', which is one of my least favorite scenarios.  There is an accident and Clarissa and Alexander are forced into daily contact which doesn't work out very well because he thoroughly disapproves of her.  The final catastrophe had slightly too much going on at one time and reminded me somewhat of a three ring circus, but it all got straightened out in the end.  There was not nearly enough romantic tension developed between our hero and heroine and that is my reason for four stars instead of five.  I enjoyed the book, it was a pleasant, uncomplicated read and I'm thoroughly glad I discovered this book and this author.  I haven't enjoyed such a relaxing book in quite some time.I read this book on my Kindle and I just want to let readers know of a problem with the formatting.  The book is absolutely packed full of words which contain dashes for no reason whatsoever; de-spair, ma-ligned, acci-dent, Wil-liam, Dris-coll.  These are not words at the end of a sentence, the dashes are on almost every page and have no logical reason to be in the words.  It was quite a distraction which lasted through the entire book.  I know this was not anything to do with the author so I did not use this problem when considering the rating I gave the book.EDIT:  March 24, 2012  I received a comment on this review today which indicates the problem with the rampant dashes seems to have been fixed.  I sincerely hope so because this book was such a quiet pleasure to read.