The Housekeeper

by Talbot Finch

His house is a mess. And so is his attitude. Andrew is a young and stubborn amputee, living alone for this first time in his life. His older sister Sarah worries about him from afar and does what any good sister would—hires a manservant to help him around the house. At first, Andrew resents the invasion of privacy, swearing to himself to drive the stranger away by the end of the week. But the new housekeeper, Christopher, quickly fills a space in Andrew's life that he didn't realize was empty. Can Andrew set aside his pride long enough to accept Christopher's kindness, or will old wounds bring about new regrets?

Genres: Historical, M M Romance, Queer, Romance, LGBT, Short Stories, Disability

45 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 18, 2023

Reviews

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet, light and fluffy but short

A cute little M/M romance, currently free on Amazon, this delved briefly into depression and disability but really was over before it ever got started. This was more the bones of a good story, and very hand wavy with the historical elements, nothing was very developed here. If you’re looking for a light, quick, lgbtq historical romance, this is a cute one. I’d be interested to read more from the author in a full length book.

FYI this is spice free with only kissing.

[thosemeddlingkids · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little novelette! HR, grumpy/sunshine, disability rep, very soft and cozy feels.

[Smutty Sully · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet and short novella. Free somewhere!

[Melanie THEE Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The audacity of a 45 page novella giving me all the feels. Christopher and Andrew were so soft and sweet. While I would’ve loved for this to be longer, it was pretty close to perfect.

[Sandali ♥️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating - 4 stars
A short and sweet read. Didn't have much of depth to it. But if you're in the mood for a read that's short but touches deeper themes lightly, this is a good read.

[Moraa (vacation hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This hit the spot perfectly (especially since I was sick in bed with a nasty cold). The conflict felt a tad too manufactured for my liking but the story was otherwise sweet and easy. No spice.

Expect
- Grumpy x sunshine
- Instalove
- Disabled MC

Kindle freebie: 6.5.24

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet, cozy and fluffy filled mm romance novelette. I did love the grumpy sunshine vibes too I wish it was a bit longer that’s my only downside.

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but sweet story of love, friendship and the powers of a home cooked meal.

[Yves V.H. [Slow reading] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this because I am trying to fight the looming threat of reading slump. This story is so adorable~~

Andrew is quite a grumpy guy and Christopher a very patient boyfriend 💙

[V.ya · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5⭐️
Could have been better if not for the instalove.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely novella. Does a lot in a few pages. I’m interested in checking out more by the author, Talbot Finch.

[Kassu · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This novellette starts out nicely enough with a grumpster meeting a new kind housekeeper. The story has nice bones that appeal to me: historical setting with a caretaker and a disabled grumpypants boss, but soon after the initial contact the story progresses towards the end with barely anything other than the bones. Emotions fly high rather suddenly and finally there's two unnecessary epilogues (in a 40 page story). If the epilogues were scrapped and those pages used to progress the rest of the story in a steadier pace, I might have really enjoyed this.

[SJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this novella reminds me why my eye is drawn to covers that do not say ‘USA Today Bestselling Author.’
That usually has me moving along to a hopefully less formulaic romance, such as this one.
The unhappy and physically impaired MC and the kind and helpful manservant MC has been a plot line before, and here the author gives it some originality and a lot of charm.
It’s a single POV, two character story set in a small flat in 1880’s London, a nice bubble for a relationship to begin.
All the elements of this story were appealing, including the cover.

[Bess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad!

Since it's free I hesitate to be overly critical. Other than evening out characterization and pacing a bit, I would definitely cut down on ellipses. In the span of one page there are four instances:

"It was very...considerate"
"Are you always so...spritely in the mornings?"
"Oh...Um"
"Sarah...She married"

Worth a read if you like historical romances and quick novellas.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute little novelette. I loved the grumpy/sunshine trope. And even though it was super short, I really enjoyed Andrew and Christopher as characters and their relationship.

[Bryan L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linda historia. Demasiado apresurada pero se entiende por la longitud que tiene.

[JoeBlack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novelette from the Victorian London was very nice and I really enjoyed both main characters Andrew and Christopher. It was a surprise that there were no spicy scenes but it was rather fresh and enjoyable anyway. I am glad that Talbot Finch stayed in the same era and written another story, this time a full length novel called Violet Reverie so those who enjoyed The Housekeeper as I did can return to that world and dive deeper into it with some new characters.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's the thing, I've read this before, a while ago I would have thought although this is dated in March of this year, and that puzzles me as it was longer ago that I read it before. Anyway, it's a nice story, a teensy bit off with editing but doesn't spoil anything by it. A touching tale in Victorian times, which I love by the way, a nice read.

[ⒹⒶⓃⓃⓎⒾⓈⓌⒺⒾⓇⒹ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars!

I LOVED this. It was only 45 pages long but it still managed to reach me. In 45 pages the book was able to make me love the characters and root for them.

I read this super fast and couldn't tear myself away from it. I would truly recommend this beautiful book to anyone, book lover or not.

[Tracey Simpson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very quick read. Took only 30/45 minutes to read.
A very sweet little Novella set in the 1800’s featuring Andrew a wealthy single man with a disability whose sister hires Christopher to become his house helper.
It was a great palette cleanser and was refreshing to find 2 sweet characters!!

[DC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sweet, but too short for any kind of plot and character development. If you’ve read Violet Reverie, Andrew is Sarah’s brother. And while he is mentioned serveral times in that story, we never actually meet him. Well, this is his story. I think it was a bit of a disservice because Andrew’s and Christopher’s story could have been a very engaging and moving novella.

[Shawna (endemictoearth) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had gotten this for free last year sometime, but it wasn't listed on GR, so when I saw other people reviewing it, I was like, "wait a minute . . . " Since it's a short, I re-read it anyway, but it is a very cute little slice of life.

[Elliott Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

We love disability rep and this romance was so sticky sweet. Andrew and Christopher forming a relationship of respect and friendship was so nice to see, moving past insecurities and communicating openly with one another.

[Lily Laverick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very cute novella, perfect as an interim between longer books. The characters are well-characterised and throughthrough. Overall the plot is cute and angsty with a HEA. I would definitely recommend and reread it!

[Mateo Castrejon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but pleasant read. Personally wish they would extend a bit so that it doesn’t seem like a two day meet falling into something more; something that grows with time instead of instant. Though it is a novelette, so the length is understandable.

[Zarlina Josefsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely little story ❤️

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty short and simple, but I enjoyed it.

[Lish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a sweet story with surprising depth to it considering how short it was, I really enjoyed it

[Aimée Ledger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good and easy to read.

[Ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kindle. A bit meh but was nice enough.