Langdown Manor

by Sue Reid

When Penelope Fitzsimmons arrives at Langdown Manor to live with relatives she's never met, she feels desperately alone and unwanted - until she meets Fred. They are two of a kind: restless, unconventional and daring - wanting more from life than what's expected of them. But she's an upper-class girl and he's a servant. How can they ever be together when society keeps them apart?

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Romance

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 6, 2012

Reviews

[Cora Tea Party Princess · Rating 2 out of 5]

5 Words: insta-love, history, upstairs, downstairs, history.

This was a case of my reading the blurb (for once) and falling in love with the premise. But when it came to the execution, I just wasn't feeling it. What I thought was a perfect cup of English Breakfast turned out to be a Rooibos. So yeah, not my cup.

This book is why I rarely read blurbs. If I just go in with no expectations, no idea of what's going to happen, I won't be so disappointed. It's just that this sounded SO GOOD.

The main thing that bugged me was the main character, Penelope. She just... Urgh. She's the kind of character that gets my back up, that I don't like from the very start. She reminded me a little of Gemma in A Great and Terrible Beauty (and not just because she was coming from India) but she didn't develop in the same way and basically stayed a conceited bitch right to the end.

And then there's the insta-love. Sometimes it can work. I've actually seen it work before. But not in this case. I didn't understand the attraction and why the feelings were just so darn hard straight away.

That being said, I did like the whole upstairs-downstairs relationship. I liked the loyalty and the resentment and the complex social structure even within the downstairs characters.

I'd recommend this for fans of Downton Abbey who need something to fill the gap.

Any UK readers want my copy? Seriously, free to a good home.

[Frances · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished this book on 5/11/2013.

This book was very disappointing for me. I read the synopsis and I thought it would be a great book to read. Boy was I very wrong. It started out okay, it took me a while to get use to the upstairs and downstairs chapter but it crumpled up badly. I dislike Penelope so much. She's such a annoying brat! I prefer the servant's story more than Penelope's side of the story. Yes, a straightforward comment!

And seriously, Penelope just met Fred for like few days and she's already madly in love with him? Girl, calm down and slow down. Same goes to Fred, he already has a FREAKING girlfriend that he loves very much and he dumped her out of no where just so he could be with Penelope?! He's such a bastard! The both of them, please just get to know each other first before getting controlled by your emotions! It was 'kind of' sweet yet I didn't like it one bit. And the ending, you've got to be kidding me. It just ended with Penelope hoping to spend the last few days with Fred before he goes off to Africa. What?! Just like that?! What about the rest? What about the servants?! What happened to them in the end? I wanna know, don't left me wondering. I do like cliff hangers but this one didn't work out for me... The writing style was okay though.

I hope Sue Raid will write a better story than this, in the future. That will be all for now.

[Tiff · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Penelope's mother dies, her father sends her away from India to stay with relatives in England.

Terribly homesick, Penelope soon realises only her small cousin Clemmie is keen to know her. Her aunt is cold and cousin Arabella is spiteful. Penelope finds solace in riding her horse, Starshine and soon finds herself falling for groomsman Fred.

Set in alternating chapters - one for the upstairs goings on and one for the downstairs servants, this historical Downton-esque teen fiction is a good read and shows well the social difference between the family and staff, the rich and the poor.

I look forward to reading what happens next.

[Chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I supposed you can say it's a little too soon when they fell in love and knew it but it's not a major complaint. I hate Arabella. Total bitch. Ivy is not one of my favorites. Drama Queen. XP
Yeah I guess you can say Penelope and Fred are cute together. Thumbs up to Penelope for rejecting David and Ferdy so that she can be with Fred. But then at the end of the book you find out that Fred is leaving for Africa and they can't be together so... yeah...
All in all, a fine story. A quick read for me with a really short review. 3 stars. nothing stands out a lot so... that's it.

[Gillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry but this book is possibly the only book i have that i didn't really like at all. The synopsis was really interesting and i looked forward to read it but when i finished it, i was absolutely, terribly disappointed. The story wasn't "that" bad but it's just sort of is.

After a whole load of events, i thought maybe finally things would come together but the ending just got me mad. It just sort of ended like, BAM! goodbye. The storyline was fine but gets boring after a while, makes you want to finish the book quickly. After i finished it, i had no idea what i just read. It's like nothing even registered. There were no outstanding events/suspense/surprise that captivated me at all. I didn't feel any connection with the book and the characters.

This book landed itself with 1 star and i think that's the best i could rate.

[Deena Samuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I was really looking forward to this book as it seemed to be very romantic but I was dissapointed when I read it. It didn't really turn out the way I expected. Besides, she fell in love with Fred way too early in the book. I also didn't like the way it was written. The sentences were way too short for me. Each sentence was about 6-9 words and the ending left me dumbfounded. I mean, Penelope rejects David's and Ferdy's proposal so that she could be with Fred and in the end, Fred will leave for Africa. I also couldn't really connect with the characters except Jess and she was a servant. I don't think the story was really complete as no one will ever know what happened to all of the characters in the book. Well, it was a fine story though.

[Neena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it however like everyone else thought they fell in love too fast. Plus the ending, I wish there was a couple of more pages maybe in the future and we can see what happened to everyone from Penelope, Ivy, Jess, Fred, Robert, George, Ferdy, David and Arabella etc It was left open ended... maybe there is a sequel?

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still can't believe they fell in love so fast. The romance was fluffy, to me there weren't many moments between Penelope and Fred, but the ending gave me hope. It was sweet. The story mostly circulated around Penelope's "going out". The story was worth reading though. And lol, poor Arabella.

[Tracey Greene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book, loved reading about life in the early part of the 20th century, but I felt the last chapter was rushed and left the story hanging

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

it really reminded me of bridgeton and I absolutely love the cover but you know that Maddie girl was real annoying like wtf

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled across this novel after reading a book by the author in the “My Story” reads. Although aimed at young adults, I thought that I would give it a go as I am quite a fan of “Downton Abbey” type novels and the upstairs/downstairs novels set in the early 20th Century.
Penelope Fitzsimmons arrives at Langdown Manor from India to live her Aunt and Uncle who she has never met. Still feeling raw from the recent death of her mother, she feels alone and unwanted, just wanting to return to her father in India.
The only person Penelope feels she can relate to is the stable boy Fred, through their shared passion for horses. This however, this relationship cannot flourish – society won’t allow it. Whilst Penelope’s aunt is trying to marry her off to a Lord, all Penelope wants to is seek out Fred’s company. How can Fred and Penelope be together when all society wants to do is keep them apart?
This is a lovely, easy to read book with plenty of period detail. I certainly would not let being an adult reader put you off picking this book off as it was a treat to read!

[Aurelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book in 2012 but it sat at the back of my library collecting dust. Three year later, when I was cleaning out the shelves, I saw it and I was, like, "Oh, I haven't read this book."

So I read it. And I'm disappointed.

There are some things I don't like about it:

1) Penelope is annoying. She's whiny, and complains consistently about things. Kind of reminds me of Eadlyn from The Heir.

2) Jess. I don't know what role she plays in the story. Maybe I'm blind or something and didn't see Jess's importance.

3) The missing father. At the beginning of the story, Penelope mentions a lot about him at the beginning, but as the story progresses, the father seemed to have disappeared into thin air. If she really loves him that much, she should at least think about her father more than Fred. In my opinion.

I was debating whether to give this book a three or two stars, but, since I didn't fall asleep while reading it, I gave it three.

[Gina-marie Fanning · Rating 1 out of 5]

It started out with promise, but failed to really develop, then the ending was the crappiest ending. Her love has left her for Africa, with a 'I'll be back,' meanwhile, she has to take her packed bag back, and deal with the aftermath of turning the 2 most eligible bachelors down, with no real reason, and hope they'll just forget about it, until her love returns? Sure, she has his mother's ring, to ensure he comes back, but that doesn't make the ending any better. Couldn't she have contacted her father, and him being the one that eloped with the mother, would see the love they have, and welcome them to his home? But nope. Let's just leave it right in the middle...

[Lucinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I'd love this since I love period dramas but the main upper class girl, Penelope quite annoyed me and I couldn't connect with her character. I liked most of the servants, but nothing really grabbed me in the storyline.

[star · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read the book in one sitting and enjoyed it very much. Only problem I had was the ending!! I felt like I had read half of a book then it ended. The story should have been much longer, I felt as if it was half finished. Very good but very frustrating at the end.

[Bethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average read. Nothing overly special or original about this story.

I liked the different perspectives from upstairs and downstairs, it added an extra quality to the book, however the stories didn't really overlap which was disappointing.

[theirishbooklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a 3.5 star read for me. I would recommend this book if you want a nice easy romantic historical fiction read. The only thing I find kind of annoying about this book is it definitely needs a sequel from my perspective when I read it but definitely a nice read.

[Aleks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Enjoyed the atmosphere and the scene set but otherwise didnt draw me in at all..

[Alison Brownlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting a good story from the reviews and it wasn't bad just far too teen for my liking. But like Downton Abbey meets Lady Chatterly without the sex.

[Amena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely way to pass the time or delve into a historical romance.

[amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed it all the way through but didn't like the very end too much hmmm