A Governess to Redeem Him

by Lotte R. James

What happens when a governess’s first love comes back from the dead? Find out in this Gothic second-chance romance.

To claim their future

They must rewrite their past…

Eighteen years ago, Juliana Myles fled her home and built a new life as a governess, believing her childhood sweetheart had been sentenced to death! Now Sebastian Lloyd is back from the dead and wants Juliana’s help in proving his innocence…

Sebastian has spent a lifetime running from an unjust verdict. But he’s tired of being haunted by his past. Yet working with Juliana to capture the true culprit also means being confronted by searing memories of their passionate history. And the temptation to bring their love story back to life…

From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published April 1, 2025

Reviews

[Frankie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My, oh my!

Well, what can I say about this, other than it's stunning!!

Gorgeously gothic with hauntings from the past, deeply emotional, captivating and an absolute divine romance….I don't have adequate words, I love everything about this book, from the glorious cover to the original and engaging writing, this book in one word: Perfect!

I have been in a really bad reading slump lately; nothing has been able to keep my attention. In the last month, I have tried and failed to read seven different books, but the reading block has set in this time. Not sure what's going on, to be honest! Then I started this one and boom I was hooked, true it took me a little longer to read than usual, but I didn't once even think about adding this one to the tried and failed, but will go back to them at some time in the future pile.

No, this one broke through the block, it kept my attention, I was engaged and invested in Juliana and Sebastian's story, I took my time, and I'm so glad that I did, as I prolonged the story, and I was fully wrapped in every page, it felt

I loved the opening, it's eerie and plays our natural sense of intrigue and imagining things that may, or may not be there and easily grabs your attention with questions like: are the ghosts real? Or are they a figment of Juliana's imagination? Or is there something more going on?
I loved the opening, Juliana doesn't believe in ghosts, and yet there is something ghostly hovering around her periphery, you get this instant feeling that there is something there in the shadows, something (or someone) watching and waiting, then boom, a dead man appears from the mist. I love that eeriness, the questions which arise, who is he? What does he want with Juliana?

That first chapter sets up the whole story perfectly, and what a perfect story it is!

I really, really liked Juliana. She hides so much of her innermost thoughts and feelings behind a mask of tranquil calmness. She is resilient, and I sensed a quiet determination, but she also feels so much guilt and remorse. Sebastian, gawd, this man could break me completely, he has stolen a piece of my heart, and I doubt he will ever return it. It's no secret that I fall in love with heroes very easily, the more tortured, the more vulnerable, the more of a darker edge the better in my eyes, and Sebastian is all that and much, much more.

My heart was not only broken for these two, but it was shattered; they loved and still love one other so deeply that the animosity and anger, the hate and distrust between them, is heartbreaking. I love the message that love can never be broken no matter what happens, if it's true life lasting love then nothing can break it, not even death and years of anger can tear what is meant to be apart, though it took time for Juliana and Sebastian to learn to trust and find that deeply hidden love it's there and they can't deny it.

A Governess to Redeem Him is a beautiful, second-chance, lovers-reunited romance. It's not an easy journey, and it's one which is full of drama and secrets, huge emotion and the constant feeling of loss and with hints of revenge and retribution. Honestl,y it's a chuffing amazing book!

The turbulent emotions which swirl around these two are agonising. Juliana and Sebastian go through the mill, both are so angry, and the constant sense of betrayal and anger is always simmering beneath the surface. How could they ever be happy when so much has gone between them, and yet they could never be parted as they are meant to be together in one way or another, it's like there is a cord between them pulling them together, the other

Lotte R. James's writing is so clever, the eeriness and slight melancholy of the Gothic-ness (is that a word?)in the start is superb at capturing your full attention, and the vivid descriptions of sense and thought lure you into her world. I love how, whilst reading, we have regular insights into Julianna and Sebastian's thoughts, something I enjoyed and thought it brought the characters to life

Finally, can I just take a moment to show my absolute love for the cover..... Just look at it—go on, look!! Isn't it glorious? I love the eeriness of the swirling mist around them. I adore the muted colours with that gorgeous gothic feel. Yeah, I'm in love with it. Plus, the representation of Juliana and Sebastian is pretty perfect to me. It's just gorgeous!

A Governess to Redeem Him is a hauntingly romantic second-chance love story!

[Bookshortie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juliana and Sebastian were sweethearts. The last time Juliana saw Sebastian was 18 years ago when he was sentenced to death. She fled her home leaving everything behind and never looked back. But Sebastian is back and wants Juliana to help him prove his innocence. Can Juliana and Sebastian discover the truth?

I've read quite a few books written by this author and I have loved them all. This one however was different which made me love it even more. I found the writing style to be immersive and what I thought was a historical romance turned out to be so much more. The storyline had a gothic feel. It had passion and intensity with the ultimate theme being one of unrequited love and soul mates. It gave me Wuthering Heights and The Count of Monte Christo vibes. I love Wuthering Heights and I've never read a book that included the same intense love as Cathy and Heathcliff until I read Juliana and Sebastian’s story.

My favourite scene was the one at the start of the book when Juliana sees Sebastian for the first time. It was such a descriptive and vivid image with darkness, a bitter wind, and the clouds part to reveal moonlight shining down on a figure that happens to be Sebastian. Initially Juliana thinks she is seeing a ghost or her imagination is playing tricks on her until she realises he is real.

To say the reunion between Juliana and Sebastian was frosty would be an understatement. You could feel the intense emotions emanating from the page because there is this clear feeling of regret, hurt, hatred and missed opportunities. Julianne and Sebastian have been through a lot together and separately. They were cruelly torn apart when Sebastian was accused of murder and Juliana believed he had died. Juliana never came to terms with what happened but also she felt like she could have done more to save Sebastian but she didn’t. Sebastian feels that Juliana could have done more for him, to vouch for him or to stay rather than flee. So starts Juliana and Sebastian's journey to discover the truth of what happened all those years ago. Although Sebastian doesn’t really give Juliana a choice in helping him she does agree because she herself wants to know the truth. What they discover is not what they are expecting.

What I loved about Juliana and Sebastian’s relationship is despite their initial awkwardness and mixed feelings on seeing each other again they still very much adore and love each other. In their lives there has never been anyone else and it’s clear that they were made for each other. The more time they spend together they start to reconnect and it’s like they’ve never been apart. Even when they are together and don’t talk they are still pulled towards each other.

This is one love story that will stay with me for forever.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to preface this whole review by saying right away that this is one of the best category romances I have read in a long, long time. Possibly ever. Ok, let's dive in.

Eighteen years ago, Juliana Myles watched the man she loved hang for a double murder and then fled to become a governess. Her childhood home while full of wealth, was one of abuse, trauma and now devastating memories. She made a new life for herself as a governess and created her own family in Scotland with her best friend Ginny, her husband and their two daughters. But when Juliana's first love, Sebastian Lloyd, returns from the dead, asking for her help to clear his name she is shocked to see him, elated he's not dead and absolutely livid that he let her think he was all this time. Juliana agrees to assist him but wants to do more than clear his name. If she has to return home for the first time in almost twenty years, in the company of a man she mourned for her whole adult life, she wants to find out what actually happened on that night that changed both of their lives forever.

I could tell two things about Lotte R. James from this book: she is a theatre person and she deeply loves gothic fiction. The dialogue in this novel was the clearest indicator of both of these things. These characters tend to speak in monologues. My kindle highlights from this book are big paragraphs which read like stage monologues. Most romance authors approach dialogue as a conversation with short dialogue tags or action beats sandwiched between the dialogue. There are paragraphs of internal turmoil between the lines of dialogue in this book. That's really common in the gothic novels I know and love from the 19th century and it felt like a really authentic callback to the genre.

Those of you who have followed me for a long time know I am a devotee of the Brontë sisters. Jane Eyre is my favorite book (I have much of it memorized) and I have spent an enormous amount of time digging into Wuthering Heights and the other novels of Charlotte, Emily and Anne. About eighteen years ago, I wrote a very long paper tracking the generational trauma in Wuthering Heights with a focus on how Mr. Earnshaw's relationship with Hindley shaped all the other characters in the book. Hindley's perception of his father's love for Heathcliff and neglect of him leads to destructive behavior which causes a domino effect across the Earnshaw and Linton families. Something similar was at play here, but with actual abuse from Juliana's father rather than just the perception of it. Her father died about twenty years prior to the start of this book, but his actions, his relationship with his children (or lack thereof) colors every interaction his adult children have with each other and those around them. But the way the story was approached didn't feel like a modern psychoanalysis of the characters; it felt gothic and true to the genre.

A Governess to Redeem him is a second chance romance, which is my favorite trope. I love the built-in angst of the trope and the way it accelerates the story because the main characters have history. And in this book, we have the added drama of a hero returned from the dead. I really loved both of these characters because of how they grow over the course of the book and come to realize that they were both tragically impacted by this double murder. Sebastian initially believes he is the only one who suffered. He is the one who went through the trial and execution. He is the one who was forced to assume a new name and wander Europe. Sebastian doesn't see what his death did to Juliana until quite a ways in to the book. He has no idea what it was like for her to watch him die, what it cost her to stand there while the wheels of justice moved swiftly and took away her future. And he has no clue how she spent her entire adult life mourning him and just trying to carve out an existence that didn't hurt.

I don't want to give anything away about the resolution to this book but I loved the way Lotte R. James approached the resolution of the plot. It is a truth that there are some things that cannot be fixed by love. There are some things that people need time to process before they're capable of making any decisions and she gives the characters room for that– again, a choice that felt true to the gothic genre.

This was my first Lotte R. James book and it will not be my last. I absolutely loved this book and will be reading more of her writing in the future.

[Tiziana Langone · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the past needs your help…

After seeing her sweetheart being sentenced to death, Juliana Myles fled her home eighteen years ago and built a new life. Now she is not only a governess but also a good friend of the family who she is working for. So even if there are moments that haunt her still, she is content with her life. That is until a ghost from her past suddenly appears and needs her help to prove his innocence. Saying that Juliana is shocked to learn that Sebastian is not dead at all would be an understatement, and while she is sure that his thoughts on the real culprit could not be possible, she agrees on discovering the truth. On their search for the truth, it is difficult to not recall the many memories they share. But with the sense of betrayal they are both feeling, and pretending to be a married couple, could their love stand another chance. Or have the events of the past broken them and their love?

There is always something so hopeful in reading second – chance stories. How a love that seemed truly over and out, can be reignited, and that will bring the main characters (hopefully) back together.

But in this story, Juliana truly believes that her love story with Sebastian is truly in the past, as she saw the man she loved being sentenced to death a lifetime ago.

As a reader, of course we already know that it won’t be the case, but I was curious to read what exactly happened so many moons ago. And of course I could understand the shock Juliana has when she realizes that what she sees, isn’t a ghost at all, but is in fact Sebastian, the man she loved.

Juliana’s story for sure saddened me for a great part of the book. Yes, she lost Sebastian, even if she never believed in his guilt, but facts proved her of her wrong. But it’s not only that Juliana lost Sebastian, also her upbringing, how her father raised her and her brother, and how alone and lonely in fact Juliana has been, just broke my heart.

Even when it was just her and her brother, without Sebastian in her life, her life was rather beige. Only once the romance with Sebastian began, it seemed that Juliana had something good in her life. Only to have it ripped away from her…

While in the present she for sure has a good life, working as a governess, but in fact being truly a friend, her life somehow turned beige again… And beige is not the kind of life that Juliana deserves. Because the kind – hearted person, the gentle person that Juliana is, deserves a life full of colour, full of love and full of passion.

Full of love, like the love she had with Sebastian, who reappears from the dead, not only to seek out the truth, but also to seek out revenge…

I could understand where Sebastian was coming from… As an innocent, there cannot be a more terrible thing to be punished for a crime you didn’t commit. And it is even worse if you have to pay it with your life…

Sebastian has lost everything eighteen years ago, and I could also understand in a way why he blames Juliana for his fate. And thus it also makes perfect sense that he wants her to undo the wrongdoings of the past.

The crime that Sebastian was sentenced for, for sure was a despicable act. An act that Sebastian believes to know who to blame. But for me, it was so despicable that just like Juliana, I refused to believe that Sebastian would/could be right…

Juliana agrees to help Sebastian, but to prove that he is wrong, as in her heart she cannot believe that kind of betrayal. And that shows once again what a kind and gentle persona Juliana is. Because the people she loves, and that love her, cannot possibly be able to such terrible things.

So while their goals are so different, they are also alike, as they both need the truth to come out. A truth they try to seek while pretending to be a married couple.

A pretence, yet with a history, we all know all to well what that means, don’t we? 😊 A pretence that brings back so many memories, filled with love. A pretence that makes clear that love doesn’t just disappear, but can be ignited once again, if it is the pure kind.

And seeing that happening between Juliana and Sebastian, made me a bit laugh. Not because it is funny, but because they are both so determined to not give in to what those memories do to them, but because it is so obviously in vain…

In this book, we not only see a quest for the truth, which is obviously important to lay demons at rest, and clear your name. But we also see how powerful love can be. Love can make you protect your loved ones, love can stand the test of time, and even the most difficult test, the test of trust, belief and even the test of death…

In this wonderful story, we see how the right thing is always the right thing to do, no matter how painful that may seem. But we also see how a second chance at love is the most heartwarming thing there can be. And that love, the purest kind of love, always finds a way back, and can be worth of all the pain you had to endure.

[lifelonghistorylover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eighteen years ago, Sebastian Lloyd was accused of a double murder and theft. Believing he was executed, his childhood sweetheart, Juliana Myles, (who featured in Lotte’s book The Marquess of Yew Park House) fled her home and built a new life as a governess, mourning her love and not allowing herself to move on. Now Sebastian is back; he’s full of anger and resentment; and after feeling abandoned by Juliana, he wants her help getting justice. With his fine new clothes, and a mind hell-bent on revenge, Sebastian reminded me of The Count of Monte Cristo – which I love!

As well as Sebastian’s tragic storyline, Juliana has a harrowing past of her own which we explore when the characters return to their hometown to conduct detective work.

Instead of picking up their love story where they left off, I appreciated how the author let the characters figure out their feelings for each other - it felt more authentic. Juliana and Sebastian fell in love as teenagers, and in the eighteen years since, they have changed and grown as individuals. As well as proving Sebastian’s innocence, the pair have to get to know each other as adults. Their passion for each other has been reignited, but are they only in love with the memory of what they once had? Or is there a chance they can still have the happy ending they once planned for?

From the first page, we are treated to Lotte’s deliciously descriptive gothic elements, which set the scene of the book perfectly. Something I love about this author’s work is that the houses in her books have so much personality - they are almost characters in their own right! Lotte R. James gives us so much more than a one-dimensional historical romance: we have an exciting storyline; the characters have depth and grow as the storyline progresses, and although we have passion and spice, it’s not without reason (sometimes, I find authors plonk spicy scenes in a story to bulk out the book). R. James is easily one of my favourite Historical Romance authors - she has perfected the genre!

* Thank you to Lotte for sending me a copy of her book in exchange for an honest review!

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

This was a different read. The story was unlike any I've read before. A man thought dead for 18 years who comes back to prove his innocence and be reunited with the woman he loved all those years ago.
They both changed but their love is still there.

What was also different was that the characters thoughts and feelings would go on for pages. At first I thought it would bore me, as very little happened alongside their thoughts but then the last few chapters were page turners and I'm glad I stick to it till the end.

[Jo Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Governess to Redeem Him was a wonderfully gothic novel with a sense of Wuthering Heights about it. When Juliana sees her sweetheart Sebastian hanged for murder she is devastated and becomes a governess, never really getting over her loss.

Sebastian comes back into her life 18 years later, having actually escaped death at the hanging, and asks her to help him find the real murderer. As she had struggled to believe him guilty of murder she agrees to assist him, although it means going back to her family home where her brother lives, with the pair acting as a ‘married’ couple. It is not all sweet and romantic though, Juliana is reluctant to go and Sebastian felt that he was abandoned by Juliana before his trial, so they are both conflicted and bitter.

As they investigate together their long hidden feelings surface again.

I enjoyed the investigation element of the story as they worked hard to identify the murderer, which was understandably complicated given the fact that so many years had gone by.

This love story, a second chance at love following a traumatic ‘death’ was beautifully written and will stay with me a long time.

[Sabilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gothic love story where death cannot separate a true love...

Juliana, a governess with the most reasonable and calm attitude despite her predicament, must have suffered a lot for the loss of her first and only love. I could feel the suffering she must have endured all her life, the guilt, the memories, the loss, how could she bear it? She doesn’t believe in ghost, but when she hears that Sebastian is still alive, her fear and despair come back to haunt her until he confronts her himself. I loved how dramatic the encounter was.

Wrongly convicted of murder, Sebastian who escaped and created a new identity couldn’t forget the past. He must find the real culprit and regain his identity, thus he returns and demands Juliana, his past sweetheart to assist him, to go back to Barrow Heath, a place where their love blossomed until tragedy tore them apart.

Oh dear, I couldn’t believe it, how could these two sweethearts who loved one another, bring up so much hatred and rage? I must praise Lotte for her brilliantly emotional metaphorical writing which bring so much emotion permeating within Juliana and Sebastian, because who wouldn’t, after what they had been through? And Now, Juliana must face the reality of another tragic life? Tracing back their past as husband and wife, will they be able to redeem themselves?

Despite the heart-wrenching angst storyline, this has become one of my most favourite books by Lotte. Lotte’s powerful writing brings out a beautiful second chance love story where Juliana and Sebastian’s love never ends even after death has separated them. It’s truly a beautiful love story where in the end love could eventually conquer and redeem them.

[Bea Tea · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm so sorry, amidst all these glowing reviews, to drop a solitary star into the mix. I could not *stand* this author's writing style. Her prose is overdressed with an abundance of italics, ellipsis and em dashes. Her sentences are littered with endless choppy clauses that never seem to end but rather... trail off... into... nothingness... I get she's trying for some ethereal, evocative stream of consciousness style of writing but it's just so distracting because I don't think she's any good at it.

The plot and the characters seem intriguing to me, and I'm so disappointed not to be able to dive deeper into this book, but damn, the writing is so relentlessly 'stylistic' I just can't.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness! You'll definitely want this book in your beach bag.