Housemaid Heiress

by Elizabeth Beacon

An heiress, thinks Miss Alethea Hardy, should rise late, dress elegantly and marry well. A far cry from her new responsibilities - up at dawn to fetch and carry for her betters! In running away from a repulsive proposal, Thea has ruined herself. Until she meets Marcus Ashfield, Viscount Strensham, who seems to see the beautiful woman behind her dowdy uniform. Such a devastatingly handsome, arrogant Lord cant be interested in a lowly maid... can he?

Genres: Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Mills and Boon

298 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

ELIZABETH BEACON lives in the beautiful English West Country, and is finally putting her insatiable curiosity about the past to good use. Over the years Elizabeth has worked in her family’s horticultural business, become a mature student, qualified as an English teacher, worked as a secretary and, briefly, tried to be a civil servant. She is now happily ensconced behind her computer, when not trying to exhaust her bouncy rescue dog with as many walks as the Inexhaustible Lurcher can finagle. Elizabeth can’t bring herself to call researching the wonderfully diverse, scandalous Regency period and creating charismatic heroes and feisty heroines work, and she is waiting for someone to find out how much fun she is having and tell her to stop it.

Reviews

[Denise Bonham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely book great characters and a certain amount of danger a good mix.

[Bettye McKee · Rating 5 out of 5]

It felt so good to return to the comfort and simplicity of a Regency romance. This story is about heiress Alethea Hardy who is being held captive in her own home by unscrupulous relatives who are trying to force her into marriage to gain her inheritance. Thea manages to escape and is in hiding when she encounters Marcus Ashfield and his badly wounded cousin, Nick Prestbury. Marcus offers to put in a good word for "Hetty Smith" with another cousin if she is seeking employment, and she is hired as a housemaid.

Marcus, meanwhile, has inherited a title and estate but is desperately in need of funds. His accommodating cousin has invited three wealthy women for him to pick from, but all three are horrible. Marcus sees no option other than to propose to one of them. But when he closes his eyes, the face that fills his mind is that of Hetty Smith.

7

[Alexis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not read this book.
I finally managed to get through it, although I almost gave up a number of times.
The events of the storyline are confusing and not well written. I had to read sections a number of time to work out what was going on, and when I tried to skim I found it impossible due to the fact that even one paragraph skipped meant a whole section of the story went missing.
Difficult to keep track of who was talking or how whatever was happening fitted in.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've come to the conclusion that I'm just not a fan of Elizabeth Beacon's writing style. I've read a few of hers over the past few years and I just find them incredibly hard to get through. The stories themselves are fine, and the character building is actually really good. But there are random time jumps and some parts lack depth.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

That was... HORRIBLE! Instead of going on and on and on about the hero/heroine wanting to have sex but feeling honour bound not to... The author should have develloped on Thea's change from a spoiled rich brat into a humble maid...

[Kathy]

gave it a shot as something to read on the train since it was available from library - unable to recommend