Eleanor

The Four Sisters #4

by Audrey Harrison

Eleanor Johnson, the youngest of the Johnson sisters, is plain. No one will ever write sonnets about her but she does not wish for sonnets; just someone to love her for herself. She has lived in the shadow of her three older, more beautiful sisters all her life. Now, not only plain she has made a fool of herself in the worst possible way. Joseph Heaton is sick of the fickleness of society. He has become one of those in society famous for their notoriety in putting people down. He is to find that one arrogant sentence was to cost him the woman that, unwittingly had become the most important person in his life. A chase across country; an angry father; and a man intent on having Eleanor for himself, are all hurdles that face Joseph in his quest to prove his love. He is to face the hard lesson that sometimes, money and titles are not enough to secure everything that he wants.

Genres: Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Regency

191 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 13, 2015

About the author

Audrey Harrison was born about two hundred years too late. She wants to belong to a time when men were men and women were dressed in gowns and could float, simper and sigh.

In the real world she has always longed to write, writing a full manuscript when she was fourteen years old. Work, marriage and children got in the way as they do and it was only when an event at work landed her in hospital that she decided to take stock. One Voluntary Redundancy later, she found that the words and characters came to the forefront and the writing began in earnest.

Her ideal would be to write Regency Romances, but more modern characters are insisting on being heard, hence the release of’ ‘A Very Modern Lord’, a contemporary romance.

So, although at home more these days, the housework is still neglected and tea is still late on the table, but she has an understanding family, who usually shake their heads at her and sigh. That is a sign of understanding, isn’t it?

Reviews

[Debby *BabyDee* · Rating 2 out of 5]

This the last book in the series by Audrey Harrison just turned my stomach. Not sure of the direction was going in this story but the father's attempts to marry off his daughters...and this last one to someone that raped one of the sisters is unreal.

Although the Hero in this story makes it his point to chase the heroine all of who knows where to keep her safe from the intended was totally stupid. It started out slow and about 65% of the story, I was done with the whole lot of characters. This last in the series did not appeal to me as the others and did not bring me any comfort with the supposedly HEA.

I thought the author could have done a bit better with the story of Eleanor. The narrator was consistent as in the other books so the narration was just okay for me. IMO, I can't recommend this book because it did not measure up to the others. Note...this ends this series of clean historical romance.

2-Stars 😒

[Sometime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out loving this book. I was already composing my five star review in my head. The story of Eleanor and Joseph was sweet and so romantic. And then I got to 60 %. And the plot just went off the rails...

When Mr Johnson and Mr Wadeson show up and demand that Eleanor marry him I almost threw my kindle across the room. Eleanor is a grown woman who has every right to refuse to marry. She has sisters with powerful and wealthy husbands who can take her in if her father casts her out. She has a man who is in love with her and is willing to marry her if she wanted to elope. She has options. But what does she do? She decides to invite Joseph into her bed so she can at least have a week of paradise before she willingly chooses to marry an abusive rapist. What??!!?!?! This all made NO sense to me. No one would behave this way or allow it. It felt like plot filler until we could get to the real story.

At this point the story was ruined for me. I had no more respect for any of our characters or this author's ability to write a coherent story. Sorry, but I can't recommend.

My advice, read book 3 Grace and skip this one.

[kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

Spoiler or warning depending on your point of view. I'm halfway through the book and have just found out the heroine's sister has been raped by the man the father wants the heroine to marry. The four sisters decide not to tell their father because he probably won't care. Plus the poor girl who was raped does not want the bring about a scandal and embarass her husband. So they are all trying to make sure the h is never alone because he is the houseguest of yet another sister and her duke husband. WTF. Are we supposed to find it romantic that the hero needs to follow the h around to keep her from being raped like her sister? I find it pathetic. This is the second book this week I've read where a female character has been raped. This is a cheap and tawdry attempt by the writers to use sensationalism in place of character development. A dnf for me and this writer is off my list.

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of the four books in Harrison's "The Four Sisters" series, I liked this one the least. There were some pluses - the arch villain, Mr. Wadeson, gets his just desserts - and the series is nicely concluded. And as I've mentioned before, Harrison does really great character development.

But I got really irritated with a good bit of modern and anachronistic language/expressions. For example, Eleanor gazes into a mirror while paraphrasing a line from the 1937 Disney film of "Snow White." It is quite dissimilar to the original fairy tale that would have been available to Regency readers. Also, characters asking permission to do something typically say "Can I ..?" when it's much more likely they would have said "May I .. ?" Small things, perhaps, but it takes away from the book. I didn't notice it in the other three, but I hope Harrison improves/improved in this area.

[Katie K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

That's a wrap!

Antagonists got what they deserved. Happy endings for all others. What else could a romance reader want?
It was too perfect a world at the end. And I wouldn't recommend this novel to anyone who hates melodrama. We're talking "The Perils of Pauline" here . Wadeson should have been described as wearing a black cape and stovetop hat, twisting his thin black handlebar moustache, and cackling, "Nya-ah-ah!"
The plot lines are what kept me interested, especially since I wanted questions answered concerning Eleanor, her dad, and that gosh-awful Wadeson.
One more point: the author should have spent more time and words on developing the bond between Eleanor and Joseph, because theirs was a potentially great match. I was disappointed that they had fallen for each other so early in the book. It was rushed.

[Marlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one started slow but proved to be more interesting than the others. I got the sense that Joseph really developed a grand passion for Eleanor, in comparison to the spoiled chit Lydia others were chasing. Lots of turns and twists and justice served. The Mother of the 4 sisters never made an appearance and sounded so unlikable and unbelievable to be the mother of these 4 ladies. She did seem to have some fashion influence. How she could be such a cold stuffed shirt for the wife of a cit seemed unrealistic. A satisfying conclusion to the series.

[Ila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clean Regency Romance

A satisfying conclusion to the Four Sisters series - and to M/s Wadeson and Johnson too. Eleanor is the type of intelligent grounded heroine I adore and she's well matched with Joseph. He fortunately is only depicted making some cadish remarks but doesn't behave like one. Rosalind & Peter, Annabelle & Frederick, Grace & Harry, Annie are integral to this story which made it all the better.

[Veronica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the other books in the series there was too much focus on the drama and not enough focus on the romance. As others have pointed out, 3 of the 4 sisters marry men of high rank but for so much of the book the men forgot what kind of power their high rank wielded them which was frustrating.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting

I liked this, it has an interesting plot. I can't say too much without giving the plot away.....suffice it to say that it touches upon one of the darkest episodes in early 19th century history.....an unexpected twist.

[Shane Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

as always a lovely story

I have yet to read a book by Audrey Harrison that isn’t well written and researched. I have read all the books so if you don’t like her books you are into a completely different genre. Thank you for providing an entertaining read.

[Giulia · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was on ok reading
sweet overall

but uneventful
nothing to actually make it stand out from other romance books or books from the same author

[☽ Rhiannon ✭ Mistwalker ☾ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the premise but less so the execution. I kept waiting for people to figure out the obvious, like how the sisters should send Eleanor to Gretna Green with Joseph, or ANYONE that wasn’t the rapist. Eleanor just resigns herself to her fate until the “brilliant (obvious) scheme” for her to get married is hatched? Like, duh. Also wouldn’t they have to go to Gretna? I don’t think she’s reached her majority. I love a plain spinster but the angst from that trope is fairly resolved and then overshadowed by The Big Conundrum. I do love the Misunderstanding though! But I think the old-school sweet clean regency writing style isn’t quite my cup of tea. Lots of proper dialogue that always strikes me as bland, descriptions of minutiae, somewhat repetitive conversations... I dunno. I might read other books by this author if they cater to my favorite tropes. (2.5 stars)

[Dierdre Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A satisfying conclusion

Great ending to the series. Loved each sister's story and enjoyed their realistic hard to achieve happy ending. Can't wait to read another series by this wonderful author

[Leona Riser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another winner from Ms. Harrison

This last of The Four Sisters books was one of my favorites, a page turner that was so memorable and enjoyable I have read and re-read it many times. A well written story with romance, drama, and touches of humor.

[Francesca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very nice romantic book. Very likable characters.

[Karen Darling · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good end to all four books. I think you have to read all four books because they tie into each other. This author has a great imagination.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last book :( I wish there were more sisters.

[Cass · Rating 1 out of 5]

Part of the low-brow rubbish that I read when I was sick and need to read trashy romances.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting to know what was behind the dastardly plot of marrying a daughter off to mr. Wadeson.

[Tricia]

not that great