The Heir

Windham #1

by Grace Burrowes

"An earl who can't be bribed..."

Gayle Windham, earl of Westhaven, is the first legitimate son and heir to the duke of Moreland. To escape his father's inexorable pressure to marry, he decides to spend the summer at his townhouse in London, where he finds himself intrigued by the secretive ways of his beautiful housekeeper...

"A lady who can't be protected..."

Anna Seaton is a beautiful, talented, educated woman, which is why it is so puzzling to Gayle Windham that she works as his housekeeper.

As the two draw closer and begin to lose their hearts to each other, Anna's secrets threaten to bring the earl's orderly life crashing down-and he doesn't know how he's going to protect her from the fallout...

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Regency, Fiction, Regency Romance

448 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Grace Burrowes started writing as an antidote to empty nest and soon found it an antidote to life in general. She is the sixth out of seven children, raised in the rural surrounds of central Pennsylvania. Early in life she spent a lot of time reading romance novels and practicing the piano. Her first career was as a technical writer and editor in the Washington, DC, area, a busy job that nonetheless left enough time to read a lot of romance novels.

It also left enough time to grab a law degree through an evening program, produce Beloved Offspring (only one, but she is a lion), and eventually move to the lovely Maryland countryside.

While reading yet still more romance novels, Grace opened her own law practice, acquired a master's degree in Conflict Transformation (she had a teenage daughter by then) and started thinking about writing.... romance novels. This aim was realized when Beloved Offspring struck out into the Big World a few years ago. ("Mom, why doesn't anybody tell you being a grown-up is hard?")

Grace eventually got up the courage to start pitching her manuscripts to agents and editors. The query letter that resulted in "the call" started out: "I am the buffoon in the bar at the RWA retreat who could not keep her heroines straight, could not look you in the eye, and could not stop blushing--and if that doesn't narrow down the possibilities, your job is even harder than I thought." (The dear lady bought the book anyway.)

To contact Grace, email her at graceburrowes@yahoo.com.

Reviews

[Verity · Rating 2 out of 5]

The heir & The help.

Ye gods, to quote the hero after fucking housekeeper heroine silly (author’s words, not mine) : Sweet, ever-loving, merciful, abiding Christ, this imaginary, logic-and-conventions defying cocktail left me spaced out. The grandma of all wallpaper-ish regency tales is rife w/ B.S., choppy & incoherent story-telling, chatty characters, overabundance of PDA, a plethora of repetitions, H/h inexplicably calling each other by full names, nonsensical storyline, over-consumption of lemonade, marzipan & muffins, heroine’s fondness for teething hero’s nipples, non-existent conflict that gets overstretched beyond breaking point, dubious Regency setting, low H/h’s tension, unexplained name-dropping, mute & deaf sista getting a miraculous cure, over-achieving characters etc. U name it, this under-rated boatwreck got it. Don’t bother w/ the plot, the honorable mentions :

As always, the antennae went on overdrive when certain words popped out like blooming zits. Part of the fun of e-version is its useful search engine :
Ye gods = 14 X
Lemonade = 52 X (iced / sweetened / unsweetened). Gas X, anyone ?
Marzipan = 28 X
Muffins = 7 X
Fairly = 41 X
Flowers = 50 X
Piano = 25 X
Anna Seaton = 40 X
Gayle Tristan Montmorency Windham = 5 X (low output compared to above but worth mentioning)

Hero’s oh-so-shexy pick up line : “Let me be blunt : I want to fornicate w/ U. Urgently.”
Slow-on-the-uptake response : “Urgently,” Anna repeated, still perplexed.

Gayle (chick-like name) = Horndawg hero :
After pissing,
<< He shook himself off, gave himself a few affectionate strokes, then buttoned up. >>
Then plucking her a rose afterwards (How romantic, piss-smelling rose was du jour).

~ In the midst of a severe chicken pox, his boner stirs @ the thought of heroine cum caretaker aka eazy lay. Forget the itchiness, fever, etc, his dong has a life of its own.
~ The chaste heroine wakes up to a scene of hero manhandling himself.
~ He admits to heroine that during his Uni days, he jerked off several times a day. `
~ During a sumptuous picnic, heroine gives hero a hand job. In broad daylight. Under pretense that he needs her to check out his property. He neglected to mention it’s the personal property in his pants that needed to be checked out. Apparently the twit didn’t read between the lines on her shady job description : “Perform extra tasks as assigned”, U gotta give her brownie points for flexibility, raising the bar & purple staff when necessary.

Family blessings :
Hella weird that everyone has a blasé attitude about hero bangin’ / wanting to marry his over-achieving housekeeper. Brothers, parents, cousin, ex-fiancee don’t even twitch an eyebrow cuz they seemingly live an insular existence. Other than immediate family, household staff & the amateur villains, none of the characters have any encounters w/ society. No balls, no social rounds, no by-chance bumping into nozy acquaintance, no work other than dictating letters & having heroine perform as temp P.A. No wonder the H/h’s hanky panky going-ons go under the radar. The only witness is hero’s bro, who happens to walk in while hero tries to dick ram bone heroine on the couch. No biggie, he won’t blab. In fact, he non-chalantly encourages bro to tie the knot w/ the housekeeper, lower status & ducal expectations be damned. How funny. My buck teeth have more gaps than the social discrepancies between the heir to dukedom & the help.

Heroic hero takes 1 for the team :
To avoid the duke’s constant nagging to procreate, Val, hero’s younger bro, pretends to swing for the other team. A stroke of genius, except that peeps’ gaydar back then was on alert mode cuz it’s supposedly illegal.

The conflict :
So what does an author do when external conflict is a no-go cuz family blessings are effortlessly secured ? Drumroll plz. Wait 4 it…. Create a suspenseless mystery involving the heroine’s pimp bro & her alleged fiancé. And the 2 buffoons try to kidnap heroine in broad daylight, in plain sight of the protagonists. Verra subtle. Talk ‘bout digging their own grave.

Lemonade & marzipan over-consumption :
Had no idea these were so popular in this era, particularly in this unnatural household. I’ve been misled. I always thought those stiff upper lips only drink tea. Lemonade for all occasions, even when the duchess visits ? I’m fairly sure the reason hero relieves himself way more often than normal, is due to over-imbibing gallons of lemonade. Moderation in Regency era = a foreign concept ?

How close was hero’s property to adjacent neighbors ?
@ 1 % : << He heard his neighbor playing the piano late @ night, … >>>
It was mentioned that hero had to clean up the financial mess left by his sire, but how reduced were his circumstances ? I used to rent a seedy apartment where the walls were so paper thin that everytime my next-wall neighbor burped / let his ass rip, every decibel of the horrifying sounds could be heard. But still, I can’t imagine the Earl’s abode was Monopoly-sized & so close to his next-door neighbors that he could hear the neighbor playing the piano, unless bombastic speakers were installed in the neighborhood. Turns out it’s his multi-talented housekeeper showing off her skills @ pianoforte. Also, the help taking liberties w/ musical instrument w/ the master in the same domain, that is a career suicide, U’d think.

The meddling Duke :
So we’re told repeatedly of his machinations to get his heir hitched. When hero’s mistress gets preggers & stupidly tries to pass it off as his, the Duke himself approves. Say what ? Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of wanting to leave a legacy B4 his expiration date, if it ain’t the fruit of hero’s loins ? What a knucklehead.

Untimely name-dropping :
So outta left field, a half-baked backstory comes out that hero used to be miserably engaged to Gwen who actually had the hawtz for 1 of hero’s BFFs. His ex-fiancee’s daughter, Rose, calls hero - “uncle”, calls her dad - “stepdad” & calls the Duke -“grandfather”. Did some pertinent history get snipped in the editing room ?

Then we have the off-screen Viscount Fairly. Based on the info dump :
~ He’s a Viscount, a trusted family physician cum friend cum relation of hero’s ex-fiancee.
~ He owns a whorehouse.
~ He cherry-picks his medical cases. When hero gets chicken pox, this so-called physician refuses to attend him, w/ the excuse that he doesn’t know if he’s got chicken pox yet & his mum couldn’t provide him w/ info either. Didn’t he take the Hippocratic oath ? I must be in the wrong profession. I had no idea we have the option to pick & choose. So heroine steps in as caretaker, just ‘cuz she’s had chicken pox as a child, so she’s an expert.
~ He miraculously cures heroine’s sista’s deafness, despite Val’s heads up that doc Fairly ain’t the expert in deafness field. All it takes is a few Q-tips – or whatevah the hell it was he used - to scrape off some scar tissues. Suddenly she turns into a chatterbox as soon as she steps outta his townhouse. Yeah pull my other leg puhleaze. No rusty windpipe @ all ?
~ He holds a ball (off screen).
~ He’s a philanthropist. He & his in-laws underwrite the expenses of a ball to be held by the duchess.
~ He lets Val tinker w/ his piano.
~ He owns stables of fillies. That’s where Dev, hero’s other bro, hangs out.
~ He employs a loyal guardian street urchin, who stakes out @ hero’s premises, unbeknownst to hero.

So all of the above : a bait for future book ? Hell if I know. He’s supposedly already married. I’m confused. What’s the purpose of constant references ?

PDA :
Well I’ve nevah encountered a family so lovey-dovey & showy w/ PDA. The characters seem to luv hugging. A lot. Heroine hugs hero & vice versa. The duke hugs hero. Hero hugs his bros. Lotsa quality bonding time. Younger bro telling hero : “Love U too.” Awww… all that’s missing is a group hug ! Duke & Earl discussing symptoms of pregnancy when heroine inexplicably turns into a leaky wench @ the final stage of the story. Having sired 10 offsprings, @ 1 point the duke grills hero if heroine’s chest is tender. TMI ?

Full-name calling :
Whazzup w/ hero incessantly calling heroine Anna Seaton ? And heroine calling hero Gayle Tristan Montmorecy Windham ? Over & over again. Pretentious much ? What if he’s unfortunately named “Ream My-Ass Humperdinck Windham” ? Some nutty parents named their kids per sentimental value.

Self-promo / false ads ?
@ the verra end, “About the author” :
<< GB is the pen name for a prolific & award-winning author of historical romances. >>

Intentional hilarity, or a big whopper ? What do U call Jayne Anne Krentz, Danielle Steel & Diana Palmer, who must’ve cranked out 1 book even in their sleep ? A super duper prolific writer ? Hardy har har.

Acknowledgments :
<< It takes a village to transform a 1st-time book U’re reading now. >>
Which begs the question, did the villagers drink over-sweetened lemonade & eat marzipan into a lethargic stupor that they forgot to pass on the memo that the book’s supposed to be a Regency ? As in, historical era ?

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Let me say up front that I think this series has potential, and I'm planning to give the next book (The Soldier (Duke's Obsession, #2 )) a shot. The dialogue was witty, and the story had some definitely decent moments. However, there were several things about The Heir that got on my nerves.

First, the idiot heroine.
No, she wasn't truly stupid. Which is what made her refusal to trust the duke to help her seem really idiotic.
I mean, he's already asked you to marry him how many times, and yet you think he won't protect you? It made no sense at all by the end of the book.

Second, the back-and-forth Does He Love Me/Does She Love Me thing. It went on waaay too long.
Again, by the end of the book, it made no sense in any reality.

My third and final complaint is about some of the sex scenes.
Let me explain.
Gayle (nice name for a duke) notices that his housekeeper Anna is lovely.
Awwww.
So that evening, he goes into his room and pleasures himself .
No big deal. Who doesn't jerk off now and then, right?
If the author had left it at that, I wouldn't have even thought twice about it. But nooooo.
The backstory for this next part is that they get trapped overnight (by bad weather) in a house he is thinking of purchasing for one of his sisters.
Of course, they end up in the same bed.
So do they have sex? Nope.
But she does wake up in the middle of the night because he is rubbing her ass...and spanking his monkey.
Say what?!
I'm sorry, but I don't find that the least bit sexy.
So, needless to say, I was not at all surprised when their first sexual encounter together consisted of Anna giving him a hand job.
Wow.

Like I said, I'm going to try to read the next book.
But if that guy can't keep his hands off of his pee-pee..I'm done with this series.

[Lady Wesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading all the books in the Windham series (except the one that has yet to be published), I have to say that I liked them, despite some truly annoying flaws. So, I decided to write a series review rather than individual ones. Here’s a little roadmap first. The Windham series is divided between three subseries. The Duke’s Obsession is about his three sons, and his obsession is to see them married and populating their nurseries. The Duke’s Daughters is about his five daughters, and he doesn’t seem so obsessed in their cases. The Duke and His Duchess consists of two novellas featuring the duke as a single man courting his future duchess and then as a man married five years..

Here’s my review of The Heir, from 2011 (and later):

The Heir
I wanted to like this book, and in truth I really did find the characters engaging, although the meddling old duke was a bit over the top. But the author keeps introducing characters with little or no background to the point of confusion. I didn't bother to go back and reread, but: was Viscount Fairly really a physician and owner of a bawdy house? why did the Earl almost marry Rose's mother and how was the wedding broken up? who was Rose's father?

Anna's deadly secret is kept secret from the reader for far too long, and then it simply makes no sense that she won't take the easiest and most desirable way out and simply marry the earl.

2 April 2013
I've read some other Grace Burrowes' works since reading The Heir, and before I start No. 2 in the series, I decided to give this one another chance. We shall see . . . .

5 April 2013
Well, I liked it better this time around, but still have the same complaints. And the LEMONADE! My god, they must have been running to the water closet every twenty minutes.

What I did not realize originally was that Grace Burrowes had already written something like twenty-four unpublished novels before The Heir was published as her debut. She’s created a whole world out there, people, and you’ll never understand who all the players are unless you read all of her books. And even then you won’t know because there are more on the way. Namely, the Lonely Lords series, each one featuring a secondary character from the Windham series.

So, in answer to the questions I posed above: (1)Was Viscount Fairly really a physician and owner of a bawdy house? (Apparently so, but we have to wait for David (Lonely Lords #9) to find out the details). (2)Why did the Earl of Westhaven almost marry Rose's mother and how was the wedding broken up? (Still, no idea, except that the duke was meddling) (3) Who was little Rose's father? (We know that Rose is the duke’s granddaughter, but how? Now that’s interesting. If you read the family tree on GB’s website, you learn that Rose’s mother may have been married to the duke’s deceased son Victor, but she’s now married now to Douglas (Lonely Lords #8). There’s no mention there of little Rose.)

Which reminds me, when this series begins, two of the duke’s sons already have died: Barthlomew (the eldest), killed in Portugal, under mysterious circumstances, and Victor, who succumbed to consumption. I have no doubts that they’ll eventually get their own books, or at least novellas. Likely they’re already written.

Now the good news is that you don’t actually have to read the entire series; each book works well as a standalone, provided you’re not distracted by random characters popping up without introduction or backstory. Me, I was distracted.

The Duke’s Obsession subseries
Now, at last, an opinion. Grace Burrowes is a very talented writer, and she creates characters you come to really care about. This is a good thing, as the first three books are basically the same plot, with different people and settings. The Heir: duke’s heir, burdened by the demands of running the duke’s estates, spends the summer in London and falls in love with a women beneath him in social status who is keeping deep, dark secrets. The Soldier: duke’s illegitimate son moves to his new estate in Yorkshire and falls in love with a woman beneath him in social status who is keeping deep, dark secrets. The Virtuoso: duke’s piano-playing son injures his hand, travels to his new estate in Oxfordshire and falls in love with a woman beneath him in social status who is keeping deep, dark secrets. I enjoyed these books a lot and may even reread them some day, despite the repetitive nature of the major and minor plotlines (each brother makes love exactly the same way, as if, in addition to a fencing-master, they had a f---ing master to teach them the perfect steps; each one likes to brush and braid a woman’s hair; if a woman is pregnant, and they all are before the wedding, she sleeps and cries a lot). Probably, if you don’t read them one after another, as I did, the repetition is less bothersome. I'm still giving The Heir three stars, but four for the others.

The Duke and His Duchess subseries
I might have stopped right there, if I hadn’t decided to read the two prequel novellas that comprise The Duke and His Duchess series. In the three preceding books, set just after the Napoleonic wars, the duke was just a meddlesome, but ultimately loving, old man, devoted to his duchess. In the novellas, we travel back to Georgian days, and the future duke is a dashing young hero returned from service in Canada. He and his brother Anthony are attending a house party, where Lord Percival Windham falls in love with Esther Himmelfarb, a, um, a woman beneath him in social status. (She’s not keeping deep, dark secrets, though!) Percy has just shed his two mistresses and has been ordered by his mother to find a bride, and the impoverished granddaughter of an earl is not what Her Grace had in mind. Percy is utterly adorable, lovable, charming – I can’t think of enough adjectives. And Esther is his perfect match. I totally loved The Courtship.

Fast forward five years to The Duke and His Duchess to find Percy and Esther are five years into their marriage and up to their knees in babies, bills, and family difficulties. The old duke's memory is slipping, the heir is ailing. Not only that, it looks like Percy fathered two illegitimate children before his marriage, and this is the charming, touching story of how those children become part of the Windham family. It’s great fun to travel back 30 years or so and see these characters as young lovers and then parents.

Both five-stars for me.

The Duke’s Daughters subseries
For the daughters, GB came up with more inventive plots than she did for the sons. This review has already gone on long enough, so I won’t add any detail. Read the blurbs. If it sounds interesting, try the book. I enjoyed them all four-stars worth.

Conclusion (yay!)
So, I’ve become a Grace Burrowes fan-girl, despite our inauspicious introduction. She writes beautiful prose, and her plots, after the first three, are engaging. Her website is quite nice, too, and contains previews as well as bonus material for each book (and believe me, there are a lot more coming).

As I’ve said in other reviews, I really enjoy reading a series where familiar characters appear from time to time. (In GB’s case, I just have to resign myself to seeing cameo appearances from unfamiliar characters.) I would say that Windham World is even more complex than Mary Balogh’s Bedwyn World (15 books and counting).

And I love it just as much.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 1 out of 5]

At a third in, I made the mistake of trying to figure out why I was still reading this. And couldn't come up with any good reasons. I knew I was in trouble early when Windham winced at Anna applying disinfectant to the wound she gave him. Since later Gayle (ugh, really?) visited "Prinny" and calls him "the Prince Regent", this book has to be prior to 1820 and so is decades before germ theory is a thing and thus way before infectants could or should be "dis"ed. So I knew the author was being careless, is what I'm saying.

And then we have Gayle (ugh again. Okay, I'm done with Gayle. I'm calling him George from now on), so George starts harassing his housekeeper, Anna, and that drove me a little bit nuts, too. I mean, yeah, there's a power imbalance there that makes his pursuit questionable from the start. But Anna's quick on the trigger and telling him flat out that her resignation will be on his desk in the morning. Which made me kind of like her for a bit. So George is actually a little careful about that. What he isn't careful about, or seems capable of acknowledging, ever, is that there is an inherent imbalance in consequences for them having a "bit o' fun" (which words he never uses, but that's totally his gist). She'd be ruined and that has meaning for her. And he's all "but my mistress doesn't care about that and is perfectly happy where she is now that I'm done with her" and I just can't even! So because one woman would welcome his bargain of sex for comfort/care/"protection" all women must be happy with that same deal? Which makes George look like a complete moron and makes me wonder why Anna hasn't tendered that resignation.

So I kind of liked Anna not being a push-over but then we start getting dark hints about some secret she's keeping that makes marriage with George "impossible". And the thing is, he actually proposes to her (first third, so no spoiler tag) and she's all dismissive of it because of this secret and I'm all "why the crap do we not know what this secret is now that it is a key piece of information keeping our lovers apart?!?" And the answer is, because the author wants to manipulate this so that there's more story than the third of a book she wrote to that point. I smelled coy-withholding is what I'm saying. And since I'm the kind of person who mines other reviews for details when I'm frustrated, all I can say is that it's as well I stopped now because it turns out to be so stupid that I'd have lost all respect for Anna that she'd let it impair her relationship with anybody, let alone the very rich, very titled George. (because her brother has determined that she is to marry some friend of his and she doesn't wanna)

Oh! And then we come to a family connection that is obviously another couple from another book and that's where I stopped. If you're curious, it's Viscount Amery and his wife from Douglas: Lord of Heartache. Seriously, authors, peppering your books with visitations by other couples that aren't in the current series makes me want to stop reading and never start another series by you again. And no, it doesn't make it any better that the book wasn't published until three years later. If anything, that makes it worse!

So yeah, this is a zero-star review that has to round to one because zero stars isn't a thing. Seriously, these people make no internal sense, talk around each other all the time, and could stand to have an honest conversation that isn't a variation on George trying to convince Anna that sex with him is a great idea. Seriously, George, not all women are eager to trade sex for lifestyle. You have a mother and sisters. This should not be a mystery...

[Sammy Loves Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.0 Very Boring Stars

I know a book is boring when I keep finding other things to do...clean the house or watch tv instead of reading. When a book is interesting, I will lose sleep and neglect important things in order to read.



My list of dislikes in this book are pretty long:

1) I hate it when historical romance reads like a modern romance

2) Lack of communication between the hero and heroine... They talked about EVERYTHING but the heroine refused to trust the hero with why she was on the run.

3)Smart females on the run and in need of protection, that refuse multiple offers of marriage from the man they love....Marriage would have solved all of her problems!

4) Regency romance virgins that act like porn stars in bed...I mean she sucked him off and swallowed and thought nothing of it

The writing flowed smoothly, the characters were interesting enough, but I lost interest in reading and had no desire to find pick this book up. The plot took too long to unfold, the lack of communication was beyond frustrating, and all of the sex scenes were awkward and weird.

I will read the next book in the series and hope these problems do not persist.

[Beanbag Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very poor pacing and manufactured issues (why don't people just talk to each other?) mar this story about a disaffected earl and his mysterious housekeeper.

If I'd been reading a dead tree book I'd probably have been banging it against the wall by the end as the hero and heroine asked themselves "whatever in the world could he/she mean by that?" well into the 90% range. After an entire book (longer than necessary, IMO) of this kind of willful miscommunication, it gets a little tedious.

Oh, and anachronisms abound. No, a housekeeper does not yell at the earl's father -- a duke -- and keep her job. Even if the earl thinks the old man had it coming. And that's not the only outrageous overstepping that happens. After a while you just go with it but only because you've lowered your expectations to that point.

Burrowes does have interesting characters, though, and for that reason alone I'm reading the next book in the series. It's kind of frustrating that several books I've read recently have elements that are so good (in this case a very engaging cast of characters) but are overbalanced by elements that are surprisingly weak. Maybe it's just me, but I'm having a hard time lately putting up with it.

So three stars straight up for this one.

[Christy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is the epitome of a wallpaper historical. I'm on page 9 and so far:

1) The housekeeper has requested a tray with tea and muffins or cookies.
2) The earl has seated himself on a coffee table.
3) Said housekeeper has cleaned his wounds with disinfectant, and
4) Said earl has proceeded to inform his housekeeper that it is the male servants' half day.

I've heard that she is a good writer but really, why even bother writing historicals if you're not going to pay any attention to the historical era in which they're set? How did this crap get past an editor?

I'm actually fairly tolerant of the occasional anachronism, but I'm not sure I can stomach so many in one place. On the other hand, it might make a good drinking game--take a swig every time the 21st century shows up. I'd be passed out by the end of the first chapter.

[Luana ☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well well well, what can I say about my first finished book by this author? (I think I finished another one but for the love of me, I can't remember the name).

First of all, why would she write an almost 500 pages book if the extra words were just to be used for unimportant things like how many times the hero needs to use the facility, how much lemonade with LOTS of sugar he consumes (the reason why he pees so much, no doubt), or how much sweets he eats? The amount of talk over these three things are used in overabundance.

I super enjoyed the book in the beginning, loved the hero's need for constancy and organization, having to do everything the same each day of the week every week, I also loved the heroine's wify way of taking care of everything until things started getting weird. I am going to list the facts why it was weird, imo...

Fact 1. Nobody cared that the heroine was a housekeeper. How could they not? Our hero is the heir to a Duke. The only thing his parents were worried about was getting him married and with an heir as soon as possible, it didn't matter if it was legitimate or not, if the future Duchess was his mistress or his housekeeper. As long as he got on with it, that is what mattered.

Fact 2. There was no gossip or repercussions from their carelessness. Not even amongst the servants. How?

Fact 3. How could the hero be such a blind men? All the clues were there that the heroine was a chaste woman and it took him almost the whole book to realize that she was not who she pretended to be.

Fact 4. This family is very touchy. That is not common at all in historicals. They love touching, hugging, saying I love you... quite unconventional.

Fact 5. There was no society at all. Not one party, one society friend, neighbors and so on.

Fact 6. Miracles happened quite fast for the heroine's sister. I was quite impressed at how utterly out of reality it all was. For more medical miracles like that! Amen.

Fact 7. I have never read in any other historical that they drank lemonade back then. Ever. What happened to the good old English tea? This specifically made the writing quite modern and American, I would say.

Fact 8. The over exploration and explanation of how well taken care his house was being. Or that he was gaining weight. This made the heroine looks like an overachiever and tried to show her "like not other girls" in a weird way.

Anyway, there was also many sides that I liked, like the fact that the heroine kept true to her character to the end, even being so stubborn that infuriated the reader. I enjoyed most characters and thought I wouldn't want to continue the series but I am curious to see the next one.

This was quite a normal romance. I even understand many reviews saying it was boring. So, don’t expect much from it. But it was a nice audiobook nonetheless and very easy to follow. 

[Ursula · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 2.5 star read for me.
This was a curious book (my first by this author).
Her style is quite modern, there is a solid sprinkling of Americanisms and there were several aspects that were, quite frankly, not really believable, and they detracted from my appreciation of the story.

Although I gradually warmed to the hero (I didn't like him much at all in the beginning, but there was a backstory of a brother's death that I was missing which might have explained/excused his behaviour had I known it) and found the heroine, who was the hero's housekeeper, sweet, it was a somewhat melodramatic tale that went on way too long. This was probably because the MC's took ages to admit their feelings to each other and because the heroine refused to trust the hero, even after she had come to know him really well ( they spent HEAPS of time together) and well after she had fallen in love with him. I was, like,.....



There was a lot of time spent building the characters of others in the story, particularly two of the hero's brothers, (who I am sure have their own books, hence the detour) and while I liked them, it slowed down the story arc and left me impatiently waiting for the climax.

What was not believable?
How did the hero not wonder what sort of a housekeeper he had in Anna, after she told him she spoke several languages, was literate and literary and spoke like an educated aristocrat ?
Why did the hero never ask about Anna's "husband"? Surely he must have been curious?

How was it socially acceptable for the heir to a Duchy to marry either a mistress- don't get me started on his twice weekly appointment for sexual relief with this calculating lady -or his housekeeper? This was well before he knew of Anna's actual origins. It just would not have happened. .

I feel like such a grouch, but it could have been so much better. Perhaps it was meant to be a bit like the world-building that goes on in fantasy and sci-fi books, setting everything up for a series in that world. So that slowed everything down.
The lady can write. It just didn't quite get there for me.

[Dana S · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because it was on Publishers Weekly's Best Books of 2010 list for romance. I loved three of their recs: The Forbidden Rose by Joanna Bourne, The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook, and Trial by Desire by Courtney Milan, so I thought I'd give this a try.

I couldn't finish this. I just couldn't get into the author's style. There are a lot of positive reviews for this book so it's probably a matter of taste. I don't think I'm the right audience for this book.

I'm not that picky about historical accuracy. As long as the book is engaging I'm more than willing to overlook inaccuracies. But if the writing doesn't capture me, small details that I can usually overlook start to bug. In this book there were too many anachronisms and they kept jerking me out of the story. The characters' attitudes felt modern to me. And there were way too many dialogue tags, e.g., concurred, countered, replied, asked.

My problem wasn't with just the writing. There were so many unbelievable plot points, and I only read the first third of the book:

1) At the beginning of the book the hero, Westhaven, had a mistress that didn't like sex and the hero knew this, but continued to keep her. I found this to be really uncomfortable, it's not a matter of consent, the hero isn't forcing himself on her, she's in a business agreement with him after all, but if he knows that she doesn't like sex he should have found another mistress. Why would anyone continue to have sex with someone who doesn't like it, unless he's a sadist?

2) The hero's father, the current Duke, convinced Westhaven's mistress to get with child by another man, because apparently this would convince Westhaven to marry her, and claim the other man's baby as his own. What the everloving fuck? There are soooo many things wrong with this scenario.

3) In order to avoid his father's matchmaking the hero's brother is pretending he's gay. In regency England. Where the punishment for sodomy could be execution. What?

4) The hero's family was too accepting of him marrying Anna, his housekeeper. I didn't find this to be believable. I thought there should have been some resistance to the idea that a housekeeper would be the next Duchess.

5) Anna doesn't want to become a mistress because having to pay for sex is degrading to men. Really.

6) By chapter 5, the virginal Anna gives the hero a hand job. Then the hero proposes, even though she's his housekeeper and knows nothing about her.

I read about a third of the book, and we know nothing about Anna, except a vague mention of a SECRET, that she's a great housekeeper, and is in lust/love with Westhaven. I have no idea what her personality is, her likes/dislikes, or her background.

But I kept reading because I bought the ebook, and the huge drawback with ebooks is that you can't sell them. So I kept reading until we reach a scene where there's suddenly a huge influx of characters. If this wasn't a first novel from the author, I would swear that these were characters from a previous book in the series, cause they way they're written gives the impression that the reader should be familiar with them. Especially with Gwen. But I wasn't, so I just ended up confused.

There's so much info dumping, but at the same time not enough info is given to make sense of these new people. Like the niece, Rose, who can't be a niece, cause neither of her parents are Westhaven's sibling. At first I thought it was a close friend who is an uncle situation, but Rose called the Duke Grandpapa. There's a mention of a step-father. But it's all really vague. Maybe if I read farther it would have been explained. However, I just couldn't care, and I gave up before I threw my ereader against a wall.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. An enjoyable first book in quite a long series. Apparently Ms Burrowes' first historical romance that she ever wrote. The characters are likeable and believable, even though the 'duke's heir falls for his housekeeper' trope is a bit of a stretch. But I went with it anyway.

I did find that the story dragged a little at times, until about 2/3 way through when the pace started to pick up. Secrets began to be revealed, and the bad guy finally showed his face. The resolution was a little dragged out, as there was some miscommunication and little bit too much will-she-won't-she for my liking. Just say yes already! But in spite of that, overall, a decent read.

Read for January 2018 BOTM for Historical Romance Book Club. Reread for September 2024 BOTM for Historical Romance Book Club, trope: 'Surprise Reveal'. Still 3.5 stars.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read: 8/ 19/24
3.7statrs!

I liked this sweet domestic story. Anna is a fantastic housekeeper, and I desperately want to tale her home with me. She n
Knew how to make everyone feel special.

I'll have to check my noted to write my review cause i ha ve more to say

[Caz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review from 2016

B for narration; B- for content.

As a big fan of Grace Burrowes’ historical romances, I was doing the happy dance of joy when I saw that at long last, more of her novels were going to be made available as audiobooks. My dance was even happier when I saw that Tantor had retained the services of James Langton as her narrator; he is someone I always enjoy listening to, and I feel he really ‘gets’ the author’s very individual and sometimes quirky writing style.

The Heir is Ms. Burrowes’ first published book, and is also the first in her eight book (plus handful of novellas) Windham series, which focuses on the lives and loves of the three sons and five daughters of the Duke and Duchess of Morland. The books fall into two groups; the first three are subtitled The Duke’s Obsession (so named because of Morland’s desperation to see his sons married) and the other five are collected together as The Duke’s Daughters … which I suppose is self-explanatory.

As anyone who has read other books by this author will be aware, Ms Burrowes has created a huge canvas – which a friend of mine aptly named “Burrowesworld” – across all of her books. The Windham series and the Lonely Lords series feature many recurring and cross-over characters, and while in many cases, it isn’t absolutely necessary to have read other books in either series, I can’t deny that my own enjoyment of The Heir was enhanced by the knowledge I’ve since gained about characters such as the Marquess of Heathgate (Gareth), the Earl of Graymoor (Andrew), Viscount Amery (Douglas) and Viscount Fairly (David), who are the heroes of books 6-9 of the latter series.

The eponymous heir of this book is Gayle Windham, the Earl of Westhaven. Although he is the Windham’s second son, he became his father’s heir when his older brother was killed in the Peninsular War. Westhaven is a very responsible young man and a dutiful son; he has single-handedly turned around the failing family fortunes, he is up to his eyes in the running the family’s many estates and business interests and he is the repository for everyone else’s troubles; but his relationship with his father has become increasingly strained because of Morland’s almost maniacal desire to get Gayle wedded, bedded and filling his nursery.

Westhaven maintains his own establishment in London and has opted – most unfashionably – to remain there throughout the summer when most of the aristocracy will have departed for their country estates to avoid the heat of the city. But for Gayle, staying in town is something he hopes will afford him some respite from his father’s constant nagging about finding a wife and give him some time to himself.

At the beginning of the story, his attempt to help his new housemaid out of a fix is misconstrued and results in his being smacked with a poker by his housekeeper, Anna Seaton. Having rendered the earl unable to attend to his mountain of work, and in the absence of his secretary, Anna ends up acting as a temporary amanuensis and also cares for him through the injury and a later illness. His is a duty-filled, somewhat regimented existence in which he feels it his obligation to look after everybody – yet he has had nobody to look after him, until, that is, Anna comes into his life and provides the kind of emotional support he badly needs. During this period of enforced closeness, Westhaven discovers that his housekeeper is actually a well-educated, well-read young woman, something which starts him thinking that perhaps there is more to her than meets the eye. Anna is running from something or someone, but even as she and Westhaven are becoming closer, she refuses to confide in him, determined to sort out her own problems and not to add to the burdens of a man already carrying so much on his wide, extremely attractive shoulders.

The story is a fairly simple one, but even though I’m a big fan of this author, I have to say that it’s not one of her best. For one thing, the idea of an earl falling in love with and wanting to marry his housekeeper doesn’t raise a single eyebrow from anyone in the Windham family. Given that Westhaven is the heir to a very prestigious title, that is extremely hard to swallow, in spite of the fact that hints are dropped to the effect that Anna is probably a little higher up the social scale than she appears to be. Westhaven doesn’t know anything for sure, so to all intents and purposes, he is set on marrying a woman of much lower social standing, something that would have caused a massive scandal given the restrictive social hierarchy of the time. And the plot regarding Anna’s secrets and her refusal to trust Westhaven with them goes on for far too long; it overwhelms around the final quarter of the book and I found myself starting to dislike Anna and getting frustrated at her stupidity in thinking she could handle her situation on her own.

Where Ms Burrowes excels, however, is in writing strong characters and relationships, both romantic and familial. The relationship between the three brothers – Westhaven, Valentine and St. Just – is very well written, making clear that there is a huge current of affection running between them through their fond teasing and unquestioning support of each other. She also subtly addresses the fact that they are all still grieving not just the loss of one brother, but two, their younger brother having recently succumbed to consumption. The romance between Westhaven and Anna evolves at a sensible pace; even though the pair of them are attracted to each other fairly early on, the author allows them time to talk and to get to know and understand each other a little before taking things further. The two principals and the key secondary characters are all intelligent, warm and likeable – even the interfering, meddlesome duke eventually redeems himself and I enjoyed listening to him and Westhaven starting to repair their fractured relationship.

As I said at the beginning, I was pleased to see that James Langton (who has recorded the author’s Victorian-set MacGregor trilogy as well as a handful of novellas) was on board for this and the next two books in the series. His slightly husky baritone is very easy on the ear and he has a firm grasp of Ms. Burrowes’ unique writing style; so much so that I tend to hear his voice in my head whenever I’m reading one of her books! His pacing in both narrative and dialogue is excellent; he differentiates extremely well between all the characters, and especially between the brothers, all of whom are clearly distinct from one another. He maintains an Irish accent for St. Just which is consistent throughout, and does a good job with the two villains of the piece, giving one of them such an unpleasant, guttural, gravelly tone that I worried for his vocal cords! I didn’t particularly care for his interpretation of Lord Amery, who sounds a little too old, but that may just be personal preference; and in fact, this would be an A grade performance were it not for one thing. I’ve said before that at times, Mr. Langton doesn’t quite manage to maintain a suitable pitch and tone for the heroine, and unfortunately that’s the case here. For about 85% of the time, his portrayal of Anna is very good. He employs an attractively softened tone and gives her a slight northern accent, which is perfectly acceptable as she comes from Yorkshire. But in moments of heightened emotion and love scenes, the pitch can climb too high, sometimes becoming almost squeaky, and that, together with an exaggerated inflection, makes those moments difficult to take seriously. That really is my only criticism, however, and it’s possible I’m judging him a little harshly because he is such a good narrator and my expectations for his performances are therefore higher than for the majority of the other narrators I listen to.

In spite of that and the issues I’ve mentioned with some aspects of the plot, I did enjoy listening to The Heir and I’m certainly going to be picking up book two in the series, The Soldier.

[Lee at ReadWriteWish · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can’t even begin to describe this book. Or maybe I can: The Heir is a hot mess and could be the worst book I’ve ever attempted to read.

It was the author’s first published book and she has churned out a lot since. I hope she’s improved. The author’s notes claim Burrowes is a pen name for a ‘prolific and award winning author of historical romances’. My guess would be the awards might be something like ‘Worst Fanfic of 2009’.

The plot jumps around but the general gist is our hero, a duke, falls in love with our heroine, the housekeeper. You’d think that their differing positions in society would be the conflict, right? No. No one cares about that aspect at all. Everyone in the duke’s extremely extensive family encourages the match. Alas, our heroine has a secret past which is keeping her from agreeing to marry the hero. I read until I found out what the secret was but trust me, it isn’t worth wasting your eyesight to discover.

Characterisation is something Burrowes has only heard about in her Writing a Romance Novel 101 lesson. I found it difficult to form any sort of connection with the heroine, in particular. Burrowes also distracted me further by adding various other characters. All will, I assume, ‘star’ in the other Windham books. There were so many that, in the end, I completely skimmed those scenes and didn’t bother even trying to keep a spreadsheet of who was who except for perhaps our heroine's deaf and mute sister and the hero's gay but not gay piano playing brother.

Burrowes apparently gets the word romance mixed up with the word sex. Seriously? I can’t even imagine there’d be more sex scenes in the Shades of Gray books. Every chapter has something included but we’re supposed to know they really really love each other because they clean each other off and spoon afterwards. Ugh. Nothing is actually sexy or romantic, and there’s no sense or point to any of the scenes. (Actually, I think I could have almost interpreted some scenes as date rape. Ugh.)

Every corny trope gets a go. Caught in the rain, having to share a bed when caught in that rain, hurt/comfort, the hero needing a sponge bath to bring down a fever… I can't even. The opening scene of the heroine mistakenly thinking the hero is sexually attacking her sister is ridiculous to the extreme and so jumbled that I didn't even know what was going on for a minute.

And historical? Well… Certainly there was no historical accuracy. One or two historical errors might be forgivable, but Burrowes can’t even get the simplest things like food and drink correct. Lemonade? Iced tea? Marzipan? Cookies? Muffins? WTF?

I was reading this for a Book of the Month challenge on Goodreads. This is the only reason I made it to around the 75% mark. Depressingly, I checked and I'd actually paid money for this book (I'd bought it some time ago and that's why I decided to join in with the challenge). It might have hurt less if it had been free.

½ a star out of 5? Did not finish.

[Bookaholics · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Heir by Grace Burrowes
Historical Romance Dec. 7th, 2010
4 ½ stars

The Heir is an amazingly touching and genuine regency romance with very human main characters. I enjoyed this authors debut book and look forward to more stories in the series.

Gayle Windham is the poor, beleaguered Earl of Westhave. He is unfortunately, the heir to his father, the devious Duke of Moreland. His father is a crazy wastrel and ran through the familys income putting them near financial ruin. And now the Duke has a new obsession, finding Gayle a wife. And his father is not above manipulating and scheming to force Gayle to produce a new heir. Responsibility and duty are ingrained in his blood and Gayle is just trying to keep his family solvent. Being constantly hassled by his fathers high jinxes and stressful demands has sobered Gayle. He doesn't have time and everything he does must be rigidly controlled. Even his visits to his mistress are strictly scheduled! He has no real friends and feels the heavy burden of responsibility for his family keenly. In short, he is miserably unhappy but doesnt even realize it.

But in comes the new housekeeper. A curiously young and attractive woman with a sharp tongue and a nurturing habit. She quietly and efficiently takes care of the earl. Her name is Mrs. Anna Seaton and she is as mysterious as she is elusive. Gayle cannot understand why, but he finds himself inexplicably attracted to her and outrageously (and uncharacteristically) proposes an affair. The normally stodgy heir can't stop thinking about his Anna and the passion he feels is hidden within her. So really, he has not choice but to seduce her!! Which is a shock for an upstanding man who has never taken advantage of his position before. But Anna has some tricks up her sleeve and she wont be easily persuaded no matter how attractive or wickedly charming Gayle can be!

This book has a lot of character. It is a fun and somewhat light-hearted book. The author does a wonderful job of describing the poor, put upon earl as he tries to make everyone happy in his family but only succeeds in making himself miserable. His mad father, the Duke will stop at nothing to trick his son into marrying. I liked that the hero has a unique personality. He was slightly imperious and grumpy, but who wouldn't be with his family responsibilities? But this only added to Gayle's very human charm. I also liked the admirable and efficient Anna. She tries to deny her attraction to the gruff earl but her small and thoughtful gestures secretly reveal how much she cares for him. I liked how she made Gayle his favorite treats and was there to support him and be honest with him. This was particularly touching since I had a sense that Gayle never really had anyone take care of him since he was always busy taking care of someone else.

I enjoyed this story's touching romance and the very real relationship between the 2 main characters. The only section of the story that I found lacking was the reason why Anna felt she couldnt tell the earl why she was running away (as an earl he could easily help her) and the end where the 2 try to stay away from each other out of respect for the other person. They felt a little tacked on just to add tension.

Readers of regency will enjoy this charming romance with believable and worthwhile characters.

Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

[♥ Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one and will definitely be looking for more from Grace Burrowes!

The Heir, is the debut romance novel for Grace Burrowes and she has a winner here!

The plot was truly well executed with wonderful characters! I loved both the H/h as well as the supporting characters. The relationship between the Earl and the housekeeper was believable, with great chemistry, I loved all of the wit and the interactions between the Earl and his brothers, and also with his father, the Duke. The love scenes were really spicy and I loved all the dirty love talk from the Earl.

I also really enjoyed the down to earth prose Burrowes writes with.

I'm looking forward to the next book, which I believe is the Earl's bastard brother Dev's story, called "The Soldier". I loved Dev and can't wait to read more about him!

[cc · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF.
I hate it when the hero gets involved with someone else after meeting the heroine. It's a pet peeve of mine, especially when it comes to historical romance, and the author decides to give me way too much information. Like:

hero: *cute scene with heroine*
hero: okay let me go bang my mistress *cue a rather detailed and rough sex scene*

It kills my mood.

[willaful · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gayle Windham, Earl of Westhaven, first gets to know his housekeeper Anna Seaton after she bashes his skull with a fireplace poker, thinking he’s assaulting a chambermaid. It sets the tone for their relationship: not the bashing, but the tender care she gives him afterward. As Anna nurtures Westhaven, tending him through his injury, an attack of chicken pox, and the complexities of his reponsibility-filled life, attraction and affection grows between them. But Anna is hiding secrets, and refuses to believe they could ever have a future.

This is a wonderful debut historical, written with a fresh, distinctive voice. The period dialogue is especially good, witty and flavorful; the conversations between members of Westhaven's family always make me smile. But I liked it most for sheer romance. I can’t remember the last time I read a romance with some much time spent on the main characters just getting to know each other. Intimacy develops between them with a lovely leisure... a hug, a gentle kiss, him brushing out her hair... Although there are many loves scenes, their sexual intimacy also progresses slowly, as they begin to pleasure each other while respecting Anna’s fear of being “ruined,” in the historical sense.

The characters are also developed slowly and subtly. Westhaven at first seems to have no problems more serious than ducking his father’s conniving attempts to get him married off, but we gradually learn that he is grieving the loss of two brothers, and heavily conscious of his responsibilities for the badly managed family estates. He is the one everyone relies on; Anna, it becomes clear, is the one person who ever takes care of him:

“It was home because Anna was here, waiting for him. Waiting to care for him, not expecting him -- hell, not really even allowing him -- to care for her, solve her problems and tell her how to go on.”

Sadly, the book loses steam towards the last quarter. There’s an awkward suspense plot which leads to some even more awkward action scenes, and the conflict between the lovers is reduced to threadbare romance cliche. There’s also a bit too much repetition... okay, he likes his lemonade very sweet, we know already! Still, there’s so much that’s good here, and so much promise for future books, that I heartily recommend it.

[BonnieL · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who the heck is rating these books? This is getting 4 stars and I'm darned if I know why. The story had possibilities and then it went off the rails. What makes me really grumpy, hence almost certain to give a bad rating, is serious historical inaccuracy - it means the author didn't care enough to do basic research. And there is no way, in Regency England, an Earl blithely thinks he should marry his housekeeper, and his brothers not only agree with him but suggest he do just that, and that his father, the Duke, tries to entrap him into marriage with his mistress, who may be pregnant with another man's child (all this in the name of providing heirs!) and this while there's a surplus of suitable young women on the market!!! Then let's add characters who pop up and seem to be part of a previous title - except this is supposed to be the first book by a new author. Except she's supposedly using a pen name and is "a prolific and award-winning author of historical romances". Not that you'd notice by either her writing style or historical knowledge. And then someone posted on the Amazon discussion forum that she had written the author directly to find out what her other pen name was and it turns out this really is her first novel - so what awards? This could have been a good series (two more to follow) since the storyline had potential and some of the characters are interesting. But I won't be reading the 2nd in the series.

[Jacqueline J · Rating 5 out of 5]

4-1/2 stars

Totally enjoyed it. It had a feel to it that I would label 'earthy'. The people used chamber pots and used curse words beyond just saying 'the devil you say!' occasionally. We know that f*** and s*** are old words. They would have used them.

The actions were mostly believable and realistic. This was one time where I felt that the actions of the hero and heroine were portrayed realistically as to the seduction and the heroine giving up her virginity out of the bounds of marriage to him. These two people were in close constant proximity to each other and things got progressively more out of hand.

Both the hero and the heroine were well rounded characters. I really enjoyed how she doted on him as his housekeeper and did everything she could to make his life easy and pleasant. I especially liked the hero. I liked how he tried his best to court her and kept putting himself out there for her. But he still seemed like an ordinary falliable man.

The only thing I can really fault is that it took her so long to trust him with her story. She didn't really have that much of a reason to distrust any man other than the two who were 'after' her. I believe this is the only place that it really deviated from what would be realistic for the time. She trusted him enough to sleep with him. I believe she would/should have trusted him to help her with her problems earlier. Plus she would have been hardwired to look to a man for help. Especially one who had the power and monetary wherewithal to help and who had specifically asked to help.

Enjoyed the secondary characters. Especially the brothers and the Duke.

The ending was just a bit too 'been there, read that already.' Lack of communication as a reason for a split. Where have I read that before? It was a minor issue though that didn't really interrupt my enjoyment of this regency at all.

Happily looking forward to Dev's story.

One final note though. This is touted as a first time author's debut. On the back " A Dazzling Debut..." Quote from the Acknowledgements "It takes a village to transform a first time author's aspirations into the lovely book you're reading now."

Then on the next page on the About the Author page it says "Grace Burrowes is the pen name for a prolific and award winning author of historical romances."

So what is it? Debut? or Not? Maybe just the first published one?

[Nisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy this theme; a heroine who becomes a sort of mistress to the hero, before they have their HEA. But in many ways, this book surpassed all the books of this type.

Anna, the heroine, and her sister, are on the run. From what, we don't find out until the end. But their circumstance forces them to take jobs, as a housekeeper and chambermaid, respectively. Gayle, our hero, is the heir to a duke, and has been pressured to get married by his meddlesome father. In fact, Gayle has become so frustrated, he's at his wits end about how to deal. I'm sure you can tell what happens, Anna becomes Gayle's housekeeper, and their relationship blossoms from there. Gayle immediately takes a liking to Anna and he soon wants to marry her. Anna, on the other hand, is a bit slow to accept his proposal. Eventually, Gayle and his family protect Anna and her sister from her vile history and then the only problem becomes Gayle's and Anna's reluctance to be the first one to propose. I can't fanthom why that would happen at the end, so I guess that was a flaw to the book.

Anna was a mostly likeable character. It is wasn't for her insistence that they don't depend on Gayle, she would have been perfect. She didn't shy from intimacy with Gayle and at times, was the seducer. Gayle is adorable too. I liked him, even through his tendency to have thoughts while peeing. The couple was a supercouple. As in, they actually acted like a couple in love, with small intimacies, rather than just getting down to lusting after each other.

All the secondary characters were sweet. I loved Amery (as the perfect husband and father), Val (for being such a sensitive nurturing man), and Dev (I like his first name, Devlin, but St. Just just sounds funky, to me). Gayle's family were all family-like. Loving, yet exasperating. You can see that Gayle comes from a pretty closeknit family and doesn't have the angsty background that writers love to use. He's a genuinely nice guy with a normal life (other than being the heir to a duchy) Anna's family, well, excluding her sister, are caricatures. Morgan is a sweet, initially deaf-mute girl, who blossoms into a caricature. I liked her when she was with Val, but since ms. Burrowes doesn't have further plans for her, she kind of fizzles out. The evil brother and obese betroth, were papercutouts for villains. I was disappointed with how they were executed.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I enjoyed the relationship that built between Gayle and Anna. It really felt real and unrushed. And it managed to be sexy too. I didn't enjoy the stupidity at the end as Anna doesn't realize that's she's pregnant and in love with Gayle, while EVERYONE else does and still, Gayle doesn't propose.

Anyway, I highly recommend it.

[Lady Wesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally -- the Windhams come to audio!

Grace Burrowes has lagged behind some other popular authors in adding audiobooks to her catalog, but she is making up for it. The first three novels in the Windham series, along with the two novella prequels, are now available, and goodness I am glad!

I don't think that this is Burrowes best book (it was her first published, after all), but she is one of my favorite authors and I almost always enjoy her books. (There are a couple of outliers.)

Roger Hampton does a fine job bringing voice to the story. He is not quite in the Nicholas Boulton/Alex Wyndham universe and that's because I don't much care for his rendition of female voices. I find the pitch a bit too high, sometimes straying into falsetto territory. His grasp of Burrowes' unique, sometimes quirky, writing voice is excellent, however, and I'm sure to be listening to the remainder of the Windham series as they are released later this year.

[Diana~ (Kiss Me Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can honestly say that my heart broke for Anna and Gayle. Their moments together were not only special, but it also signfies that they are perfect and complete for one another. Regardless of their social status and mistrust, in the end, everything will eventually work out. Miss Grace Burrowes, I am officially you're new fan. I can't wait to read The Soldier, the second installment to this series when it comes out next!

First off, I'd like to point out how oddly this story reminds me of Unveiled by Courtney Milan. No, I'm not saying that it's the same, but the concept is very similar and I loved Unveiled so it's quite obvious why this book picked up my interest. "Mrs. Anna Seaton" is not who she says she is and to be frankly honest, I did find the secret through the entire book interesting. It kept me thinking and deciphering out who Anna truly is. Anna herself, is a strong character full of wit, and it was quite amusing seeing as to how she interacted with Gayle! And oh Gayle... God, I love how he has a sugar tooth. I have to admit, he's one of the reason why you just have to adore the hero and have your heart break the next. I wanted to SLAP him in the end. The other reason is because of Anna and well, their love story was really sweet. It took him awhile to realize that he loves her even though she kept insisting that she must leave him due to the "burden" that she carries. This quote really signifies how heartbreaking it is for her, and also for him, when he realizes that he never wants to let her go.

"Even when I cried,” she said, a world of resignation in her tone, “I was glad to be here with you, Westhaven. Believe that, if you believe nothing else of me.”
What she had meant was: Even when I cried because I must leave you, I was glad to be here with you… Believe that if you believe nothing else of me when I find the courage to finally go."

As much as this book is a regency and historical romance novel, the love scenes... whoo! Wow, I would have to say their passion for one another almost set the sheets on fire. It was almost erotic, let me tell you that and I really did enjoy it. Gayle was generous and I loved how his main goal was to pleasure her and only her. That isn't something any man in his time would do for their lover. Anyway, other characters were introduced in this book; for example Valentine and Devlin! Devlin's book will be out next so I'll definitely look forward to that. He has a sort of devilish characteristic, while Valentine seems much more soft-spoken and sweet... which is no wonder because he is a musician and paired with Morgan?! In all, I really did enjoy this book because of the wonderful and heart-felting romance between the hero and heroine. It was very charming along with the mysterious aspect of it as well. Thumbs for for The Heir and another five stars from me!

[Wollstonecrafthomegirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ahhhhh, Grace Burrowes. Every. Single. Time. I am happy and entertained and pleased that I paid hard earned money to read your books. There is no author that hits the mark for me so consistently. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a comfort food thing - there’s nothing too challenging in Burrowes’s writing or stories or characters but, equally, no two stories are exactly alike. She’s like The Great British Bake Off of authors and that’s d-ed high praise. So, suffice to say: I liked this book just as I’ve liked everything else Burrowes has written. The first 70% plods along at a really nice pace. There’s tonnes of h/h interaction which is one of the marks of a great romance. I liked the slightly prickly, slightly stiff Windham, offset by the frank Anna who tells him what she thinks and takes care of him before he even realises she’s doing it. People were bothered by the apparently 'nagging' nature of the sexual pursuit. Didn't bother me one little bit, but perhaps that is the power of the mighty GB. There’s a big cast of characters here. I’ve read nearly all of Burrowes’s other linked books before I read this one, so I kept up and had no difficulty following who everyone was and how they interrelated. The interactions are fun and added to the experience for me but I wouldn’t recommend starting with The Heir if you’re new to Burrowes, which is weird because I think it’s her first published book. The s-, as ever, is great. Burrowes does that side of romance really well, yet in a completely different way to say, Hoyt or Kleypas (tbh, in a completely different way to anyone else). There are some things I didn’t like so much. This book is too long. It could do with some editing, particularly towards the end. Anna’s conflict isn’t strong enough to justify her decision not to confide in Windham, who, aside from being awesome, is the son of a Duke and so wields enormous power. There’s a real lack of communication between them at the end which kind of flies in the face of their earlier honestly. I wanted to shake them both and shout ‘talk to one another for G-ssake!’ All that said: still a totally brilliant read.

[Terra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such an incredible book that I couldn't put it down. It carries itself nicely from the first page to the very last at a pace that is perfectly executed. The cover of the book is beautiful but it doesn't begin to do justice to what is in between.

The story has a strong heroine and an even stronger hero with lots of romance and nice hot bits of sex that will leave you tingling in their aftermath.

This is a story of secrets that will drive you to the end of your seat in anticipation, of love and longing of what shouldn't be but will be if fickle fate gets its way. A story of an employer and employee that shouldn't, of blue blood and peasant blood that is forbidden to mingle. But, most of all a story of two fates that cannot wait and nothing on Earth can get in their way or can it?

Anna Seaton is wonderful at what she does best. Hide! Young and far to pretty to be a housekeeper but low and behold she is, Anna runs from place to place after short bouts of employment to escape a horror that would make anyone in their right mind cringe and run in the opposite direction as quickly as possible.

Gayle Windham, earl of Westhaven is a handsome man with a code of honor that is to be admired by all. He is a man true to his family in all ways except that which is most important and that is the finding of a mate and begetting of an heir. Our delicious earl gets a run for his money from dear ole papa who haunts him mercilessly about his duty as the heir to the Duke or Moorland. Will the earl cave in to duty or continue to try and out maneuver dear ole papa?

Ahh.........theirs nothing like a good romance with heat that sizzles and secrets that eventually fizzle.

[Christy B · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a few things I liked about this book, but most of the time I found myself just wanting the book to be over with.

Let me start with the things I liked about it. The main characters – the earl and his housekeeper Anna – while a nice hero and heroine, were a bit infuriating at times. However, I adored the earl's brothers – Valentine and Dev. They were both quite charming. The dialogue, overall, was quite witty and humorous. The exchanges between the three brothers are among my favorite parts.

The story was basically about the earl being pressured by his father the duke to marry and produce an heir, and the earl's steadfast resistance. The earl finally does find a woman he wants to marry in his housekeeper Anna, but of course, she keeps trying to push him away because she is hiding some sort of secret.

The romance was quite nice, but every time I turned around there was a romantic scene. After a while, I just started skimming through them. I like a scene here and there in my romance novels, but it gets old after a while. And for the first 300 pages it was basically the story of the earl and Anna's give and take romance. Around page 300 I thought things were gonna pick up when Anna's secret started to come to light. However, the last 100 pages were pretty anticlimactic. Everything was pretty much patched up with a bow on top.

I love historical romances, but I like them to have a rather thrilling side story, so that's probably why this book fell so flat for me. Fans of the typical Regency romances will probably like this.

[D.G. · Rating 3 out of 5]

**2.5 stars**

The Heir started really well but by degrees, things just kept going downhill until that asinine suspense plot at the end made want to pull my hair out of my head.

LIKES
✔ There's something homey and warm about the writing that makes you want to keep reading.
✔ The hero's characterization was really well developed.
✔ Really liked the relationship between the hero and his brothers, you can really tell they were close.

SERIOUS DISLIKES
✘ This is billed as the first in the series but it really isn't! The author wrote a first book which she hasn't published where Westhaven and his family played a significant role and a lot of this is hinted here but not in a satisfying way.
✘ The stupid suspense plot, with Anna refusing to accept Westhaven's help, even though she couldn't solve the problem on her own.
✘ Westhaven's penchant for constantly jerking off. Yes, I know men do it, but no need to show everytime he takes himself in hand. At some point, he invites her to visit a estate with him, there's a storm and they have to sleep together in the same bed and she wakes up in the middle of the night with the guy whacking off!! EWWWW!!!! Mind you, this is BEFORE they have any sort of relationship!! I found this specially appalling.
✘ All the repetition. How many times did we have to hear about Westhaven's love of lemonade?

Not sure if I'll read the next in the series.

[TJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very promising new author. Burrowes excels in her characters, her writing flows smoothly and the story is engaging, if a little mundane. The biggest problem is the TSTL heroine. HUGE pet peeve! This is where the "first time novel" syndrome screams through - and all the little inconsistencies add up to frustration. Each of the heroines choices just don't ring true to life, given the way the author painted her character - especially the totally incomprehensible reason she refused to trust Westhaven. He did nothing but love and protect her, treat her with compassion and caring. She accepts all his love, all the benefits of his regard then brainlessly refuses to believe in him.... what? She makes NO sense! Tighten it up and keep it consistent, however, and Burrowes next book could truly be a winner.

[Mitzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful book!!! I loved the dialogue, the plot, the whole entire story and can't wait to read another novel by this author!!!

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread March 31, 2016
Re read April 2023
Loved it just as much as previously. Grace Burrowes remains one of my fave writers.