Stevie‘s review of The Governess Club: Bonnie (The Governess Club, Book 2) by Ellie Macdonald
Historical Romance published by Avon Impulse 17 Sep 13
I was a little unsure what I was going to get with this book. The first book in the series had a cute premise, but far too many anachronisms and errors (especially with regard to titles and their inheritance) for me to be entirely happy with it. This book, I’m pleased to report, does far better on the latter score other than one brief dip into 20th/21st Century pop-psychology and a few situations where I couldn’t quite believe the hero and heroine would really have got away with being alone together. But such is the nature of a lot of romances.
From the very start we know this is going to be a somewhat darker story than the previous one. Bonnie’s employers have been killed in an accident – in front of the children and their governess – and since their deaths there seems to be a problem with payment of the servants’ wages. Enter Sir Stephen Montgomery, appointed guardian to the two little boys and in charge of the estate until the elder reaches his majority. Stephen, however, knows none of this, but has arrived in response to a summons from his friend, the boys’ father, written five days before the accident, hinting that all was not right in his household.
Stephen and Bonnie join forces to try to uncover who might have wanted to kill his friends and whether that same person is responsible for money being lost from the estate due to dubious investments. Then ‘accidents’ start occurring again, mostly directed at the older of the boys, but with others getting caught up in them too. I like the mystery; it is fairly obvious who the villain is, but it takes a while before we learn the motive. On the other hand, the initial showdown with Stephen happens off-screen, as it were, and I’d have preferred to have seen that instead of the rather unlikely sex scene and even less likely morning-after scene.
The final showdown is effective enough though, and most, if not all, loose ends get tied up afterwards. I do wonder rather at Sir Stephen’s phonetically rendered Scottish accent; I’d have thought that any deviation from correct English would have been beaten out of him at school, but on the whole this book gives me more hope for the rest of the series than its predecessor. I’ll be interested to see how this pair (and the two boys) are assimilated into the group at the school belonging to the Governess Club – or not, as the case may be.
Grade: C
Summary:
Miss Bonnie Hodges, governess to the Darrow family, is desperately trying to hold it together. Tragedy has struck, and she is the sole person left to be strong for the two little boys in her care. When the new guardian arrives, she hopes that things will get better. She wasn’t expecting her new employer to be the most frustrating, overbearing, and … handsome man she’s ever seen.
Sir Stephen Montgomery is utterly distracted. He should be trying to figure out how his two best friends were killed in a suspicious accident and why the new young viscount seems destined to be the next victim. But he can’t concentrate on anything but his growing infatuation with the beautiful, mysterious, and utterly captivating governess.
Together they’re doing their best to save the two boys, but will Stephen’s feelings for Bonnie get in the way of their search for a killer?
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
