A Stranger at Fellsworth- Sarah E. Ladd

My Rating: 4 Stars

Description: In the fallout of her deceased father’s financial ruin, Annabelle’s prospects are looking bleak. Her fiancé has called off their betrothal, and now she remains at the mercy of her controlling and often cruel brother. Annabelle soon faces the fact that her only hope for a better life is to do the unthinkable and run away to Fellsworth, the home of her long-estranged aunt and uncle, where a teaching position awaits her. Working for a wage for the first time in her life forces Annabelle to adapt to often unpleasant situations as friendships and roles she’s taken for granted are called into question.

Owen Locke is unswerving in his commitments. As a widower and father, he is fiercely protective of his only daughter. As an industrious gamekeeper, he is intent on keeping poachers at bay even though his ambition has always been to eventually purchase land that he can call his own. When a chance encounter introduces him to the lovely Annabelle Thorley, his steady life is shaken. For the first time since his wife’s tragic death, Owen begins to dream of a second chance at love.

As Owen and Annabelle grow closer, ominous forces threaten the peace they thought they’d found. Poachers, mysterious strangers, and murderers converge at Fellsworth, forcing Annabelle and Owen to a test of fortitude and bravery to stop the shadow of the past from ruining their hopes for the future.

My Thoughts: I was pleasantly surprised with this novel, as I have read others by this author in the past and had not cared for them. However, this one was well worth the read, with a romance and heroine I could cheer for, and a conflict that gripped my attention.

Annabelle is sympathetic and likeable character who needs to escape a desperate situation, while discovering that her only way out is to leave behind everything that is familiar. While not the most unique of plot developments, I believe Ladd was able to do this far more realistically than in many similar stories. Throughout this change in life style, Annabelle struggles with the limitations of her background and mindset, having to remind herself that things she believed previously have all along been false.

The interactions with Owen were also rather sweet, creating a relationship built on respect rather than passion. While I did not care for the depiction of Annabelle's maid <spoiler> who began as kind but then became shrewish, despite Annebelle's genuine attempts at reconciliation, </spoiler> I did enjoy the rest of the characters' interactions and the fact that there were friendships that crossed social stratospheres.

I have provided an honest review after having received a copy of this book through The Fiction Guild.