Sophie Reads YA: Annie Burrows

2023 Beat the Backlist challenge

ARC Review: How to Catch a Viscount by Annie Burrows

10:00

2020 New Release challenge

ARC Review: From Cinderella To Countess by Annie Burrows

10:00

From Cinderella To Countess
Series: None
Author: Annie Burrows
Published May 28th 2020 by Mills & Boon Historical

Goodreads Synopsis
From Cinderella in the shadows

To Countess in the spotlight?

Lady’s companion Eleanor Mitcham longs to escape her unhappy life. Having been told she’s too lowly to speak to Lord Lavenham, Eleanor defiantly accepts his challenge to teach her employer a lesson—by marrying him! He is an eligible earl after all! However, his determinedly cynical view of marriage makes her dissolve their convenient betrothal and flee—leaving the drama of the household behind and Lord Lavenham hot on her heels!
Goodreads

Review
I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

From Cinderella to Countess follows Eleanor Mitcham as she navigates life following her parents deaths as a Lady's companion. Firstly working for Lady Bradbury, she is treated as a skivvy and told she is far below Lady Bradbury's nephew, Lord Lavenham, and shouldn't even speak to him when he's visiting. Lavenham, on his part, is intrigued by Eleanor, and confronts her after days of avoidance, and proposes a marriage between them, to teach Lady Bradbury a lesson, and prove she can't control them. Eleanor can't believe that Lavenham has proposed, and in a way that makes it sound so mercenary, so she flees in the night, and is luckily helped by the Dowager Duchess of Theakstone. The Duchess takes Eleanor under her wing, and remakes her into a mysterious foreign noble, to hide her from Lavenham and hopefully keep her close before Eleanor travels to her uncle's. This all backfires when Lavenham sees straight through the disguise, and wants revenge for the suffering he felt when she left. As he spends more time with her, getting under her skin, he realises that she isn't the hoyden he thought she was, and is alone and doesn't feel like she deserves to be happy, and he will do anything he can to help her.

This book was enjoyable, and a quick read, but I didn't love it. I really liked Eleanor's character, and felt for her having to take paid positions when she was a gentleman's daughter who had just fallen on hard times. She doesn't deserve to be treated as a servant by all those who do, including her own family members, and because of all of that, she really felt like she deserved what she got, and didn't deserve anyone looking after her. Lavenham, who's parents marriage was horrific, had always thought negatively of the idea, but knew he would need to marry eventually, if only for the succession of his title. With Eleanor, he found someone who he could talk to, and honestly felt like could have a pleasant companionship with. The way he posed the proposal though, was definitely lacking, and he was trying to make up for it all the way through the story. The chemistry was definitely there, but I wasn't as invested in their relationship as I could've been. All in all, an enjoyable book, but something was missing.

Dates Read:

May 11-12, 2020

Rating
3 Stars