Theodora in Love
Fourth in the Angels of Ashbourne
Ann Barker

Robert Hale
31 January 2011/ ISBN 9780709091769
Historical Romance/1795 Yorkshire, Dorset and Somerset, England
Amazon US || UK

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde

This is the fourth volume in the series about the angelically named Earls of Ashbourne, following on from Jilted, Spoiled (both also reviewed on this site) and Ruined. If you remember the lusty vicar Michael Buckley from Spoiled then you might also remember that he had a sister called Theodora who limped. This is her story, and how she avoids an unwanted Season and goes to stay with Dorothy and her brother William Wordsworth in Dorset. She also gets to meet (and fall in love with) Coleridge, and a certain Alex Kydd who works for the government…

It is invariably better to read a series of books about an entertaining group of people instead of merely one novel, and this series about the Ashbournes and their friends is no exception. As well as a love story the author shows her knowledge of the period with her lively portraits of historical people and the lives of those not wealthy enough to live in grand houses or have a Season. The more bohemian lives of these writers make for interesting reading and I am impressed how different all the books in this series are while remaining very much of a set. This is a coming of age story, as Theodora goes from imagining what people are going to be like and falling in love with a fantasy, through having a girlish crush and finally falling in love with a real, eligible man and coming to terms with her disability. I do hope there is going to be a fifth novel; there is surely at least one character not paired up as yet.

Reviewer's Note: