What do you do when you're so caught up in a story that you don't want to put it down for anything? You read all day, of course!

Cassie is the youngest daughter of a vicar and isn't allowed to "come out" to society until her older, extremely anxiety-ridden and shy, sister is married off. Cassie has the very best intentions at heart when she secretly writes letters to a potential beau, posing as her sister, but it all backfires in a heart wrenching way.

When my husband and I were first dating, I remember being in the computer lab at school and I was instant messaging him. I had to leave for a minute and my friend took over, pretending to be me. Understandably, he wasn't too happy about that and I could completely see how Evan felt about his whole situation with these two sisters, although his was carried much further.   

I was very caught up in the whole story and felt a part of it from the start. The emotions are very tangibly written--from the attraction, to the flutters of love, to the pain and anguish associated with guilt. If I was caught in a similar situation, I'd want to run and hide, but Cassie does everything she can to repair things and I can't help but to admire her greatly. This book has a very engaging storyline, as well as fantastic characters, and I loved it all!

Content: mild romance; mild moments of innocent deception.

*I received a copy through Netgalley. No favorable review was required and all thoughts are my own.*

Cassie Wilton, age 20, is one of 6 daughters of Vicar Wilton and his wife. The family’s tradition has been that each daughter has her Season starting with the oldest until she is married. After that, the next daughter has her Season, and so on. Cassie is frustrated because her older sister, Lenora, is to have her third Season and still has not become betrothed. That means Cassie cannot have a Season until she does. It appears that Lenora is quite shy and happy to be a homebody. When Cassie’s mother suggests that she might be able to help Lenora gain more confidence in herself, she wonders how she can do this.

Evan Glenside has recently met his great uncle, Hastings Glenside. Evan has been working at a London accounting office and will one day inherit his uncle’s estate in Bedfordshire. Evan is also working hard to support his widowed mother and younger sisters. Later, he will move them to the Dowager House located on the ground of the estate. Now, Evan is living with his uncle and participating in some local events as he prepares to one day take his place as the head of Glenside Manor. His uncle has been very depressed since his wife died and tends to drink too much.

Tonight, Evan is off to a ball. While there, Evan escapes to the garden for a breath of fresh air where he encounters Lenora Wilton. Hearing a lady sniffling, Evan doesn’t see her face, but simply offers her his handkerchief and goes back inside. Later, Lenora tells Cassie about it explaining that she needed to get away from the crowd for a few minutes and found she was sitting near a plant to which she is allergic, thus her sniffling. It seems strange to Cassie that two people would choose to hide in the garden. Hoping to match them up, Cassie proposes Lenora accompany her father, the Vicar, to welcome Evan to the community and return his handkerchief. She hopes their meeting will spark a romance that will see Lenora married so Cassie can finally have a Season. In addition, she decides to write to Evan, posing as Lenora. The notes pass back and forth but Cassie receives them, not Lenora. Soon, Evan suggests the Vicar’s family come for dinner at the Manor so he can try to get to know Lenora, but her shyness simply prohibits any connection between them. By now, Cassie has become enthralled with Evan. Oh, but what can one do to untangle the lies that have been told?

This was a good story. I think readers will find themselves liking or disliking certain characters. For me, Lenora was ridiculous in her shyness. I think it was very unfair of the Vicar and his wife to make Cassie wait for her Season. They should have let Lenora be the quiet homebody she is and allow Cassie to get on with her life. I am curious to find what other readers think about this.

Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I stayed up late into the early morning hours to finish this. Loved it. But I didn't start off loving it.

I enjoy the Proper Romance Regencies from Shadow Mountain. There's been a few titles I haven't connected with, and Ms. Kilpack sometimes is a bit on the racier side with the steamy kisses. Her characters go through tremendous growth though.

I did not like Cassie in the beginning. She was selfish. I wasn't sure how this could have a happy ending for anybody, as the romance starts on a lie. Cassie foolishly tells herself she's pretending to be her shy sister to help her, but it was to help herself. What happens is nothing like she expects.

In the end, this is a beautiful story about God's grace, repentance, forgiveness, family love, being sisters, and learning to accept your own flaws and limitations so that you can be happy with what blessings you do have.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions".

I fully expected someone to say that to Cassie in this book; with both her parents constantly moralising at her, it seemed an obvious line.

I felt deeply for Cassie in this book; the youngest of six sisters, her strict parents have decided to firmly enforce the rule about only one daughter permitted to be out in society at a time. Their first four daughters married themselves off easily enough before the next was even old enough to come out, but poor Cassie is stuck behind Lenora, who suffers from crippling social anxiety. Lenora is twenty-three, Cassie is twenty, and Cassie is frankly getting desperate because there isn't even the hint of a suitor on the horizon for her sister.

The book begins with a frustrated Cassie trying to argue the point with her mother, who is immovable on the subject. Desperate, when Cassie hears of a slight interaction between Lenora and Evan, she tries to take matters into her own hands by forging a letter from her sister.

Of course, this is where things go horribly awry. Evan falls for the artistic soul of the woman penning the letters, and Cassie in return falls for the intelligent gentleman the returning letters reveal. Once she meets him in person and finds him to be both charming and handsome, the story becomes a freight train hurtling towards disaster.

The story is very cleverly written and the main characters really came to life on the page; every move Cassie made seemed utterly logical at the time, and it was obvious that she wasn't just being selfish, she genuinely did want her sister to be happy.

I admit to feeling a little frustrated that nobody pointed out to Cassie's parents that their rigid adherence to social pressures actually caused the problem in the first place. Fully aware of Lenora's disability (because she did have a disability) letting Cassie out into society at her side would actually have made life easier for Lenora because Cassie could have been right there to help her. After three seasons of hiding from company, it was more than obvious that Lenora might never make a match, and it was deeply unfair to keep twenty-year-old Cassie from having her own chance. Having someone (other than Cassie, who was obviously self-interested) point this out to them would have felt quite satisfying.

I have to admit that I'm also put off by the price of this ebook. As an author myself, I know exactly what costs are involved in the production and distribution of ebooks vs. paperbacks, and to have them at virtually the same price is basically a greedy profit grab. Pricing any fiction ebook over $5 is entirely unnecessary.

I'm happy to give the story four stars, but I can't recommend purchasing the ebook. Grab the paperback instead or wait for a price drop.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. THIS. BOOK!
A fun telling of a girl who just wants love and desires to help her sister gain it before she can. But, as all things go, it doesn't go as planned and becomes a thing that must be corrected. Cassie tries so hard. I adore how this all plays out. Definitely a MUST-READ!

How delightful--a five star story I didn't see coming!

As I challenge myself to read more thoroughly and patiently throughout this year, I was initially a little wary of The Vicar's Daughter. The story starts off rather quickly and with little prelude to the main dilemma that would eventually carry the novel through. This left me feeling frustrated because I felt like I didn't know the characters enough to truly be invested in their problems. But then, somewhere around the 1/3 mark, something changed and I was totally obsessed.

This novel is pretty light on the romance and heavy on the character molding, something which I rather appreciated. As the trials and tribulations of Cassie and Lenora continued, I felt like I was right there beside them. I related to Lenora's anxiety, and Cassie's yearning for something romantic in her life. I got angry when Cassie was angry and upset when Lenora was cast aside. It takes a lot for a book to move me like this one did.

It is written superbly: imagery and senses everywhere. (Both of which were lacking in the last two books I read.) Kilpack is wonderful at putting the reader right in the drama. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who likes historical romance full of delightful pining and tension.

Content:
Romance: Clean
Religion: There, but not overpowering or in-your-face
Violence: None

*My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book for an unbiased review.*

A Vicar's Daughter was well written. Cassie is the youngest of six daughters and has to wait for the last of her sisters to marry, before she can have her own season. Cassie decides that her shy sister will never get married, and she is bound and determined to help her, by writing letters to the one man she has shown some interest in. But will the plan backfire when Cassie realizes she might want him for herself?

Cassie, the youngest of the vicar, can't be out in society until her older sister Lenora, makes a match. Frustrated with her sister, who is in her third season and shows no signs of being able to talk to a man, let alone make a match with one, Cassie fears she'll never be able to make a match of her own. So when Lenora expresses interest in Evan Glenside, who has recently risen to the role of heir of a nearby estate, Cassie does something drastic: she begins writing to Evan for Lenora. As they pen letter back and forth, Cassie is drawn to Evan--and when she actually meets him, she realizes it's going to be much harder to help her sister make a match with him when she herself has come to care for him. For his part, Evan enjoys the letters he exchanges with Lenora and he hopes that she will overcome her shyness and display the same personality in person as she has in her letters, but when that doesn't come to pass, he doesn't know what to think.

I was really worried about how this book was going to play out, and if the author went a certain direction, I was sure it was going to ruin the whole book for me. (See spoilers below if you want to know what the plot line that would have ruined it for me was.) Luckily, she didn't, and I liked how things played out. (I might have to go reread it now that I know how it ends so I don't have to be nervous the whole time!) There were times when Cassie was (realistically) frustrating and self-absorbed, but at the same time, I could understand that, since I'd have been totally frustrated in her situation, too. Evan was a terrific male lead; I liked seeing how he'd been raised in a lower class and needed to learn the rules of polite society and how not knowing all the rules compounded the problem he found himself in. I also liked how there's a message of forgiveness and trying to fix things one has done wrong. All in all, a great historical romance.




SPOILERS!!! I would have hated this book if the resolution to the problem had come by having Lenora die. That just would have been really frustrating to me, so I'm happy to report that Lenora is alive and well as the end of the book...and I'm hoping we could actually see her as the protagonist of another book.

From the publisher: Cassie, the youngest of six daughters, is bold, bright, and ready to enter society. There's only one problem: her older sister Lenora, whose extreme shyness prevents her from attending many social events. Lenora is now entering her third season, and since their father has decreed that only one Wilton girl can be out at a time, Cassie has no choice except to wait her turn. Evan Glenside, a clerk, has just been named his great-uncle's heir and he struggles to feel accepted in a new town and in his new position. A chance meeting between Evan and Lenora promises to change everything, but when Lenora proves too shy to pursue the relationship, Cassie begins to write Mr. Glenside letters in the name of her sister. Her good intentions lead to disaster when Cassie realizes she is falling in love with Evan. As secrets are revealed, the hearts of Cassie, Evan, and Lenora are tested. Will the final letter sent by the vicar's daughter reunite the sisters as well as unite Evan with his true love?

The Vicar’s Daughter is a Proper Romance from Shadow Mountain Publishing. Proper Romances are clean romantic stories that contain interesting issues. In this one, a young woman is affected by social anxiety but is expected to follow the same path as her older sisters and find a husband all the same. While her anxiety keeps her from being able to do that, her younger sister must wait in the shadows, unable to pursue a romance of her own.

I found the plot a bit jumpy, and some of the Messages were a little too heavy handed for my liking, but overall I enjoyed this unusual romance. The character with social anxiety showed positive growth, as did her family’s understanding of her condition. The characters grappled with right and wrong, and with how to ask for forgiveness and bring oneself to forgive. The plot is more somber than many traditional romance novels, but the ending was satisfying.

The Vicar’s Daughter is recommended for readers looking for clean historical romance with religious overtones. It could be an excellent book club choice for the right group of readers, as there are moral and societal issues to be discussed.

I read an advance reader copy of The Vicar’s Daughter. It is scheduled to be published in April 2017 and will be available at the Galesburg Public Library.

As the youngest of six daughters, Cassie Wilton has anxiously waited for years to enter society and find the perfect husband. Due to her father's edict that only one of his daughters will ever be out at once, Cassie despairs that her shy and anxiety-ridden elder sister, Lenora, will ever find a match. When Lenora enters her third season, Cassie decides that Lenora will never succeed without some help.

When Lenora has a chance encounter with Evan Glenside-- a kind clerk from London who has recently become his wealthy uncle's heir-- Cassie is convinced he is the perfect husband for her timid sister. In an attempt to help the romance along, Cassie begins writing letters to Evan under Lenora's name. As she learns more about Evan, however, Cassie finds herself falling in love with Evan herself. When Evan begins to court Lenora in earnest-- believing her to be the author of the letters he holds dear-- will Cassie's deception ruin everything?

Josi S. Kilpack takes readers on a truly lovely journey in The Vicar's Daughter. While the premise of this novel has certainly been told before, Kilpack's character development makes the story unique and compelling. Even secondary characters like Evan's uncle and Cassie's parents have complex backstories that perfectly explain their thoughts and actions. Evan's and Lenora's journeys to self-assurance and security are certainly fascinating, but Cassie's arc is truly excellent. From a selfish and conniving debutante-to-be, to a truly contrite, humble, and mature young woman, Kilpack does an admirable job in creating a real and believable protagonist. For much of the book, I honestly wasn't sure whom I wanted Evan to choose in the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to delve into and explore the complicated subjects of family, trust, loyalty, truth, and forgiveness.

Cassie is ready to dress up, go to public functions and date. Unfortunately, Lenora is ahead of her in age and her parents only allow the next child to debut after each girl gets married. Lenora has already been available for three years but she only does the outings when she has to and she has no gentlemen callers. Cassie has to do something!

Shadow Mountain Publishing and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published April 4th.

When a young man arrives from London to help his Uncle with his property, it presents a golden opportunity. He's single, is coming into money, and he's attractive. They meet him at public functions and he seems nice enough. Cassie decides since Lenora seems to like him a bit, she'll speed things up by writing to him. This action has some awful consequences.

As they write and get to know each other, they find themselves falling in love. Cassie can't admit it's her that's written the letters. She even confesses to her sister before she goes out on a carriage ride with him. He's confused. The woman is vibrant and lively in her letters but uncommunicative and shy on the ride. All she says is yes and no. What she says to him are questions and she never elaborates on them. Why would she be one way and then not?

When he proposes to Lenora, Cassie goes to stay with her aunt. She can't let him see her heartbreak. The worst part is that he figures it out and braces her on her return. She tells yes, she wrote the letters. He can also see she loves him. He cancels the engagement and goes back home. The scandal is on everyone's lips.

Just when it seems there's no love or life left for anyone, the author starts making things happen that change the whole situation. Misunderstandings are cleared up, the sisters are friends again, and love comes out on top. This was an excellent read.

Such a sweet, clean romance! This is the first book of Josi S. Kilpack's that I have read and I am impressed. I look forward to exploring her previous books!

Cassie really wants to be out in Society but can’t due to her older sister Lenora not being out yet. When they meet Evan Glenside who is new to the neighborhood, Cassie comes up with a plan to further their acquaintance through letter writing. As things go from good to bad to worse, no one expected the outcome of how the letters would effect all involved. Trust is broken between family members and new friends. I was heartbroken for these characters and for the circumstances they were placed in. Cassie was so brave even though most was her doing, she made amends in any way possible. Evan. Oh Evan. what a sweet guy. Sometimes doing the right thing can be hard. He is very loyal and trustworthy and you could see his heart ached.
4 stars.

True to form, Ms. Kilpack's latest novel was phenomenal and I could not put it down.

The writing was so good, the characters so vibrant, that I felt everything, every good and bad thing, all the way to my toes. Despite being confident of how it would end, I felt all the suspense, all the pain of human flaws, the embarassment, the guilt, the regret, the hope, and the sacrifice.

If you want to feel the full range of human emotion, I highly recommend this book. If you want to see the full beauty of God at work, knitting something beautiful from ashes, I recommend it even more. From relating to the best and worst of people, to getting to witness forgiveness and restoration, I cannot say enough good things about this book.

Great book. Excellent storyline and wonderful main characters. I would highly recommend this book.

It's been a while since I read a Kilpack Historical Fiction I enjoyed, which is not to take away from her talented writing. Rather, I have decided that I'm not a fan of true stories within this genre. The problem is because I struggled with the latest couple books, I was unsure as whether to try again.

The Vicar's Daughter is a fresh new approach to a heavily saturated market of stories. Often you will come across a story you love, amazing characters, lots of chemistry etc, but yet the plot will be blatantly overused. This was great! In contrast to Jane Austen's 'Pride & Prejudice' - all the daughters being out at once - the Wilton family of 5 daughters must each wait their turn. All well and good, if they are equally sufficient in catching the eyes of suitors. But what happens when one of them has had 3 seasons, and suffers with what today we would classify as Social Anxiety Disorder? It is such a crippling struggle, that I can imagine in this kind of society in which you are limited to making a match through how you performed publicly, finding personal happiness must have been nigh impossible. Unless you have this yourself or know someone close to you that does, it can be very difficult to truly understand it. Your heart will break with the same desires as those around you, yet trapped by lack of ability to behave as carefree as those who don't. People call it shyness or nerves. It is not. They want to love and have happiness and fun just the same way you do.

I am drawn to the plight of Leonora Wilton. Equally empathetic to the frustration of youngest daughter Cassandra (Cassie). Will she ever get her turn? Leonora cannot converse, or attract the attention in order to dance at the social events she is in attendance of. Cassie is now 20, and as most girls were 18 at their debut, she is starting to worry. I must admit I thought considering the circumstances the Vicar & his wife seemed a bit short sighted, but then I am looking thru the lens of the 21st century, and knowing that having the right people present with those with anxiety, it can be an incredible support.

Evan Glenside is a like-able character, that endears the reader quickly. He's a fresh face to the gentry, having inherited the heir to the title position unexpectedly. The sections written between him and Cassie were beautifully done and I could not put this book down. Heavy on the remorse, and harsh punishment it felt like at times, I was grateful to see all come to rights in the end. I appreciated the insight that sometimes taking someone away from the comfort zone and protective behaviors that were born out of love, that Leonora found the space to find the courage to 'be'. That isn't always the answer, but I do agree that in discovering that you can do something yourself, the knowledge in that brings great power, to move forward!

Thank you to Shadow Mountain & Netgalley for the complimentary copy. This is my honest review.

I always enjoy the characters in Josi Kilpacks stories. I loved Evan and his humbleness! He is out of his depth with this upper crust world and admits it fully. He is able to suck up his pride and ask for help or take lessons from others in how to do some of the common, everyday things that are part of a Gentleman's world. Of course this inexperience and lack of knowledge of conventions also gets him into a bit of trouble. He also takes the word of others to heart too quickly without looking at motives.

Cassie is a young inexperienced girl who has been kept out of society too long and finds a way to force her way into it with some destructive consequences. She learns a lot from her mistakes which is great! Lucky for her she also has a sister who eventually is willing to forgive, forget and want her happiness more than her own. I thought this was story was lovely. The plot was not one that was well trod before but firmly fixed in the time period and circumstances. It was an engaging story with relatable characters. A great read for anyone who likes Regency or just a good clean romance.

Found this story terribly sad. It was sad to see how hurtful family could be when one member makes a mistake, mostly due to their youth. Instead of being forgiving (considering the parent is a Vicar), I found it disturbing how cruel the parents were. Even the ending (when it finally came) did not bring me any satisfaction.

This book has a way of looking at life straight on with no mirages fluttering through. Not that that the characters don't have their mirage moments. But, as romantic entanglements come into play consequences are not shied away from. In this way The Vicar's Daughter seems to be a more realistic Regency than many.

A theme presented through the book seems to be the importance of being who you're meant to be. I don't want to give away plot points so I'll try to speak vaguely. Whether it's restrictive rules of parents, enabling of others, or the inability to move past disappointments, there are many things that can keep us from being who we really are. This story shows that pushing beyond barriers can help to achieve happiness, even if the process is heart wrenching.