Having fallen in love three years before, Mr. Carlew, a member of the merchant class with a questionable background, and Miss Winthrop, a baron’s daughter, were thwarted in their romance. Due to unanticipated circumstances, they are thrown in to close proximity. Indicative of classic Regency, copious misunderstandings persist between them. Will the interference of their mother’s cause them to remain estranged? Or will Jonathan and Catherine, through many trials, discover that loves flame has not been extinguished?

While I enjoyed this novel, my attention wandered. Jon and Catherine did not sizzle. And I’m a fan of more dialogue. I felt like I was hearing second hand about their past. But, it was delightful to see Lavinia and Nicholas from The Elusive Miss Ellison appearing throughout the book. Catching up on their life was a highlight for me. Catherine’s Aunt Drusilla and General Whitby are lovable characters that found a place in my heart.

Miller is a gifted writer who knows the Regency period. The descriptions of the unusual weather taking place were vivid, making me cringe at the thought of all that mud! The masquerade ball was most expressive, drawing me right into the scene. Undertones of Persuasion are recognizable which makes me positive historical fiction lovers and fans of Jane Austen will undoubtedly enjoy a few hours of escapism with Winning Miss Winthrop. I look forward to the next book in the series because Miller is more than proficient at conveying the Regency Era and all it entails, and it is my favorite historical period to read about.

I was provided an electronic copy of the book from the publisher through Netgalley. I was not obligated to write a review. No compensation has been received.

I have to admit, I was fairly confused for the first quarter of this book trying to figure out who was who because each character has a title and a name and both are used interchangeably. Since Regency England and it's royal titles are not my usual genre, it took me a while to fully keep track each of the characters. But after I had that down, I was thoroughly engaged in the book and quite excited at the next book in the series!

Catherine Winthrop fell in love once, but was rejected without reason and is now facing the fact that she may end up a spinster as several seasons have passed with no one of interest pursuing her. In an effort to at least get out an enjoy herself, she attends a few functions with a man who is old enough to be her father and finds herself embroiled in salacious gossip.

Jonathan Carlew has been made well-aware of the rumors surrounding his birth along with the fact that he has no title. Even with great success in business, it has not been enough to make up for his shortcomings as a potential suitor, save for the one girl who broke his heart several years ago.

As fate would have it, a death in the family makes him the heir to a grand estate and throws Catherine and her mother into the position of needing Jonathan and his financial covering. As unwilling as they are to have anything to do with him, suddenly they are thrust into more uncomfortable interactions against their will. Will his new title land him the perfect wife? Will Catherine's strong will get her in trouble and ruin her reputation for good? Can they forgive each other and heal their broken hearts to learn to love again?

Carolyn Miller introduces her new series The Regency Brides. In the first book, we are introduced to Catherine Winthrop who has been recovering from feeling rejected by the man who stole her heart and rejected her love, she is finally feeling like she can move on.

When Catherine's father suddenly passes away, she not only loses the only home that she ever knew, but who moves in and takes her father's title? None other than Jonathan Carlew, the man who broke her heart.

With the rumors about Jonathan's birth and being a tradesman find him without the approval of the ladies parents, but now suddenly finding himself well to do and with a title, he now has plenty of prospects for a wife. Jonathan finds that his responsibilities keep him too busy, but also he only thinks of the woman to whom he lost his heart many years ago.

Can time and forgiveness bring them together?

In this novel, we see the value of forgiveness and how holding a grudge can hurt not only ourselves but those around us. It also teaches how we should always take time to listen to those who are precious. to us.

Carolyn Miller has cleverly brought back some of our favorite characters that not only strengthens the storyline but adds some familiarity and nostalgia for her followers who have read her other novels.

This book was an enjoyment to read I look forward to the next in the series "Serena's Secret"

A must-read for those who like to read historical fiction.

3.5 stars
Catherine's father dies leaving her and her mother to move out of their comfortable home and into a small cottage to make room for Tue new Lord Winthrop. Jonathan inherits the tittle unexpectedly and has to come to terms with living close by to the women who broke his heart two years ago.

I really enjoyed the story and the religious tones weren't too over the top. The novel is definitely inspired by Austen, especially Persuasion.

"Winning Miss Winthrop" is a Christian romance set in 1816 England. I prefer romances where the main characters are better people for having met each other, and this author's previous books have had this. However, I can only describe these main characters as becoming worse people from having known each other.

The hero started out as kind and thoughtful of others, even those that he felt had offended him. However, he became harsh and controlling. His main fault was that he refused to listen to people and instead jumped to conclusions that made him miserable. He made poor decisions because he felt rejected and hurt. Also, inexplicably, he did nothing to correct things when friends and family started telling others that he's engaged to a young woman when it's not true.

I had a hard time liking the heroine, and many of her actions didn't make sense to me. She started out thinking of others, but she became rude and guided by her emotions. She justified her behavior by feeling she was just saying the truth or that society's rules weren't fair. She behaved inappropriately then dealt with the resulting gossip in ways that just made it worse. For example, she tells people that she is engaged to a nice man hoping that will stop gossip. Only she fully intends to later break that engagement, which will only ruin her reputation more, which she doesn't seem to consider. Also, she frequently jumped to wrong conclusions about the hero's actions.

Despite only having known each other for a short period several years in the past, both the hero and heroine feel that they could not love any other despite the ever-increasing hurtful actions of the other. They seem to feel that a romantic moment in time indicates a true and lasting love. The misunderstandings between the two continued all the way up to the last scenes, and there's no reason to believe that their communication will be any better after they marry. Frankly, I'm disappointed that a Christian book is promoting this relationship as a romantic ideal.

The Christian element was a few prayers to God when they got themselves in trouble. There was no sex or bad language.

Catherine Winthrop has cried out to God too many times to count. Years ago, the man who stole her heart rejected her--and she's never recovered. Now tragedy has brought him back into her life. This time it isn't her heart he's taking, it's her home and her family's good name--and she has no one to share her grief.

Jonathan Carlew's life may look enviable from the outside--wealthy, handsome, landed--but the mystery surrounding his birth has shadowed his entire life. Now as he ascends to the barony, fresh challenges await, including a scheming mama who wants him to embrace power, even at the cost of losing love. How can he remain the kind, honorable man he strives to be and still meet the demands of his new society responsibilities?

These two broken hearts must decide whether their painful past and bitter present will be all they can share, or if forgiveness can provide a path to freedom for the future.

Catherine is devastated when her father dies but shocked when her third cousin, once removed, a man she fell in love with two years earlier, becomes the new baron and moves into her house. She’s even more shocked when she finds out that her father spent all their money and they were left with almost nothing. Now Catherine and her mother are moving into the decrepit dower house and Jonathan, the man who spurned her, is taking over the barony.

Jonathan tries to help Catherine and her mother, but the mother is too proud to ask for help. Jonathan and Catherine run into each other time and again but neither ever speak of what happened previously. When it looks like Jonathan will propose to another woman, Catherine and her mother head to her aunt’s house in Bath. Bath is great for Catherine’s well-being but her reputation takes a beating. When Catherine pretends to be engaged to an older man, and Jonathan heads to Bath, will the two ever figure out what went wrong and finally admit their feelings for each other.

I have to say that I enjoyed Ms. Miller’s writing. It did falter a time or two and the story tended to drag a bit in the middle, but her characters were three dimensional and actually quite likable – except a chosen few. The characters were flawed, and I liked that. Some of them were pretty spiteful in their speaking and I was a bit shocked at that. For being a Christian novel it was surprising, but the characters who were mean and outspoken weren’t the main characters of faith in the story which was good.

Jonathan and Catherine don’t spend a whole lot of time together in the story and that’s my biggest issue with the story. Yes, they spent a fair amount of time but I thought this was a romance and you can’t have romance when the two aren’t together – or communicating in any way. Despite that I enjoyed it and the author intrigued me enough with the secondary characters that I will probably read the others in this series to see what ends up happening with them.

Rating: 3.5/4 out of 5


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First, if you have read my other reviews of regency novels you will know that I have a bit of a pet peeve for how often a kidnapping shows up in the plot. I am happy to say that there was no kidnapping in Winning Miss Winthrop so that alone raises it in my opinion. Bu seriously, this novel was engaging. While I might admit to becoming a bit frustrated with how the main characters refused to actually talk through the past, I loved the fact that each character was real and multi-faceted. I also appreciated that the alternate love interests weren’t villains and I must say that I am looking forward to the novel that is surely to come about Jonathan’s sister.

I appreciated the theme of how distorting bitterness can be along with the accompanying theme concerning the evil of gossip. And while the lessons were in the story, the novel never felt instructional. In fact, Catherine surprised me several times by breaking the mold of societies expectations to follow her own heart in ways that certainly would not have been prescriptive for a young lady of her era, but showed real courage and liveliness.

And while it is a new series, character’s from Miller’s other series do show up in the story so you might want to read them first, starting with the Elusive Miss Ellison.

Winning Miss Winthrop by Carolyn Miller
Normally I don’t read books set in the England of the 1800’s. If I do read them, I don’t enjoy them. (I’m determined to read Great Expectations this year and it’s not going well.) Winning Miss Winthrop was an exception in that I read it and I enjoyed it.
Having said that, I must also say that this story, like many in this genre reminds me of those nature shows where the boy bird and the girl bird dance around each other, then back away, then back at each other only to back further away. Each of the main characters has good reasons to act the way they do, but after a while the passive-aggressive behavior (PAB) is just too much even for this Southern woman. (Southern women perfected PAB.)
I did like how some social issues that we still struggle with today are handles, especially when it came to the mentally challenged your man. I also appreciated how Jonathan took it upon himself to help those he found suddenly as his neighbors.
This is the first of a series. Hints are given as to future storylines and they sound quite promising.
I received a free copy of the book from NetGalley and Kregel Publications in exchange for my honest review. Thank you.

Kregel Publications
Pub Date 03/27/18

Since reading Ms. Miller's first book, what has struck me as refreshing is her characters' integrity. They are never portrayed as perfect or unapproachable, but there is a noble air to them which is very much appreciated. It also, many times, sets the pace of the plot as the characters try to remain steadfast through a time period stained by unruly tongues and a judgemental society.

I saw this integrity portrayed once again in Jonathan Carlew as he sought to wisely fulfill an unexpected inherited role, through his interactions with his family and close friends, and his patience to not let society's prejudice make him doubt his good influence. And then there's his... bullheadedness. Yep, he's pretty much as stubborn as they get. I confess this caught me by surprise, not in a bad way for I knew this promised for a good character growth.

Morality is a fine line to walk on. Though righteous character may be grown, there's always the chance of developing pride in one's self and forgetting that a noble persona walks alongside gentleness and meekness. Can Jonathan find this out in time to repair severed ties? Specially one in regards to the young lady who never stopped having a place in his heart.

Catherine Winthrop has suffered enough heartache in recent times to make her sick to her bones. And to be in constant association with the man she once gave her heart to hasn't been helping her healing. She can't forget how he coldly and unceremonious broke their understanding. Still, here in there she sees the kindhearted man she once knew. How to associate these two sides? Who is the true Jonathan Carlew?

Full of the captivating Regency world, with the bonus of a masquerade ball (!!!), this book sure kept me interested as page-to-page I was challenged to not judge a character by first impressions, as they can be misguided, as well as to believe hope is always unwavering, no matter the situation. I'm very much looking forward to Serena's book.

This book was so hard to rate.I feel like the first half of the book was a 5 and the second half was a 3. I loved the first half, the heroine was more like Anne Elliot from Persuasion and the book seemed like a tribute to that book. And then all of the sudden halfway through the book the main character morphed into a Lizzy Bennett on steroids being totally outspoken and behaving in ways that women of class didn't do. I felt like the author did not try to capture the manners and behaviors of the time but instead put modern ones on her "Regency" characters. Another thing that bothered me was Miss Winthrop went from being plain and worn out to be a stunner that everyone wants to court despite her being penniless? Totally unbelievable. I just don't buy that Jonathan's friends who are pretty shallow all of the sudden think they might want to court her, that was not believable at all.
The story flowed decent but I really wish the author didn't try to modernize the story.