Seeing Miss Heartstone

By: Nichole Van

Narrated by: Cat Gould

Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Miss Belle Heartstone - heiress and savvy businesswoman - needs a husband. Immediately. As in, yesterday would not have been soon enough. Her mother's attempts at matchmaking have been disastrous. So Belle decides to solve the problem her way - survey the market and purchase the best groom available.

Colin Radcliffe, Marquess of Blake - debt-ridden and penniless - needs a large infusion of cash. Desperately. Preferably cash that does not come with a wife attached. It is no surprise, then, when he receives Miss Heartstone's brazen proposal - her cash, his title, their marriage - that he politely declines.

But before he leaves her, Blake suggests something truly radical: Maybe before finding a husband, Belle should find herself. His simple words send them both on an unexpected journey, spanning continents and years, entwining their lives in ways neither could have foreseen. Can two lonely souls move past societal expectations and forge a unique life together?

©2018 Nichole Van Valkenburgh (P)2019 Tantor

Good story line

This was a good story line but it did drag on a bit much. It would have been a great story if not for this one issue.

Splendid

I have listened to many many audiobooks and by far, this is one of the very best I have read. It has such a wonderful and original story line. It isn’t loaded with sex scenes, and in fact doesn’t have any which is so refreshing! Sex scenes get very very old and in so many books it looks like authors just cut and paste the same old sex scene from one book to another and another. I very rarely take the time to provide a written book review, but this book is worth my time and writing about! BRAVO!

Enjoyed this clean, historical romance

I have listened to a few other Nichole Van books. I enjoy her writing style, so I jumped in to listening to this one without any knowledge of the story. I must say that I really liked the premise of this one.

I usually listen to books while doing other things and if I have some free time to sit, I will read a physical book instead of listening. This was one that I just kept listening to rather than stopping when I had a break. I was invested I have the story.

I will say that there were points where I was frustrated that misunderstandings weren't more quickly resolved. Sometimes it felt like it was being dragged out a bit unnecessarily. I have learned since reading this, that originally this was published as part of a novella collection in the Timeless Regency Collection Spring in Hyde Park series. This explains so much. I kept getting the feeling that I'd heard parts of this story before but knew I hadn't read the book. That's a ow I get it! And I can also see how the material added to make it a full length novel may have made it seem to drag in places.

Anyway, I enjoyed the narrator for the audiobook and recommend the book.

engaging

Good story line and characters that make you finish a good book. I would like more like it.

Captivating Reading!

In this story, Nichole Van incorporates a great blend of 1800 British society mores concerning the place and expectations of women, struggles of the “modern” woman, romance, and suspense. I particularly liked that there were no explicit sexual scenes.

Cute Regency romance.

As a fan of this authors more recent books, I enjoyed getting a chance to read this from her backlist. It’s a fun story and I loved the letters and hidden identity. Very original and sweet Regency romance. The single narrator did well with both parts.

Great story.

I enjoyed the story. The two main characters were very likable. The narration was great.

Delightful

This book was delightful in every way. The characters were beautifully developed and their secrets delicious. It was most satisfying to watch them work through their misunderstandings. Such a sweet, romantic, enjoyable read.

I loved her intelligence!

Belle is a wonderfully capable and intelligent young woman living in a time when women were looked down upon, and simply supposed to act pleasantly. The book begins with Belle, being tired of her nagging mother always trying to marry her off, proposing marriage in Hyde Park, to a young man she has only met once before. He, unsuprisingly, rejects her offer, but then tells her how she, as a wealthy young woman, DOES have choices and can be free from her mother's machinations. And that she should go forward and "learn how to fly". This speech of his inspires her greatly - and she moves towards it fulfillment. Meanwhile, the young man, Blake, goes to India and is there for 5 years. Unbeknowst to the young man, Blake, she writes to him the entire time, signing it was the initials LHF. He assumes the sage business advice is from a man, and counts him as a friend. After five years he returns to England, and meets Belle, but he does not know that she is LHF, because he is so set on his correspondent being a man. When he DOES discover how mistaken he's been, he becomes very angry at her. THAT is the part that I thought was so out of character. Didn't he remember how HE (five years previously) told her that women were just as intelligent as men??!! He was angry for so long, that I felt the author was dragging out this character inconsistency for a long time. I also felt the ending didn't really tie up loose ends. I felt unsatisfied when the book finished. Overall, it was an okay book.

great story

I liked the smart banter between the 2 main characters. I liked how the got to know each other