The Elusive Miss Ellison

By: Carolyn Miller

Narrated by: Anna Parker-Naples

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's Summary

Hampton Hall's new owner has the villagers of St. Hampton Heath all aflutter - all except Lavinia Ellison. The reverend's daughter cares for those who are poor and sick, and the seventh Earl of Hawkesbury definitely does not meet that criteria. His refusal to take his responsibilities seriously, or even darken the door of the church, leave her convinced he is as arrogant and reckless as his brother - his brother who stole the most important person in Lavinia's world.

Nicholas Stamford is shadowed by guilt: his own, his brother's, the legacy of war. A perfunctory visit to this dreary part of Gloucestershire wasn't supposed to engage his heart, or his mind. Challenged by Miss Ellison's fascinating blend of Bluestocking opinions, hoydenish behavior, and angelic voice, he finds the impossible becoming possible - he begins to care. But Lavinia's aloof manner, society's opposition and his ancestral obligations prove most frustrating, until scandal forces them to get along.

Can Lavinia and Nicholas look beyond painful pasts and present prejudice to see their future? And what will happen when Lavinia learns a family secret that alters everything she's ever known?

©2017 Carolyn Miller (P)2018 Tantor

would have been a better book 1/4 shorter

nice book that spent way too long in trite dithering. when actually moving forward, enjoyable.

Preachy

I wanted a Regency and I got a sermon. No, I got several of them. The Regency elements of the story are fine but when the author gets into pulpit mode I wanted to shout, "Show, not tell!"

loved loved loved tgis book and narration!

This is the best book I've read in a long time. im usually weary when a modern writer is compared to Jane Austen, but this author definitely provides all the sunstance and sentiment, one would expect with such a comparison.

I did not like the narrator at all.....

First of all, I ordered this book by mistake. I was looking for books by the author, Sally Britton, and this title was hidden among her listings. I feel this is very underhanded of Audible, and I will have to keep my eyes open for more "tricks" like this from them. But I thought I'd listen to it anyway, and I was sorely disappointed. I did not AT ALL LIKE the way the narrator portrayed the voices of the book's characters. Most of the women had very irritating voices, and the voices of the Countess and Lavinia's aunt both had the same annoying, grating (like screeching on a blackboard) voices! They sounded like a irritated, loud version of Bette Davis. And Lavinia's father's voice was so morose! He sounded like an evil person with a vampire voice, even though he was supposed to be the vicar and the object of an earl's daughter's love??? Come on! Who would fall in love with a man with that voice?? And the Earl of Hawksbury's voice was just SO very condescending and he never varied his voice, even when he finally declared his love for Lavinia! Ugh! I don't care if the narrator is supposed to be an actress, she is NOT a narrator, and I refuse to listen to any more books she narrates. I read some reviews on the "Goodreads" website, and I actually agree with the review given by Anne. This book should have been called "The Annoying Miss Ellison".

Sweet, bit cheesy and preachy

Chaste romance about a preachers daughter and the arrogant Earle. I enjoyed the story, although I could have done without the religious rhetoric and the narrator’s attempts at the voices of the secondary characters.

I found myself zoning out

The main character Lavinia is preachy, judgmental and annoying. The Earl is a flat and boring one dimensional character who me the audience did not fall in love with. The narrator is talented, however she sounds like she is 13 years old and doesn't fit the book at all.

Redemption and Forgiveness

This is a great story of love, redemption, and both God's forgiveness and man's forgiveness.