A Woman of Proper Accomplishments eBook JA Beard
Download As PDF : A Woman of Proper Accomplishments eBook JA Beard 
Helena Preston, the eldest daughter of a Bedfordshire gentleman, would rather risk spinsterhood than marry a man unwilling to accept her for who she is, much to the consternation of her mother and sister. She feels marrying an ugly or poor husband would be a mere inconvenience; marrying an irritable fool would be a genuine tragedy. Intrigued more with books and scholarship than finding a husband, the young woman has yet to attract any interest from eligible bachelors.
Joseph Morgan is a scholar who studies spiritus, the rare ability to imbue life into objects. With his arrival, Helena finds herself in the delightful position of having the attention of a handsome, educated gentleman of status, but she begins to worry Mr. Morgan is more interested in seduction than marriage. Soon after meeting the scholar, an unfortunate encounter with a sinister highwayman ends in rescue by the stoic and handsome Captain Thomas Southward.
As bothersome as juggling the attention of two potential suitors can be, Helena is still the target of a criminal. When evidence suggests her assailant is a wooden man created by spiritus, Mr. Morgan falls under suspicion. Unfortunately, she can think of no polite way to accuse a gentleman of sending a pile of animated wood to kill her.
A Woman of Proper Accomplishments eBook JA Beard
I must admit to having had some problems getting through the initial pages of this book. Helena Preston and her sister engaged in stilted conversation, there was some theorizing about the nature of female accomplishments, but at the end of the first chapter the author introduced to the novel concepts of Spiritus and soul breathers - inserting a huge portion of fantasy into what had, until then, seemed a rather lame book set in the early nineteenth century.After that, the story takes off. We are led to understand that the art of "soul breathing" (animating dead matter and having it do your will) caused the defeat of the American Revolution and is being used to battle Napoleon. Helena is an intellectually inclined young woman and when her father brings home an expert in the art of soul breathing, a Fellow of the Royal Society no less, Helena is quite smitten - both with Mr Morgan's attractive exterior and his obvious knowledge. But when Helena and her sister are attacked by a man made of wood - an inanimate object brought to life by a soul breather - Helena no longer knows quite what to make of Mr Morgan. To add further spice to the broth is the dashing Captain Southward, who saved Helena from her attacker.
Over the coming chapters the reader is taken on an amusing, exciting romp. Helena will discover what her accomplishments really are, the reader will vacillate - with Helena - over Mr Morgan versus Captain Southward, inexplicable attacks will occur again and in a very satisfying, final twist the hero and the villain will at last stand revealed, with Helena caught smack in the middle.
The book could have done with some more editing, and in general the dialogue is rather stilted - no doubt due to the author's attempt to convey the period the book is set in. But Helena sort of grows on you, and the story is such that it is quite impossible to put the book down after the halfway mark. All in all, quite the enjoyable read!
Product details
|
Tags : A Woman of Proper Accomplishments - Kindle edition by J.A. Beard. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading A Woman of Proper Accomplishments.,ebook,J.A. Beard,A Woman of Proper Accomplishments,Fiction Fantasy Historical,Fiction Romance Historical Regency
People also read other books :
- Razing Kayne Walking A Thin Blue Line Book 1 edition by Julieanne Reeves Romance eBooks
- Dark Grace The Grace Series Book 3 eBook M Lauryl Lewis
- Andrew Promise Heroes Book 2 edition by Nic Starr Literature Fiction eBooks
- Paper Trail Arlene Brathwaite 9780979746239 Books
- ffpt food for parental thought Susan Brandenburg 9781105661860 Books
A Woman of Proper Accomplishments eBook JA Beard Reviews
Free book for review. A book about a woman who loves reading and learning. That proves even a woman of accomplishments can find a man to love. A good read.
I really enjoyed reading A Woman of Proper Accomplishments with it's unique characters
and style of writing and look forward to future books from this author.
This was a nice, light read, though there are a good number of minor editing mistakes - leaving out words, adding extra letters, etc.
Altogether an excellent regency tale with a unique and unexpected fantasy element that fits into the book well without overwhelming the regency elements. The title coupled with the book blurb description had me worried that the story might lean a little toward the erotic side what with the innocent maiden suddenly besought with the "romantic" attentions of not one, but two (gasp!)men, one of them a handsome man with a reputation as a rake (!) whom the innocent maiden comes to think of as being more bent on her seduction than proper relations. I was glad to see this was not the case. It is a regency romance, but kissing is as far as the physical romance goes. I'm not sure if this is to be a series or not, but if it is not a series the mystery part of the story was not adequately wrapped up to my liking. The romance part was definitely more the focus of the story. And, for romance aficionados, it is very much Regency romance, where there is much ado about what is proper and appropriate and what gentlemen's intentions are, and making a suitable match versus marrying for love. I prefer more historical fiction-mystery than romance, but for true regency dialogue and characters, you can't beat this for a good read.
There were a lot of editing errors though - small things, like using "not" where "now" should have been used, using "her... and... her" where it should have been "he... and... her", not really many spelling errors, but just missing or incorrect pronouns, or missing "if's" (ex. Even he had known...) These errors are more prevalent in certain sections of the book than others. Particularly around 80-95% of the edition.
A great book. Very interesting and flows well. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a good fantasy read.
I love Georgette Heyer and Regency romances. Add in a dash of paranormal, a zip of spiritus, and I'm a happy girl! The writing was a little stiff for me, and sometimes the dialogue went on a little longer than usual, but I loved the characters--Helena is awesome! The hero is fun--and toss in some new, unexpected surprises, and this was a quick, fun read. Glad I tried it.
I must admit to having had some problems getting through the initial pages of this book. Helena Preston and her sister engaged in stilted conversation, there was some theorizing about the nature of female accomplishments, but at the end of the first chapter the author introduced to the novel concepts of Spiritus and soul breathers - inserting a huge portion of fantasy into what had, until then, seemed a rather lame book set in the early nineteenth century.
After that, the story takes off. We are led to understand that the art of "soul breathing" (animating dead matter and having it do your will) caused the defeat of the American Revolution and is being used to battle Napoleon. Helena is an intellectually inclined young woman and when her father brings home an expert in the art of soul breathing, a Fellow of the Royal Society no less, Helena is quite smitten - both with Mr Morgan's attractive exterior and his obvious knowledge. But when Helena and her sister are attacked by a man made of wood - an inanimate object brought to life by a soul breather - Helena no longer knows quite what to make of Mr Morgan. To add further spice to the broth is the dashing Captain Southward, who saved Helena from her attacker.
Over the coming chapters the reader is taken on an amusing, exciting romp. Helena will discover what her accomplishments really are, the reader will vacillate - with Helena - over Mr Morgan versus Captain Southward, inexplicable attacks will occur again and in a very satisfying, final twist the hero and the villain will at last stand revealed, with Helena caught smack in the middle.
The book could have done with some more editing, and in general the dialogue is rather stilted - no doubt due to the author's attempt to convey the period the book is set in. But Helena sort of grows on you, and the story is such that it is quite impossible to put the book down after the halfway mark. All in all, quite the enjoyable read!
0 Response to "⇒ [PDF] Free A Woman of Proper Accomplishments eBook JA Beard"
Post a Comment