MY REVIEW:
Sandra Byrd is a master at creating those mysterious and atmospheric gothic style novels that I love so much. I have missed novels similar to those by Mary Stewart and Victoria Holt that I once devoured and am thrilled to see a few Christian authors beginning to publish novels in this style. I have loved each and every one of Sandra Byrd’s previous series and if Lady of a Thousand Treasures is any indication, I will also love her Victorian Ladies series.
Lady of a Thousand Treasures held me spellbound from page one until the end. It was fun imagining what the different treasures looked like based on the author’s detailed descriptions of them but it was even more fun to actually see examples shared on her Pinterest board. This particular story is filled with enough mystery and romance to keep me involved and has plenty of twists and unexpected turns to satisfy the most particular reader. Characters are well-rounded and are quite easy to either love or hate but it is not always simple to decide where a couple of them stand.
This is a lovely, lovely book with beautiful prose and so many facts about art and history that most readers will not only be entertained but educated. And of course a subtle message of faith is deftly woven throughout. This author cannot write quickly enough for me but I will have to be patient and perhaps try to slow my reading speed. I look forward to the next book in this series.
I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by the author and Tyndale House Publishers. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.
The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry—the man who broke Eleanor’s heart.
Eleanor distrusts the baron’s motives and her own ability to be unbiased regarding Harry’s future. Harry claims to still love her and Eleanor yearns to believe him, but his mysterious comments and actions fuel her doubts. When she learns an Italian beauty accompanied him on his return to England, her lingering hope for a future with Harry dims.
With the threat of debtor’s prison closing in, Eleanor knows that donating the baron’s collection would win her favor among potential clients, saving Sheffield Brothers. But the more time she spends with Harry, the more her faith in him grows. Might Harry be worthy of his inheritance, and her heart, after all? As pressures mount and time runs out, Eleanor must decide whom she can trust—who in her life is false or true, brass or gold—and what is meant to be treasured.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
After earning her first rejection at the age of thirteen, bestselling author Sandra Byrd has now published fifty books.
Sandra’s delighted to kick off her new historical romance series with Tyndale House Publishers, Victorian Ladies, with Lady of a Thousand Treasures. The three-book Victorian Ladies series follows her historically sound Gothic romances, Daughters of Hampshire, launched with the bestselling Mist of Midnight, which earned a coveted Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society. The second book, Bride of a Distant Isle, has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. The third in the series, A Lady in Disguise, was published in 2017. Check out her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, which was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2011, and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012.
Sandra has published dozens of books for kids, tweens, and teens, including the bestselling The One Year Be-Tween You and God Devotions for Girls. She continued her work as a devotionalist, with The One Year Home and Garden Devotions, and The One Year Experiencing God’s Love Devotional.
Please visit www.sandrabyrd.com to learn more or to invite Sandra to your book club via Skype.
