On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club - The Test of Gold by Renee Yancy #BookReview #HistoricalRomance @YancyRenee @maryanneyarde

 

I really enjoying taking part in virtual blog tours with The Coffee Pot Book Club as they have introduce me, and therefore you, to some fabulous books. Please give a warm welcome to historical romance author, Renne Yancy.

Raised in the shadow of a mother who defied convention, but won’t allow her own daughter the right to make the same choices, heiress Evangeline Lindenmayer has been groomed since childhood to marry into the British aristocracy. 

When Lindy challenges her mother’s long-laid plans by falling in love with a poor seminary student, the explosion is bigger than the Brooklyn Bridge fireworks on Independence Day.

My Review 

The Test of Gold starts as many historical romances do that are set during this era. There is a young debutante who is about to make her first appearance in fashionable society, and a mother who is determined to find a man worthy of her daughter's hand—a duke preferably. The debutante comes with a very large dowery—thanks to her father's successful business ventures, and so she is sure to be snapped up by one of the British aristocrats, for everyone knows their large estates take a fortune to maintain. No expense shall be spared. They must go to Paris for the dresses, then London for the balls. Many of American's wealthiest families were taking there daughter to London for a season— why should the Lindenmayer's be any different?

Oh my goodness, this novel made me so incredibly angry at times—not because of the writing, but because of that obnoxious creature the author has created— Vera Lindenmayer. Poor, poor, Lindy. How could anyone not feel sorry for her for having such an awful mother? Vera is selfish, manipulative and downright cruel. At times this cruelty did overshadow the romance, for it is extreme and seemingly unstoppable. How I loathed that woman.

Lindy, on the other hand, was a character that one could not help but adore, and I was really hoping that she would find her happy-ever-after with Jack—who is considered a totally unsuitable match because of his social standing and the fact that he is not English, and nor is he a duke!

This is a novel where love triumphs over many obstacles,  but at times, it is a very dark and disturbing read. Lindy must walk through Hell before she can break free and chose her own destiny.

This is the kind of novel that one simply cannot put down and walk away from. In fact, I stayed up to the early hours to finish it. This book is undoubtedly one that would appeal to those who enjoy carefully crafted and tender historical romances, which also has a sinister edge to it.

Buy this Book

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Renee Yancy

Renee Yancy is a history and archaeology nut who writes the kind of historical fiction she loves to read – stories filled with historical detail that immerse you in another place and time. When she isn't writing historical fiction or traveling to see the places her characters have lived, she can be found in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband and two rescue mutts named Ellie and Charlie. 

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