REVIEW: A Rogue in Winter by Grace Burrowes
Vicar Pietr Sorenson is preparing to endure–enjoy, rather–another solitary, frigid holiday season at the edge of the Yorkshire moors, when Miss Joy Danforth’s coach lurches to a halt across the village green. Joy and her brother have nowhere to wait out the impending bout of nasty weather, while the vicarage is even emptier than usual.
The lady is on her way to charm a titled nitwit into offering her marriage, lest her family face financial ruin. Pietr has accepted a prestigious post closer to civilization, though he hasn’t quite found a way to tell his congregation he’s leaving early in the New Year. Will Pietr and Joy steal some holiday comfort beneath the mistletoe, or find the love of a lifetime on a bleak mid-winter night?
Dear Ms. Burrowes,
Tis the season for holiday novellas and this year I decided to try “A Rogue in Winter.” The plot can be summed up as ‘beloved vicar of a small Yorkshire village and a society miss on her way to be proposed to by a titled git, fall in love when she and her wastrel brother get snowbound with said vicar.’
From the moment their coach rolls into town, Pietr Sorenson, knows he needs to step in. It’s what he does when he sees a need. The soused coachy and the even more soused young man clearly have no idea that the snow on the ground is about to be increased due to the storm looming over them and if they head on to the Bellingham family seat, they’re all going to be stranded on the moor and die.
Joy Danforth sees the truth of it and with her brother Hiram beginning to show signs of the ague, she makes the executive decision despite her brother’s protestations. He thinks that they simply must get to the Bellingham’s so that his sister can prostrate herself on the altar of family need by tying herself in holy matrimony to a rich petty tyrant. Note Hiram isn’t lifting a finger to try and right the ship himself but, along with papa and mama, is counting on Joy. My opinion of Hiram starts, and remains, low.
Thank goodness for them that Pietr is vicar of tiny Rothton as Pietr is the type to get things done. Over the next (roughly) fifty-six hours, Pietr and Joy begin to talk and play chess (she beats him in the first game and Pietr salvages some pride by bringing the next one to a draw). Hiram meanwhile continues his worthless lying around. Joy does some baking and watches how Pietr takes care of the entire village. The Powers That Be begin to worry that Pietr is going to leave them for bigger and better things.
“My heart is yours, ” Pietr said, regarding Joy with blue, blue eyes. “Will you have the rest of me as well? Please say yes.”
Pietr sat very tall on his horse, the chilly breeze riffling his hair. Hiram had fallen silent, while the coachy was dabbing at his eyes with his sleeve.
But that’s not why Pietr wants to leave and saving her family’s frittering around is looking less and less appealing to Joy. She knows that her ‘almost fiancé’ is a titled ass who enjoys looking down on people and that he selected her because she’s petite and he’ll look down on her, too. However even if she’s little, she’s fierce. When the men of the village draw Pietr into listening to them telling him how much the village appreciates and loves him, Pietr knows what he’s gotta do. When Joy realizes how miserable her life will be and that it probably won’t fix her family’s problems, she knows what she’s gotta do.
The foundation will be love.
What results is a delightful proposal and acceptance. There are some secondary characters who are obviously from earlier books but I managed just fine dropping in on this little village on the moors and am now even more determined to some day – Some Day! – get back and start to read these. In the meantime, this is a charming winter novella that features an intelligent woman who is the brains of her family and a caring man who (ignore the book title) cares about others and takes care of needs when he sees them. B+
~Jayne
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I think I have read and enjoyed more of Grace Burrowes’ books than any other author of historical fiction. Her plots are creative and the characters realistic. For a number of years, the regular price of her ebook titles was a bit lower than many of her writing peers, a gift to my pinched budget. I read this four years ago this month, this is a perfect time for a revisit. Thank you for the review.