Historical
Hellions of Halstead Hall - The Truth About Lord Stoneville
By Dottie
Jan 16, 2010 - 9:20:31 PM

Oliver Sharpe, the Marquess of Stoneville, has two brothers and two sisters.  At the age of sixteen, after being caught in a compromising position by his mother Prudence, Oliver heard her curse…something he had never heard her do and it was due to his actions.  She stated that Oliver was following his father’s example.  His father was a known womanizer, who had been an impoverished marquess when he married Prudence for her money.  Blaming her husband for Oliver’s behavior, she went looking for him.  She had forbid Oliver to follow her.  At the hunting lodge that night, Prudence shot her husband and then turned the gun on herself.  Oliver was never the same.  Nineteen years later, the scandal is still alive.  His grandmother, the head of Plumtree Brewery, is tired of hearing her grandchildren referred to as the Hellions of Halstead Hall, due to their antics.  Each of the grandchildren has a vice; Oliver’s is drinking and wenching.  Their grandmother has a plan to get them to change their ways.

Maria Butterfield is an American and the daughter of the owner of New Bedford Ships.  Her father arranged a betrothal between Maria and Nathan Hale, one of his workers.  Nathan sailed to England on a business trip, but he has been gone for months without sending any letters home.  Her father has died, leaving a will, in which half of the business goes to Maria and half to Nathan.  The solicitors cannot do anything about the business until Nathan returns from England.  So Maria and her cousin Freddy, who constantly carries a sword with him for their protection, set sail for England to find Nathan. 

Oliver’s grandmother, Hetty Plumtree, had been proud that her daughter married a marquess.  She is determined that her grandchildren will be aristocrats.  Hetty calls the grandchildren together for a meeting at Halstead Hall, the family estate.  She tells them that she will continue supporting them for the next year.  After that time, if they are not married, she will no longer support them.  They can live with Oliver, who is barely making the estate pay for itself.  However, Oliver has a plan to stop his grandmother.  He has decided to choose a fiancée, whom his grandmother will not accept, figuring that will get her to cancel her plans.  So he goes to a brothel to find a pretend fiancée.

Maria and Freddy have not found any clues to Nathan’s whereabouts, but they see a man carrying the case Maria had made for Nathan.  They follow him to a brothel.  Then Freddy follows the man to a room and confiscates the case.  However, the man sees him and raises an alarm.  Maria comes to the rescue with Freddie’s sword, as Oliver apprehends Freddy.  Maria threatens to cut Oliver if he does not release Freddy.  Fascinated with her, Oliver makes her an offer; he will let them go free if she will go to Halstead Hall with him and pretend to be his fiancée until his grandmother calls off her scheme.    He will also help her find Nathan.  Will Hetty fall for his scheme?  Will his plan work or will it backfire?

Wickedly witty and deliciously sensual, THE TRUTH ABOUT LORD STONEVILLE, the debut novel in author extraordinaire Sabrina Jeffries’ new HELLIONS OF HALSTEAD HALL series, is one you will remember long after the last page is read and the book is closed.  Though Oliver is fighting the notion of marriage, he is unable to fight the desire he feels for Maria, who is engaged to someone else.  Maria knows she should not allow Oliver to kiss her, but his kisses stir her in a way that Nathan’s kisses never did.  I really enjoyed Minerva’s names for the characters in her Gothic novels. Chock-full of wit, well-drawn, charismatic characters, an alluring plot, deception, scorching hot love scenes, romance and imagination, this story will keep you up reading until the very end of the book.  I absolutely loved this story and I cannot wait for the next book in this series.  As I anxiously await the next novel, be sure to grab your own copy of THE TRUTH ABOUT LORD STONEVILLE.  You will not regret it!