A Bit of Heaven on Earth by Lauren Linwood-a review

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A Bit of Heaven on Earth by Lauren Linwood- a review

A Bit of Heaven on Earth

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 2, 2014

When Gavin of Ashgrove and his closest friend are captured in a fierce battle during the Hundred Years’ War, their captors demand a hefty ransom from their fathers for their return. Robert is quickly set free, but Gavin’s father refuses to pay for his son’s release, leaving him to rot in a squalid French prison. Aided by a sympathetic priest, he escapes and returns home to England, only to find he has been proclaimed a bastard and disinherited.

With nowhere to turn Gavin journeys to Kentwood, where he fostered as a boy, hoping Lord Aldred will take him on as a knight in his guard. The old warrior is close to death, but he soon realizes Gavin is his son. Aldred plots to have Gavin inherit Kentwood and marry his much younger wife, Elizabeth, a famed and opinionated beauty who remains a virgin after a decade of marriage.

Will the king recognize Lord Aldred’s first request of a marriage between Elizabeth and Robert, uniting Robert’s estate with Kentwood—or will the temperamental Edward reward Aldred’s years of service and honor a dying man’s final request?

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A Bit of Heaven on Earth is a historical romance fiction by Lauren Linwood. It’s an intricate story of life in that era for women and the trials they had of living life as property of men with no thought to their feelings. However, this is one of finding and attaining true love.

The heroine of this story is the lovely Elizabeth of Aldwyn, a young head-strong woman-child. She’s a bit of an untamed shrew. She’s had many suitors, but doesn’t like the thought of a man or marriage and spurns or embarrasses them until they leave. Her father is at his wits end to get her married and out of his hair. He drugs her and delivers her to be married to an older nobleman whose latest wife has died. She wakes to find herself away from home and must get married.

She becomes resolved, but finds that her husband Aldred of Kentwood. Her wedding night her new husband fails to be able to perform his marital duties, and gently tells her he’ll have the marriage annulled and she can return home. She strikes a bargain with him, she stays his wife and he teaches her to read and write, to keep account of Kentwood, and anything else she needs to know to be able to help him run the estate. He gets to keep his pride and she will take care of him to the end of his days. They actually learn to care for each other and all goes more than just well for over ten years.

The hero and love interest is Gavin of Ashgrove. Gavin is off fighting the French with his King’s son when his mother dies badly, When he finally escapes prison and returns home, he finds his mother dead, his father remarried and lets him know his mother confessed on her deathbed that he is not the son of the Lord of Ashgrove.
Not having a home he goes to the man who raised or fostered him and taught him everything he knows to ask for a place in his guard or help getting into the King’s guard. This man is Aldred of Kentwood.

Okay, that’s the really intricate setup. Getting to this point was a good part of the story and the details of how this was all accomplished is something that needs to be read to be felt and understood. It’s well written, with good dialogue and descriptive scenes. There is so much more involved than these two people, but for purpose of the review, I’d rather you got the privilege of reading Ms. Linwood’s words, not mine.

It’s a quick read, only a little over two hundred pages and well worth the time investment. A perfect read for a snowy winter’s day or evening. Suffice it to say the road to true love and happiness is twisty with many ups and downs to keep you turning pages.

Do yourself a favor and give this a read. It’ll curl your toes with sizzling heat and heartache as the lovers travel toward an HEA! Enjoy everyone, I truly did.

Copy supplied by author

Reviewed by Georgianna

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32 thoughts on “A Bit of Heaven on Earth by Lauren Linwood-a review”

    • Thanks Fran. There’s a lot of history about early Ottawa and other places that was fascinating. The things the poor women of that time had to do to just live! I liked the fact that these two were meant for each other from early childhood, but he was a little shy and unsure of his position. However Lauren works it out beautifully…

      • Oops, I got a little mixed us…while the historical part is true, women couldn’t own anything, it’s not about New France…and they didn’t know each other as children. This is a wonderful story of romance between two people who just belong together and the sparks fly from their first meeting.

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