false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177564820m/714569.jpg 714569 16 Also published as <u>The Secret Countess</u>. After the Russian revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian countess, has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination. Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties&#151;not to mention her instant attraction to Rupert, the handsome Earl of Westerholme. to make matters worse, Rupert appears to be falling for her as well. As their attraction grows stronger, Anna finds it more and more difficult to keep her most dearly held secrets from unraveling. And then there's the small matter of Rupert's beautiful and nasty fiancée. . . . 2225943 book 10 5 1981 A Countess Below Stairs total:1892|5:528|4:675|3:502|2:144|1:43| 1892 7177 3076 479 3 5 false false Sun Nov 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 12:32:46 -0700 2008 Sun Nov 02 21:01:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 4 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 14 11:39:16 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 14 11:46:09 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Wed Jul 23 13:55:27 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 06 15:50:20 -0700 2008
The good guys are always perfect, golden-hued flawless people who are gorgeous. The bad guys are usually horrible but never really truly evil. Everyo...more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon May 05 01:55:21 -0700 2008 Mon May 05 01:56:23 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Mar 20 08:42:01 -0700 2008 Thu Mar 20 08:44:02 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 2 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 14 22:01:55 -0700 2007 Sat Jul 14 22:42:45 -0700 2007 Eva Ibbotson before, apart from the more junior Which Week?, and I really enjoyed it.

It was quite slow to get into, and written quite formally, but being as it was set at the beginning of the 20th century, it was appropriate. The story itself is ...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Jan 31 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Jan 25 11:04:29 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 02 11:52:27 -0800 2009 shows you how they fell in love. Again, love the vocabulary the author uses in her novels, and also that it is a complete...more...]]> 5 1 false false Wed Feb 25 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 20:25:39 -0800 2009 Wed Mar 04 20:30:18 -0800 2009
I was a little disappointed by the last Ibbotson book I read (A Song For Summer), but this one was far better, and a return to A Company of Swans, which I adored.

It's a sweet, fun, fluffy book with a bit of a Cinderella feel to it....more...]]> 2 3 false false Mon Jan 12 06:48:16 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 06:54:05 -0800 2009
HOLY COMMAS, BATMAN!

The woman does not know how to write a normal sentence unless it's dialogue. She'd have these sentences with about 10 (no joke, I counted one) modifying phrases all contain...more...]]> 5 1 false false Sat May 03 23:05:37 -0700 2008 Sat May 03 23:05:51 -0700 2008
Anna Grazinsky is a member of the Russian aristocracy, or White Russians, during the Russian Revolution. Her family is forced to flee from their comfortable life in Russia to England, where they are safe from the revolutionaries. But in Englan...more...]]> 1 1 false false Wed Feb 06 13:08:41 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 13:31:22 -0800 2008
I felt like I was getting a lot of uneccissery information about every body. And n...more...]]> 5 1 false true Thu Apr 16 08:31:40 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 04 19:28:31 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 16 08:31:40 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri Apr 18 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 12 21:31:12 -0700 2008 Fri Apr 18 21:39:54 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Dec 04 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 03 07:09:41 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 04 15:03:38 -0800 2008 1
As usual, Ibbotson has created a set of unusual an...more...]]> 3 1 false false Wed Jun 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 19:59:06 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 03 21:39:04 -0700 2009
Muriel, the "ot...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Oct 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 14:15:15 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 14:19:02 -0700 2009 2
Anna is a young Russian countess who has fled to England from Russia with her mother and younger brother after the Russian Revolution. Needing to work...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Oct 24 17:34:53 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 24 18:06:22 -0700 2009 This is the second book I've read by Ibbotson, but her fist young adult one, the first being Journey to the River Sea. The reason I didn't like this book is its shallow characters and confusing sentences. The good guys are too good, annoyingly so. I found Rupert very annoying, and fa...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 10:25:42 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 10:26:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 1 false true Mon Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Jun 17 12:42:45 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 17 12:55:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false true Sat May 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 19:51:09 -0700 2009 Sat May 09 20:31:09 -0700 2009
However, although it was meant to be a light read, I felt it was made even a lighter read because I could not emotionally connect with the main characters, especially Anna!

This is probably because absolutely all the charac...more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=714569