** spoiler alert ** Bethany House publishes "Christian" books (as far as I can tell, this means no sex and a lot of shoehorned religious dilemmas), so I should have known better than to pick this book up in the first place. On the plus side, there was no spousal abuse between the hero and heroine (not the case in the last Bethany House book I read!). Also on the plus side, the Biltmore is very pretty and the author describes it well. She can write a decent sentence.

But whoo boy, this story was all over the place. Going with Bethany House's shoehorned religious dilemma theme, there was no hint that the main character in this one was religious until the plot told her to be - I guess to appease the publisher? In the early chapters, our heroine wants to be Mrs. Vanderbilt's lady's maid because her mother has trained her for the position and she's worked hard for it. By the end, she wants to be a lady's maid to better serve God through good works...or something.

The novel's biggest problem, though, was the introduction of the orphanage to the plot. It was a huge tone shift from all that came before it and involved one-dimensional Dickensian bad guys. I did think it funny that we can't have sex between married, consenting adults in the novel (our view of their wedding night cuts away after he takes his clothes off), but subplots where orphan girls are sold to the local brothel and children are brutally beaten pass muster. I guess I just somehow find child abuse and sexual slavery seedier and less Christian than healthy sexual relationships - in this case, in marriage, no less! - and it seems hypocritical to include one and not the other in a "non-explicit" novel. If anyone's looking for an author who does not include sex scenes in her novels, I'd recommend Lynn Kurland's books over any published by Bethany House.