Miss Whiting and the Seven Wards

Fairy Tale Trilogy #1

by Lynn Collum

For best friends Sara, Ella, and Rosamond, life thus far has been anything but a fairy tale. Left to grow up at Mrs. Parson's Academy for Girls, they have little to look forward to upon graduation—not even a Season in London! But, as each young lady is about to learn, Fate, for all her fickleness, is sometimes kind—and happy endings may be found in the most unexpected places...

Mirror, mirror, on the wall...

For Miss Sara Whiting, the only thing harder than parting ways with her two best school chums is returning to a loveless home. Although she is aware of her stepmother's money-grubbing ways, Sara never suspects that the lady would turn to violence. But after a suspicious assault, she awakens to find herself in a warm bed in a cozy cottage—rescued by seven young boys in need of a savior of their own...

...Who will be the first to fall?

War wounds have effectively retired Sir Evan Beaumont from his soldiering career, while his betrothed has jilted him in favor of a wealthy baron. To make matters worse, he owes a favor to the man who saved his life—namely to evict a widow and her children from his friend's property. But when Evan goes to investigate the tenants, he finds himself charmed by both the cottage and its inhabitants—particularly the lovely young woman whom he can't quite believe is the mother of seven strapping sons. The more time Evan spends with the lady, the more he suspects a secret...and the more he loses his heart...

Genres: Regency, Romance, Historical Romance, Regency Romance

Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

Reviews

[Louise Bergin]

This book takes the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs fairy tale and transports it to Regency England. The stepmother orders her henchman to kill the heroine, but of course he fails in his task. She ends up in a river and washes ashore downstream where seven orphaned boys find her.

They are living in a very nice cottage but their mother who had a life interest in the house has died. The boys fear being tossed out of their home. (The dad died years before the story begins.) Sara needs a place to hide until she can claim her fortune. Thus a bargain is struck.

The hero Sir Evan Beaumont is supposed to find out what is happening at this cottage. The owner is suspicious but doesn't know what is going on. Through many mishaps, Evan and Sara fall in love. The stepmother gets her comeuppance and everything ends as it should. A nice pleasing romance the reader will enjoy.

[Nancy]

Sara Whiting’s stepmother tried to have her killed so as to inherit her fortune. Sara survives the attack and is rescued by a group of seven young boys. The children, glad to see her awaken, plead with Sara to pretend to be their mother. Their mom has died, and as orphans, they fear the loss of their tenant cottage to the lord who owns the property. Sara, afraid for her life if she returns home, agrees to their scheme. All goes well until a handsome war hero shows up at their cottage door and takes an interest in their lives. Sir Evan has secrets of his own, but he won’t risk exposure when he’s losing his heart to the lovely widow.

[Phylisha Stone]

I really liked this story! A young woman whose is mistreated by her evil stepmother is kidnapped by her dumb minion, is taken to the country and thrown into a river. She is found washed up on the river bank by seven young boys whose mom was sick and had passed away. In order to keep there family together and avoid being sent to the poor house, the oldest son asked her to pretend to be their momma so they would not be separated. This was in my opinion a very good believeble story.

[Mellanie C]

This was a Regency riff on Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. I enjoyed it a lot, particularly because of the Regency setting.

[Donna Sellers]

This was a very good book.

[Kathleen]

An old favorite. Based (pretty obviously) off the Snow White and the Seven Dwarves fairytale, this probably wouldn't be five stars for anyone who doesn't have a hefty lot of nostalgia behind it as I do. But I do, and I do love it. I find the romance genuinely sweet, the villain cackling and unrealistic but fun, the heroine a total adorable darling, the hero equally a total adorable darling, and the revelation of plot-related Huge Secrets remarkably undramatic. The plot is silly and contrived, but when you consider that ninety percent of it came out of the head of a twelve-year-old boy everything becomes much, much more reasonable.

And generally, I just love it. Deal with it.

[Gmc]

A delightful tale with surprises abounding. One miss with a wicked step mother, the seven Ward boys whos mother has died. Missing servants, and a mystery or two.