Winter Inheritance

by Melinda Hammond

Governess Verity Shore longs for a little adventure, then Rafe Bannerman arrives to carry her off to Highclough and Verity discovers that life can be a little too exciting!
An estate the edge of the wild Yorkshire Moors, Highclough is Verity's inheritance, but she soon discovers that the land is coveted not only by her handsome cousin Luke but also by Rafe Bannerman and soon her very life is in danger…..

Melinda Hammond weaves a lively tale of intrigue and romance in the turbulent final years of the eighteenth century.
(First published by Robert Hale Ltd as The Highclough Lady)
This book is also available in THE FOUR REGENCY SEASONS, an anthology of historical romances by the award-winning Author Melinda Hammond

Genres: Romance

178 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 8, 2016

About the author

I write under the names of Melinda Hammond and Sarah Mallory.

I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember - many of them born of frustration when I was stuck in a classroom longing to be rescued! I love anything romantic, whether it is a grand opera or a beautiful painting. It doesn't necessarily have to be happy, as long as it is inspiring.

I was born in Bristol and grew up on Barton Hill, an area of small terraced houses built in the nineteenth century between the mills and the railway. I think my love of adventure stories is due to the fact that I grew up with three older brothers and lived in a street full of boys! My love of history and the English language was fostered at grammar school, where I soon discovered the delights of Georgian and Regency fiction, first of all with the works of Jane Austen and then Georgette Heyer.

I left school at sixteen to work in companies as varied as stockbrokers, marine engineers, biscuit manufacturers and even a quarrying company, but I never lost my love of history, and when I wasn't reading and researching the Georgian and Regency period I was writing stories about it.

When I was at home with my first child, I decided to try my hand at writing seriously, and my first historical novel, Fortune's Lady, was published by Robert Hale in 1980. I have now published more than twenty novels, over a dozen of them as Melinda Hammond, winning the Reviewers Choice award in 2005 from Singletitles.com for Dance for a Diamond and the Historical Novel Society's Editors Choice in 2006 for Gentlemen in Question. Writing as Sarah Mallory for Harlequin Mills & Boon, The Earl's Runaway Bride won a coveted CataNetwork Reviewers Choice award for 2010 and the RNA's RoNA Rose Award in 2012 and 2013.

For many years I lived in an old farmhouse on the edge of the Pennines in West Yorkshire, literally a stone's throw from open moorland. Now I live by the sea in the wild Highlands of Scotland. I love walking to think up my latest plot, or just to clear my head ready for another session of writing.

Reviews

[Elaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liked this story about Verity, once a governess but now has inherited Highclough. I found it easy to work out the plot - who the hero and the villain were. Was enjoyable reading. 3.5☆

[Sandra Hutchison]

If you like snowy moors and suspense and an engaging but annoyingly slow-on-the-uptake heroine, this is a good book for you.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was missing something. The plot, while not original, wasn't bad, but the execution of it left much to be desired. I felt like I was reading the outline of a story, not the actual final draft. There was almost no characterization, the dialogue was dry, and the MCs were not compelling at all. The ending was abrupt and there wasn't even a sweet epilogue that made me glad I trudged through the rest of it. I think this book would be much better if Ms. Hammond went back to it to flesh out the plot, dialogue, and characters. As it was, I was disappointed.

[MLL · Rating 2 out of 5]

The hero ended up with the biggest moron of a heroine ever. Every piece of evidence through the entire book pointed to the villain but the"heroine" ignored them all and accused the hero repeatedly. After the way she treated him he deserved better. While the villain who tried repeatedly to kill her, then abducted, drugged, and forced her into marriage with the intention of raping her in front of his friends as proof of consummation she decided didn't need any punishment. Ugh!

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an enjoyable tale of governess rescued in the nick of time from her role by an inheritance from her grandfather.

A slightly gothic tale, it was fun to follow Verity acclimatising to her new role (though I’m not fond of the building of the mills) getting to know her family and the house at Highclough. The tension with neighbour and trustee Rafe was fun too.

The gothic element was simple to work out but still fun to read.

[Barbara Jaques · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful escape!

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good fun read with a solid plot and engaging characters. My first Melinda Hammond novel and I am going to read more by this author.