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Phoebe and the Doctor: A Caversham-Haberdasher Crossover Book

(Caversham-Haberdasher Crossover #1)

Sandy Raven (Goodreads Author)

3.62 · Rating details · 34 ratings · 10 reviews

Harold Manners-Sutton was abducted and tossed onto an outbound naval ship headed to fight the Americans in 1812.

Now, four years later, Harry, brother of Amelia, Duchess of Caversham, has returned to England so he can finish his medical education so he could be a proper doctor. He’s had enough of war, and with his last surviving friend, Reggie, now settled in a safe offic Harold Manners-Sutton was abducted and tossed onto an outbound naval ship headed to fight the Americans in 1812.

Now, four years later, Harry, brother of Amelia, Duchess of Caversham, has returned to England so he can finish his medical education so he could be a proper doctor. He’s had enough of war, and with his last surviving friend, Reggie, now settled in a safe officer’s position supervising construction for the Royal Navy at Ireland Island, Harry is ready to go home. But he has one last thing to do before he can move on with his life—take the treasured belongings of a dead friend to the man’s two sisters, and make sure they are safe and happy. It was the final request that Wally asked of he and Reggie.

Phoebe Grenard has just learned that her cruel father sold her and her sister to a money-monger in order to pay his gambling debt when Harry and his friend walk into the dress shop that she and her cousin operate in a village near Newcastle. She plans to go to London to meet with this moneylender, a Mr. Donovan, to see the contract her father supposedly signed before he died, and offer Donovan terms if that contract was valid. Her brother’s friend, Harry, insists on taking her to London himself to see Donovan, saying he needed to protect her. Phoebe didn’t want to be in such close proximity to Harry because she found herself growing more and more attracted to him each day. Kissing him was a mistake, but one she couldn’t stop herself from doing. In his arms she felt safe and warm.

In London she learns of Harry’s connections to the most noble families in England, and it crushes her because she was not in his class. But it’s his aunt’s reaction to Phoebe’s dubious bloodlines that reinforce in Phoebe that there could never be a future for them—after all, her father was the bastard child of a passing Irish gypsy, and raised in a Presbyterian orphanage.

Harry admires Phoebe’s sense of honor, pride, and love for her only remaining family—a sister and a cousin. He also desires her unlike any woman he’s known before, and he wants to make her his wife. Phoebe fights the growing attraction to Harry because she will never be any man’s mistress, no matter that she’s falling in love with him a little more every day.

Donovan needs young women to work in his brothels, and he holds a contract that says Jack Grenard’s two daughters—Phoebe and her twelve year old sister Lydia—are to work off that debt in the event that Grenard cannot repay. But the moneylender doesn’t count on Phoebe and Lydia’s determination to remain free, nor Harry’s resolve to live up to his deceased friend’s last wishes to keep his sisters safe. And as to Wally’s desire that his friends see Phoebe and Lydia happily situated, Harry believes that keeping Phoebe happily situated means one thing—marriage to him. ...more

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Kindle Edition, 226 pages

Published July 30th 2017 by Sandy Raven, LLC

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Jul 27, 2017 Tracy Emro rated it really liked it

Shelves: for-review

This is the story of Harry Manners-Sutton and Phoebe Grenard. Its tie to the Caversham series is through Harry, his sister is Amelia, Duchess of Caversham (you can read Amelia’s story in the novella Miss Amelia Lands a Duke).

Phoebe has had a couple of rough years, her half-brother Wally was impressed into the Navy with four of his university friends just months before they were set to take their final exams. Five were taken, but only three survived. Just months before Wally was set to come home This is the story of Harry Manners-Sutton and Phoebe Grenard. Its tie to the Caversham series is through Harry, his sister is Amelia, Duchess of Caversham (you can read Amelia’s story in the novella Miss Amelia Lands a Duke).

Phoebe has had a couple of rough years, her half-brother Wally was impressed into the Navy with four of his university friends just months before they were set to take their final exams. Five were taken, but only three survived. Just months before Wally was set to come home he contracted Dunga Fever and died. In addition to this, her parents ran an inn in London, but when her mother died, her father packed up Phoebe and her younger sister Lydia (who hasn’t spoken a word since the night Wally was taken) and left them with their Aunt Frances and her cousin Francine aka Francie Walters. Just over a year later, her father died, followed by their Aunt a year after that! The girls have tried to continue the dress shop they had with their Aunt, but business is not doing well and the girls wonder how long they will be able to keep the shop going.

It doesn’t seem like things could get much worse for Phoebe, but they do! A very rough looking man comes looking for Phoebe and informs her that her father owed a huge debt to a moneylender by the name of Donovan and if that wasn’t bad enough, her father used his daughters as collateral for the loan and he has come to collect – either she pays the outrageous sum or she and her twelve year old sister will be sent to Donovan’s brothel to work off the debt. Furious, Phoebe threatens the man with a gun and tells him to leave. He does, but warns her not to leave and assures her he will be back.

Still shaken, Phoebe hands the gun to Francie, who promptly fires it when the door is reopened. Only she hasn’t shot Donovan’s man, she has shot a stranger. The strangers turn out to be Harry and his friend Reggie – Wally’s friends who were taken at the same time as Wally. They promised Wally on his deathbed that they would see to his sisters. Harry was attending school to be a doctor when he was taken and immediately takes charge. Francie shot Reggie in the arm and need to be attended.

Once Reggie has been taken care of Harry speaks to Phoebe and learns of her troubles. He vows to help her by taking her to London to sort things out with the moneylender. Harry has decided that he will pay the debt himself, but Phoebe insists on speaking with the man and trying to work out a “payment plan”.

They leave for London with Lydia, leaving Reggie behind to watch out for Francie. When they arrive, Phoebe is horrified to learn that Harry has ties to society and that his sister is a duchess, because over the course of a few days, she had begun to fall in love with Harry, but now believes that he is out of her reach. For his part, Harry is just as smitten with Phoebe, but wants to get the business with the moneylender taken care of before he declares his intentions.

When Phoebe learns that Harry met with Donovan without telling her, she is furious and hatches a plan. But as they say, the best laid plans………………………. And trust me, this was not a well thought out plan to begin with.

Can Harry save the woman he now realize he loves with all his heart? Will Lydia ever speak again? Will Phoebe ever be free of Donovan? And what about Reggie and Francie? To find out, you will have to read the book!

I liked the idea of the story, but the first half of the book seemed to drag and was repetitious. But once they reach London the story takes off like a rocket. It was lovely to see Cav and Amelia, but for this reader it was also bittersweet (if you have read the Caversham Chronicles, you will know what I mean), I loved Harry, Reggie and Francie, but I found Phoebe to be a bit too naïve and stubborn to be truly likable. I did admire her determination and her desire to save her sister, but she really should have thought things out better and ended up coming across as a pattern card, TSTL heroine. And while this book was not as steamy as the previous books, it was just right for this story. The ending was very satisfying and of course there is a HEA.

All in all, it was a good read and I would recommend it to followers of the series, but I wouldn’t consider this book a keeper.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an ARC provided to me by the author* ...more

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Jul 27, 2017 Barbara Rogers rated it liked it

Shelves: author-arc

Series: A Caversham-Haberdasher Crossover with Sue London
Publication Date: 7/30/17

I absolutely loved the book-blurb and premise of this story. I particularly loved that neither the hero nor heroine were titled. Then things went awry from there. I really, really, really wanted to like the heroine and believe in the love story, but I just couldn’t get there. Thus, I have given the book 3-stars because I did like the idea of the story.

I absolutely adored the hero, but couldn’t see what he saw in th Series: A Caversham-Haberdasher Crossover with Sue London
Publication Date: 7/30/17

I absolutely loved the book-blurb and premise of this story. I particularly loved that neither the hero nor heroine were titled. Then things went awry from there. I really, really, really wanted to like the heroine and believe in the love story, but I just couldn’t get there. Thus, I have given the book 3-stars because I did like the idea of the story.

I absolutely adored the hero, but couldn’t see what he saw in the heroine. Harry Manners-Sutton has ties to the aristocracy, but those ties were broken when his father married for love outside of his class. His sister is now a Duchess. Harry and three friends were abducted years ago to be conscripted into the Navy. That abduction happened just weeks away from his final testing to become a doctor. Harry is an honorable, caring, protective and gentle man – not to mention handsome.

Phoebe Grenard works with her cousin, Francie, who owns a dress shop in a small village. (NOTE: Francie is the heroine in the sister book by Sue London – Francie and the Bachelor). They do beautiful work but are losing their customers because they are two unmarried ladies running a business since Phoebe’s aunt passed away. Phoebe also has the care of her younger sister, Lydia, who has been mute since their brother was abducted along with Harry and another friend.

Harry and Reggie, another abductee friend and the hero in the sister book, arrive at the dress shop/home of Phoebe, Francie, and Lydia only to have Francie shoot Reggie in the shoulder. It is a case of mistaken identity because just minutes before Harry and Reggie arrived at the shop, the ladies had been visited by three thugs sent by a nasty money-lender to collect on her deceased father’s debt. According to the thugs, Phoebe’s low life father had basically sold Phoebe and her sister to the money-lender in payment of a debt. The money-lender intended to put them to work in his brothel. The story continues from there, to London and on to the HEA.

There is a nice Epilogue -- and I do so love Epilogues.

So, what were my problems with this book since I loved the idea of the story as well as the hero? Well, mostly it was the heroine, but it was also some of the accepted assumptions.
1. Phoebe just seemed to be one of those heroines that were just too stupid to live. Why do I think that?
a. Well, three huge, scarred thugs bent on her delivery to a brothel showed up at her door and while she said she was upset by it, she never actually seemed upset by it. Nothing she did seemed to imply upset other than her saying it.
b. She believed she could march into the moneylender's office and negotiate with him for repayment of her father’s debt. And, she actually acted upon that belief – we all saw that one coming. I’m sorry, but even the most sheltered and naïve individual, even in that time period would NOT believe that a brutish, brothel-owning, money-lender would be someone you could just politely call upon and ask to negotiate the terms of a loan. Since Phoebe had lived in London much of her life and had been exposed to her father and his schemes and acquaintances there is no way she could have pictured him as being so benign. So, as I said – just too stupid to live given the things she does.
c. She constantly makes assumptions and never checks or verifies anything. Just recklessly takes off on her own.
2. The main plot just isn’t believable – even for that time in history. Yet – all of the characters supposedly believed it and bought into it.
a. In that time period, you could not sell a human in England. Yes, slavery was alive and well in America, but was not legal in England and that is what this would have been. It was either slavery or indenture and neither was legal in England at the time. She could have been sent to the poor house, but NOT into a life of prostitution – at least not legally.
b. Donovan, the money-lender, felt he could win in the courts and everybody gave credence to that. Just not believable that he would win the two girls and the right to force them into prostitution from the court.
3. The author could have made this work by using a different threat, etc. I also feel she hadn’t done enough research and didn’t have a real understanding of the time period, the laws, etc.

In my opinion, the book would have been better as a novella. It just took too long to say a simple thing. I had no trouble at all putting the book down from time-to-time. I was sad that I didn’t enjoy the book more than I did because I had such high hopes for it. Hopefully, the sister book will be better.

"I requested and received this book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author.” ...more

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Feb 14, 2018 Sieravonne rated it did not like it

Shelves: sandy-raven, 0-i-find-it-daft, 0-did-not-like-it, 0-i-got-bored, 0-inconsistent

1. I got bored with the second half.

2. There were a lot of inconsistencies

A. At the first, it was narrated that Phoebe was 5 years older than Lydia but at the later part, it was related that Phoebe was 19 years old while Lydia was 12. Either the author and the editor (if the author has one) forgot about that or they're just not good in numbers.

B. In this story, Amelia, Harry's sister and the Duchess of Caversham, was pregnant with her second child, which was the fourth sibling of the Haldens. In

...more

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Jul 12, 2018 Luisa Distefano rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Phoebe e il dottore si presenta come un romanzo rosa con ambientazione storica, ha una struttura formale molto simile alla fiaba in cui i personaggi svolgono dei ruoli ben precisi, il tutto abbellito da una storia d’amore a lieto fine.

Phoebe, la protagonista, è una giovane fanciulla ingenua e determinata, che vuole essere indipendente nel 1816, cosa non semplice in quell’epoca:

…A Phoebe cominciava a sembrare ovvio che molti degli abitanti del posto non vedessero di buon occhio due giovani donne ...more

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Apr 13, 2020 Ilaria rated it it was amazing

Con la recensione di oggi andiamo nell'Inghilterra del 1816, e facciamo conoscenza con Phoebe, una giovane donna di quasi vent'anni, che lavora con la cugina in un piccolo negozio di sartoria.
Il suo passato è molto triste: perse la madre e il padre non era un "padre amorevole", la sorellina più piccola diventò muta quando il fratellastro più grande venne rapito… e poco tempo dopo morì.
Adesso vive con la sorella minore Lydia e la cugina Francine, cercando di sopravvivere con il loro piccolo lavor Con la recensione di oggi andiamo nell'Inghilterra del 1816, e facciamo conoscenza con Phoebe, una giovane donna di quasi vent'anni, che lavora con la cugina in un piccolo negozio di sartoria.
Il suo passato è molto triste: perse la madre e il padre non era un "padre amorevole", la sorellina più piccola diventò muta quando il fratellastro più grande venne rapito… e poco tempo dopo morì.
Adesso vive con la sorella minore Lydia e la cugina Francine, cercando di sopravvivere con il loro piccolo lavoro di sarte, ma la vita è molto dura.
A peggiorare la situazione è quando un giorno si presenta da loro un brutto ceffo che dice alla nostra protagonista che anni prima, quando viveva ancora con la sua famiglia a Londra, il padre aveva, come pegno di un debito, venduto le sue due figlie. Ora Donovan, il creditore, esigeva il suo compenso: le avrebbe mandate a lavorare in un bordello se non avessero pagato il debito enorme del padre in pochissimi giorni.
Lo stesso giorno un altro inaspettato evento, ma questo molto lieto. Due cari amici del fratellastro defunto, Harry e Reggie, entrano nel negozio per far visita alle due sorelle, per consegnare degli effetti personali del fratellastro Wally.
Dopo un primo incontro un po' "turbolento", i due uomini vengono messi al corrente della tragica situazione e insistono per aiutarle.
Così, Phoebe, Lydia e Harry partono per Londra, per chiedere di contrattare con Donovan e chiedere aiuto anche al cognato di Harry, questo all'insaputa della stessa Phoebe, poiché all'oscuro dell'identità dell'uomo che ha sposato la sorella di Harry.
Chi sarà mai?
Non siete curiosi di scoprirlo e di come si evolverà la vicenda?
Un romanzo molto intenso ed emozionante, che catapulta il lettore nell'Inghilterra di un tempo, con usi e costumi diversi da oggi.
Lo stile dell'autrice è perfetto per questo tipo di romanzo perché ricrea proprio il linguaggio dell'epoca, i modi, i comportamenti e l'ambientazione. Uno stile molto ricercato, ma ideale per la storia in questione.
La trama è interessante, abbastanza originale, crea curiosità e ci sono vari colpi di scena, soprattutto nel finale che non mi sarei mai aspettata.
I personaggi sono molto ben descritti, fisicamente e psicologicamente, si conoscono tutti molto in profondità.
Questo romanzo fa parte di una saga, ma potete leggerlo tranquillamente senza conoscere il resto della storia, ma una volta letto vorrete saperne di più, ve lo assicuro!
Anch'io voglio scoprire gli altri libri.
Grazie ancora alla traduttrice per avermelo fatto conoscere. ...more

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Jul 29, 2017 Patricia Wissore rated it liked it

I loved the premise of the book, but it just didn't deliver. Loved the hero, he was almost too good to be true. The heroine, however, lacked any type of common sense. She also seemed almost unemotional. The author wrote about her emotions, she just never showed any. My main issue with the book was that there was too much description of everything. The heroine's internal dialog, the hero's internal dialog, the description of their surroundings, their clothes, and everything. I will admit I had to ...more

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Jul 30, 2017 Anna Swedenmom rated it liked it

This is my mind categorized as a light summer read that makes no lasting impression. What a shock that was to me! This author is one of my favorites so I could not wait to dive into this story. Well, I was disappointed. From a heroine that made no sense and showed no real maturity with the circumstances as they unfolded to her non emotional responses. On the other side of the coin, I liked the hero, I enjoyed the secondary characters of the story. So if you just want a light read that is just th ...more

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May 11, 2018 Pontiki rated it it was ok

I wish I’d liked this better. I enjoyed Francie’s story, and I like Pheobe, Harry, Lydia, and the other characters. But, the writing was a mess, with tense issues, grammar, etc. It was problematic enough that it distracted me from the story.

It also seemed like Harry had to rely on the Duke a lot, and Phoebe was in love, then not, with a strange explanation she gives to Harry. Their love is clumsy, and abruptly written.

The other thing that didn’t work was the repetition of the dilemma Phoebe is ...more

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Jul 25, 2017 Maria Dariotis rated it it was amazing

This was an absolute pleasure to read, I loved Harold and Phoebe! Harold had been abducted to serve in the navy along with his friends, one of them was Phoebe's brother, who with his dying breath has asked Harold to take care of his sisters. The girls father had many gambling debts and to pay off his debts he sold the girls to a man-Donovan- to work in his brothels!
Harold fell in love with Phoebe and promised to help her. Being the stubborn person that she is Phoebe decided to speak with Donova ...more

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Feb 20, 2021 Margueritte rated it liked it · review of another edition

If it weren’t for the characters and being a different storyline I would have given it 2 stars. It needed to be edited better - a lot of repetitiveness in the couple’s thinking.

The a main part of the plot hinged on if it was legal to basically sell women into prostitution, and that wasn’t really answered.

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About Sandy Raven

Sandy Raven

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Sandy Raven has a husband who spoils her rotten, and kids that are just a hair’s breadth away from perfect. She’s addicted to House Hunters International and has never missed an episode, though she acknowledges that she could never live in most of those countries because the houses are just too small. She is also addicted to Starbucks’ Chai Latte, and never passes up an opportunity to have one.

San ...more