Beneath His Silence by Hannah Linder

 

Book description:

Will Seeking Justice Lead to Her Own Demise?

A Gothic-Style Regency Romance from a Promising Young Author

Second daughter of a baron—and a little on the mischievous side—Ella Pemberton is no governess. But the pretense is a necessity if she ever wishes to get inside of Wyckhorn Manor and attain the truth. Exposing the man who killed her sister is all that matters.

Lord Sedgewick knows there’s blood on his hands. Lies have been conceived, then more lies, but the price of truth would be too great. All he has left now is his son—and his hatred. Yet as the charming governess invades his home, his safe cocoon of bitterness begins to tear away.

Could Ella, despite the lingering questions of his guilt, fall in love with such a man? Or is she falling prey to him—just as her dead sister?

My review:
  This was one of those books that I thought sounded good, and then wondered about when it came. It got lost in the shuffle of Christmas reads and I got an email reminding me I needed to post a review.

 The book was different. I have come to discover anything that has the description of "Gothic" attached to it is usually different. In this case, different turned out to be a good thing.

 I really liked the characters. The quiet, mysterious, and misunderstood Lord Sedgewick (Henry)......and Ella, trying to find out the truth about her sister while going undercover as a governess to her own nephew, Peter. Peter was also a great character, a very likable and mostly well behaved little boy.

 The author does a great job of spinning the story around the main characters while keeping Ella and the reader in the dark about what happened to Henry's wife/Ella's sister. You get the idea early on that whatever happened was not intentional on his part, which helps the reader like him all the more, but you remain clueless for most of the book as to what really happened.

 It is a suspenseful story full of mystery, but not one of those fast pulse pounding reads with non stop action that has you turning the pages as fast as you can read, but it is more of a slow paced mystery with every day life going on as Ella does her best to quietly uncover the truth of what happened to her sister.

 There is more action and suspense towards the end of the book as another character becomes more involved in the story, and the book did get more interesting and hard to put down as the end of the book became closer.

 Overall, this was a great and interesting read with enough suspense and mystery to appeal to lovers of that genre', and it had a great ending. It would appear this is the author's first published novel, and I definitely liked it enough to read what she writes next.

I was provided a copy of this book for review purposes. All opinions in this review are my own.

About the author:

HANNAH LINDER resides in the beautiful mountains of central West Virginia. Represented by Books & Such, she writes Regency romantic suspense novels. She is a double 2021 Selah Award winner, a 2022 Selah Award winner, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). 

Hannah is a Graphic Design Associates Degree graduate who specializes in professional book cover design. She designs for both traditional publishing houses and individual authors, including New York Times, USA Today, and International bestsellers. She is also a local photographer and a self-portrait photographer. 

When Hannah is not writing, she enjoys playing her instruments—piano, guitar, and ukulele—songwriting, painting still life, walking in the rain, and sitting on the front porch of her 1800s farmhouse. To follow her journey, visit hannahlinderbooks.com. 

Beneath His Silence is available from Barbour Publishing.

Thanks to Barbour for the review copy.