The Nature of a Lady by Roseanna M White Review

Good Morning Friends :)

How have you all been doing?

Can I be honest and say that things have been a little rough lately? I find myself still struggling to let go and let God with everything that's been going on with my life lately, and all the extra stress over COVID 19 is definitely not helping. 

Yesterday our province announced further restrictions, and we are now no longer able to visit anyone outside of our own household. I can honestly handle any of the other restrictions, but I really struggle when I'm not able to visit my family. It's sometimes really hard to stay encouraged with the current state of our world, but I'm trying my best. 

I'm trying as much as possible to prioritize time with Jesus, and He's been showcasing to me a lot of things that I needed to change within my heart and my life. 

One of those things (as you'll know if you've been reading my blog recently) was that I needed to do a much closer examination of the type of medias I was allowing myself to consume. It's incredible scary and disheartening to see the type of lies that the enemy is putting into everyone's mind through entertainment, and I've had to take a good hard look at what I was reading, watching and listening to, and choose much stricter boundaries. Sometimes this even meant giving up listening to, watching or reading favorites of mine.

While it's definitely been challenging some days, it's also been a blessing in that I've had much more time to read Christian and clean reads authors who I'd never had the chance to do so before. Last week I finally got to read my first book by Roseanna M. White, and I can't believe it took me this long to give this lady's amazing books a try!

The Nature of a Lady by Roseanna M. White:

Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Bethany House

Publication Date: May 4th, 2021

Genre: Christian Fiction/Historical Fiction

Series: The Secrets of the Isles

Synopsis:

1906
Lady Elizabeth "Libby" Sinclair, with her love of microscopes and nature, isn't favored in society. She flees to the beautiful Isles of Scilly for the summer and stumbles into the dangerous secrets left behind by her holiday cottage's former occupant, also named Elizabeth, who mysteriously vanished.

Oliver Tremayne--gentleman and clergyman--is determined to discover what happened to his sister, and he's happy to accept the help of the girl now living in what should have been Beth's summer cottage . . . especially when he realizes it's the curious young lady he met briefly two years ago, who shares his love of botany and biology. But the hunt for his sister involves far more than nature walks, and he can't quite believe all the secrets Beth had been keeping from him.

As Libby and Oliver work together, they find ancient legends, pirate wrecks, betrayal, and the most mysterious phenomenon of all: love.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

The first thing that came to my mind after finishing Roseanna M. White's The Nature of a Lady was that I was so glad that this is going to be a series. I was nowhere near ready to say goodbye to these characters by the end of the story, and I'm only sorry that it's taken me this long to finally pick up a novel by this extremely talented storyteller.

Roseanna's newest release is set on the Isles of Scilly in 1906, and the atmosphere is beautifully described and built up to almost be a character in its own right. We follow the plight of Lady Elizabeth Sinclair, who struggles to meet the expectations that her family and society have of her, and instead is more comfortable being known as Libby and studying the earth and all of its secrets around her. When her and her lady's maid Mabena vacation on the Isles of Scilly for the summer, a case of mistaken identity causes a whirlwind of events to come their way that neither could have ever been prepared for. Lost treasure, budding romance and historical legends and stories all become a vibrant part of this beautiful story as Libby must learn how to come to terms with who God desires her to be, and attempt to follow the longings of her heart, despite her family's opinions on the matter.

Libby and Oliver's relationship is probably one of the sweetest romances I've ever read, and I loved each and every second of it. Oliver's character adds so much extra dimension to the story, and I love how his faith journey is tied up in needing to learn to truly love his enemies and trust what God is telling him to do. Libby is such an inspirational leading lady, and I found myself rooting for her right from the very first few pages. And as if the main characters themselves weren't enough, the cast of secondary characters all soon endeared themselves to me, and I'm looking forward to reading more about each and every one of them in the books to come. 

I truly think this one has something for everyone, and I loved how deeply the faith element is wound throughout the entire story, and each character's individual journey. Roseanna M. White has hit it out of the ballpark with this beautiful historical romance, and I can't wait to see where she chooses to take the story in the upcoming books in the series. Part adventure novel, part Christian romance and part tales of pirates and legends, The Nature of a Lady is unlike anything I've ever read before, and I highly recommend checking it out.

Final Rating: 5/5.

Thanks so much to Bethany House for allowing me to advance read and review this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. I was not required to give a positive review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks so much for reading guys! I pray you'll all have a great day, and let me know if there's anything you're going through that you'd like for me to pray about.

May the Lord work in amazing ways in all of your lives this week. :)