In the Shadow of Croft Towers by Abigail Wilson

In the Shadow of Croft Towers by Abigail Wilson ISBN-13: 9780785223665 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Thomas Nelson Released: Jan. 15, 2019

Source: ARC review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Sybil Delafield jumps at the opportunity for a position at Croft Towers because she believes someone there knows who her parents are. She's hired to act as companion to a dying woman, but a highway robbery and her errands to secretly deliver letters at a nearby town cause her to wonder if she was actually hired to help someone spy for France.

An unsolved murder adds mystery to this already secretive family, and Sybil recognizes Mrs. Chalcroft’s handsome godson as one of the infamous highwaymen who robbed her. Sybil must determine if this man's earnest eyes speak the truth or if he is simply using her like others in the house. Everyone seems to have something to hide, and Sybil must decide who to trust while also coming to terms with the truth about her own past.


My Review:
In the Shadow of Croft Towers is a romance set in 1813 in England. Sybil is not the brightest bulb in the pack. It takes her a while to realize that anything suspicious is going on, and even then she obediently does as she's told rather than investigate. Her employer's dashing godson is a highwayman who robbed her, but she agrees to keep his secret. He has wonderful timing when it comes to rescuing her as she gets into all sorts of scrapes. She does help rescue him once or twice, but she really needs his constant watch to stay alive. He sees all these wonderful qualities in her before she has ever demonstrated them, but she did start to live up to his ideal of her as time passed.

The mystery had so many twists and turns that even when it was completely explained at the end, it only worked because Mrs. Chalcroft wasn't really in her right mind and so wasn't making rational decisions. The author also used some very odd word choices which slowed the reading as I tried to figure out what she really meant to say. Still, I enjoyed the characters and guessing what was going on despite the many twists. The historical details were mostly about the war with Napoleon and his spies in England.

Though from a Christian publisher, there was no noticeable Christian content. There was no sex or bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel, but I hope the final copy has those odd word choices fixed.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.