Lady of a Thousand Treasures by Sandra Byrd Blog Tour with Personal Review and Giveaway!
Lady of a Thousand Treasures by Sandra Byrd
Publication Date: October 9, 2018
Tyndale House Publishers
Hardcover, Paperback, & eBook; 480 Pages
Series: The Victorian Ladies Series, #1
Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance
Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.
The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry—the man who broke Eleanor’s heart.
Eleanor distrusts the baron’s motives and her own ability to be unbiased regarding Harry’s future. Harry claims to still love her and Eleanor yearns to believe him, but his mysterious comments and actions fuel her doubts. When she learns an Italian beauty accompanied him on his return to England, her lingering hope for a future with Harry dims.
With the threat of debtor’s prison closing in, Eleanor knows that donating the baron’s collection would win her favor among potential clients, saving Sheffield Brothers. But the more time she spends with Harry, the more her faith in him grows. Might Harry be worthy of his inheritance, and her heart, after all? As pressures mount and time runs out, Eleanor must decide whom she can trust—who in her life is false or true, brass or gold—and what is meant to be treasured.
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Praise for Lady of a Thousand Treasures
"Sandra Byrd’s amazing cast of characters and Victorian settings pull the reader right into the story. I became happily lost in this compelling, lovely book." -Karen Harper, NYT bestselling author of The Royal Nanny
"Lady of a Thousand Treasures delivers mystery, romance, and suspense in a well-researched Victorian setting." -Julie Klassen, bestselling author
"I’m always swept away by a Sandra Byrd novel, and Lady of a Thousand Treasures will be long remembered as one of Sandra’s best." -Jane Kirkpatrick, NYT bestselling author of All She Left Behind
"Sandra Byrd is the rare writer whose evocative, prose grabs hold and doesn’t let go. The Victorian Ladies Series is off to a stunning start!" -Laura Frantz, author of The Lacemaker
"With stunning characters and impeccable research, Sandra Byrd has woven together an exquisite treasure hunt with an ending that will leave you breathless." -Melanie Dobson, award-winning author of Catching the Wind
"Sandra Byrd’s writing is an absolute piece of art! If I had to sum up this story all in one word, it would be satisfying." -Michelle Griep, award-winning author of the Once Upon a Dickens Christmas series
***MY PERSONAL REVIEW***
Well if you are familiar with my blog you know I am a HUGE fan of anything historical and historical fiction is probably my favorite genre. I absolutely adore this novel because it is so well researched and I love the background and I fell in love immediately with Eleanor. This is not just a story about history, but also a story about love - but not just romantic love, but about a love for treasures - as Eleanor's family has dealt in antiquities and treasures for many many years. Her father has just passed away at the beginning of the novel, and Eleanor is now in charge of the family business - and she is MORE than qualified to do so. I think I loved her so much because in Victorian times, ladies were not usually seen as being proficient in anything other than being pretty or being maids or governesses or trophy wives. So for Eleanor to be this amazing, interesting and highly intelligent young woman is something new. She is independent and she is in love. She had been engaged to a young man from another very wealthy family, but he had gone away and kept her at bay with letters that at the time she believed, but is now clearly becoming confusing for her. And to top it all off, his father has passed away as well and she is put in charge of the entire estate of antiquities, heirlooms and pretty much everything that Harry Lydney could possibly inherit. His entire future is in HER hands now, his father had entrusted the choice of whether he should inherit it all or whether it should be given to the museum. But now that Harry - or rather the new Lord Lydney - has returned, he is trying to make her believe he had to stay to help his ailing father and all the other excuses. But unfortunately for Harry, his father had left letters for Eleanor as well - and they do not match Harry's stories at all. I totally felt Eleanor's conflicting emotions as she knows that with her father gone and her uncle not doing well, she has to do something to save the family business - but she also knows that she cannot do it alone. Eleanor is an expert at spotting fakes amongst the gems, but it becomes clear from the very beginning that her expertise in artifacts does not extend to people. She has such strong feelings for Harry that comes across every second of the book, but she also is not stupid and the fact that she does not immediately choose in his favor shows her strength of character and independence. She was all set to marry him, but how can she do that now, knowing what she knows and especially being given this task? If she chooses him to inherit and marries him, it will look like she was greedy and would she ever know if he truly loved her; if she chooses for him to not inherit, will he marry her even if he does love her? It's a staggering decision for everyone involved, and it's one she cannot turn down even if she wants to. Because the truth she discovers is that Sheffield Brothers is in serious debt, and if she does not figure something out very soon, she could end up in the debtors prison.
This book had everything including loss, love, mystery and a convincing historical background that is reminiscent of some of my favorite classic authors. I did not expect to find the mysteries that came into the storyline regarding the Watchfield House, but it definitely made the novel so much better because it is just something else for Eleanor to figure out. In some ways I honestly feel bad for her because she is so put upon in every way - her father's death and her uncle's ill health; being saddled with ALL the responsibility for the business; being unmarried at her age; having to decide whether Harry is the man she wants him to be or if he is just a rogue; all of it is what makes this novel a page-turner for me. I can't imagine being in her position during the Victorian era. Along the way we also meet a lot of interesting secondary characters such as Mr Clarkson, who not only helps out at Sheffield Brothers and is very much aware of the difference between real and fake artifacts; the sweet housekeeper Orchie as Eleanor lovingly refers to her; Mrs Denholm, a friend of Eleanor's and someone she holds in high regard; Mr Denholm, who seems like he does not expect Eleanor to succeed in her endeavors; and of course Marguerite, a very good friend and confidante of Eleanor. They all play their roles in the novel, and they all help in some way to bring it all together. One theme that runs through the book that I love was the way the author weaved in alliterations such as "a murder of crows" or "a madness of marmots" to hint at society as a whole during that time. It is used in a joking manner, but I could clearly see the truth of it running deeper than that - in those times people were grouped together - you were either wealthy or poor and male or female, and you kept to your own. Stepping outside those groups was just not something you did in Victorian times. Somehow though Eleanor is able to do just that - she is able to break every stereotype of a Victorian woman and yet still BE that Victorian woman.
I am not going to give away any spoilers or the ending, but I must say that I love the way everything ended and I was impressed with the truth of so many things coming out at last. I am not a fan of cliffhangers, and this book did not disappoint me because everything was pretty neatly sewn up at the end. But you have to read it to find out if Lord Harry Lydney is truly the embodiment of Eleanor's dreams; was Baron Lydney all that Eleanor had thought?; and of course the big question - can Eleanor distinguish the human forgeries as well as she can distinguish the artifact forgeries? I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves historical fiction, but also to those who love art. Because I learned quite a bit about artifacts that I was unaware of from this book :) 5 stars!!!
About the Author
Bestselling author Sandra Byrd has published more than fifty books over her editing and writing career. Her traditionally published books include titles by Tyndale House Publishers, Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster, WaterBrook Press, a Penguin Random House imprint, and Bethany House. She’s also an independent author.
Sandra’s series of historically sound Gothic romances launched with the best-selling Mist of Midnight, which earned a coveted Editor’s Choice award from the Historical Novel Society. The second book, Bride of a Distant Isle, has been selected by Romantic Times as a Top Pick. The third in the series, A Lady in Disguise, published in 2017 and was named by the American Library Association’s Booklist as one of the Top Ten Inspirational Fiction books of the year.
Her contemporary adult fiction debut, Let Them Eat Cake, which was a Christy Award finalist, as was her first historical novel, To Die For: A Novel of Anne Boleyn. To Die For was also named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2011, and The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr was named a Library Journal Best Books Pick for 2012.
Please visit www.sandrabyrd.com to learn more or to invite Sandra to your book club via Skype. You can also connect with Sandra on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads.
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