Blackmoore by Julianne Donaldson

Synopsis: Kate Worthington knows her heart and she knows she will never marry. Her plan is to travel to India instead—if only to find peace for her restless spirit and to escape the family she abhors. But Kate’s meddlesome mother has other plans. She makes a bargain with Kate: India, yes, but only after Kate has secured—and rejected—three marriage proposals.

Kate journeys to the stately manor of Blackmoore determined to fulfill her end of the bargain and enlists the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield. But when it comes to matters of love, bargains are meaningless and plans are changeable. There on the wild lands of Blackmoore, Kate must face the truth that has kept her heart captive. Will the proposal she is determined to reject actually be the one thing that will set her heart free?

Review: There are different types of historical romances: those that bring new ideas and take us away with their originality and those that follow a pattern that has been seen several times and, even if we spend a good time with them, it’s nothing more. You are probably wondering in which category Blackmoore ends up? Well I’ll tell you right now, although the theme is already included in many stories, the author has managed to bring her personal touch that can carry us through the chapters.

We discover Kate, a young girl living in a difficult environment with a family that is not necessarily very healthy. Her mother only thinks about marrying her while courting everywhere, as well as her sisters. It is not something simple to grow up in an environment without love, seeing her parents indifferent to each other and the manipulation of each for an opulent future. But Kate is not like that and she hates all these machinations… Her dream is something simple: to never marry and to go to India with her aunt to finally be released from her gilded cage. Yet this seems almost impossible. In addition, this year she finally has the chance to accompany her childhood friends Sylvia and Henry to Blackmoore, it remains her dream to visit it since childhood. Yet, these dreams are within reach but her mother agrees only for a very delicate condition. Kate must receive three marriage proposals during this stay and refuse them, to be able to go in India, otherwise she will have to submit to her mother without questions and accept her fate without objections.

Thus we follow Kate Blackmoore in her little quest, something that is not simple, especially given her very strong feelings for Henry. But he, himself, is linked to a beautiful young woman since childhood and nothing can therefore be possible between them. Yet something very strong binds them both together and it’s very hard to see that their relationship seems impossible to evolve. While Kate is changing in this house, trying to find all the hiding places, she’ll make a pact with the young man who could burn her wings. This is also where she will understand that her gilded cage will be very hard to break and it may well wither and capitulate to her mother.

We also discover in the story what Kate has endured since childhood and we can only admire her strength and to be sad to see all that she had to face to become the person she is now. But also all her hopes buried in herself, thinking that she couldn’t achieve them one day. The novel is not necessarily as easy if we consider some parts of the story and I admit that I cried several times. Okay, maybe it was the fatigue because I could not put the book down until finishing it and it was already very late. But it is true that Kate’s story really touched me and I could not hold my tears because of what she suffered.

So yes, I had a great time with this story and it’s been awhile since I had not been so carried away by a historical romance. I did not know the author, but I really want to find out more about her now. A very good book to discover.