The Lady's Maid by Dilly Court

Morning, everyone! Today I'm part of the Dilly Court's blog tour with TLC Book Tours. This tour actually features two of Court's books and I'm up this morning with The Lady's Maid.

Two girls born on the same day and set to live very different lives. Josephine, the daughter of a passionate affair between a young Romany and a man of means, has been adopted out to her father's family. After years of trying to conceive, her adopted mother decides this is a fortuitous way to welcome a child into their home but no one can ever know that Josephine is not her own. Kate's mother only admitted that she had no one else to turn to before she died giving birth. A mother fallen out with her family and a father dead in battle has left little Kate alone in the world. Luckily another nearby family had longed for their own child as well. Josephine and Kate grow up alongside one another as friends, but as they become older things begin to change.

I don't think I can really do the book justice with my synopsis but I think you get the gist. When I came to the book it was being promoted for fans of Downton. I'd agree and disagree. It's in no way similar to Downton really, beyond the fact that it's historical fiction, it's set in England, and it's a character driving drama. But for all those reasons it will definitely appeal to Downton fans. Throw in the fact that Dilly Court has created a story woven around a cast of very believable characters and that the book is a true page turner and you have a win for fans of drama/romance in a historical setting. (I hear The Best of Daughters, the other title on this tour is more Dowton-esque in a lot of ways.)

As characters, Kate is definitely the one you root for. Josephine is moody and flightly. She's also spoiled and used to getting her way. For these reasons she's not exactly nice to Kate even though she does go to great lengths for her. It's an odd relationship but in truth it's no different than a lot of young friendships (minus the whole, I've got money and wealth and land and you're a servant thing). And while the reader knows all along that the girls' heritage will somehow come into play in the story, it's more than a little bit of the driving force in the tale so I won't reveal anything along those lines :)

Rating: 4/5

Talk about a total change from yesterday's read, right? My eclectic reading taste can kind of make your head spin, but in all honesty I just really love a wide range of genres and a good story is a good story regardless of whether it's romance or horror, sci fi or mystery.

Dilly Court is published in the UK and her books are now available here in the States in e format, which is fortunate because I plan to read much more of her work in the future! You can read an excerpt of The Lady's Maid here.

For more stops on the tour, check out the official TLC tour page here.

For more on Dilly Court and her other titles, visit her website here.