Left on a Doorstep

Left on a Doorstep

The DuPree Dynasty, Book One

Beatrice H. Crew

Cryptic Quill Pub, Sep 10, 2021

193 pages, Historical Romantic Thriller

Provided by Author

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The cover is very busy and difficult to read the title, I feel. The white cursive lettering against the light details of the woman’s hair and parts of the mask make things all rather blend together. The darker letters of the other text over the flowers on the lower left are much easier to read and I feel that something more along that line would have been much easier to read. Or, perhaps, to use a less decorative font.

The plot of the book is wonderful and to think it was originally conceived by an eighteen-year-old girl is surprising. Though that may explain the feeling I had while I read this book. I’m not even sure I can explain what I mean. It isn’t a bad thing. It simply is. Others may notice it. There is a feeling of simplicity, of straightforwardness to the story. In spite of the devious bad guy and all the things that go wrong in the story, there is honesty and wholesomeness to it. It perhaps makes the story easy to read and the characters easy to know, as is the author’s style of writing. Ms. Crew uses simple words that help the story flow well. And I detected no errors. I must say, this is the first book I’ve reviewed in quite a while that has been so thoroughly edited. Kudos to Ms. Crew and her crew. Sorry for the pun.

The heroine, Victoria, is introduced just before her 21st birthday. She’s a young woman who does good works and is in control of her life. Then her world is turned upside down when two strange gifts arrive for her with no cards and then a young man arrives to claim that her REAL father would like her to come home as he is very ill and would like to see her. Her parents hastily explain her adoption circumstances and she’s off to meet her birth father who lives on his own island at the mouth of the Thames. She finds a very ill man, a supposedly insane grandmother locked away, a man to love, a young brother, neighbors on a near island, and someone who hates her and is trying to get rid of her. It all resolves at a masked ball. But then maybe it has a cliffhanger? No, that’s going too far with the punning and you’ll have to read the book to know why I say that. But the included epilog has such happy endings for almost everyone that I can’t help feel that young author’s touch again. I look forward to reading more romances from this now mature author to see how things might change. Recommended.