Review: Saving Crofton Hall by Rebecca Cohen
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Publish Date: November 24, 2014
Reviewed by: Heller
How I got this book: E-Arc from Publisher
Stately Passions #1
“Benjamin Redbourn, Earl of Crofton, has no intention of giving up his beloved ancestral home without a fight. Faced with his mother’s gambling debts, forgery, and the possibility of foreclosure by the bank, Ben vows to make Crofton Hall pay for herself. But opening an Elizabethan manor house to the public isn’t a one man job. With time running out, Ben needs help—and fast.
Ashley Niven has experience managing events, and he also loves history. Being in charge of opening Crofton Hall is a dream come true. As he works with Ben to prepare the house as a venue for lavish weddings and receptions, Ashley finds himself drawn not just to the charm of the house but to the dashing Earl of Crofton. Even if Ashley can look past Ben’s playboy reputation, he fears an affair could prove too much of a distraction.
But Crofton Hall has many secrets, and something hidden for over four hundred years is about to change all their lives.”
This was a slow burn romance, so if you’re looking for a lot of action between the sheets then this doesn’t really have that. What it does have though is a lovely friends to lovers story. The men take the time to really get to know each other as they work together to save Ben’s family house. Crofton Hall takes center stage here and I didn’t mind that. It’s a beautiful old house with a lot of secrets, secrets that I want to know more about. There is a lot of fascinating background on opening a great house to the public and the massive amount of work that it takes to accomplish it. That might not be to everyone’s taste but I loved reading about all the hoops they had to jump through.
Even though I felt a lot of the focus here was on the house, the characters were never skimped on and the both the main and secondary characters were well fleshed out. Ben’s family and Ash’s family were so interesting. I was surprised with the turn with Ash’s father but loved it and I couldn’t believe the crap that Ben’s mother kept pulling. I did find that there was a weird flip flop with how I initially perceived the main characters. I had reservations about Ben but ended up loving him and I started out really liking Ashley but with his actions and how he later treated Ben I had to work to regain my love of his character.
One thing that was odd for me, Ben made the worst first impression ever. It was an odd introduction because it really jarred with his personality for the remainder of the book. He’s supposed to be quite the player but other than the first scene in New York, where he highligted his title in an extremely awkward way we never really see that again. I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy him as an MC but for the rest of the book he really won me over.
Despite those issues I enjoyed this read quite a bit and I loved the ending. I’m intrigued enough by the letters between Anthony and Sebastian to check out the previous series The Crofton Chronicles. I’m very curious about what happened between them and I wonder if the second book in this series will try to find the truth. Bring on the Secret Histories!
I’m giving “Saving Crofton Hall” a B+