Book Review: "Prelude for a Lord" by Camille Elliot

"Prelude for a Lord" by Camille Elliot is an Inspirational Historic Romance set in 1810 England.

Alethea Sutherton is the daughter of an Earl, but has never fit in.  She speaks her mind, is friends with her half sister, and plays the violin - all things that are looked down upon in Regency England.  So at 28, she has a mistrust of men and is considered beyond marriage age.

Bayard Terralton, Lord Dommick has come back from fighting Napoleon with horrible nightmares (what we now know as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) and is trying to repair the reputations of his mother and sister after the gossip of him being the Mad Baron.

Alethea and Dommick are thrown together to try and decipher what has made Alethea's bequeathed violin so valuable that someone is trying to steal it.  While they work on discovering it's provenance, they and their family face threats and danger.  As they get closer to the truth about the violin, they also grow closer to each other.  Will they let go of their pasts to face a future together?

I really enjoyed reading "Prelude for a Lord" by Camille Elliot.  I found myself transported to Regency England, and didn't feel any of the language/phrases or settings made me feel disrupted in reading the story.  I liked Alethea and Dommick as people and how they interacted with each other. I liked watching the feelings grow throughout the book and it felt natural and not too sudden. The secondary characters were also well developed and realistic.  There is a lot going on in the story as it follows the main story of the violin and it's provenance, but also there are stories about sisters and friends, too.  I could relate to the musical aspect of the story as a violin player myself.  I don't know if the talk about the violin's f holes and scrolls, etc would loose other people who were not familiar with the instrument (or if it's even necessary for them to totally understand, just that they were talking about the violin? )

The book has a "cast of primary characters" at the beginning and discussion questions at the end.

I would recommend this to those who enjoy Inspirational Romance, Historical Romance, Mystery Romance... It was a great book!

"Prelude for a Lord" is available in paperback:

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (August 5, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310320356
• ISBN-13: 978-0310320357
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces

or Kindle edition:

• File Size: 927 KB
• Print Length: 349 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0310320356
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Up to 5 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
• Publisher: Zondervan (August 5, 2014)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishing
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00GRZDC5C

I received an eBook version of "Prelude for a Lord" from booklookbloggers in exchange for my honest review.