Eight Maids a Milking: A Regency Historical Romance Holiday Tale

Emily E K Murdoch
Genre: 
Novella

HISTORICAL: Miss Katarina “Kitty” Fitzroy is bored with all the Christmas season activities her family has planned. Kitty doesn’t want to even spend time with them, preferring to hang out in the cowshed watching the milkmaids milk the cows. When a family friend, Luke, arrives and brings his coachman, Isaac Emmett, Kitty is intrigued by him. Kitty enjoys talking with Isaac despite his arrogance and high-handed attitude. Kitty manages to escape every event her family has planned just to spend time with Isaac. The more Kitty converses with Isaac, the harder she falls for him, and she decides she wants him as her husband. Isaac tries to maintain his distance from Kitty, but is losing the battle. Unfortunately, Isaac also has a secret. When Kitty finds out the truth, will it make her rethink everything about him?

What a fun little yuletide novella to definitely put even a Grinch into the Christmas spirit! Even though the novellas in the series can be read in any order, everything is happening at once, so there is some confusion about what is going on or what characters are with whom, especially since one of the siblings in the previous book is already with the family friend, so the placement of the stories seems off. The past isn’t really delved into, especially when it concerns the haughty hero, Isaac, making it hard to relate to him. Katarina, the fiercely independent yet naïve heroine lives in a fantasy land, and never realizes how much her world will change when she pursues Isaac. However, the story is a fanciful, interesting tale that readers will just delight in!

Roslynn Ernst