The Lost Heiress (Ladies of the Manor #1) by Roseanna M. White

Title: The Lost Heiress
Series: Ladies of the Manor #1
Author: Roseanna M. White
Publisher: Bethany House
Published Date: September 8th 2015 

Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction
Page Count: 439
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary:
Brook Eden has never known where she truly belongs. Though raised in the palace of Monaco, she’s British by birth and was brought to the Grimaldis under suspicious circumstances as a babe. When Brook’s friend Justin uncovers the fact that Brook is likely a missing heiress from Yorkshire, Brook leaves the sun of the Mediterranean to travel to the moors of the North Sea to the estate of her supposed family.
The mystery of her mother’s death haunts her, and though her father is quick to accept her, the rest of the family and the servants of Whitby Park are not. Only when Brook’s life is threatened do they draw close—but their loyalty may come too late to save Brook from the same threat that led to tragedy for her mother.
As heir to a dukedom, Justin is no stranger to balancing responsibilities. When the matters of his estate force him far from Brook, the distance between them reveals that what began as friendship has grown into something much more. But how can their very different loyalties and responsibilities ever come together?
And then, for a second time, the heiress of Whitby Park is stolen away because of the very rare treasure in her possession—and this time only the servants of Whitby can save her.
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My Review:
 "You are the image of your mother, my dear. But it seems your disposition you inherited from me, stubbornness and all. My apologies."

This story does have quite a lot of characters/titles for same characters,  can be confusing at first you soon learn who everyone is and how they all know each other.

Brook Eden- The Heiress and long lost child of Earl of Whitby.
Justin Wildon- Brook's childhood friend and confidant.  Duke of Stafford.
Lord Whitby- Brook's father and also know as Early of Whitby.
Deirdre O'Malley- Lady's maid to Brook.
Viscount Pratt- Brook's neighbor and distant cousin.
Earl Thate- Justin's best friend.
While that is not even close to half the characters those are the ones that I found most important throughout the story.

When Brook Eden finally finds out who she is due to Justin helping her. She is taken from Monaco where she was raised to England where her father and the rest of the family is. With having many imposters try to be her in the past the family and staff are slightly standoffish at first. But after seeing her the family knows that she really is the lost daughter of Lord Whitby.
From their she is thrown into a whirlwind of figuring out who she is, who her mother was, and how to form a relationship with her father. Along with this though she also  realizes her real feelings for Justin who keeps pushing her away at every turn due to turmoil going on in his own life and learning to become a Duke. With the many ups and downs of their relationship you do get rather annoyed with both of them at times for not just sitting down and talking.
While her and Justin struggle with what they are or what they both want to be. There is a huge mystery going on that involves not only Brook and her parents but also Deidre and Pratt. The "Fire Eyes" as there known due to being the rarest ruby in the world cause more problems than any jewel ever should. While I'm not going to say anything more about this because I don't want to ruin the story.

"I don't want to see another imposter hurt the family. Strange as it seems to feel sorry for the masters, such wealth comes with to much deception."

If you like  Dowton Abbey then I think you will really enjoy this story. 

 Roseanna did an amazing job with this story, it had me hooked from beginning to end and I never wanted to put it down. What I found really interesting though was that the Lost Heiress as a story that she had written at a very young age, but had never published until now due to many changes it underwent to become the story, it is now. I can't wait to see what happens in the following books in this series and I have found a new favorite author as well.

 I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.