Review: The Tutor's Daughter By Julie Klassen

Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Release Date: January 1, 2013
ISBN-10: 0764210696
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

About The Book:
Emma Smallwood, determined to help her widowed father regain his spirits when his academy fails, agrees to travel with him to the distant Cornwall coast, to the cliff-top manor of a baronet and his four sons. But after they arrive and begin teaching the younger boys, mysterious things begin to happen and danger mounts. Who does Emma hear playing the pianoforte, only to find the music room empty?

Who sneaks into her room at night? Who rips a page from her journal, only to return it with a chilling illustration? The baronet's older sons, Phillip and Henry, wrestle with problems--and secrets--of their own. They both remember Emma Smallwood from their days at her father's academy. She had been an awkward, studious girl. But now one of them finds himself unexpectedly drawn to her.
When the suspicious acts escalate, can the clever tutor's daughter figure out which brother to blame... and which brother to trust with her heart?

My Thoughts:
Julie Klassen has very skillfully created a regency romance that is astonishingly reminiscent of Jane Austin and Jane Eyre. Set against the backdrop of 19th Century England's beautiful Cornwall coast, The Tutor's Daughter is everything I could possible want in a Regency Romance novel: well-researched and full of historical descriptions, a wide array of characters with very distinct personalities, blossoming romance, and enough suspense and intrigue that kept me in anticipation for the next page. Klassen has certainly proven herself a gifted storyteller and one who has done her research extremely well. Each time I opened this book I felt as though I were transported back in time. And the character of Emma Smallwood is just so endearing and admirable with her sense of determination and self-reliance, as well as her "blue-stocking" ways. I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end and highly recommend it to fans of Jane Austen or historical fiction in general. Overall an excellent novel and one that I can easily give five stars!