Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson

This is an adorable, totally feel-good book that will join my top ten group of books to read when I feel in need of an uplifting escape (or....more prosaically, they will join my collection of "thumb-sucking" books. As a devotee of the habit when I was young--for far longer, in fact, than my parents would have liked me to have been--I have, in remembrance of that simple source of peaceful comfort and quiet joy, labeled this particular group of go-to books as my "thumb-sucking" collection. So.)

A squeaky clean Regency romance, this one is also uplifting and clever. There are some laugh out loud moments and, of course, there is one very satisfying ending.

Marianne Daventry pines for the country. Her mother recently dead, her father mourning in France, Marianne has been bored and lonely in Bath, staying with a gruff but lovable Aunt. When she's invited to spend a few months in the country with her sister at the estate of the man her sister wants to marry, Marianne jumps at the chance. An encounter with an aloof stranger, a hold-up by a highwayman and a wonderful friendship later, she finds herself conflicted and confused. But don't worry! It all ends well.

I really loved this book. It's not particularly deep, but there are a few layers and a whole bunch of good characters, a gorgeous setting, a lovable hero and heroine...I think I'll read it again tonight.