Note to self: unread but own

This book sounded really interesting. A woman travels to an island for the summer with her maid. They stay at a cottage but it turns out that the woman who was staying in the cottage earlier in the summer disappeared and her name was also Elizabeth. There is some mistaken identity, pirate treasure, romance, kidnapping. Everything you need for a great story.
Something just didn't resonate with me though. The story seemed to move along fairly slowly and I just couldn't really connect with the characters.
Fairly clean read, though there is a bit of violence and a teen boy is murdered (this happens before Elizabeth comes to the island and though it's mentioned several times we don't hear details).
Overall this book just didn't do it for me. I finished it, but it took me awhile.
This book was reviewed on the Literary Club Podcast https://www.buzzsprout.com/1984185/episodes/12864876 ( )

It's 1906 and Lady Elizabeth Sinclair -- Libby -- goes to the Isles of Scilly for the summer to escape her brother’s plans for her marriage and focus on her naturalist studies. But she becomes caught up in a mystery surrounding her cottage's previous tenant, also an Elizabeth, who has disappeared.

There are two layers to the mystery, and I was interested in the mystery of figuring out what Beth is up to far more than in the mystery Beth herself was trying to solve. Libby’s romance with Beth's brother, the vicar, is sweet. I'd prefer more subtlety to any preachiness. ( )

The Nature of a Lady by Roseanna M. White is set in the Isles of Scilly and centers around both the islanders and those of a higher class seeking rest on the islands. A mystery factors into the plot as well, and the prologue was intriguing and set an interesting tone for the story.
But I didn’t enjoy this one as I did previous works by the author. For one, the heroine was very unlikable at times, going from being meek and submissive with her disrespectful maid to insulting her brother’s friend and wanting to kick him in the shins. It seemed to me that she was supposed to be thought of as sweet, while her actions did not reflect that.
The relationship between her and the maid confused me. There was a lot of deceit and bitterness involved in what Mabena did, and it seems as though she knew what she could get away with and abused what power she held. At times it seemed like Mabena was more suited to the role of mistress than the heroine was, since the heroine often had to capitulate to her wants and moods, even to the point of honestly asking if the maid was ashamed to be seen with her. Mabena’s complaining and use of devil as a curse word tainted the story.
The relationship also felt rushed, with both characters taking steps that seemed out of character, especially with the more responsible individual. At more than one point, his desires took precedence over his code of conduct as a vicar and retained that precedence.
That’s not to say that this book did not have moments that resonated with me. I’ve found that this author’s books usually make me stop and ponder. The theme of loss, weariness, and sharing the burden, when Oliver finally opened his lost brother’s room, touched me with its sincerity. I loved how selfless Morgan was, how he was not bitter but made the most of what time he had.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through Netgalley. A positive review was not required. ( )

Although I wasn’t sure, at first, that I would enjoy this story, Roseanna White drew me in as she has with all her other books, and I was hooked. I couldn’t put it down, and when I had to, it was with great reluctance. This is an excellent mystery, an intriguing setting (I had no clue where the Isles of Scilly were before reading this story—although I’m pretty sure I had heard of them before), and, as always, delightful characters. What’s not to love about a heroine that will toe the line with most social expectations, but decides to put her foot down and go do the thing she loves most for a few months? Especially when the “thing she loves” is the study of nature—this book only grew my appreciation of all the varieties and nuances God has built into creation! And then there’s a mystery with pirate treasure…and mistaken identity…. Well, suffice to say, I thoroughly loved this book and can’t wait for the sequel, whenever that is coming.

I was given a review copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it. ( )