⇒ Download The Lady Slipper Westmorland Book 1 edition by Deborah Swift Literature Fiction eBooks

The Lady Slipper Westmorland Book 1 edition by Deborah Swift Literature Fiction eBooks

Download As PDF : The Lady Slipper Westmorland Book 1 edition by Deborah Swift Literature Fiction eBooks

The Lady Slipper Westmorland Book 1 edition by Deborah Swift Literature Fiction eBooks

Roll the trial of the Crucible, Guenevere's escape in the King Arthur legends, and a very confused historical knowledge of 1660 into a novel, and you have the gist of The Lady's Slipper. I almost stopped reading at 20 percent, then again at 50%, but I didn't want to break my personal code of never finishing a book, so I read to the end. This book might just make me change my personal code. The book was too long, motivation was totally lacking, language was boring, and the magical use of "thee" and "thou" by the main character was laughable. I know this book was free, but so is sunshine. So instead of downloading, do yourself a favor and go outside, enjoy the last of wonderful summer weather, and be the richer for it.


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The Lady Slipper Westmorland Book 1 edition by Deborah Swift Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

It was disappointing that the theft of a flower from the ground appeared more sinful than the adulterous thoughts and actions. That made the theme rather deflated. The historical issues were interesting though and seemed well developed.
I don't read a lot of historical fiction, but I'm usually willing to give books outside my preferred genres a chance if the premise is interesting. And while the Quaker Revolution in Great Britain didn't necessarily appeal to me, the fact that the book (supposedly) centered on the theft of a rare flower seemed interesting enough. Alas, the flower theft turns out to be fairly inconsequential to the plot, and instead the book centers on unpleasant people doing unpleasant things, a forced romance, and plenty of sex both graphic and implied.

Alice Ibbetson is an artist specializing in flowers and plants, still grieving from the death of her little sister but finding solace in her love of plants and herb lore. When her neighbor, a newly converted Quaker named Richard Wheeler, shows her a rare and precious flower growing on his land -- the lady's slipper, long thought wiped out in England -- she begs him to let her dig it up and protect it. But when he refuses, she takes matters into her own hands and steals the rare flower in the hopes of saving it and growing more of the same. With help from an arrogant lord who sees the flower as a cure for an ailment he's suffered from all his life, she sets out to preserve it... but revolution is brewing in the land, and both Alice and Richard find themselves caught up in the crossfire -- thanks to the machinations of the greedy lord and Alice's own maid who has designs on Alice's husband and wealth...

Warning despite its themes of Christianity and being faithful, there's quite a bit of sex in this book. Readers uncomfortable with badly-written sex scenes may wish to skip it.

The title of this book IS something of a double meaning -- it refers both to the flower and to a garment of clothing that ends up incriminating Alice at some point. Still, I had hoped for the flower to factor more into the plot. Yes, its theft kicks off a grander chain of events, but I came away from the book's summary expecting various parties warring with one another for ownership of the flower. Instead the grappling over the flower falls by the wayside to focus on torrid affairs, the Quaker Revolution, and a plot to destroy Alice. I wouldn't have minded the shift in story quite so much had it been well-written, but the author's writing, while servicable, tends to be clumsy and switch between gushing "purple prose" and dry workmanlike prose. The pacing isn't great either -- plodding and glacial in some parts, and rushed in others.

It doesn't help that there are few, if any, likable characters in this book. We're meant to root for Alice, but she acts selfishly and arrogantly for much of the novel. (She improves toward the end of the book, but for some readers that may be too little, too late.) Her husband is a wet blanket and a lecher, her maid is a backstabbing opportunist who seduces her husband behind her back, and the noble she allies with early on is almost utterly irredeemable and such an obvious villain I'm surprised he doesn't twirl his mustache at any point -- and efforts to make him sympathetic fall rather flat. Richard Wheeler is fairly flat and uninteresting -- and him getting graphically aroused thinking about Alice, even in church, is uncomfortable to read about. The evil noble's son could have been an intriguing character, but again he's too flat to care much about. The most interesting character to me was Margaret, an eccentric woman obsessed with herbs and their healing properties, but she gets little time to shine in the book.

Also, efforts are made toward the very end of the book to make Ella, the maid out to poach Alice's husband, sympathetic, but after all her shenanigans and plotting throughout the book, I just didn't have the wherewithal to care about her fate. Evidently this "saving throw" on the part of the author was done to set things up for an Ella-centric sequel, but I have no desire to read a book about a character who was painted as a villain for 99% of the book and only made slightly redeemable through a throwaway paragraph at the end.

This isn't the most terrible book I've ever read -- not even the most terrible freebie I've ever read. But it was disappointing, and at best I'd call it mediocre. If you enjoy "The Lady's Slipper" and have a high tolerance for clunky prose, you might get some enjoyment or just something to kill time out of it, but if you like your fiction with a little more substance (and less focus on rowdy sex), look elsewhere.
Intrigue! Horror! Gardening! Religion! Love! Madness! Murder! Lies! Truth! Jail! Clothes! If I haven't listed it, keep reading the book ~ it's in there ;) Well written, well planned, good read, thank you for this book.
Intricate story of love, family, peace and war, Not all war exists on a battlefield. Much of war lives in the hearts and souls of people. Very powerful book. I have lived in New England and did love coming upon them in woodland walks. So glad this book honors the beautiful fragile appearing but strong glorious plant, The Lady Slipper.
Why must these otherwise interesting stories be spoiled by the interjection of explicit sex. I did not finish this book. I am not going to overlook these scenes for the sake of an otherwise enjoyable tale. I would appreciate it if reviews gave a clue and saved me the investment of waisted time.
This is a wonderful, beautifully researched, and extremely well written book, with strong and fascinating, unusual characters, and a gripping plot. So why the four stars? There is one glaring error, in the epilogue, and, given the meticulous body of the book, it was a shock. New Hampshire may be warmer than Westmoreland in the summer, but it's bloody freezing in the winter, and any plant that can survive there should flourish in a more clement, and similar, clime. Nevertheless, thank you for a great read. More please.
Roll the trial of the Crucible, Guenevere's escape in the King Arthur legends, and a very confused historical knowledge of 1660 into a novel, and you have the gist of The Lady's Slipper. I almost stopped reading at 20 percent, then again at 50%, but I didn't want to break my personal code of never finishing a book, so I read to the end. This book might just make me change my personal code. The book was too long, motivation was totally lacking, language was boring, and the magical use of "thee" and "thou" by the main character was laughable. I know this book was free, but so is sunshine. So instead of downloading, do yourself a favor and go outside, enjoy the last of wonderful summer weather, and be the richer for it.