Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Goose is the first book in "Christmas Chronicles" series and I will say that when we chose this for a buddy read I really didn't know what to expect with this one going into it and I will admit that I stayed far away from looking at any reviews, I just wanted to be surprised with this book here and as much as I found enjoyment out of this book, Its definitely not a full four star read for me. This book is not very long, for the price you pay, its less than half of what I normally read so I do feel the kindle price should have been a bit lower considering. But also there is more to this book than just a "romance" so I do want to make that clear especially to those that prefer just romance focused on anything that they read that you might fight the focus of it less than expected.
The story begins with Lady Osbaldestone who has taken charge of her grandchildren and taken them to one of her country estates, which she has been neglecting of late. But her grandchildren are causing ruckus and drama, and then with Christmas time closing in, all the geese in the area have completely vanished and so she takes her grandchildren along to discover what happened to them. But then she discovers two single people who need each other and endeavors with the help of her grandchildren, to matchmake them together.
I found the set up of the story to be so endearing and adorable in a handful of ways and I truly loved Lady Osbaldestone, she is hilarious. I know she is in other books that this author has written but let me tell you I don't read this author as much as I think I probably should. I do love the "realism" that she displays in her stories as far as the era is concerned. I never have a issue with how she writes regency era romance because she doesn't sugar coat it or modernize it of feminize it, she just writes it where it feels more real to the time period without taking anything from the characters or their endeavors. I found in this story while the romance wasn't super focused, I loved the focus we gained on the characters that are involved within the story. From the local folk, to the minister, to the grandchildren, and to our main couple.
Now lets talk about the romance for a moment. I ADORED seeing these two together. You couldn't see two more opposite personalities than these two to be honest. Eugenia and Christian are delightful characters but so unique from each other. Eugenia is kind and compassionate and responsible and has a deep love for the Christmas season. Christian, is a military hero vet, but is scarred and has a lame leg because of the war and basically hides within the shadows of his own home. Until his whole community including a woman he has known most of his life forces him to breathe life and brave the community and not fear it. I actually enjoyed seeing Christian and Eugenia have their romance build here, I never felt quite satisfied as I wanted but it was cute and endearing.
Overall I found Lady Osbaldestone's Christmas Goose to be a story of lifting others with the Christmas spirit, a mystery of geese chasing and a sweet spirit filled romance that was beyond endearing.
Just as magical and wonderful as when I first read it! The recently widowed Grand Dame Lady O is spending Christmas at her dower property in the village of Little Mosely, and, if all goes well and she feels comfortable and engaged in village affairs, planning on making it her permanent home when not in London or visiting friends. However some of her young grandchildren descend on her for the holidays when their father becomes ill. At first wondering how to entertain them, soon they are all wrapped up in village affairs, the local annual holiday traditions and some gentle matchmaking when they set out to assist Farmer Took solve the mystery of the disappearance one day of the flock of geese being fattened up for the villagers' Christmas dinners.
This time I listened to an audio book read by the incomparable Helen Lloyd. Absolute perfection. Her voice, intonation, and performance was perfect for Lady O, her children and the villagers. By a landslide, this was my most successful pandemic listen....graduating to amusing me while I put together a jigsaw puzzle rather than help me sleep.
*Sigh* This was well nigh a perfect Regency Christmas romance! It had it all - decorating a grand home with holly and ivy, mistletoe kisses, skating parties, carol singing, live village nativity, and young love leading to the alter. All was delivered with Stephanie Laurens' deft hand drawing memorable characters and liberally sprinkling humor throughout the dramas and mishaps lending excitement to the season.
It is the start of the Christmas season in 1810, and the recently widowed Lady Osbaldestone is settling into the dower house in a small English village. She is one of the grand dames of London's haute ton and someone familiar to all who read Laurens' series as a beloved periphery character. She is expecting to spend Christmas with her daughter's family, but a case of the mumps has 3 of her young grandchildren taking shelter from the contagion with her for the holidays. On top of that, the village's flock of geese have disappeared, threatening to leave the entire village without any Christmas goose to grace each villager's Christmas dinner. While looking for the flock, Lady Osbaldestone and her grandchildren do a little matchmaking as well.
Unusually for Laurens there are no hot bedroom scenes between the young lovers, a soldier disfigured by injuries sustained at Talavera, and the young woman managing her brother's estate until he comes of age. But no matter...it really is not needed.
Lady Osbaldestone is a grande dame of London society, but she is opting to live in the small village of Little Moseley, at least for the Christmas season. The three grandchildren of her youngest daughter are staying with her and they are a handful for an older lady who left most of the raising of her children to tutors and nannies. When the entire flock of geese goes missing, depriving the village of their favorite Christmas meals, Lady Osbaldestone and her three grandchildren are on a mission to find the missing birds. Along the way, they hope to do a bit of matchmaking between neighbors Miss Eugenia Fitzgibbon and Lord Longfellow. This is an adorable Christmas story that displays the holiday traditions of this small English village within the confines of a sweet romance. The children are wonderful; indeed, each character is finely drawn and enjoyable. There are no real villains which fits the meaning of the season and lots of holiday cheer. Great start to the Christmas Chronicles series.
Light romance, light mystery -- this book was a fun introduction to Lady Osbaldestone with her own stories. Now widowed but still a grand dame of the ton, she is connecting (somewhat warily) with three of her grandchildren while their parents are dealing with an illness. Definitely, the children are a little more precocious than might be believable but, if you can suspend your disbelief, this is just a fun story. Therese is trying to figure out how to entertain her grandchildren in her small village but there is a built-in mystery of where all of the geese, raised for Christmas dinner, have disappeared to. While they are doing that, helping a local injured hero to realize that he might be worth love is a secondary task. Very Laurens-light with a rather whimsical romance.
