Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish (Windham Book 4)

I've been a fan of Grace Borrows and her Windham family novels for quite some time now. Sophie has been a favorite character since she appeared in The Soldier (I'm pretty sure that's where I read about her first) to her appearances in her other brothers books. Sophie's is a story I've been waiting for and boy was it worth the wait! Not only does she get a fabulous story, Ms. Burrows gives her a Christmas romance....if that isn't enough to grab you add in a sweet baby and a hot, hunky man who knows his way around an infant! Just keeps getting better, right? It really does. Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish is the best Christmas romance I've read so far this year. The storyline was plotted perfectly so that it flowed seamlessly from one scene to another. The witty banter, which I've come to expect from Ms. Borrows, between the Windham siblings, is so on point you'll find yourself laughing out loud. Every character, even the secondary ones, are given a depth that not many authors give - there are no 'throw in just for the sake of adding word's' characters.Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish is all about love, Christmas and happily ever after. There is a sweetness to the hero Vim and his connection to the baby, Kit, from the very first page. The scenes with Vim and Kit are some of my favorite in the book. It was a nice change to see such an alpha male character written this way. It was quite sexy to be totally honest.I'd recommend Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish to anyone who enjoys a well written, witty Christmas story with a cast of characters that will have you laughing and sighing happily from the first page to the very last.

This is the first novel I have read by Grace Burrows. I was impressed with her writing and descriptive scenes but the story faltered a bit in the second half. This Christmas themed story is original and the leads are especially unique.Lady Sophie comes from a large rambunctious family. She has a heart of gold and when her servant abandons her baby, Sophie finds herself a reluctant guardian of a squalling infant in a coaching inn near the Christmas Holidays. To her great relief, Vim Charpentier is there to lend a helping hand.They mange to get to her London home and Vim is under the impression that Sophie is the housekeeper or cook of the great town house, certainly not the daughter of a very noble family. Vim knows his way around babies, as he is an older brother. He assists Sophie as much as possible. Vim is a handsome thoughtful man, who is a world traveler but not a jaded rake. He is on his way to his uncle's house when he finds Sophie. At first, he does not let on he has a title, liking the atmosphere he has created with Sophie the servant. He likes her too much and worries if she should discover he is more than a commoner the magic would disappear.Sophie truly falls fast for Vim. Why wouldn't she? He is so kind and he truly cares for their young charge. Sophie almost feels lost thinking of his departure. Sophie also keeps her identity a secret and she does this for the very same reasons as Vim, she enjoys the anonymity of being a commoner.Together these leads create an idyllic atmosphere in her home. Sophie cooks and performs other domestic chores and Vim diapers, burps and rocks the baby and helps Sophie out with shoveling snow and making fires for cheery rooms. Their homey bliss comes to an end when Sophie's brothers arrive to escort her to the family estate. They are not to keen at first to see Vim in their home and Vim is not happy to discover Sophie is from such a vaulted family. Fortunately his uncle lives close to Sophie's parents and he can pursue her with full knowledge of her identity.The second part of this novel loses the charm of the first. Sophie is not forthright with her feelings and Vim struggles to understand her actions. I do too. Sophie was obstinate and began to doubt Vim. Sophie was confusing, she blew hot and cold with Vim, and she didn't listen to good advice. Overall I am giving this novel 3.5 stars. The first half is wonderfully sweet with many poignant moments but the second half was not so enjoyable. Sophie's character underwent quite a change. Instead of the strong minded woman of the first chapters she was rather weak willed when it came to pressure from her brothers and she was too stubborn when she was with her leading man.

*There will be unavoidable spoilers*Has Christmas cheer vanished by April and you'd like a little of it back? That's what happened to me, so I read "Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish."The book takes place in a London townhouse during a blizzard. That was a clever way to suspend, temporarily, the rules of society. The daughter of a duke can do as she likes: wear old dresses, cook for herself, putter around and be herself. Until she is left with a servant's cast-off infant and a mysterious gentleman who knows how to care for the baby--something the heroine finds baffling. He is a kind, caring, warm man--something that the baby makes more obvious.The book made me long for old Georgette Heyer stories. She set up her premises so cleverly that the characters always act logically. Readers can try to poke holes in her tales, but every time they think "Wait! Why didn't the hero . . . ." They will remember that Heyer covered that contingency and the hero is following the only course open to him.The lack of such credibility was my main difficulty with this book. The hero is an expert on babies--although he has spent much of the last decade traveling the globe--because he has younger sisters. The heroine is one of 10 children, but she knows nothing.The hero has spent the last 10 years hiding from an embarrassing incident that could have been explained in 10 minutes by any of his family.The hero and heroine do not recognize each other's names, although their country homes are next to each other.The hero's uncle and aunt have difficulties of the kind that evaporate when examined. They are said to be alone and lacking care, yet they have three daughters and a flock of grandchildren who seem to love them.There were just too many holes in the story, and I kept falling into them.

I have met a lot of Grace Burrowes' heroes, and liked them all. But 'Vim' Charpentier must be one of the dearest! And the depiction of baby Kit was delightful. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, which centred around Lady Sophia's wish for a bit of Christmas peace on her own before joining her large family in the country for the Festivities. She had led her family to believe that she was staying with friends, and then would be collected by her thee brothers (on their way from Cambridge to Kent, via London). But her intention was to have a few peaceful days - no family, no servants (apart from a couple of stable hands) - to contemplate her life and future. She had found no man to love in ten Seasons, and was likely to descend into being the sister who did charity work and collected strays - both animal and human. She was just seeing off her final 'stray' - a young housemaid who had 'blotted her copybook' by succumbing to the wiles of a footman. Sophie had been allowed to let her stay with the family to have the baby, and was now seeing the girl and the child onto the stagecoach to return to her home. The story starts with Sophie and an increasingly unhappy baby waiting in vain for the mother to return. Enter our hero, who was trying to get to his family seat in Kent and had been disrupted by a sudden snowstorm. But he could not bear to hear a baby in distress.The delightful tale tells of how Vim helps Sophie to look after Kit - a skill quite foreign to her, but not to him. The snow does not abate, and Vim in still in evidence when the three Windham brothers arrive on the scene, and are not too happy about the situation! The interplay between the brothers, and between Sophie and Vim and the baby, is delightful. I have just finished reading it for the second time in six weeks, and I can see it may be one I return to often!I do agree with another reviewer that there are a few Americanisms which jar in the context of the British Regency period, and I also agree that a little more thought should be taken with the names. The maid is Jolene - which in Britain is a modern name, first heard of in a Country and Western song. It would not have been used by a rural working class family in that era! However, my main gripe - and one I have made before with both Ms Burrowes and other writers - is with the awarding of the courtesy titles to the heir when he is not in the direct line. Even though it was absolutely certain that no other heir could intervene between Vim's uncle and himself, he would not have received the Baronial courtesy title. These are reserved only for the direct heirs - and it grates a little! But, if you can ignore that, it is a lovely book, which deserves a Christmas read.

I'd been searching for holiday romances for Christmas when I came across Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish. Lady Sophie is the sensible daughter of a Duke, and is left the reluctant guardian of a baby when the mother (a household servant) flees and abandons her baby. Enter our hero, Vim Chapentier- he steps in and helps Sophie with baby Kit and when there's a snowstorm, he stays at the house and helps her to look after Kit. Vim assumes Sophie is a member of the household staff and he doesn't tell her that he is titled, and heir to a viscountcy.The first half of this book was brilliantly written. I enjoyed the scenes with Sophie and Vim with Kit. Their fall into love is very believable and sweet. Vim is kind, handsome and thoughtful who truly cares for Kit. Sophie is sweet and caring with a habit of taking in strays. They both enjoy the anonymity of being 'commoners' and the cosy domestic atmosphere they create definitely helps them fall more in love with each other.Then Sophie's brothers (finally) arrive at the house and aren't impressed when they realise Vima and Sophie have been alone together for several days. They then go to Vim's Uncle's estate in Kent (where Vim was headed originally) and then on to their own familial estate. This is pretty much where I started to enjoy the book less. Sophie was inexplicably stubborn about not marrying Vim, she wasn't forthright and honest with Vim about her feelings, and Vim struggles to understand her actions- as did I, most of the time I just wanted to shake the girl. Sophie often seemed very different, and I was frustrated that Vim wasn't more insistent when he'd compromised Sophie and loved her! Although, I was of course still rooting for them :)All in all, I found the second half rather frustrating. The secondary characters were well written and rounded. Sometimes I felt that there was way too much information about them squeezed in, but it's part of a series.I would give this 3.5 stars if I could, but I guess the first half carried it to 4 stars. So, worth a read and enjoyable

A well-written and extremely enjoyable story with two likeable and rounded lead characters. The interplay between Sophie's brothers adds an excellent exta-dimension. But when, oh when, will American writers learn that - if they must set their novels in England and particularly in an historical period - there are things we don't say now, let alone two hundred years ago.For example, walking 'a few blocks'; having 'a passel of children'; a servant, or indeed anyone, called Joleen ... and so on. Please Ms Burrowes, if you don't know what's right and what isn't, employ someone who does.

A lovely light hearted easy read. Engagingly written you can easily imagine the situations the characters find themselves in and feel for them. However if you are one of those who like things to be really historically accurate then this is not for you, a young lady of this period would not act like this, BUT that didn’t bother me in the least I really enjoyed it, for me reading is a fantasy and way to relax and escape the pressure of everyday life and this book gives you that and makes you smile along the way. Go on give it whirl :)

this is the most delightful of all her books l think, the rather retiring daughter of a duke is left literally holding the baby when the mother, one of household staff, runs off at the carriage station. The hero comes to her aid and he is the most delightful man one could ever meet, there is a terrible snow storm at the time so he insists that he helps her home and gradually they first fall in love with the baby and then with each other, but of course the path to true love is never smooth, not too much angst to be upsetting just enough to make a good story. all the minor characters are wonderfully rounded too. great read anytime of the year

I enjoyed all the books in this series. I even managed to " tune out " the Americanisms which are really irritating. I did however find this book very slow and never really got on with it. It's like walking through treacle. Not one of her better efforts

Unless you enjoy reading about burping babies don't bother.

This series is by far one of my favourites, all the characters are likeable if not loveable, unique and definitely add their own stamp to each of the stories.Whilst Sophie and Vim's story could have run the risk of being a contrived Christmas fairy tale, there's enough heartache, realism and grit to offset anything that could be considered too cheesy.This book will have you laughing out loud and crying into your tissue and searching out the rest in the series. This is a definite must read for anyone who like's a little romance in their lives.

This is one of my favorite authors.

I have read all the books in this series and they are well worth a read if you like historical romances and the stories of a family. Grace Burrowes is a marvellous author bringing the books to life.

A really enjoyable and easy read, just what you need to relax after a day in the garden, especially when the sun shines.

Another enjoyable book in the Windham series. Sophie and Vim are both likeable characters, although I didn't like the name 'Vim' and it annoyed me all the way through. The full name of Wilhelm was fine, but Vim? No.The other thing I didn't particularly enjoy was all of the fiddle-faddling around with the baby in the first half of the book. It was a bit overdone for me, and took up way too much of the narrative.But apart from those relatively minor gripes, it was a sweet story that I enjoyed reading. I'm looking forward to reading Maggie's romance next, with Vim's half-brother.This book can be read as a standalone, but it's probably more enjoyable if you've read the prior books in the series first and you really start to get to know the characters. And it doesn't have to be read at Christmas-time!

I truely enjoy Ms. Burrowes voice in these books and this was at least as good as the first book (The Heir). Ms. Burrowes has a lovely writing style. The story is told more through the voices of the main characters than their thoughts. Many stories get bogged down in endless mental dithering by the H&H, but these books do not.Plot: Sophie finds herself in charge of an abandonded baby, just before Christmas, with no idea how to care for it. Vim finds himself unexpectedly thrown into the role of mentor, as he delays his travels to help Sophie get settled. Here is where the book lost a star for me. The plot is a little too contrived. How could a Duke's daughter really end up alone with a baby, with not even a servent? How would a man of Vim's station know so much about caring for a baby?That being said, the bonding that takes place between the H&H over the few days they are together is sweet and believable. The love scenes are medium hot, not steamy, but satisfyingly warm. The story is quite well done. The one complaint that I had about her first three books was the extreme brevity of the HEA. This is not the case for this book. This book has a lovely ending with lot's of time to savor the HEA.

Once you get past the improbability of the set-up, this is a sweet and spicy romance with enough complications to keep you reading.

Just ok, seemed to drag on forever.