Wentworth Hall [REVIEW]

Title: Wentworth Hall

Author: Abby Grahame

Pages: 276

Eighteen-year-old Maggie Darlington has turned into an entirely different person. The once spirited teen is now passive and reserved. A change Lord and Lady Darlington can’t help but be grateful for.

It’s 1912, and the Darlingtons of Wentworth Hall have more than just the extensive grounds to maintain. As one of Britain’s most elite families, they need to keep up appearances that things are as they have always been…even as their carefully constructed faÇade rapidly comes undone.

Maggie has a secret. And she’s not the only one…the handsome groom Michael, the beautiful new French nanny Therese, the Darlingtons’ teenage houseguests Teddy and Jessica, and even Maggie’s younger sister Lila are all hiding something. Passion, betrayal, heartache, and whispered declarations of love take place under the Darlingtons’ massive roof. And one of these secrets has the power to ruin the Darlingtons forever.

When scandalous satires start appearing in the newspaper with details that closely mirror the lives of the Darlingtons, everyone is looking over their shoulder, worrying their scandal will be next. Because at Wentworth Hall, nothing stays secret for long.

This book reminded me of The Luxe series by Anna Godbersen. It seems like the Gossip Girl of the time. I like finding gossip and secrets as much as the next girl, but I like a bit of mystery too. I figured out Maggie’s secret about 40 pages in. I figured out Therese’s about 120 pages in. It made me wonder why nobody in the book figured these out, but maybe they didn’t think these people would do anything like that.

If you flip through the book, you will find the little articles that had been sent to the paper. I actually only skimmed these. They were boring, mean and just repeated everything I already knew.

I liked Teddy at first (plus, I love the name). Actually, I think I liked him the whole time. I don’t blame him for the way he acted, it is totally understandable. But I hated his sister. I disliked that she was named Jessica (maybe because it is so commonly used today or maybe because it wasn’t a common name until the middle of the 20^th century). She was mean and spiteful for no reason.

Michael is the reason to read this book. So is Wesley. Um, yeah. They were awesome and swoon worthy.

I love Downton Abbey, and this book makes me want to stick to it and never pick up another book set in that time period again. Okay, that was harsh. I did like it, just… compared to DA, it sucked.

I rate this: 3/5