Review: A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson

Title: A Countess Below Stairs
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Series: Stand-alone
Genre: Historical Romance (YA)
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After the Russian Revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian countess, has no choice but to flee to England. Penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as a servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination. Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties–not to mention her instant attraction to Rupert, the handsome Earl of Westerholme. To make matters worse, Rupert appears to be falling for her as well. As their attraction grows stronger, Anna finds it more and more difficult to keep her most dearly held secrets from unraveling. And then there’s the small matter of Rupert’s beautiful and nasty fiancée….

My friend Kayla also recommended this to me and I’m really glad she did because I enjoyed reading A Countess Below Stairs a lot.  There wasn’t as much romance in this story as there was in A Company of Swans.  I did want a little more romance, but the story was still heart-warming and engaging so it made up for the lack of romance.

Again, the story was very clean, which I loved.  Eva Ibbotson does a wonderful job of drawing you into the story.  (Because of this, I’m going to look into her other books as well.)  Once I reached a certain point, I didn’t want to put the book down because I wanted to know what happened to the characters and if all would become right in the world.  And, once I finished, I had to read a couple of the more tender parts over again.

Again, as with A Company of Swans, my only disappointment was that I wanted more; it ended too soon.  The images of the book kept playing in my head like a movie.  Unfortunately, it ended like a movie just as you got to the resolution or good part.  I wanted to see the hero and heroine interact more.  Maybe, that’s why I love the Twilight Saga so much; Stephenie Meyer gives me that, even if other readers are disappointed.