The House at the End of the Moor by Michelle Griep

 Opera star, Maggie Lee, has escaped the unwanted advances of a rich and powerful man and has hidden herself, disguised like a widow, on a isolated estate on the moors. One night her maid finds a man on the grounds who is injured and near to death.  Oliver Ward has escaped from prison where he been for 9 months after having been wrongfully accused of theft of a emerald necklace. As Oliver starts to recover, he and Maggie discover that they have both been wronged by the same powerful man. Together they have to decide if they will seek for justice and exoneration, while risking re-incarceration or worse, or take the safer route of hiding out indefinitely. 

After reading the heavy Olivetti book, I was ready for another escapist historical romance.  This one fit the bill nicely. The plot is well crafted and the main characters have realistic flaws they need to overcome. I have decided that the historical romances I like most are the ones where the couple have to overcome outside forces that are pulling them apart, instead of those where they are plagued with miscommunication and misunderstanding.  This is an example of the good ones, and I found the mystery element, and the obsessed whacko jailor character to be interesting.  The reader should beware that this author puts more overtly Christian passages in the book.  They sound very "born again" and I am not sure their attitude toward religion is very historically correct. Actually, there were several parts of the story that didn't sound very historically accurate, but they didn't bother me. I don't read these novels to learn about history.  I read them as a means of entertainment and escape. (320 p. 2020)