They’re rakes, rogues, gamblers, and authors of salacious Gothic novels.  They’re the Sharpe siblings, dubbed by society as the Hellions of Halstead Hall.  But the Sharpes have a surprise in store for them: their grandmother is threatening to disinherit them all if they don’t all settle down and get married within the next year.  Oliver, the Marquess of Stoneville, is livid at his grandmother’s pronouncement; there’s no way his money-draining estate can support his siblings as they’ve grown accustomed.  So Oliver comes up with a plan.  He’ll call his grandmother’s bluff by bringing home a prostitute as his fiancée.  Oliver’s brilliant idea hits a snag, however, when he rescues Maria Butterfield and her cousin from a disaster.  Maria, a pretty American heiress, is in London to find her missing fiancé.  Oliver strikes a deal with her: he’ll hire a Bow Street Runner to find her fiancé if she masquerades as his bride-to-be.  Their agreement would have been perfect…were it not for the passion that instantly ignites whenever the two are near one another.  Can Oliver convince Maria that she’s the one woman who can tame the Sharpe family’s most notorious hellion?

The truth is out – the Hellions of Halstead Hall is the most exciting, engaging series to debut this year!  Sabrina Jeffries is a master at penning entertaining and bright historical romances, and The Truth About Lord Stoneville is just the latest in a collection of fabulous books by this talented author.

Maria is one of those intelligent, plain-speaking females the ton looks askance at.  In other words, she’s an American, and not one born in high society America either.  She’s caring and compassionate, and doesn’t back down from anyone or anything, which is why I absolutely adored her.  She was the perfect heroine for Oliver, who fans of Ms. Jeffries’s previous series, the School for Heiresses, will remember as a friend of the majority of the books’ heroes.  Oliver is a man understandably wounded by his past.  The tragedy of his parents’ deaths left a mark on him, and he blames himself for what happened, and though I won’t spoil the book by revealing what happened or what Oliver does as a result, I will say it broke my heart and I yearned to see Maria help him heal.  Their road to happily ever after is filled with bumps along the way, but both the journey and the result are well worth it.

If there is one downside to The Truth About Lord Stoneville, it’s that I can’t wait for the next book in the series.  Jarret, Minerva, Gabriel, and Celia are all wonderful characters and each intrigues me, Minerva in particular.  Ms. Jeffries teases with a couple of male characters that I hope I will see much more of, and I dare say I hope they get books of their own if they are not Minerva and Celia’s heroes.  The Truth About Lord Stoneville is a wonderful story in its own right and starts the Hellions of Halstead Hall series with a bang.  Joyfully Recommended!