#Somerset Stories

[pollyssecretlibrary]

"A Lady of Conscience", by Mimi Matthews

(Release date - July 30th, 2024)

[cameracourt]

Cover Reveal: "A Lady of Conscience" by Mimi Matthews

I’m ecstatic to be part of the cover reveal for an upcoming Mimi Matthews novel, A Lady of Conscience, the 5th book in her acclaimed Somerset Stories series. The book releases July 30, 2024, and you can preorder now! Check out the details below for the plot synopsis and preorder details. Visit Mimi’s website for more info & all the preorder links! About the Book A Victorian bluestocking with a…

[ardley]

Different tracks

Photographed by Freddie Ardley - instagram

[guinevere-of-smiths]

I still think about the absolut Disaster (affectionate) an AU where TUH MC romanced John and still goes through with marrying Francis against her will could have been.

I mean, picture it. MC is married to Francis. MC still loves John. John still loves MC. Francis knows they still love each other and feels guilty that both of them are suffering. John feels guilty both that he stands in the way of his brother having a happy marriage and that he resents Francis for being married to the woman he loves. MC feels guily for the tension between the brothers. They all love each other but that love only causes pain because their unhappiness magnifies that of the others. John is too dutiful to consider an affair with his brother's wife. They can't stay away from each other. Staying away from each other is painful. Being together, but always forced to hide, would be moreso.

Francis still loves his wife's dead sister and all he sees when he looks at her is Amelia. Amelia who would hate that her baby sister is miserable.

MC knows he still loves her sister.

They all live together.

With his track record, John will probably just flee abroad within weeks. Then World War 1 happens, and while it is a distraction, John is also stuck in the trenches with no loving wife to write letters to, as he would have had in a slightly happier timeline.

Honestly, I want to write that AU just to describe Delia's horror when it all predictably crashes and burns.

[playchoicesconfessions]

Sent by anonymous

‘john somerset's really got me twirling my hair, and the indian john sprite is gorgeous im literally obsessed’

POST/CONFESSIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE MOD’S PERSONAL OPINIONS!

[roseythorne]

sigh… i love them….

[sleepingpillcorporation]

So in love with him right now

[bliphany]

“What do we any of us have but our illusions?

And what do we ask of others but that we be allowed to keep them?”

— W Somerset Maugham

[puredoesnotmeankind]

Coming out as a John Somerset stan and will always be bitter how underrated TUH is.

[pollyssecretlibrary]

"A Lady of Conscience", by Mimi Matthews

𝐌𝐢𝐦𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐰'𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟓 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 "𝐒𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬" 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 Release date - July 30th, 2024 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Somerset Stories” (“The Work of Art”, “Gentleman Jim”, “Return to Satterthwaite Court”, “Appointment in Bath”…) is my favourite of all of Mimi Matthews’ series. Until I was kindly given an ARC by Mimi Matthew's team, Kate’s and Charles’ story was the one that had the biggest piece of my heart, but now, just as I suspected when I read that book, Hannah and James are my most beloved couple. You see, I love all of them, somehow this is a story of two families that converge in several books because as it happens Charles and Hannah are siblings and the children of the couple from “The Work of Art” and Kate and James are two of the four children of the couple from “Gentleman Jim”. This is why these stories are so beautiful, they are becoming one family originated in two beloved stories. So you could say that “Somerset Stories” is actually one big story.

“A Lady of Conscience” is inspired by Jane Austen. The setting is Bath, where Austen lived for a big part of her life and where she set “Persuasion”. But it has more references to “Pride and Prejudice”, especially one very remembered scene from Austen’s novel. However, it is a homage to Austen that Mimi has written here, not a retelling or a story based on Austen’s works at all. All Janeites reading this book will have a happy place here, undoubtedly. James, 25, is the grandson of the renowned Gentleman Jim, a highwayman and a rogue, and also an heir to an earldom. He is convinced that most of the ton doubt the legitimacy of his claim to the earldom and thus the honor of his family. So, of all of his parents’ children, he’s the most stuffy, cold and controlled. Of course that is not his true personality, only his belief that he must show the world that he and his family are worthy.

Hannah is only 19, she is shy and compassionate. She’s incredibly intelligent and literate and she’s an advocate for the rights of animals, just like her mother. Under her initials, she writes articles educating people to care for their pets, and when any animal is under threat she becomes a strong and vocal woman. Hannah and James have met in the past thanks to Kate and Charles and ever since, James cannot stop thinking of her, although he believes he must marry someone of high standing. When Hannah has her debut in Bath rather than in London, the two families accompany her, and that’s how James finds that he’s undeniably attracted to her. I won’t go into detail with tropes and plot because you deserve to immerser yourself in this sweet story. Hannah and James could not be more different but little by little their love unfolds in such a slow and delicate way that you, like me, will taste every word. Mimi Matthews is the best pattisière of words. Like the recipe of the most elegant and impressive wedding cake, she excels at writing in the most lyrical and romantic ways. I cannot say how many times I sighed, smiled and almost swooned over her turns of phrase, her description of the dresses and the tailoring, the environment and more, her depictions of the characters, their personalities and their feelings are at the same time vivid and soft, like a painting by Fragonard, Watteau or John William Waterhouse. This book or even better said, this series, is not only for romance readers, it is for book lovers, for dreamers, for those who look for an incredibly well written world with the right balance between descriptions, narrative and dialogues and conversations. Speaking of dialogues, in here you will read the most beautiful expressions of love, brood and angst. Lastly, for a more complete experience reading this book, I suggest you open your music streaming app of choice and look up Josef Lanner’s Waltzes. You’re welcome.

[cameracourt]

Book Review: "Return to Satterthwaite Court" by Mimi Matthews

My love for Mimi Matthews and her stories knows no bounds. She has catapulted to the top of my list of all-time favorite authors. She does the historical romance genre SO WELL and stands out with her Regency and Victorian depictions in a sea of other books with those settings. Her new novel that’s out today (!!!) is an indie-released story that links two of her previous novels with a new…

[incohorace]

10 + 19 + 25

10. do any of your ocs contain any symbolism in themselves/their story?

im gonna answer this just for symbolism within character design because symbolism is everywhere in my stories i cant get enough of it 🤷‍♀️ i feel like my designs are never very visual or complex and therefore i dont use a lot of motifs so the only thing i can think of is cyrus's white ministerial hat/scarf that he wears when in the royal court.........its partly about Order & how love disrupts that (the way his affair (can i call it an affair if hes unmarried? its definitely illicit) with aurelius acts almost as an oasis and a place where he can let go of his usual layers of facades and the way love acts in direct opposition to any sort of rigid or hierarchical system) and partly about hidden identity and intentions & artifice in political settings & hidden motives and backgrounds

19. who is your most recent oc?

gian ciceli and his family and environs!! the cicelis are the noble/leading family of mizzene, a remote town overlooking a huge valley from a hilltop, and gian is the current lord & lady's second child and oldest son. the other main characters are lucia (his sharp older sister), beatriz and orlando (his lordly (?) parents), timeo (his dashing, gossipy older cousin), marcel (a handsome, mysterious knight who stops in mizzene for a night before continuing on to the nearby monastery to become a monk), leandra (a beautiful minstrel), his troupe (more musicians & possibly accompanied by a wealthy old man who is rather enamoured with leandra. in the pederasty sense 😐) and nino (gian's jovial uncle). and probably a lot more characters, including gian's little siblings, other cousins, other more distant relatives, other travellers passing through mizzene, some monks and nuns, some peasants from the lower level of mizzene (its arranged with the castle of the cicelis at the very top and then with descending levels) who come into contact with the cicelis, etc etc. it doesnt exactly have a plot yet, although i have a few hundred words of the opening, but themes include voice/art/song/speech/silence, nothingness/emptiness/otherness and change/upheaval/modernity (in the loosest sense because this is a vaguely 13th century setting alkfhlfgh)

25. are there any two characters that are like a dynamic duo/group?

kit gordon & jasper gordon............butch girl and vaguely effeminate blond twin brother who are both a little obsessed with their mother, completely inseperable, have the exact same girl issues (<- their words not mine) and are both weirdly popular. arent they wonderful. special mention to cyrus & aurelius for (nearly) overthrowing a despotic monarchy with the power of elaborate schemes, queer love and strategic positions in the royal court 😍

[ardley]

Blindmoor, Somerset

Photographed by Freddie Ardley

[guinevere-of-smiths]

TUH FICLET: The American Problem

Story: The Unexpected Heiress

Length: 889 words

Pairing: John Somerset / Celeste Hayes (f!MC)

Warning: There be late-story spoilers, dead relatives and some angst.

Summary: A slight rewrite of chapter 14. In the original, after Celeste Hayes finds out Lord Huntsbury's secret, John just stands by as she storms off to confront him. In this version, he doesn't, even if it means watching the woman he is in love with having one of the worst moments of her life.

**********************************************

Something was dreadfully wrong. John only had to catch one look at Celeste’s face, rushing past him out of the guest chamber, to be certain about that. Whatever had been left of the giddy mood their interlude on the balcony had caused evaporated in an instant.

And Celeste clearly had no intention of stopping to explain what the hell was going on.

“Celeste?” He took two quick steps to follow her. “What did you find?”

She just kept marching, like Nemesis on a war path. “I have some business to take care of.”

Oh no. No no no. One big lunge and he had a hold of her arm. Whatever she had found, she was about to rush headlong into something very, very foolish. He couldn’t let her do it. Not without an explanation. “Celeste, what was in there?”

“Unhand me at once!” For a woman of her stature, she was remarkably strong and nearly managed to rip her arm free from his hold. He quickly took hold of her other wrist, and only then noticed the letter and the photographs she was clutching, but had no time to dwell on the thought, as even finding her second arm caught didn’t make her cease struggling. Quite the reverse. If looks had been able to kill, he would have dropped dead on the spot. “John, let. Me. Go!”

„As soon as you tell me what the hell you think you are doing.” He gritted his teeth. Any moment, some servant, drawn by their voices, could stumble upon them. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Celeste, we’re a team, remember? Talk to me. Please.”

“He killed my sister!” she spat. “To hide his own dirty secret! Is that answer enough for you?”

“Who killed your sister?”

“Lord Huntsbury! He took care of his ‘American problem’! What else could that possibly mean?” She was nearly howling, her face patchy with rage, her entire body trembling. John knew that mixture of wrath and desperation and grief all too well. Which was exactly the reason why he would be damned before he let her go. Instead, he opted to give her a gentle shake. He didn’t want to treat her roughly, but he couldn’t have her rush headlong into disaster, either.

“Celeste, think on this a moment. You can’t simply charge into the crowd and accuse Lord Huntsbury of murder, not unless you happen to have found a written confession.” He tried to catch her gaze, but she kept looking over her shoulder, still trying to jerk her arms from his grasp every so often. “I know you’re upset. He will pay, I swear to you. But it’s in no one’s interest if we lose our heads now.”

“Oh no, but I’d very much like that bastard to lose his head! And now let me go, or I’ll scream!”

“Celeste, listen to me. You know I’m on your side. You-”

„If you were really on my side, you wouldn’t waste time like his!” A shudder went through her at that, and as if some threshold had been crossed, her strength seemed to wane, and she stopped struggling against him. Her eyes glistened in the electric light. “He murdered her, John,” she whispered. “She somehow found out that he had an affair and was paying the woman off and for that, he got her out of the way.”

It was a lucky coincidence that Celeste had finally calmed herself by then; in his shock, John’s hold got so slack that she could have easily freed herself from it. “Huntsbury did what?“

“Here.” She moved the hand holding the letter and the photographs. “Take them. I promise I won’t run.” She was still shaking, hugging herself as soon as he had let go of her wrists and instead taken the documents from her. For a moment, he was about to drop them and gather her into his arms, holding her until it was all better, but she was right: they didn’t have time to waste.

It took him only a few seconds to skim the contents of the letter, and then he looked at the pictures, which showed Lord Huntsbury, happy with a woman that definitely wasn’t the Marchioness. Other pictures showed the same woman with a baby in her arms. Oh Lord Huntsbury, you idiot. He read the letter again, pressing his lips together to keep himself from cursing.

“That does sound as if we should have a word with Lord Huntsbury.” He sought Celeste’s eye. “Or even better, take it to the police before he finds out that we know about this.”

She shook her head as if in a trance. “We don’t know whether he has the police in his pocket. And we can’t let him disappear and destroy evidence tonight.”

At least she was starting to think again. He took that as a good sign. It wasn’t as if he could blame her; the Lord alone knew how much he wanted the man to suffer for what Amelia’s murder had done to Francis, his parents and to her. “We will have to involve the police at some point, Celeste. I hate to admit it, but we can’t play judge, jury and executioner.”

Struggling for countenance, she took a breath and met his gaze. “What do you suggest?”

[farizrz]

List all MC and Lis who use type body male adventurer

- Human MC Blades/DS

- Sam D. (TNA)

- John S. (TUH)

- Cassidy C. (RT)

- Attorney (Surrender)

- Trystan Thorne (CoP)

- Clarke (TPS)

- Nate (Sunkissed)