I recently bought a new kindle after my old one broke. For some reason I was unable to download this title from the cloud onto my kindle, therefore I will be unable to review this title. I am sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Miss Elisabeth Elham is an unlikely heiress. She never knew the curmudgeonly uncle who died suddenly and left her a fortune. She's proud, outspoken and independent—a definite challenge for London's fortune hunting suitors. As various determined gentlemen vie for her attention at balls, routs, picnics and parties, Elisabeth finds herself embroiled with a charming rake, a mysterious nabob, and an elegant neighbor. This would all be great fun, if only she wasn't so fascinated by the one man in London who's not trying to woo her...
This was a cute read that was a little bit different from standard historical romances. I liked Elisabeth and her family and enjoyed watching them throughout the book. The romance was ok and thus just a three star. I look forward to reading more from this author.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

This book was definitely different from most historical romances that I have read. There was no clear hero of the book and that really took away a lot of the enjoyment for me. As one who really likes to see the relationship build, I was disappointed to not have that in this story.

Without spoiling it, I really like who her hero turned out to be, but I wish we had gotten a lot more of the building if their relationship. This was just an OK read for me...

Jane Ashford pens a romance filled with adventure. I enjoyed this book a lot and hope there is more to come!

Good regency writing. Very period appropriate with the smiles and laughes to boot.

Nothing is more satisfying than delving into a regency romance and being swept away by the witty dialogue and phrases of good period writing. Last Gentleman Standing is a superbly written story of a young woman who gets an inheritance from her uncle and becomes an heiress. Elisabeth Elham gathers her cousins for company and one as a companion, and set out restoring her residences, while she deals with being sought out as the newest in society. Before she knows it she has the attention of not one but 3 gentleman pursuing her. Never thinking that she would find love, she is caught off guard when she believes she found someone to love after all.

Elisabeth has a good head on her shoulder and it shows when she nicely navigates her encounters with each of the gentleman pursuing her. With each new acquaintance she meets the story develops into a mystery because people are not what they seem to portray. The secondary characters complement the story well and make it quite entertaining. Throw in a little danger and it was an absolute captivating story. Fans of regency romance will absolute enjoy this story.

I have read several of Jane Ashford's books. But this one was not one of my favorites. I found it hard to follow all the conversations going on, not enough descriptive thoughts. I read this was one of her older books that was republished. Maybe that was the wiring style 20 years ago but not what I'm used to reading today.

Thanks SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca and netgalley for this ARC.

I didn't realize this book was published in the 80's and was a reprint. its not up to her usual snuff

Thanks SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca and netgalley for this ARC.

This book was published a long time ago and now released. I 'dont like this type of thing. It's not up to her usual stuff and it's noticeable

My first book from this author but definitely not my last! What a delightful read, a total throwback to the Vic Lit i read as a teenager but with a modern voice. Very much like a Georgette Heyer. Not at all what I was expecting but a fantastic reading experience because the surprise was worth it!

This is the first book I have read by Jane Ashford but definitely not the last! What a wonderful book. Jane kept you guessing from the very beginning until the very end. Her story line and characters are awesome. I look forward to reading her next book.

Mr. Julius Tilling, a solicitor with Tilling and Bates, is visiting Mr. Elham at Elham House in Berkley Square only to find the elderly Mr. Elham to be suffering from a bad case of gout. Mr. Tilling has come to tell the man that he has found the three heirs he asked about. There are two nieces and a nephew remaining of his family members. They are Anthony, age 17, and Belinda, age 18, brother and sister, who currently live with an uncle. Mr. Elham’s other niece, Miss Elisabeth Elham, age 24, is a teacher at Miss Creedy’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies, located in Bath. Now, Mr. Elham wants his will written. After it was signed, a month later he died.

It turns out that Miss Elisabeth Elham is the sole heir to her uncle’s estate. When contacted, she informs Mr. Tilling that she will invite her cousins, Anthony and Belinda, to live with her. She is also advised to have a companion to act as chaperone to avoid scandal, so she asks her distant cousin, Lavinia, to fill that role.

When Elisabeth travels to fetch her cousins, she stops by Willowmere, an old home that she also inherited that needs some work. She has found that both residences are in dire need of remodeling. While there, she takes a walk and meet Derek Wincannon. The man is pleasant and his family helps get her and her cousins introduced into society.

She meets Lord Darnell who claims to be looking to marry an heiress and is quite humorous about his situation. She also meets Mr. Jarrett who tries to pressure her to marry him. She then meets a man from Martinique who tells herethat Mr. Jarrett had been married to the man’s sister who died and he blames Mr. Jarrett for her death.

She finds herself surrounded by suitors, some obviously after her money, but are all of them like that?

This book is a whirlwind of social events and lots of characters. Several men have shown interest in Elisabeth but she is not sure whom to trust. But when she is thrust into danger, the true hero shows himself to rescue her. It is a sweet, clean novel but I found it to be a bit long with many characters to keep track of. However, I have long been a fan of Jane Ashford and look forward to reading more of her novels.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Last Gentleman Standing was originally published under the name Bluestocking and was only just made available again after 25 years.

This is more of a historical women's fiction with a side of romance. It kind of makes me think of what a newer Austin-esk books might read like, where it's more about Elizabeth and her cousins getting to know one another and how they are dealing with joining high society and all the troubles that come with it followed up by romance. It was a nice read I did enjoy it but for a romance it took way too long for that to happen and the ending seemed a bit rushed. It is third person POV but entirely from Elizabeth's perspective, so my greedy little mind doesn't find out what the other characters are thinking and their motives.

Elizabeth inherited her cantankerous miser of an uncle's fortune, all because she never asked for a hand out, and it was his way of shocking society. Elizabeth isn't your typical English miss, she has been for the last five years been a teacher at a boarding school, she is very intelligent and takes the news of becoming an heiress in a calm and practical manner. She even invites her two cousins, Anthony and Belinda, who were left out of the will to come live with her in London. Elizabeth has her work cut out for her both houses are in shambles from neglect and because her mother's side of the family disowned her for marrying beneath her she has no connections in the London society, for the exception of some cousin she met once as a child before her mother died. Luck for her her solicitor is a really good one and manages to track down her second cousin, Lavina, who is a hoot. Along the way Elizabeth met a neighbor of her country estate, Derek Wincannon. It isn't until later she finds out he is the son and heir to a Viscountcy. Derek is immediately taken with this beautiful but unusual woman and even goes out of his way to please her, unfortunately Elizabeth is kind of oblivious to it until almost the end of the book, more like three quarters of the way in.

Lavina is old friends with a Duchess who likes Elizabeth's straight forward manner and agree to sponsor Belinda and Elizabeth into society. Tony is enthralled by London and gets carried away, and it leads him into some trouble. Elizabeth also meets James Darnell who is an admitted fortune hunter, and falls in love with Elizabeth, fortunately Elizabeth is smarter than that. She also meets a mysterious Mr. Jarrett and a woman reporter who is aspiring to be a published poet.

Overall, the story was good it was definitely well written I like what happened I just think it was too much about everything else and not enough about Elizabeth and Derek.

A lighthearted reprint for Jane Ashford fans

A regency novel in the Georgette Heyer mode.
The story has interesting characters, treachery, villainy, a mystery, interesting characters and an heiress newly come.
Miss Elisabeth Elham is named as the heir to her Scrooge type miserly uncle. Upon finding out about her fortune she immediately takes up her two hitherto unknown cousins, Belinda and Tony who were also in the running as heirs to share in her good fortune.
Earning her living as a teacher, Elisabeth proceeds to London and the pace of the plot becomes dizzying with the elements added. These include a handsome country neighbor, a charming fribble of a would be swain, a Duchess friend of her chaperone and long lost older cousin Lavina, a mysterious planter Mr. Garrett, a kidnapping and so much more. And let's not forget the unrepentant canine Gowser!
A pleasant read.

A NetGalley ARC
(September 2017)

Last Gentleman Standing was originally published as Bluestocking in 1980. Knowing that, I'm inclined to be a little more forgiving of the few minor things that bothered me about this book (things like the protagonist being referred to as 'the girl' in speech tags and such).

Elisabeth Elham is a delightful heroine for any era. Raised poor but genteel, she is teaching at a private seminary for young ladies when a solicitor tracks her down and informs her that she is the sole heir of her wealthy, curmudgeonly uncle.

I thought, as I read the book, that what happened to Elisabeth must be rather like winning the lottery today. With your life suddenly transformed by enormous wealth, what would you do? Would you treat those around you with grace and respect, would you be able to recognize those of you who are only interested in you for your riches? And of those, would you prefer those who are open about their reasons for seeking your friendship, or those who lie and conceal?

Elisabeth handles her changed circumstances with grace and aplomb. Despite never having had any suitors before, she handles those who appear expertly. I have to confess that I was rather rooting for her to end up with a penniless but honest gentleman who treated her wonderfully, rather than the eventual winner. She honestly seemed to have more chemistry, and more fun, with the former.

While this book was originally written almost 40 years ago, it stands up at least as well as a piece of Georgette Heyer's work. Read it with the understanding that it was written in a different time, and you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Five stars.

This book was a miss from for me, although there were elements of the book I did enjoy. . What I liked about this book was how the h was a spinster who was kind enough to include her family in her newly found fortune. I enjoyed reading about how she learned to navigate being part of a family and also learned to navigate her new life circumstances. However, I enjoy much more passion when reading a romance. The h and the gentleman she has an HEA with have very few interactions in the story. I like to see more chemistry in my romance novels. I felt like I kept waiting for a romance to happen and it never really did. After reading the story, my main thought was, That's it? Overall, I would say it's well written and there were only a few grammar errors. The story itself just missed the mark for me.

Witty and Charming.
Elizabeth is an independent lady of four and twenty, having had to work for her living as a teacher since the death of her father. When the uncle she has never met dies and leaves her his entire fortune, she suddenly becomes an heiress with a dilapidated house in the country and a house in Town in dire need of re-decoration. Along with these responsibilities, she takes into her home her two young cousins, who had received nothing from their uncle because they had dared to ask him for assistance when they were orphaned a year earlier! Whilst not in need of marriage herself she offers to give her beautiful cousin Belinda a Season in London and finds to her surprise several men that appear attracted to her. With eccentric characters, balls and abductions I thoroughly enjoyed this Regency romance. Far too many of the stories published in recent years are flawed with historical inaccuracies and sex scenes. Whilst I don't mind the latter in contemporary novels, they feel out of place in a Regency novel unless they take place after the wedding. So unlike some reviews that I have read, I was not disappointed with this story but could instead read it without feeling that the author was taking liberties with the era in which it takes place.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Last Gentleman Standing is a Regency-era romance novel written by Jane Ashford. It was first published in 1980 under the title Bluestocking and appears to have been out of print for 25 years.

Elisabeth Elham is a twenty four year old schoolteacher who receives a large inheritance from an uncle she has never met. She rendezvous with two slightly younger cousins who she has also never met, and they are joined by an older cousin to serve as chaperone. This cobbled together family begins renovations on their country estate and also sets up a house in London.

Naturally, a young heiress attracts a great deal of attention, and Elisabeth is introduced to a great number of people, including several young gentlemen who are very interested in furthering their acquaintanceship. Unfortunately for them, Elisabeth has no interest in marrying anyone!

This is very much a traditional Regency story, so there are no explicit scenes. Instead, the narrative focuses on Elisabeth and her cousins’ adjustments to life in Town. There is an element of mystery, and a series of startling events; these add some suspense to the story.

I would recommend Last Gentlemen Standing. This is a fun and light book, and my only criticism would be that Elisabeth appears too forgiving after a very serious betrayal. Ashford has a very lively style of storytelling, and combined with engaging characters, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. I am looking forward to reading more of Jane Ashford’s books in the near future!

This an elegantly written romance of old. The digital revolution has made it possible to reissue this 25 years old novel that will please the fans of slow burn, sweet love stories with a plot rich in entertaining characters, plot twists and witty dialogues, but unfortunately not too much passion and no insight in the protagonists's intimate moments which are supposed to come after the happy ending since there are none in the book.

While I do not mind a romance without explicit sex scenes, I do favour at least ardent feelings, as was the case of the apparently cold Mr Darcy when he delivered his first passionate proposal to Elizabeth Bennet (in what came out as the worst pick-up lines ever unfortunately...). Compared to that explosion of repressed passion in an equally sex-free tale, the slow building of the romance in this book sounds somewhat lukewarm even when Hero and heroine eventually confess their mutual love to each other.

However, the story is entertaining and with the due warnings for those who prefer something "stronger" it is a pleasant read.