I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. I love the cover! The story was really good and I highly recommend.

this was a short read but it really packed a lot in this book. The characters were great and I loved the time period, this was a lot of fun to read.

This novella was not what I was expecting but enjoyed it. Lady Sophia is not your typical character. She is looking for adventure and wants to get away from her boring aunt. Henry is an entitled gentleman who thinks nothing of spending his fathers money. However, there is more to Henry than we are first led to believe.

This story takes you to 1700's Vienna where Sophia is a spoil young woman looking for adventures and she does find it in all different directions and more so cause she is hiding all of this from her Aunt. Character Sophia is a developing work as you read about her character and her life with some excitement and pleasing only Sophia.Pamela Stephen,she does a very great job with developing Sophia way of living.. Received from Net Gallery .

An enjoyable book to read. It was short but interesting. The main characters were predictable but honest. I liked the story and the ending was not what l expected. If you want a quick short read to enjoy then l recommend that you read this book.

Venice 1720. For Sophia fresh from a English countryside village it was all what she had dreamed of but with a repressive aunt whom she was accompanying, the art and beauty of Venice was being denied her. Sophia was no frightened miss and was determined to enjoy herself in this chance of a lifetime and this she did.
Henry on the other hand was sent off to the Continent to "repent" for his many transgressions! he was not repenting in the least but enjoying himself to the utmost. When his father died suddenly, he realized the depth of his responsibilities and had to return to England to face upto them.

They meet up once again in different circumstances, and the effect they have on each others lives is part of this novella.

The story is light hearted and since it is a very short one we are not able to see how it is going to develop further. Hopefully there will be a sequel.

This wasn't a great read. It begins by prefacing that this is a novella based on how two characters from another series by the author met. I think thats where a big issue lay was that it was quite confusing to begin with. It was set up in a way where you were meant to know at least a little about the characters and as I did not I struggled. The perspective changes along with the writing style didnt help with this issue as it swapped between the speakers thoughts (first person) and more generalised thoughts of people in the room (third person). The formatting also caused a little confusion but I'm overlooking that as it is just a superficial error that can be fixed or could be just an error in my copy.
The plot had an interesting idea behind it but ultimatley because of the lack of chemistry between the main characters I didn't have much interest in reading the novel as I didn't care about their relationship. I finished it because of the length of it (only 66 pages) but I was deflated by the end with no interest in what occured.
Maybe if you are a fan of the series you would enjoy this as you have pre-knowledge and an interest in the characters but based on this novella alone I sadly don't recommend it.

Miss Sophia Pocock is looking for adventure in Venice but she has gone with her aunt who is very sedate and does not want to go out to do the things Sophia would like. She meets Sir Henry Jenkins. He is needing a wife with money when he returns to England. Sophia needs a husband she can control. it is highly unlikely the two will suit. The story could be good but ends rather abruptly.

3.5 stars

This Novella certainly had potential. Sophia is a interesting combination of contrasts, keen to be adventuorous and then restricted by the cultural mores. Like others I found the ending an interesting twist. It appears Sophia is a minor character in another of this authors work and I'm tempted to look out for that one. It was a relaxing short read.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received this book complimentary from NetGalley but all opinions are my own.
I just didn’t like this. The characters and plot were dull. I couldn’t get into it at all. I disliked how you jump right into the story but there was no real action, so it leaves out a bunch of the background that may have made it more interesting. I don’t know. I just didn’t find Sophia or Henry to have appeal. Some of the plot points were just predictable. I don’t think I’d read anything else by this author.

Lady Sophia follows Miss Sophia Poncock on her trip to Venice, where she meets two men after getting into a splashy situations. The book follows her through her many adventures - both physical and emotional - with them, while also introducing us to a full cast of characters.

Lady Sophia is an interesting story that is fairly unique when compared with other romance novels. For example, the language changes in the story (from modern language to Austen-ish language) made it more accessible for the regular reader in my opinion, and added a different touch to the story.

I do think that the character portrayal of Lady Sophia is not yet fully fledged, and could still have been developed though the story rests as a novella. For example, her character seems to be somewhat prone to jealousy and envy during some parts of the story, while appearing amical and proud in other points of the story. This was a bit confusing for me, and may impact other readers as well. Although, otherwise, I enjoyed this reading experience, greatly!

The twist at the end of the story was also a bit unexpected, and I think the author had an interesting portrayal of late-1700s Venice without being too snobbish. If you're looking for a story to cuddle up with while drinking a hot beverage, Lady Sophia fits perfectly with this holiday or winter season.

ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ ɴᴇᴛɢᴀʟʟᴇʏ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪꜱʜᴇʀ ꜰᴏʀ ɢʀᴀɴᴛɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ᴀᴄᴄᴇꜱꜱ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ.

There was quite a lot I liked about this short story. It kept my attention and I wanted to see how it was going to play out, particularly as it didn't quite go the way that I expected. So why haven't I given it a better rating? Well, for all that, there was something missing, for me at least. I don't really want to give away any of the plot points, but I will say that I think that there could have been more from one of the characters point of views. In fact, this character appeared to have just a minor supporting role, but that wasn't really the case at all. This isn't a romance, because despite being a story about how a young couple meet and get together, it's almost entirely lacking in romance.
I enjoyed the righting style, but it just needed something more.

This wasn't for me. I didn't care for the characters, which ranged somewhere from dull to insufferable and were incredibly underdeveloped. I didn't particularly care for the writing either, as there was just so much telling rather than showing. And for such a short story, bits of information were repeated a little too often for my taste. I understand that this is a prequel, so maybe it would have been much more interesting if you were already familiar with the characters and Pamela Stephen's writing, but I don't think it works on its own.

I received this as an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

That ending was so abrupt, I’m not at all certain what to make of it. And apparently this is a prequel novella that must be read after you’re introduced to the characters in the full length novel. I found the characters difficult to root for, and sad.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This was a quick historical read. I will say while I liked it I felt like it ended abruptly with questions unanswered. I feel like there was more to the story that she left unfinished.

This is not my usual genre, I don't often pick up Historical Fiction and this is a Georgian-Era story set in Vienna and England, but i found this novella to be a quick fun read!

An amusing book, in which Sophia is bored with her aunt in Venice, and seeks pleasure elsewhere by sneaking out of the house to pose nude for an artist. The ending is something I will not reveal, for fear of spoiling the novella, but it is a good read, and the consequences of her action are unexpected, at least to me.

I enjoyed this novella. It was a quick read for me took me about 30-40 minutes in all. I haven’t read this author before but I enjoyed her writing style. Will look for more!

How good it is to broaden one’s reading.
A good novella, short story can open up a whole new section of the library for you. Revealing a new or little known genre and introducing a new author to you.
Being a member of NetGalley also gives flight to this fancy as publishers given advanced reading copies of the latest book releases for a fair and honest book review.

Lady Sophia is not my kind of book. I had never heard of the writer, an author of eighteenth century historical fiction. More like ripped bodices and Mr D’Arcy types than dead bodies and Mr Pink.
But it is set in Venice, so Lady Sophia has been read and here is my review.

Interestingly written, a story in itself taking two characters from her first novel Artists and Spies. Sophia Polock and Sir Henry Jenkins are imagined some thirty years earlier when they first meet in Venice.

Henry and Sophia are similar creatures at a time when the lives of young people were so different in terms of status, wealth and gender.
Sophia is seeking adventure; but inhibited by needing a chaperone, an elderly Aunt who it seems would never approve of fun.

Henry has been sent away in disgrace; a lothario type keen to have fun and unaware the money he is spending in lavish clothes and expensive lodgings is whittling away his inheritance.

They meet in unfortunate circumstances but both see a measure of their own destinies being achieved through each other.

Loved the craft of the story; the care for each chapter alternating between these two young people. The story, although short, is extensive in its emotions and scope to develop each character. It appears in keeping with the subject and period set but has fun and humour to make it relevant and interesting to today’s readership.

I’m bigging up historical fiction. Might yet read Jane Austen but meanwhile full of praise for my new find, author Pamela Stephen and keen to read Artists and Spies.

Pamela Stephen's Lady Sophia confused me. It's not a bad story, but it didn't speak to me and I do not feel it developed enough for readers who are unfamiliar with Stephen's Artists and Spies.

I understand the novella is a prequel, but this story seems written for an audience who is already connected to Stephen's characters and invested in the world they inhabit. As someone who was not in the know, I felt distinctly disadvantaged and struggled to catch up for lack of character development and world-building.

I will note to enjoying the lively pacing and tonal quality of Stephen's writing, but the characters and content of Lady Sophia did not spark my imagination or inspire interest in the full-length novel.