At Somerton: Cinders & Sapphires by Leila Rasheed was a immersive audiobook that transports the reader. I enjoyed the narrator's pace and style. Thank you to Disney-Hyperion audio and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

I so badly wanted to like this because I have watched the Bridgerton seasons over and over, but I just couldn't get into this book. However, I am not usually a victorian-romance fan. I believe that this is a good book for those who are into that genre/niche. I appreciate the opportunity for reading the book. It was quality work and I am sure it does well with others.

If you are a fan of Downton Abbey, you will love this young adult series. Set at a British estate, it follows a young ladies maid and the young woman that she serves as they each strive to find their own happiness in a world dominated by men. I was really captivated by the stories of these two young ladies, and I hope to read more from this author.

Secrets and Sapphires is the first book in a new series called 'At Somerton' by Leila Rasheed. It's been billed as 'Gossip Girl meets Downton Abbey' and I was hugely excited to read it. While it's always been a bit hit-and-miss with historical fiction for me, I found myself to be hugely excited to read this book and I wasn't at all disappointed. In fact, I kind of want to read more in this series AND finally start watching Downton Abbey!

Despite the fact that there is quite a large cast of characters that crop up in this slim book, I didn't find myself at all confused, as I thought I might, between all of the characters and their different storylines. In fact, half way through reading Secrets and Sapphires, I thought to myself that I'm really quite glad that there a huge number of characters, as I'm hoping that there will be more stories to be told! I'd definitely be interested.

In this book, we are introduced to the residents, both upstairs and downstairs at Somerton Court. Despite living a great deal of time in India, the Averley family have returned following the disgrace of Lord Averley in the military in India. Lord Averley is to wed a wealthy widow and her and her children descend upon Somerton Court and shake things up a bit in terms of scandal and scheming and secrets. It was such fun to witness.

I really loved all of the characters, but the storylines that I was most interested in were that of Ada and Rose's. Ada is a lady and she's getting ready for her first season in London, but she couldn't care less about it. Instead, Ada daydreams not of balls and gowns but for the life of an Oxford student. She wants to make something of herself be educated. And despite the marriage proposal of an older family friend, Ada also finds herself with growing romantic feelings for the man's protege, Ravi. Despite how society would view such a match as Ada and Ravi, they continue to correspond with each other via the help of Ada's new maid, Rose.

I received a free digital audio copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

This book was billed to be a Bridgerton for young adults, but I found it to be more like Downton Abbey. The only relation to Bridgerton that I could find was the focus on the girls 'coming out' and being presented to the monarch. Otherwise, it felt very much like Downton, with the alternating between the upper class and the servants.

When I first heard this book was like Bridgerton, I was honestly curious how much like Bridgerton it is. It turns out the book is very much like the PG13 version of Bridgerton: same atmosphere, same societal rules (mostly), same discussions of politics (just in a different region of the world), and same love interests everywhere. I liked it. I'm really glad it's a series. I can't wait to read the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-arc of the audiobook of "At Somerton: Cinders & Sapphires" by Leila Rasheed.

Ada Avery has recently returned from India with her father and sister after her father's mysterious dismissal from his post. With her father's wedding and her own introduction to society looming new characters in her family's life and home will add more drama than Ada would expect.

I really enjoyed this novel. I found Rosie Jones to be a compelling narrator who did not take over the narration but let each character have his or her own voice. The story that Rasheed presents to us is captivating in the glamour of high society in England in the early 1900's. Ada's wish to go to Oxford and Sebastien's secret add to the heightened sense of drama.

While much of this story was predictable right from the start there were a few very interesting twists and turns as we came to the end that left the reader wanting more. Also I can't help but want the best for Lord Fintan and hope to see him again in the next books.

If you love Bridgerton and Downton Abbey this is a great fun YA version of these two wonderful stories.

Everyone at Somerton has a secret. Some are bigger then others, yet all of them are life changing. When two families come together to form one will these secrets be able to stay hidden? Or will the truth start to tear everyone apart. It isn't a coming out season if there isn't a little bit of drama.

I had not realized that I had already read this title seven years ago. However since it had been such a long stint between reading it I was able to enjoy listening to this title. I really enjoyed the narrator I think that they did a great job bringing the story and the characters to life. The biggest downside to this story is that it just dragged at certain parts, and others the story seemed to jump from one character focus to another. These qualities to the story did sometime take me out of the tale, and it would take a bit for me to be drawn back in. Overall though I do love some of the characters and their story arcs. I do think that the authors use of the original Cinderella story plot was very well rethemed in this book. It was not the main plot but still had such a beautiful arc through the story that the other characters traumas fit quite well within what was going on.

Thank you to Disney and NetGalley for allowing me to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook.

Im not gonna like I was interested in this solely for the Bridgeton and Downton Abby comparison. The writing was decent, and it had moments where it really explored things like women's rights, class issues, and the problems of India under British rule. Unfortunately there where a lot of tropes, mainly installed and I couldn't connect to the characters.

If you like Downton Abby, you may like this book.

This book left me so confused that I had to DNF it. I was intrigued by the premise, but I had such a hard time understanding what era this was set in that it just wouldn't let me get into the story because of the anachronisms. The writing was well done and the narrator was great, but I didn't believe in the relationship between Ada and Ravi and since that seemed to be the driving source for potential scandal I wasn't into it.

I have learned that when the blurb says "just like X series" it's not going to be like that series and you're left feeling betrayed.

Received an ARC thanks to NetGalley

This is a YA mix of Bridgerton with hints of a Cinderella tale
I thoroughly enjoyed the book (a first for me from this author)
Would happily read more

This is a fantastic addition to the YA Historical Fiction genre. Perfect for fans of Downton Abbey! The narrator really pulls the listener into the story. Great start to an excellent series!

At Somerton: Cinders & Sapphires is a cute little historical fiction that is appropriate for teens and YA. The story starts off with Ada and her family's return from India due to her father's disgrace.

In a Cindarella-esque twist, her father is marrying within days of their return to a snotty widow with three children, one of whom is the epitome of the wicked step-sister. On the boat from India, Ada shares a kiss with a stranger, Ravi, on deck and *poof* instalove. Ada spends much of her time angling for interactions with Ravi so she can tell them they can't be together and fielding the 3 marriage proposals she's received by the end of the book. The upstairs/downstairs staff get dragged into all of the family drama, turning life at Somerton into a complete soap opera. The character development was really good and the audio narration 5-stars. I liked that the story ended, but you were still curious about what will befall the characters in the next book in the series. But then, they included a few chapters of the next title, which did end with a cliffhanger of sorts, so now I have to get a copy of that one post-haste so I can find out what the hey-ho is about to happen to Lady Ada's latest proposal.

I really liked this story, its characters, and will definitely read more in the series, but if the instalove device is a pet peeve, this would not be a good book for you.