Orphans from the Storm by Rita Bradshaw

Orphans from the Storm Reviews

• 
  Sandra

  Bride at Bellfield Mill by Penny Jordan
  
  In 1903 young widow Marianne Brown respects the dying wish of her late husband Milo and takes his baby son to Bellfield Mill, Lancashire, the place where Milo was born. Once there she meets the stern Master of Bellfield (Heywood Denshaw) owner of the mill. Eventually she acquires the job as housekeeper. They become attracted to each other when Heywood becomes ill and she nurses him back to health.
  
  This was an enjoyable read. I really liked Marianne, she was a sweet and caring heroine. Heywood was quite angry and unlikable at the beginning of the story, but he got more likable as the story progressed. The romance seemed to move fast towards the end of the book and they went from dislike to love quite quickly. I enjoyed the secrets/mystery surrounding Marianne and the baby. There was no Christmas in the book until the end.
  
  A Family for Hawthorn Farm by Helen Brooks
  
  In 1899, young, overworked, and poor Connie Summers goes home from work one day and collapses on the street from pleurisy. Her friendly neighbor and a kind gentleman (wealthy farmer Luke Hudson) come to her rescue. Connie is anxious to get home to her sister and brothers (their parents passed away). When Luke sees how hard-up Connie and her young siblings are he takes them to his farm to live in a cottage and offers Connie a job (when she is better). Connie gratefully accepts. Connie gets to know her neighbors and really gets on with Luke’s mother, whom she ends up taking care of when she becomes ill. But what will Connie do about the attraction she has for Luke…
  
  This was a sweet romance. I liked Connie, she was very brave and a hard worker, trying to keep her family together and out of the workhouse. I also liked Luke, though he had his surly moments. I liked how Connie and Luke’s mother grew close. I enjoyed the dramatic part when Connie and her siblings joined some other village youngsters for a bonfire and skating at the lake and what followed. Connie’s brother and another boy fell through the ice and Connie ended up trying to rescue them and fell in herself. I enjoyed the romantic Christmas Eve conclusion.
  
  Tilly of Tap House by Carol Wood
  
  Nurse Tilly Dainty works at Tap House surgery in 1920’s East London with elderly Dr. Tapper. When Dr. Tapper becomes ill his doctor nephew (Harry Fleet) steps in to temporarily take over his duties. Tilly and Harry become attracted to each other, but eventually Harry’s pretty lady friend (snobbish nurse Rosalind Darraway) comes to help out at Tap House. Will Harry marry Rosalind and move to the country to practice medicine, or stay at Tap House with Tilly, whom he is growing to love.
  
  I also really enjoyed this story. I’ve never read anything by this author and I found the story interesting. I liked a lot of the characters. Tilly was a good heroine and I liked how she looked out for three orphans that she had staying at Tap House with her. Harry was a fine hero. I loved the sweet and uplifting ending.
  
  An entertaining and heartwarming anthology. I found each story charming, even though I wish there was more Christmas in some of the stories.
• 
  Chantal ❤️

  THIS IS CHRISTMAS ANTHOLOGY BOOK.
  
  The first book is by Penny Jordan called Bride at Battlefield Mill and I would rate it 3 stars as I found it overly descriptive and filled with unnecessary facts and information. At one point I felt I was back in history class. The story itself was sweet and innocent with very little sexuality. Only one scene and it's not a completed act.
  So it's a case of CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR!
  Favourite scene was when the hero Haywood was sick and the heroine Marianne was taking care of him. That scene was steamy!
  
  
  
  The second book is Helen Brooks called A family for Christmas and i would rate this one 4.5 stars. It was almost perfect for me. This is a story of a relatively wealthy farmer Luke who finds and saves a young destitute woman Connie and her brothers and sisters. He sees her on the street as she has passed out and takes charge of her situation. He takes her and her siblings home with him in order to help her. She was weak and sick from the deplorable working and living conditions she was in.
  Now Luke is a widow but he is not a grieving one as he and his wife had a very troublesome relationship. I don't want to give the story away but it was clear that they were not a happy couple. It was a tragedy!
  Connie is a sweet soul who is only too happy to finally have a warm place to sleep and food for her and her siblings. She fall head over heels for this hero and wants only to heal him.
  The hero fights against his feelings for her as he feels that she could not possibly be as sweet natured and passionate as she seems. He was not willing to take a chance on another potentially disappointing marriage.
  But what happens when he is not the only one to notice Connie?
  I can't say but I LOVED IT!
  
  
  
  Now the third story by Carol Wood called Tilly of Tap house and I would not rate it at all as it was so boring that I have never managed to read it completely. I didn't feel the connection with any of the MCs in this book. Just was not engaging enough for me.
  
  
  
  Therefore, I would recommend this book as a short Christmas historical story.
  Worth a read and a reread! I've personally read these two short stories at least 4 times.
  
  
  
  Safety in book one is heroine is a virgin and hero no real information about his past other than he was married before, without drama of any kind. Book two is heroine is a virgin also and the hero has been married but he lives with his mother in a small community so his sexual encounters are very few and far between if any. Some very light OW/OM drama with another woman wanting to become his wife and the heroine being friendly with another man.
• 
  *CJ*

  I'm just gonna be reviewing "A Family for Hawthorn Farm", which is the story of Connie and Luke.
  
  Set in 1800's when life was filled with struggle and difficultly for the poor, this tale is of orphaned Connie, who is desperately working hard to feed her four siblings, despite being extremely sick and exhausted. When one night, she collapses while returning from work, she is rescued by the widower and kind gentleman Luke Hudson.
  After he and his mother nurse her to health, Connie and her family repay the debt by working as a housekeeper for Luke, and eventually taking over the role of caretaker when his mother falls sick. But when they start developing feelings for one another, will their unlikely romance bloom?
  Very sweet love story between two likable characters. Little sex, minimal angst but overall leaves you feeling good.
  Also has a cute epilogue.
  
  Safe
  4/5
  
  P.S. Book begins with h 16, H 28. They marry she is 17+
• 
  Linda

  Before I start my review of this Christmas anthology, I need to mention the title or rather, multiple titles, to this book. In the US, it was initially published in 2007 as
  It Happened at Christmas. This was the book I read. Overseas, the same book was released with the title,
  Winter Waifs.
  
  Eventually,
  It Happened at Christmas was released on Kindle, but the title
  Winter Waifs was dropped and the new title became
  Orphans from the Storm. The only reason I assumed the change was made was because Rita Bradshaw used her original name and not her pseudonym, Helen Brooks. I mentioned all of this so you don't go out and buy more than one title of the stories.
  
  The constant theme all the stories shared were children and the name,
  Orphans from the Storm, was a much better title. Each story was eventually affected by Christmas time and/or winter.
  
  Penny Jordan's Bride at Bellfield Mill took place in Lancashire in 1903. Mrs. Marianne Brown had a baby and a secret when she stepped foot at the doors of Bellfield Hall desperately seeking employment. She'd been warned Master Denshaw was moody and had some dark secrets of his own since losing his young wife and son.
  
  I liked Marianne's character; she found the good in people, including Heywood Denshaw, whom initially hired her as his housekeeper. Unfortunately, the story covered only a few days and love came a little too quickly for my tastes to make it believable. Also, for those who prefer 'kisses only' romances, Heywood managed to intensely kiss and grope Marianne's breast while in his bed recovering from an injury in the mill. 3 stars
  
  Helen Brooks' A Family For Hawthorn Farm was my favorite story. Little did widower Luke Hudson know how his life would change when he offered to help Connie Summers and her siblings, Flora, Tommy, David and Ronnie. Farm life took on new meaning in Sunderland during 1899 and 1900 and it was all for the best. The entire novella took place over roughly one and a half years. The age spread, Luke's previous marriage and his position caused some tension, but it was mostly in his mind. I found it believable because he'd been burned before. When he realized he might have lost Connie to an accident, his confession and his proposal of marriage were sweet. The ending comes after they marry and have sex. 4 1/4 stars
  
  Carol Wood's Tilly Of Tap House found the reader in the inner-city community of Isle of Dogs in 1928. Mrs. Tilly Dainty, a widow, was both an empathetic nurse and a caring young woman of three homeless siblings temporarily saved from the streets of London. Her employer, Dr Tapper, was overworked when his nephew, Dr Harry Fleet, came to check on him. He ends up staying for an extended period of time to help out. Tilly and Harry clash between their views on modern medicine and the old ways of administering relief. Harry's character was written in a very caring manner. Unfortunately, his childhood friend visited and expected marriage. He'd been open to this idea until his work with Tap House and his unintended attraction to Tilly. Ms. Wood strings the reader along for a little bit before common sense took place. It was not as good as Ms. Brook's story, but better than Ms. Jordan's. 3 1/2 stars
  
  A side note: I couldn't help but notice several readers listed this book as a 'clean romance'. Carol Wood's story was the only one that was kisses only. If you want to read this anthology, it's available at openlibrary.org under the titles,
  Winter Waifs and
  Orphans from the Storm. Enjoy!
• 
  Sally Lindsay-briggs

  A collection of short stories is not my favorite genre, however I wanted to read Christmas themed stories and these were light, had appealing characters, were romantic, and set in the past, which made them different and fun. All 3 were well written and I wished there were more to read.
• 
  Maura

  Bride at Bellfield Mill - Penny Jordan - 2.5 / 5 - Marianne shows up at Bellfield Hall, owned by mill owner Heywood Denshaw, looking for work and toting a baby which we know immediately isn’t hers because she constantly refers to it as “the baby” instead of its name or “her son” . Denshaw very reluctantly agrees to let her be his housekeeper and Marianne, hearing all kinds of awful stories about him wonders if she should even be here...but she promised the baby’s father. When Denshaw is injured in a mill accident, Marianne needs to take care of him and the forced proximity brings her feelings to the surface. She loves him, but how can she tell him her secret?
  
  This started out very strong, with a great setting and a very gothic almost Jane Eyre like feeling...minus the baby of course. And Denshaw was properly mysterious since he’s gruff and unlikeable enough to be a “bad guy” but he’s well loved by most of his men and treats his workers beautifully. And then there’s the fever kiss that awakens Marianne’s feelings...and then everything falls apart. Because suddenly she claims to love him with absolutely no idea who he actually is or having anything more than a gruff interaction with him. And once he’s better he admits that he’s loved her all along and even longer because he knew all her secrets and loved her because of her good deeds even before he met her . And all of this loving stuff happens in super fast forward given how slowly (or normally) the rest of the story was paced. Not enough time spent establishing the romance in comparison to establishing the setting and the characters.Lot of potential, but this didn’t deliver on its promise.
  
  A Family for Hawthorn Farm - Helen Brooks - 3 /5 - Connie worked in a factory and barely managed support her younger siblings, keeping them out of the workhouse. But when she got sick and was terrified she wouldn’t be able to continue to take care of them, she was fortunately rescued by Luke, owner of Hawthorn Farm. He took in her and her siblings, gave them work and a place to live and basically saved their lives. Now, she’s working as his housekeeper and achingly in love with him, but she knows her station and that he could never want more than her hard work as a servant. But Luke has been longing for Connie from afar, but quite a few things hold him back. He’s loved, been betrayed and lost and is now a cynical, gruff and unromantic man and he honestly believes Connie deserves better.
  
  This was very Jane Eyre-ish. Luke isn’t as cruel as Rochester or anything, but in an attempt to protect himself (and later on her), he lashes out at her and is certainly less than loving. Connie is a bit Mary Sue and definitely a bit of a doormat, but she still has some strength and some spine in her. But she doesn’t really use it to take him to task for his treatment of her...instead she uses it to argue why they should be together. Although I did like this story, its pacing is a bit tough to handle. For a novella, this felt epically long. Maybe it’s because this spans a year and months would pass and nothing would happen between the characters except for some determination to get over the other. And yet for the most part I still liked this...maybe because of how much I liked Jane Eyre.
  
  Tilly of Tap House - Carol Woods - 3 /5 - Tilly works as a nurse at a surgery called Tap House, where she also lives and cares for the 3 orphans she’s taken in. When Dr. Tapper gets sick, his nephew, Dr. Harry Fleet, takes over for him, more or less changing the way things are done, but also intriguing Tilly with the possibility of romance. He’s a decent sort, but Tilly is beneath him in station, as evidenced by Harry’s current soon-to-be-betrothed arrangement with a high class woman. But Harry finds fulfillment serving the poor at Tap House and in working with Tilly. He thinks he might love her, but he’d have to give up the future he once dreamed of.
  
  This was kind of meh. It was interesting enough and I liked the interactions between the MCs and how they learn to work together and become friends, but this story kind of felt like it was on mute or something. There as a bit of chemistry between Harry and Tilly, but not enough. And the emotions I expected the characters to be feeling for each other weren’t quite coming through strongly enough. For example, Tilly is in love with a man who has shown no interest in her and she knows he’s about to leave the surgery and be married to someone else. She feels a lot of sadness at the idea of being alone and unemployed, but not so much at the idea of losing the man she loves. Harry for his part didn’t seem to struggle at all with the fact that he loved one woman but was actively considering leaving and marrying someone else. Plenty of emotional drama at outside stimulus, not so much in the romance department.
  
• 
  MissKitty

  My copy is entitled; It Happened At Christmas
  
  Bride at Bellfield hall 2⭐️⭐️
  Penny Jordan
  
  For a short story, it dwelt too much on the setting… the heroine arriving, their contentious meeting, the cleaning of the Hero’s badly neglected mansion. Then the Hero is injured and the heroine needs to nurse him amidst the squalor. So yes the author wasted a lot of page time on this. So the sudden declaration of feeling is abrupt, there is no relationship build up, unless you count one grope in the dark. Plus she is hiding a secret, that he knows all about anyway 🙄so whatever climax could have been had, fell apart as well.
  
  A family for Hawthorne farm 3⭐️⭐️⭐️
  Helen brooks
  
  Very very slow burn. The Hero rescues the heroine when she collapses in the street and brings her and her brothers and sisters to live on his farm.
  
  The Hero is very attracted to the heroine but he fights it because she is very young, and he has issues from his past that make him reluctant to ever commit again.
  
  It takes a year for them to get together, but its a sweet story.
  
  Tilly of Tap House 3.5⭐️⭐️⭐️
  Carol Wood
  
  I liked this one best of all, although the romance is a bit sedate. The tone is very gentle. The Hero steps in to help when his uncle, a doctor in a poor community, takes ill. He finds himself attracted to the heroine, his nurse assistant. She, herself comes from a hard life and is housing 3 orphans whom she has come to care for. The Hero is quite conflicted, he has been planning to marry the OW, and settle down to a comfortable country practice. He has known her from forever. But he finds himself relaxed and enchanted by the heroine and her little family.
  
  The resolution takes a bit too long, and the Hero stays engaged to the OW until almost the end. The reader doesnt get to see, nor is there an explanation of how he broke w her. He does so in the end, marries the heroine and they take the orphans as their own, with a cute little epilogue announcing the birth of their son.
  
  
  
  
• 
  Patricia Solla

  These were very nice historical romance Christmas stories.
• 
  Pam

  easy interesting short stories
• 
  Amy L’Abbe

  This book had 3 stories by 3 authors. I read "Tilly of Tap House" by Carol Wood only as I like medical heroes. I enjoyed the historical situated in London. It was nice to see the compassion between the characters and the caring of the homeless. Good read.
• 
  Gemma

  I'm a sucker for a Christmas romance, so I bought this book when I found it at my local thrift store. But this is one that isn't going on my keeper shelf.
  
  BRIDE AT BELLFIELD MILL started off well, but the author obviously ran out of pages. Right when things were just getting interesting, the characters suddenly decide that they're in love, which was hard for me to believe, given that the hero had delirious with fever and been at death's door for most of the book. It's pretty hard for the love to seem believeable when they barely spent any time together where the hero was conscious. I think this could have been a really memorable story, but the page restriction really hurt it.
  
  A FAMILY FOR HAWTHORN FARM was okay, if a bit cliched. The widowed hero who had a horrible late wife who hated sex and the saint of a heroine who was working herself to the bone to provide for her orphaned younger brothers and sisters has been done before. I also never really felt like I connected with the characters, so I found I wasn't all that interested in their story.
  
  TILLY OF TAP HOUSE was very difficult to get into. I found the author's writing style a bit awkward, where I had to read parts over a few times to grasp what was going on. There were also a lot of jarring point-of-view switches, which really inhibited the flow of the words.
  
  There are better Christmas romance anthologies out there.
• 
  Judy

  9/17/2010 Bride at Bellfield Mill- Penny Jordan.
  Great little story. You don't find out all the particulars until the last few pages and they end up being quite different then I thought.
  
  9/18/10 A Family for Hawthorne Farm- Helen Brooks
  
  9/18/10 Tilly of Tap House- Carol Wood
  
  Three wonderful stories. Insight to how hard life can be for those less fortunate with no one to turn to as well.
  
  Clean stories.
• 
  Lynn Smith

  The Novellas were previously released under the title Orphans from the Storm.
  Short story by Penny Jordan set in 1903 Bride at Bellfield Mill.
  Short Story by Helen Brooks aka Rita Bradshaw set in 1899 A Family for Hawthorn Farm.
• 
  Janice

  Part of annual Christmas romance reading. Not one of my favorites but an easy light (with a little too much description) read.
• 
  Anne

  Love this as a Christmas read. All three stories having heart-warming happy endings.