The Toymaker - Kay Springsteen - - - review in English - - -

Review in German

The Toymaker by Kay Springsteen
Publisher : esKape Press 
ISBN: 9781940695693


Blurb:

Lady Ivy Plumthorne is a worry to her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Wythorpe. Desiring only that she be as happily wed as her younger sister, they've spent the past year parading prospective suitors in front of her. When she finds none of the suitors… suitable, her parents despair she will ever find the perfect husband. With Christmas approaching, they find one more prospective suitor, the Duke of Greenbriar. Only problem is, Ivy's already met the man of her dreams… and he's a toymaker. Noel Phillip Vincent Greenstone, the Twelfth Duke of Greenbriar, isn’t cut out to be a duke. He prefers crafting toys that make children happy. As Phillip Green, he travels freely, making certain no child goes without a toy of his or her own. But after a few coincidental meetings with Lady Ivy, he knows he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. The problem is, she needs to marry a nobleman and she only knows him as Phillip the Toymaker. The world needs to meet the reclusive Duke of Greenbriar, so Phillip plans his own coming out. But how will Ivy react when she learns the truth?

Even though I was tempted to abuse my ereader every now and then while reading the book because the protagonists never listened to me and my complains this is most definitely a book that I haven't read the last time.

Of course, on the whole it is a classical love story with all the complications and all the trials and tribulations that one would expect to be there but it is also a story with the certain something that you don't find in every love story.

Some historical details are not correct bu on the whole it is a beautiful story with very sympathetic characters. Those characters are a bit different and a bit out of the ordinary and I'd love to meet them in reality. They have very lovable and warm personalities and captured my heart right from the moment I „met“ them. Especially the way they interact with all children they're coming across is remarquable and makes them special.

I also love the way the story about Phillip and Ivy is imbedded in a frame tale situated in our time. At the end of the book I just wanted to go find the next antiquities shop and search for a simliar crate with a similar moving story behind it just like it happened to Angela, Kalie and Sam in this book.

Well written, historically not always correct but nevertheless a warm and charming story that will appeal to everybody who loves children, toys, history and romantic as much as I do!

★★★★