Linore Rose Burkard - Before the Season Ends (A Regency Inspirational Romance)

What Readers Are Saying About Linore Burkards
Before the Season Ends

A really nice surprise! This is definitely an original Regency romance.

A NNE W OODLEY

Amazon.com Top 500 reviewer
patroness of the Almacks List, Byron List, Janeites, and the Austen List

Beautifully written story, fast paced, and exciting from cover to cover. One of the best stories I have read!

K ELLI G LESIGE
book reviewer for www.ReaderViews.com

In the vein of Jane Austen, Burkard weaves a delightful world, rich with detail. Her characters spring to life as they deal with their own struggles and prejudices..

J ANICE L A Q UIERE
Logos Book Reviews

Well-written, interesting, captivating, romantic, inspirational, and addictive, I highly recommend this book.

A RMCHAIR I NTERVIEWS.COM

And from satisfied readers at Amazon.com

I laughed out loud and was also brought to tears while reading this beautifully written book.

A LICE T JIONG

Beautifully written, touches your heartandkeeps you entertained!

D EBBIE H ANNA

A must-read story that will lift you up and stay in your thoughts long after youve finished the last chapter.

L ISA G. S MITH

A great, entertaining book! It had me caught from the first few pages and continued to reel me in page after page.

D ONNA C RUGER

Wonderful and beautiful book!

L ILLIAN J. W ONG -S UHU

So good that I couldnt put it down! It made me laugh out loud and it made me cry

L AURA L O F ASO

Fun and inspirational. I enjoyed it from cover to cover and heartily recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction!

D IANE G RAZIANO

A peek at Linores mail

Christina writes

I received my copy of Before the Season Ends yesterday and have already finished itI literally could not put it downI cant wait for the sequel!

Catherine writes

I got your book in the mail yesterday, started reading it, and could not put it down. It is delightful! It seems to me to be a bit like Pride and Prejudice, which is my very favorite novel of all time.

Viola writes

Just had to write a note and let you know that I have finished Before the Season Ends. It was great. Will there be another book about [Ariana] or her sisters?

LINORE ROSE BURKARD

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Verses marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locales, is entirely coincidental.

BEFORE THE SEASON ENDS
Copyright 2008 by Linore Rose Burkard
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Burkard, Linore Rose
Before the season ends / Linore Rose Burkard.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7369-2551-8 (pbk.)
I. Title.
PS3602.U754B44 2008
813 .6dc22

2008020667

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 / RDM-NI / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the memory of my grandmother, Marie Rose, for always believing; and my parents, for their love of reading.

Special thanks to my editor, Nick Harrison, who, (besides having a cool name) is great to work with and who brought me to Harvest House Publishers; to Helen Hancox and Charlotte Hails, my trusty British resource people, for their friendship, suggestions, and corrections. And to my wonderful husband, Michael, the computer wiz, (where would I be without my laptop?) who has never questioned my obsession with writing; and to my children, for their patience and understanding. You are all priceless!

Chesterton, Hertfordshire
England
1813

S omething would have to be done about Ariana.

All winter Miss Ariana Forsythe, aged nineteen, had been going about the house sighing.

Mr. Hathaway is my lot in life!

She spoke as though the prospect of that life was a great burden to bear, but one to which she had properly reconciled herself. When her declarations met with exasperation or reproach from her familyfor no one else was convinced Mr. Hathaway, the rector, was her lotshe usually responded in a perplexed manner. Hadnt they understood that her calling was to wed a man of the cloth? Was there another man of God, other than their rector, available to her? No. It only stood to reason, therefore, that Mr. Hathaway was her lot in life. Their cold reception to the thought of the marriage was unfathomable.

When she was seventeen (a perfectly respectable marrying age), Ariana had romantic hopes about a young and brilliant assistant to the rector, one Mr. Stresham. It was shortly after meeting him, in fact, that she had formed the opinion the Almighty was calling her to marry a man of God. Mr. Stresham even had the approval of her parents. But the man soon took a situation in another parish without asking Ariana to accompany him as his wife. She was disappointed, but not one to give up easily, continued to speak of the calling, waiting in hope for another Mr. Stresham of sorts. But no man came. And now she had reached the conclusion that Mr. HathawayMr. Hathaway, the rector (approaching the age of sixty!), would have to do.

Her parents, Charles and Julia Forsythe, were sitting in their comfortably furnished morning room, Julia with a cup of tea before her, and Charles with his newspaper. A steady warmth was emanating from the hearth.

What shall we do about Ariana? Mrs. Forsythe, being an observant mother, had been growing in her conviction that the situation called for action.

What do you suggest, my dear? Her husband reluctantly folded his paper; he knew his wife wanted a discussion of the matter, and he would get precious little reading done until she had gotten it.

She held up a folded piece of foolscap, on which was written the annual letter from Agatha Bentley, Charless sister, asking for Alberta, the eldest Forsythe daughter, for the season in London. It had arrived the day before.