Book Review: Ours is Just a Little Sorrow by Gwen Hayes

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:

Release Date: October 1, 2012
Publisher: Self-Published

The colony of New Geneva has risen from the ashes of her dying mother planet, Earth, by rebuilding a society based on a time before everything went horribly, horribly wrong...the Victorian Era...

Violet Merriweather first sets eyes on Colonel Winston when he purchases her at auction from Witherspoon Academy, the orphanage where she’d been raised after her rescue from Earth. Dutifully, as she was taught, Violet pushes away her fear of the monstrous, forbidding Thornfield Abbey, and throws herself into her work as governess to the Colonel’s youngest son.

But the Colonel's elder sons have other ideas.

John and Gideon Winston are as different as night and day, and each wants to claim Violet for his own. John immediately charms her with his intelligence and cordial demeanor, while Gideon, the dark rogue, delights in flustering her at every opportunity, awakening a yearning she doesn't understand and most assuredly does not want. She tries to deny her pull to both men, but an uneasy midnight bargain with one forges a new alliance as she’s dazzled by an underground New Geneva she hadn't known existed. And temptations she cannot resist.

But something is preying on the women of New Geneva, something that threatens to unleash the ghosts of Thornfield and drag them all into hell. And that something wants Violet most of all.

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Review:

Ours is Just a Little Sorrow is a captivating novella about a young woman, bought to be a governess for a young boy with a deeply scarred family.

As I started the story, I was reminded of the classic novel, Jane Eyre. This reminisce was not a bad thing, seeing as Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books. As the story expands, you see that while Jane and our heroine, Violet have some common attributes, they live in very different worlds. While the world Violet lives in has some historical elements, she lives in a steampunk era with hovercrafts and life on new planets.

Violet grew up in a girl's home, where they were taught how to be companions and governesses. Adopted from a dangerous Earth, Violet's life in New Geneva is all about servitude. She seems to have no issue with it, as it is better than the fate that she would've suffered had she stayed on Earth. As she grows closer and closer to Gideon Winston, she realizes that maybe New Geneva isn't as grand as she thought. The underground becomes not a place of fear and loathing, but somewhere where she can let go of her inhibitions and be her own person. Gideon helps show her that. When girls who work in the neighboring mansions start to go missing, it's not just Violet who is struck by fear. What will happen when she and the Winston family come to find the person behind it all is closer than they realize?

Steampunk is becoming more and more common lately. Personally, I have enjoyed the few that I have read. This novella was definitely under that well-written, engaging category, though I often had trouble imagining its world as steampunk. The world building definitely wasn't the best. There seemed to be things added in just to remind you that the story wasn't historical, but futuristic with historic elements. As much as enjoyed Ours is Just a Little Sorrow, it doesn't portray steampunk as well as it could. 

The summary is a bit deceiving and this paragraph is somewhat spoilerly so be warned. After reading it, I would've guessed that this novella had a heart-hurting love triangle. It does not. While there are instances where Violet considers her other options, from the beginning, it is obvious who she truly wants to be with. So many novels lately have created conflict by giving the main character two love interests to choose from, it was refreshing to have a story where the main character has problems outside of what suitor she has to pick from. 

Overall, I'd recommend this to romance fans and even though it is classified as a steampunk novel, I'd recommend it to fans of historical romances. It's got all of the elements we see in a historical novel including the brooding, misunderstood love interest that you can't help but to fall for, but with a few minor additives! I would love for Ms. Hayes expand the world and for us, as the readers, to see more of the characters we come to know very well in other stories.

I received an e-copy of this novella from the author for review.