The Girl in the Gatehouse / Julie Klassen / 391 pages / R. T. Reviewer's Choice Award

Twenty-four year old Mariah Aubrey has been disowned by her family when her lover professes that he cannot marry her but must marry a higher-born lady of his family's choosing.  She is sent with her former governess, Dixon, to live with her elderly aunt on an aging estate.  She is consigned to the gatehouse and turns to selling her secretly written novels to pay the rent after her aunt's death.  The manor house is rented to a wealthy Captain Bryant, recently retired from the navy.  Matthew has designs on Isabella, a wealthy woman whose family rejected his suit earlier because of his social standing.  Matthew and Mariah become fast friends, mutually respecting each other until Matthew's much heralded house party.  This was a very enjoyable read.  It was almost like a melodrama with many romances and a villain everyone loves to hate.