Saturday, August 10, 2013

Lady Anne’s Lover-

Lady Anne’s Lover

Maggie Robinson

Kensington Brava, Jul 30 2013, $9.95

ISBN: 9780758269102



In December 1820, Lady Imaculata Egremont regrets the scandals she created to anger her abusive father but not because of any pain it inflicted on her nasty dad who everyone thinks is a saint. Thanks to the London List tabloid and its owners Lord Gray and Evangeline Ramsay, she has a chance to start over. Thus she heads to Wales as Widow Anne Mont housekeeper to Napoleon War hero Major Gareth Ripton-Jones, who ironically lost an arm in an accident after he came home. On the trek she reads the Compleat Housewife that her benefactress Evangeline gave her and realizes she has no experiences at all for her position and cannot use her beauty as she conceals that from her new employer.



A drunkard, Gareth ignores his housekeeper’s lack of skills; but in spite of her unfashionable wardrobe and overall “plain” look, he knows she fails to conceal from him her beauty. Still it is her caustic tongue and even more caustic coffee that opens his eyes. As the Heiress and the Horseman begin a tryst and fall in love, he remains the only suspect in the murder of his fiancée.



This tongue in cheek Regency romantic suspense is a fabulous amusing yet taut sequel to Lord Gray's List (Lady Imaculata was a key secondary player and Major Jones placed an ad in the first novel). The lead couple’s bawdy banter counterbalances her daddy dearest woes and his need to prove his innocence now that she sobered him up, but their investigation places them in danger. Readers will enjoy this strong historical.



Harriet Klausner

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