A Noble Masquerade
Feisty Lady Miranda Hawthorne finds her mother’s lessons on ladylike behavior difficult to endure. Since childhood, she has found release in writing unsent letters to her brother’s schoolmate, the Duke of Marshington, who later disappeared from society. Now in her third Season in Regency London, Miranda is suspicious of her brother’s new valet, Marlow, yet is drawn into his espionage activities when she rescues him from attackers. Once she discovers his true identity, she is angry about being deceived. Nevertheless, a spark of romance leads her to try to help foil a plot against his life.
There is some religious content, but it’s limited to a character mentally saying a prayer during a crisis. Miranda is lively, and I liked the humor in the climax where characters end up covered in foodstuff. But I had more dislikes than likes. One reads a Regency to be immersed in a different world, but Hunter spoils the mood with Americanisms: letters are “mailed,” noses get “busted,” and “guy” is used in the 21st-century sense. The plot required a very large suspension of disbelief. Readers who don’t mind anachronisms may love Hunter’s first published novel, but it wasn’t historically true enough for me.
